Page 6 of Storybook Christmas

But Iamsure about this book. It needs to be in the hands of children everywhere by the next holiday season. “No, I’ll cancel my trip. Fireflies Save Christmas has to go to print as soon as possible. We have to make sure Sutton & Sutton stays ahead of Blueprint.” Blueprint Press, a hip new publishing company, is taking the industry by storm.

“There’s the Lacy we all know.” Joshua smiles his big smile, the one that makes his dimples appear. “So… you’ll make it to Sutton & Suttons holiday party after all.”

Joshua wants me at the holiday party?

Then he winks. “You’ll get to see me snag The Sutty.”

“Oh, I’m definitely taking home The Sutty this year,” I say, meaning it. Fireflies Save Christmas is the book to finally get me there.

“We’ll just have to see about that.” Joshua chuckles before giving Finn a pat on the back. “But watch out. Finn’s a rockstar, as you’re about to see. In fact, with a little experience, he’ll be management material. I need to be careful, or he’ll be replacing me.”

I look at Finn and feign a smile. “I’m sure he exceeds Sutton & Sutton’s stringent requirements for management.” In length and girth.

Finn’s Adam’s apple travels up his throat as he swallows.

“That’s right.” Joshua stands. “Okay, we’ll leave you to it. I owe Bertha coffee, so I need to get on that.”

I’m sure Joshua is getting Bertha coffee from the best coffee shop ever—Queen Bean—because like me, it’s her favorite, and she’s the only person who’s allowed to interrupt the Sutton brothers when they’re in a meeting. However, she can only do so once a day. We all come bearing gifts to bribe her when we need to talk to the Suttons ASAP—that is, the few of us that know her secret.

“Hey, Josh,” I say, forgetting that I probably shouldn’t call him by his nickname anymore. “May I have a word in private with Finn, please? I’d like to welcome him and give him the ins and the outs of our position.”

Joshua’s face puzzles. “Oh. Sure.”

When Joshua leaves, he closes my door behind him.

I look at Finn, realizing that my booze goggles hadn’t led me astray. He’s so beautiful I stop breathing entirely.

Regardless, my eyes narrow to slits.

# # #

WHEN I’M SUREJoshua is out of earshot, I say, “Management material, huh? Do they know about your other career?”

“No, Lacy.” Finn’s face whitens.

I put up a palm. “Don’t worry—if the Suttons find out about your other job, it won’t be from me. I don’t do that.”

“Thank you.” He exhales. “Look, I know what you’re thinking, but I had no idea this was going to happen.”

I fight to keep my voice even. “So, when I was spilling my drunken guts about my job, you didn’t know we were going to be working at said job as my competition?”

“No, of course not.”

Arh! Bertha.

“Oh.” I’m not sure what else to say about that, so I move on. “Let’s deal with the immediate problem at hand. Christmascannotbe saved by Rudolph’s artificial ass.”

Finn winces. “I wouldn’t put it that way.”

“What way would you put it, Finn?”

I realize it’s probably not ideal to be snarky to Joshua’s new associate editor—but Finn’s got a lot of nerve disagreeing with me the first chance he gets.

Finn forces a smile. “His tail saves Christmas. Tails are cute. Especially Reindeer tails—they’re fluffy balls.”

“You can’t be serious.” I fold my arms. “I wonder who came up with that ghastly idea?”

He looks down, mumbling, “I did. Actually.”

---