Page 31 of Christmas with the Denton Billionaires

Josh scoffed, real anger scorching through him. “Like I don’t? Amelia, you’ve been indispensable to me for two years now. I’ve never done anything but laud you.”

“But you would only agree to a promotion as a last-ditch effort to make a deal.”

Her words thudded between them, landing harder than a punch. He clenched his jaw. He couldn’t fight that. Because she was right, even though it wasn’t the whole story. At his silence, she continued.

“You only care about winning. I hesitate to imagine what might have happened if this hotel hadn’t gone up for sale. Would I still be stuck working for you? What if a position opened up that I was perfect for, would you allow me to take it or find some reason to force me to stay.”

“Amelia, don’t be like this,” Josh said quietly, trying to reel the conversation back into manageable territory. There was more on the line here than her work at Denton Hotels. This was aboutthem, too, in some obscure way. About this amorphous future that every cell of his body craved with her without knowing how to get there. “You act like you would have languished for your entire life in my office. I haven’t been holding you back. And don’t delude yourself into thinking that I am.”

Amelia clamped her mouth shut and looked away, crossing her arms over her chest. Her foot tapped for a few moments before suddenly she said, “You know what? I’m not feeling very well. I think I’m going to head back to the suite.”

She brushed past him before he could say anything else. He watched her storm off, half of him determined to follow her and finish this conversation, once and for all.

But he needed to maintain his presence here. To run into Stan, to defend himself against any more of Colin’s advances.

And besides, maybe Amelia was right.

He did care about winning. It had always been the priority. But had he taken it too far?

Thoughts and doubts swirled inside him as he drifted through the caroling presentation. He clapped when everyone else did, tried to smile when others caught his eye. But without Amelia at his side—without her heat sinking into him or the soft sounds of her jokes in his ear—this festive event felt like just one more chore.

There was one thing for certain. He wanted Amelia in his life. Not only in a professional context, within arm’s reach at the office.

He wanted her at his side. His partner. His everything.

He needed to figure out a way to right the scales. Josh dipped out of the sweet harmonies of the carolers early so that he could wander inside the hotel. Lost in thought and combing through options. Every path led him back to Amelia. He’d been attracted to her since the day he met her. And as they worked together, his admiration and respect bloomed even more.

This sexual dimension between them was the final layer in the cake that looked suspiciously like a long-term relationship. Which he believed they could create. And he wanted to. He wanted to give it a shot with Amelia, because everything was better with her at his side. In business and in love.

And the longer he wandered, the more he realized that there was only one path forward.

If he wanted to convince her that he was being real with her, then he needed to be real with everyone.

It was time to fess up. To Stan himself.

17

JOSH

After a restless night sleeping on the farthest reaches of the bed, Josh woke up with renewed vigor the following morning. Christmas Eve was three days away, which meant that Amelia would be breaking away today or the next day to begin her previously planned Christmas vacation with her family. He didn’t have much time left—with her, or to convince the Lewises. Which meant he had to actnow.

“What’s on deck today?” Amelia asked after she’d taken her shower and finished her makeup. She’d stopped changing in front of him, stopped sleeping naked. There were lots of drawbacks to their recent freeze, and one of the worst ones was not being able to spoon her naked body at night.

They’d only been intimate for a couple of days, and already he felt like he’d wither if he didn’t get her every day for the rest of his life.

“Well, I scheduled a last-minute meeting with Stan,” Josh said tentatively, taking out his phone to check the message thread. He crossed his ankle over his knee, leaning back in the armchair in the bedroom. Stan was on board but hadn’t confirmed the time yet. “You should be there.” He paused, weighing his words before he admitted his plan. “I’m going to tell him that we’re not engaged and that this was all a ruse to get him to pick me.”

Amelia blinked, turning to face him. Her face was a neutral mask, one he was desperate to break through. “I’m sorry, what did you say?”

“I don’t want to win this hotel on a lie.” He cleared his throat, leaning forward to rest his elbows on his knees. “I don’t want to lose you on a lie either.”

Amelia’s throat bobbed, and she turned toward the closet to slip her feet into her black heels. “So what’s your plan?”

“I’ll be honest with him. I don’t care if I lose the deal because of it. I’ll tell your parents the same, if you want me to. Because if he picks me, I don’t want the win to be stained by the fact that it was dishonest.”

Amelia was quiet for so long that he worried she hadn’t heard him. But that was impossible. There was so much more he wanted to add, too. About them. About a future. But he had to choose his words carefully.

His phone buzzed then. Stan had sent a text that simply said:Now?

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