Page 14 of Her Holiday Heartthrobs

Dropping his hand, his jaw works. My hands finally fall to prop on my hips.

“Just…” He waves for me to hand it over.

I stomp closer and put my briefcase on his desk, doing everything in my power not to shove it at him. Henry holds onto it for a few, long seconds before he tosses it on his desk.

“You and I are going to be working closely together on this project. I will be checking and double-checking—triple-checking—every detail of it. You understand that, right?”

I keep myself from pouting, raise my chin, and nod. Like he can see the petulant child wanting to claw its way out, he sighs and grabs his suit jacket.

“We’re going to need a team-building exercise before we put together our actual team. Leave your briefcase.” Henry rounds the desk as I fumble with my bag, but he smoothly takes it and slides it onto a chair before taking my elbow and leading me to his door.

Sparks fly up my arm before I can yank it away. Stupid school-girl crush. I’m old enough for it to have disappeared by now. Damn it.

He opens the door for me, and I do my best not to stomp out. “Sabrina. Let me know when our CEO arrives please.”

She sits up straight, eyes wide as she takes us both in. I can only imagine what we look like. Both annoyed with each other. “Yes, Mr. Walker.”

“Thank you. Come, Miss Monroe.”

I narrow my eyes at him but follow, catching the hint of a smile from Sabrina as we leave. I’m not sure why it rankles me, but it does.

Once in the elevator with the doors closing, I fold my arms again. “Where are we going?”

“Downstairs. You’re going to let me buy you breakfast.”

That wasn’t what I expected. “Wait. What?”

HENRY

We have roughly a half hour before Eli shows up, and I’m going to make Paige sit with me, openly, and play nice. I don’t remember her having so much fire before she went off to college.

A flash of her straddling my lap has my cock reminding me that I did remember, but she didn’t have this much attitude. Not like this. Does she truly have this much animosity built up from the last four years? How many times did she shit-talk me to her friends in college for how I’d taken what she offered and bailed?

It can’t linger between us if we want to create an effective team.

Her cheeks are rosy as she stares at the chrome elevator doors, arms crossed and stance defiant. Fuck, everything inside of me wants to pull the emergency stop and take her right here. I’m so screwed.

When we reach the ground floor, Paige doesn’t dawdle as I steer her toward the cafe and lounge at the back of the building. At least, she’s not avoiding me.

The cafe takes up a good chunk of the bottom floor, catering to the entire high-rise and a few locals who have wandered in and become regulars. And it’s full but not packed when weslide to the end of the line. Soft Christmas music lilts in the background as people chat quietly.

The windows are decorated with hand-painted holiday scenes: kids sledding, building a snowman, light-strewn trees, white houses in the backdrop, and a big North Star. Nothing overly Christmassy, but the vibe’s there.

As we step closer, the aroma enhances the ambiance: clove and nutmeg, cinnamon and ginger, apple and cranberry with the sweet sugary frosting. The treats are the best part of the holidays.

Paige closes her eyes beside me, like she’s breathing it in. I hope it puts her in a good place because I need her calm to have this talk. At least now, the silence between us isn’t frosty.

At the counter, I order a hot cider and a gingerbread cookie. Paige gets a peppermint hot cocoa and a pecan cranberry shortbread. We take a small two-seater in the back where the dull roar of conversation is more muted.

I wait for her first bite of the shortbread before I say anything. And man, her face when she bites into it, how she closes her eyes as she chews, the low moan I shouldn’t have been so attuned to…she’s driving me crazy.

Not even two days of having her back, and I can hardly think of her without daydreaming.

I clear my throat, and her eyes shoot open, pinning me in my seat. That’s a look of hers I’m not so familiar with. How many boys has she put in their place to be so good at it?

“Good, huh?”

Paige snorts and straightens in her chair, taking a sip of her cocoa. “Yeah. I didn’t know this place was here.”

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