Page 60 of Starlight Bay

“You did?” I stared at him, my mouth dry as toast.

“I follow you on social media.”

“Hmm,” I said, at a rare loss for words, chewing the inside of my lip.

“That’s it?” Nick asked, stepping in closer to me. Only inches apart now, I caught the alpine scent of his cologne, the mint on his breath, the light stubble peppering his face.

No, that definitely wasn’t it, judging by the hot pulses racing through me, but I sure as hell wasn’t going to admit it standing in Mr. Solomon’s office on a Tuesday afternoon.

“Sorry, you caught me off-guard.” I took a deep breath, exhaled some of my jitters.

“Good thing we’ll have this week to work through it.”

I cocked my head. “What?”

“You just agreed to accompany me this week.” He shoved a hand in the pocket of his perfectly fitted jeans and I concentrated hard on maintaining eye contact.

“Umm, no I didn’t.”

“Yeah. You definitely did. To get out of the Gala.”

“The Gala? I totally wanted to go to that.”

He cocked his head at me, his eyes narrowed. “No. You totally didn’t.”

“Fine. True. Well-played, Mr. Milton.” I smiled up at him, softening a tad.

“Thanks. I stole it straight from your playbook. You better wrap up work early today so you can go home and pack your bags.”

I raised a brow. “Why? Where are we going? I thought you needed help with a shoe endorsement.”

“Eh, we can handle that over the phone. I really need you to go home with me. For the holidays.”

“What? No!” A hot flush rushed through me and the tips of my ears burned. “I couldn’t possibly.”

“A deal’s a deal. I saved you from the Gala; now I need you to come home with me to Starlight Bay.”

CHAPTER 2

NICK

Sydney Porter looked more gorgeous than ever in her signature black dress and matching heels. Her straight, dark hair was longer than I remembered and even though she was currently scowling at me, dark eyes blazing, all I could think about was kissing those full pink lips. Good thing I’d have a week to convince her to give us another chance.

“You can’t be serious,” Sydney said, shaking her head as she pushed past me into the bright hallway. “This isn’t anywhere close to a fair deal. The Copley Gala is one night; you’re asking me to go home with you for a week!”

I tagged along beside her down the hall, keeping pace and grinning, pissing her off even more. “Yeah, I hope you can negotiate a better deal with the shoe company.”

She punched my bicep and I pretended to flinch. “Watch it—these guns are worth a lot to this team.”

“Right, how could I forget? Can’t go injuring the talent.”

“Exactly. C’mon, Syd, please? I know you always stay in the city for Christmas. It would mean a lot to me if you’d do this.” I gave her my best puppy dog eyes, praying she’d agree to the deal.

Sydney rolled her eyes. “I can’t believe I’m even considering doing this with you. We work together now; it’s a huge HR no-no.”

“No one has to know and besides, it’ll be fun. Way better than the Gala.”

She paused, tipping her head to the side before answering. “Fine. Since you just rescued me from a solid twenty-four hours’ worth of work, I’ll go. But it has to be on the DL. I need this job.”

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