Page 10 of Knot My Secret Santa

Everyone stood, smiling wider now and giving me their thanks. When I peeked over at Avery, she was holding up the tickets I’d given to her for her Secret Santa gift that morning. Box seat tickets to the sold-out Nutcracker in McCaw Hall on the 20th. I had to trade a rare bottle of wine with a colleague to procure that pair of tickets.

I’d had a notion of taking Avery there myself, but I pushed that far out of my head. Only after I jerked off to a couple of fantasies of taking her right there in the theater. Her aunt was a Christmas fanatic. I figured Avery would take Noelle to go see the ballet.

But now it looked like she was inviting Kris.

My vision flashed red.Mine. No fucking way. He was not getting anywhere near her.

Everybody had already left the meeting room, hurrying to finish up for the day and leave for the weekend. With my target in sight, I stalked to the door and was immediately stopped in my tracks by Gina and her intern.

I blinked a few times and snapped, “Yes?”

Gina uneasily wet her lips and glanced at the blond Omega who was wearing a silver gown which she’d be parading around all day like she was in a goddamn fashion show. “Nate, may we have a word with you?”

Fuck, fuck, fuck!Avery and Kris were still talking. Was he nodding? “Make it quick.”

Gina motioned to the Omega, and the intern swished forward, smiling coyly. “Mr. Donner, I wanted to thank you again for your honest critique of my design. I know working here under you is an excellent opportunity.”

“Yes, well, you’re welcome.” I didn’t care right now. She needed to move the hell out of my way.

“My family is attending the World Children’s Organization winter charity ball this evening. I was wondering if you’d like to accompany me? My family would be there as escorts, of course.” There was nothing timid about her asking me to go out with her. What was her name again? She was pretty in a traditional sort of way blondes were pretty, but she wasn’t my type. Not at all.

“I have another obligation tonight. Now,” I said and moved to push past her. Kris had inched closer to Avery. Was he about to hug her? The bastard better not touch her. Not even a fucking finger! “I must get going. You’re free to leave early. Everyone should leave now.”

“Mr. Donner.” The blonde Omega did not budge. She flinched when I twisted my head to glare at her, but quickly regained her composure. “Earlier this week, when we shook hands, I thought I felt something pass between us.” When I only narrowed my eyes, she added, “As Alpha and Omega.”

What the fuck?“No, it did not.”

I couldn’t wait any longer. This pushy Omega was wasting precious seconds. Fury radiated off of me. I barreled past her, but Kris had already moved on from Avery’s desk. When Avery saw me coming her way, her eyes widened and her face went as red as her sweater. She grabbed her messenger bag before rushing to the ladies’ bathroom.

Instead, I turned to the direction the soon-to-be-dead junior architect was walking. “Kris, could I see you in my office for a moment?”

The young man turned and smiled with a nod. “Of course, Mr. Donner.” His smile started to falter when I continued to imagine his death a hundred times over in my head.

Forcing myself to lead the way to my office, I tried not to spin around and punch in his face. He damn well wouldnotgo to The Nutcracker with Avery. He wouldn’t go anywhere with her. He’d be lucky if I let him walk out of here.

I exhaled, trying to reason with my vicious possessiveness. It wasn’t my place to say who Avery could see or couldn’t see. I was not her mate, but oh, did every instinct in me want her to be the one. Dammit. I was the boss here. They were my employees. I couldn’t pummel one and bed the other. Yet no matter how much I repeated it wasn’t my business, I couldn’t help myself.

Stepping into my office, I stood behind my desk. “Come in and shut the door. Did you want a drink?” I motioned to the small mini bar I had set up against the far wall. Fuck, I should have a drink to mellow out too.

“No, thank you. I’m alright,” Kris replied, caution lining his words.

I nodded. I was his boss. Just be the boss. “Bennett let me know how much help you were with the California coast project. He says you did much of the calculations yourself and found a way to work around the uneven bedrock. That was good work.”

The tension in Kris’ shoulders eased a bit as he bobbed his head. “Thank you. I really enjoyed that project. Working with concrete in the design for the walls allowed more freedom in setting the foundation and to give the client the unusual features he wanted.”

Pacing in front of my window, I attempted to keep my tone friendly. “Having played such a big part in the project, I’m going to offer you the opportunity to see the site first and work on the initial plans with our builder. The actual build won’t start until next month, but I want you to fly south and stake out the footprint now.”

Kris’ jaw dropped and he quickly snapped his mouth closed. This was not a job I gave to junior architects, and he would know it. This was also not something that needed to be done right now, but I was offering this big opportunity on a silver platter to him. A giant shiny platter that would take him away from Avery.

“Mr. Donner, sir, I would be honored. Thank you.” Kris was practically bouncing on his toes.

“You deserve it. I’ll have a plane ticket waiting for you for a Sunday flight out. I’ll text you the info where you can pick it up.”

“Thank you. Yes, that’s all good. I can drop off my dog at my parents’ house for them to look after while I’m gone for…” Kris slowed, pursing his lips. “It shouldn’t take very long, should it? Maybe two or three good days if the weather is nice? I have plans for next weekend.”

Not anymore, junior. “If the weather holds, you’ll be home by the weekend. No worries.” I would move the heavens myself to keep it raining in California so he would not go out with Avery. And even if the weather was fine, I would give him something else to do while he’s there. He wouldn’t dare say no. “Then you can have the rest of the month off. Go enjoy the holidays with your family.”

For a second time, Kris’ jaw dropped. He gawked at me as if he had never seen me before. “Thank you so much.”

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