Page 1 of Her Christmas Monsters

Chapter One

“Hey...Clara.”Jackchucklesnervously. “I was just about to call you.”

I sigh in frustration scowling down at the thick phone clutched in my hand before placing it back to my ear. “Oh I’m sure you were,” I say in a far too chipper tone. “Just like how you were supposed to send me that shipment of tinsel two days ago, right?”

“Clara—”

“Don’t Clara me.” My tone is calm yet sharp enough to slice a block of ice in two. “My ass is on the line here, and I can promise you, if I go down, I’m taking you right along with me.”

“The shipments will be at your docks tomorrow morning. I’ll drop them off myself if I have to,” Jack stammers as machinery beeps in the background.

I grit my teeth and glance down at the paperwork on my desk, knowing it’s useless to remind him that’s what he told me last week.

“I better have my tinsel tomorrow, Jack. Otherwise I’m going to come down there and I’ll shove it so far up your ass, you’ll still have silver pieces coming out by the time next Christmas comes around,” I say smoothly, ignoring the choked laughter and coughing from the cubicle beside me.

“There’ll be no need for that,” Jack sputters.

“See that there isn’t.” I hang the phone back on the receiver, cutting off whatever he was about to say.

“That was intense.” Ethan chuckles from the cubicle beside me. A lazy grin stretches across his lips as he strolls over to me, his auburn hair bright under the fluorescent lights shining above him. “I’m sure you had Jack quaking in his orthopedic steel-toed boots.”

“Ethan,” I groan, scrubbing a hand over my face. “It’s not funny.”

I wanted to hold on to that spark of anger so I could light a fire under the other suppliers’ asses but I can’t help the smile that curves on my lips at the picture he’s painted. Jack isn’t a bad guy, and I’ve worked with him for the last few years, but I’ll be damned if I let him screw me over, not with the promotion looming over my head.

“It’s a little funny,” he says, his stupid, handsome smile making any lingering annoyance slip away. “Shoulder rub?”

“Please,” I groan and immediately slump in my chair as his strong hands knead my tense muscles. It’s the least he can do after stealing my edge.

“I promise, if the tinsel isn’t at every one of the mall docks by nine o’clock tomorrow morning, I’ll personally hold Jack down while you shove that tinsel up his ass.” He snickers at the last part, apparently unable to keep his composure any longer.

“I’ll hold you to that,” I murmur, barely able to bite back my moan before it slips past my lips. That would be awkward.

Ethan clears his throat and his hands ease away from my shoulders. My shoulders stiffen as icy dread skitters up my spine.Well there goes that massage.I swing around in my chair, hoping I hadn’t let any sound out by accident, but he’s still giving me that lazy grin as he leans against the other side of my L-shaped desk.

“So is the tinsel the only shipment you’re missing?” Ethan asks smoothly, slipping back into work mode.

“No.” I sigh and glance around, ensuring no one else can hear me. Christmas might be the most wonderful time of the year for some, but here it’s a cutthroat business. “I’m still waiting for three other suppliers to get back to me. Luckily we have most of the supplies in storage from last year, and everything else came in last week.”

“There’s still a few weeks until the displays need to be set up,” Ethan says. “Everything will work out. It always does.”

“You know why everything always works out? Because I make sure it does,” I hiss, immediately regretting the harsh tone as his smile slips away. “There isn’t some magical fairy that makes all the moving parts come together—that’s me. This is my one chance to prove I can handle Christmas on my own.”

“Everyone knows that, Clara,” Ethan soothes. For a moment I think he might be about to comfort me but he remains still. “You’ve been the backbone of this department for years. Jackson was pretty much a figurehead last year and he left you to do everything. The big bosses will see that, especially since you stepped up when he quit with no notice.”

“I hope so.” I sigh, letting some of the tension seep from my shoulders. “I love this job, but I can’t spend another year doing someone else’s work and not getting paid for it. Maybe I should just—”

“No,” Ethan exclaims.

My brows furrow at his look of panic, but it’s gone so quickly I’m not even sure it was there to begin with.

“I mean, you’d just have to start from the bottom somewhere else,” he explains. “You should at least wait until the end of the season before you make any decisions.”

“You’re right,” I say and scrub a hand over my face. “I can’t make any promises though. You’ll have to find another work bestie if things don’t pan out.”

“Who knows, maybe I’ll go with you.” He chuckles nervously, raking his hand through his hair. “Who else will I be able to talk to in this place?” He grimaces as he looks over the cubicle walls, shuddering as though just the thought is revolting.

“Ethan,” I hiss in warning, grabbing his hand to draw his attention back to me.

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