Page 11 of The CEO's Christmas Wife

“Yeah, but there were two routes we could have taken. Most of the cars went left, and you went right.”

He shrugged and then looked up and down the street. “It was the fastest route going toward Atlanta. Most folks don’t know that.”

“But you do.”

He nodded. “I do.”

“May I ask how you know that?”

He looked down at me, rolled his eyes, and ordered in a harsh voice, “Let’s go in here.”

I turned to see that I had stopped right in front of a bed and breakfast sign. He tugged the luggage up the steps while I followed.

“Kayn, I have one last question. Please answer it,” I pleaded before he opened the door.

Kayn’s shoulders sagged, but he did not turn back around to face me. “Ask your question.”

“What’s this town to you?”

“Home.” He opened the door.

6

HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS

Kayn

“That was the last bed and breakfast in town. We’ll have to go to the car to sleep for the night and figure something out,” I explained thirty minutes later after we had visited three B&Bs.

“But it’s cold, Kayn. We can’t sleep in the car.”

Her eyes widened at my suggestion, and for the first time, that beautiful smile that always lit her face slipped. I wanted to do everything in my power to return that smile onto her full, heart-shaped lips and see that amber-colored, diamond-shaped face light up with happiness again.

I had no idea what was wrong with me. She was my executive administrative assistant, my employee. I had no right to think about li’l mama the way that I was.

“We don’t really have a lot of alternatives, Kandi. The bed and breakfast places are all booked for the holidays. It’s a tourist town. There’s no way that a vacancy will come open soon, especially not with the weather as bad as it is. I’ve got a blanket in my luggage. You can use that and my coat to keep warm. We’ll keep the heater on throughout the night. Then, in the morning, we’ll figure something else out.”

“Can we please stop at this diner and grab something to eat?” she asked.

I glanced at the sign a few feet away. Rhodes Diner was now The Mistletoe Diner. I guess they changed that with the growth of tourism. I wondered if the Rhodes family still owned it.

“Sure.”

Her eyes lit up again, and she tugged her laptop bag up her shoulder. I shifted my laptop bag to my other shoulder and grabbed the two rolling bags before I followed her.

We were seated and had ordered within ten minutes. Kandi ordered the loaded baked potato soup, a salad, and hot cocoa. I ordered a pork chop, mashed potatoes, green beans, and iced tea. We ate in silence as I pondered our situation, and I was sure that Kandi was doing the same thing.

When the waitress returned with the check, Kandi grabbed her attention. “Excuse me, ma’am.”

“Yes? Is there something else that I can do for you?”

“Uhm, we were stranded on the main road. Our car won’t make it through the snow.”

“Yeah, we’ve had quite a few visitors to the town with the same issue. It sucks,” the waitress stated and shook her head.

“All the bed and breakfasts are booked up, and I checked online and you all don’t have any Airbnbs here.”

“No reason to. Two hotels on the edge of town about a couple of miles out serve the tourists, but they’re always booked five months in advance for the Christmas season. Most folks here own their homes and have been here forever. They ain’t going anywhere,” she explained with a smirk and looked at me.

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