Page 8 of The Naughty Or Nice Clause

“I’m sure the clients and staff will appreciate it. I’ll speak to Sam about what happened.” She couldn’t shift the weight of responsibility she felt for the destruction. She had never thought the staff would do something so irresponsible –but then she remembered the crates of champagne.With that much alcohol, anything is possible.

“Since you’ve got what you wanted, and made my offices inhospitable in the process,” Klaus went on, “you owe me.” Lyla didn’t like the glint in his eye.

“Ouroffices,” she reminded him, “and I knew it was too good to be true. A leopard can’t change its stripes.”

He winced. “It’s spots. Anyway, I told you not to go ahead with the party, and you did, resulting in a fire that’s going to take a sizeable chunk out of our next budget. If we look at our contracts, you could lose your shares for such an action.”

“I paid for the party out of my own pocket, and the fire wasn’t my fault. I was with you when it was started!”

“You might have paid for the party, but I’ll have to pay for the construction. The company is low on capital, and the insurance won’t cover due to the cause.” He said it patiently, but she noticed that he rubbed his brow as if this conversation was taking a lot out of him. Lyla closed her eyes. Her own head was pounding, and she could see that he was right.

“Okay. Fine. I would rather see the back of you. What do you want? Me to work overtime? I’ll happily fill in and sacrifice my Christmas season if it means removing the stick from your—”

“I need you to come home with me for the holidays.”

From his blank expression, he wasn’t kidding.

“Home with you? Youmusthave hit your head when I left you.” She placed her head in her hands.

Jones started pawing at her, clearly looking for his breakfast. She stroked the ears of the ginger cat and headed for the kitchen.

“Not that I can recall– but I did wake up half-naked… and since my shirt and jacket were folded, I think you were there for that part.” He followed her past the old creaky staircase and into the lime-green kitchen; she could practically feel his grin boring into her back.

“I’m going to ignore that. Removing your clothes was your own work.” She sat Jones on his tower and went to the cupboard for the food, feeling Klaus watching her. She couldn’t stand the silence. “Why would you even want me to go home with you? We can’t be in the same room without killing each other.”

“I need a buffer between me and my family – someone without emotional complications. My father’s workshop will need to be organised; the family’s already overworked with the season. I have no choice, I can’t pretend my sister didn’t reach out,” he told her while she placed some dried food in Jones’s bowl.

“You’re serious.” Lyla searched his cold, dark eyes for any deception, but there wasn’t any hesitation in his response.

“Yes.”

“I can’t—”

“Why not?” he reasoned. “Mr Smurfit is on his honeymoon – the week in BaliIgifted him. I’m sure your friends would understand if something pressing comes up…”

Bali was his idea? How can he be so nice to my dad and so incorrigible in my company?

“I have plans with Sam and his husband,” she informed him. “I’m supposed to go to them for Christmas dinner. I have a marathon of movies to watch, and most importantly, I plan not to be around you.”

He scowled at her. “You see him every day at work, and they have each other. I’m sure they wouldn’t mind having a Christmas alone together.”

She delighted in the fact that he sounded slightly desperate. “Say please. Say, ‘Please, Lyla! Ineedyou to come home with me for the holidays’.”

He looked away from her and groaned. “Lyla, will you please come home with me for Christmas?”

“Say I need you,” she pressed, folding her arms.

“I need you,” he ground out, but once the words were out there was a sorrow in his eyes.

“Would it really be so hard to go back alone?”

“I said what you wanted – are you coming or not?” he asked impatiently.

She was horrified to realise that she was actually considering it.I wanted someone to face my first Christmas without Mum. And if he’s estranged from his family and so worried about their business, maybe Icouldhelp… It could be my charity work for the year…He shifted nervously as she thought.

“Fine – since you begged,” she said at last. “The party is my mess. I’ll help you, but we go as friends.”

Some colour returned to his cheeks. “It’s only until the 26th. I promise you’ll be back in Dublin after that, and we’ll never have to discuss it again. We’ll return as though nothing happened.”

---