Page 91 of Five Days of Christmas Spice

“Rosa, can I have Holly Burkholder’s address?”

Rosa smiles and taps on her keyboard. “Sure. Want me to text it to you?”

“Yes.”

At the door to my private suite, I pause. “And Rosa? Can you book me the next flight out for Edmonton?”

“I can do that,” Rosa says.

“Good for you, Noel,” Axel reaches over and squeezes my shoulder.

I nod and go through the door, taking the stairs two at a time. I have to pack.

Theo is right. I have to go tell Holly that she is mine.

20 HOLLY

DECEMBER 31ST

“Holly, go home. It’s New Year’s Eve,” My boss says, leaning against my door.

“I won’t be much longer,” I tell him.

“Good job with Xander Durand. I thought I was going to have a heart attack.”

“You and me both.” I meet my boss’s stare.

“That was a great save.” Mr. Preston raps his knuckles against my door. “See you next week.”

I gather the files on my desk and lock them in my filing cabinet.

Getting Xander on the plane to L.A. with his leg-in-a-cast-toddler had been a feat. It took hours of me on the phone, cajoling and promising. Yesterday I had to meet him at the airport to make sure his butt was in that first-class seat while Meg and my other assistant, Charlie, worked to find a nanny in L.A. and a doctor that would follow the toddler’s recovery.

I told my assistants to go home at noon and celebrate that it’s another year. I turn the blinds on my windows, glancing around my cool contemporary office.

I’m proud of the work I do here. I know it doesn’t seem like much to be a hand holder, but this is the career I wanted to pursue; helping to make people’s dreams come true is something that drives me. It fulfils me, meeting that quest for bigger.

And yes, sometimes I’d like a break from the pressure and the stress of the job, but nothing is worth losing everything I’ve worked so hard for.

I pick up my briefcase. Throw on my favourite pair of boots. Since returning from Vixen’s Paradise, I have been going nonstop.

And it’s been to keep my mind off how I left it with Noel. I didn’t even explain; I made no apology and told him we were done.

If it was the right thing to do, why do I feel so lousy?

I lean my head against the elevator, tears welling in my eyes.

Maybe there was another way I could have handled it.

Yeah, with honesty.

But if I had told Noel that he was trying to buy my Gran’s farm right from the start, would he see me as anything other than his opponent?

I scoff to myself at the irony.

Every day in this office, I want to be seen as fierce and independent, cool and smart, someone you can’t push around and someone who doesn’t give in easily. You could say that I spend my working days in the role of opponent.

Noel didn’t know who I was, and he flirted with me on the plane. He treated me as if I was a sexy woman, someone like-minded who played in the lifestyle. That made me feel good, sexy and wanted.

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