Page 37 of Christmas with Her Millionaire Boss

“All right,” she said, fighting to keep from closing her eyes and purring. His touch felt that good. “I’d love to have dinner with you.”

“Fantastic. You have my word you won’t regret a single second. This is going to make your Christmas Kickoff look like a roadside yard sale.”

She laughed. Good to know his audacity was alive and well. “I’ll have you know I happen to like yard sales.”

“You’ll like this better. Now...” To her dismay, he took both his touch and the hand beneath hers away. “Why don’t you go get dressed while I make the arrangements? If we hurry, we’ll have time to walk around before the show.”

Show? There weren’t any shows going on in Fryberg. The closest performances she knew of were at least a two hours’ drive away.

“Are we going to Chicago?” she asked.

James was on his feet and taking her coffee cup. A man in command. “Not Chicago. I’m taking you to Radio City Music Hall.”

“Radio what?” She’d heard wrong. “Isn’t that in New York City?”

“Yes, it is,” he replied. “Which is why you’d better hurry and get dressed.”

CHAPTER EIGHT

SIX HOURS LATER found Noelle sitting in the back of an airport town car on her way to Manhattan, and wondering when—or if—her head would stop spinning. New York City for dinner? That was the sort of thing they did in movies. Yet there was the Empire State Building on the skyline ahead. And the Statue of Liberty alone on her island.

James’s hand brushed her knee. “You haven’t said much since we left the airfield. Everything okay?”

“I can’t believe I’m actually in New York City for dinner” was all she could manage to say. “It’s...”

“Amazing?”

“Yes. And overwhelming. When you said dinner, I never dreamed you meant—is that the Freedom Tower?” She pointed to a gigantic building with a large antenna, on top of which waved an American flag. She’d seen pictures of the structure built to replace the Twin Towers, but they were nothing compared to the real thing. “It’s huge. Even from this far away.”

“That was the idea,” he replied before shifting a little closer. “To make a statement to the rest of the world about our resilience.”

“They won’t keep New York down.”

“Precisely. New York Strong, as we’d say in Boston,” he replied. He shifted again and unbuttoned the top of his coat. Noelle caught a glimpse of pearl gray. Before leaving Fryberg, they’d stopped at the boutique so he could purchase another set of clothes, the plaid, he’d said, having worn out its welcome. The soft color was a toned-down version of the executive she’d met three days ago. That man, she thought with a smile, would never have flown her to New York.

His hand slid along hers, breaking her train of thought. “Would you like to see it up close?” he asked.

“Careful how often you ask the question. I want to see everything up close.”

Now that she’d accepted the ginormousness of where they were, excitement was quickly replacing disbelief. “I’ve always dreamed of going to New York ever since I was a little girl, but never got the chance.”

“Never?”

“I almost went. Once. Right after Kevin and I got engaged. There was a merchandising conference I thought of attending.”

“What happened?”

“The conference conflicted with an awards banquet Kevin had to attend. People expected me to be there too, so I cancelled. I could always go to Manhattan another time. Wasn’t like the city was going to go anywhere.”

“At least not last time I looked,” James replied. “And now you’re here.”

“Now I’m here.” She sat back against the leather seat and watched the traffic. Despite being the middle of the afternoon on a Saturday, the streets were lined bumper to bumper, with more cars than ten Fryberg Christmas Kickoffs. Everywhere she looked, buildings reached toward the sky. Big, square buildings jammed with people. She could feel the city’s energy pulsing through the limousine’s windows. It was fantastical.

Next to her, James was watching the window as well, his long fingers tapping on the armrest. He looked quite at home with the traffic passing by them. Same way he’d looked at home in the cockpit of his plane. Noelle had watched him the entire flight, his deftness at the controls far more interesting than the ground below. Surely he knew how gracefully he moved. If he didn’t, the universe really should hold up a mirror for him to see.

“What?” He turned his face to hers. “Why are you staring at me?”

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