Page 11 of Mr. Valentine's Christmas

“Sure, we could. One for each of them. As long as they’re all living at the lodge.”

“Agreed.”

“We should talk to them,” Leo said. “After Christmas dinner.”

Turning around, I drew in a breath, and I opened the refrigerator door. “Sure,” I said, knowing what my father would say and what my mother would do. She’d be the key, though. There wouldn’t be any change unless I could convince my mother first.

“Ready to hear my news now?” Leo said.

“Is it bad? I’ve been on a rollercoaster all week and honestly, I don’t know how much more I can take.”

Leo was silent and I knew the news wasn’t going to be good. My head dropped. I sighed. “Go ahead. Tell me.”

“Are you sure?”

Straightening, I tipped my head back and shut the refrigerator. “Yeah, I’m sure,” I said, gazing up at the wood ceiling.

“We can’t give Grace the job.”

Did not expect that one.Leo wasn’t the type to pull rank on me for no reason, or dig in on an issue when he’s clearly lost the fight.

“Grace isn’t a problem, Leo. She was great in the interview. It wasn’t her fault you missed it.”

“No, that isn’t it.” Leo stayed silent for a moment, letting the tension build up between us. Finally, he said. “I…might…have…had sex with her other night.”

“What? Leo! What the fuck?”

“It was an honest mistake, I swear. We met in the hotel bar. She told me her name was Janet. I told her my name was Harry, like the prince. One thing led to another, anditjust happened. I didn’t realize who she was until I started working on the preparations for the press release. That’s when I saw her headshot in her candidate file.”

I shook my head. “This is unbelievable.”

“Yeah, I know right! No way someone as hot as her could be a Janet. A Janet is a seven at best, but Grace is a perfect ten.”

“No, Leo!Youare fucking unbelievable!“ I shouted on the phone. Burning rage had evaporated all of my patience. I had no more tolerance for my brother’s seemingly unquenchable sexual appetite. Shrugging I said, “I’m done. I’m done being the only sane person in the room. Listen closely to me. I will not rescind my offer to Grace. She will run V-Sparks’ Covington Falls office from L.A. for as long as the construction delays force her to. And while she’s there, doing the job I’ve already hired her to do, you will not touch her.”

“Lucas, I can’t—“

“Yes, you can,” I barked. “You can and you will. And you will swear it to me. Swear it, Leo.”

My brother sighed. Grumbling in defeat, he said, “I swear.”

“What?”

“I will not touch Grace.”

More convinced than ever that the universe was determined to make my life harder, I was relieved Leo gave me his word. Whether I believed he could keep it was another matter altogether. To Leo, Grace was a perfect ten, like Zoey was to me. If it were me in the same situation, I couldn’t resist the temptation to go back for more.

Zoey

AsIexpected,Lydia’srisotto was fantastic. She served it with lemon butter chicken, and wine. A lot of wine. Neither of us could stand up from the couch without falling into the other by the time we were done gossiping. Driving home wasn’t an option. I shuffled into Lydia’s guest bedroom, promptly falling asleep.

Lydia’s two-bedroom apartment had become a regular Friday night destination after work, especially if we had plans to hang out over the weekend. Once Lydia started seriously dating Zeke, we cut back on our sleepovers. Zeke felt a little guilty and tried setting me up with a few of his friends. Some of them were really handsome. But they were also my clients. Small town gossip often made for bad business. From early on, I had decided to prioritize the clinic over sex, over romance, and over love. Until my business stopped costing me money and started making me some.

The more I thought about it, the more I wondered if it felt so easy to say yes to Lucas because he wasn’t living in Covington Falls anymore. “See,” I whispered aloud. “It wasn’t just because his smile melts your panties.”

I inched my back up onto the pillows. Nursing my aching head, I flicked through the channels with the tv muted. and kept pressing the button on the remote. I gasped when Lucas’ beautiful face was gazing back at me.

His name and title as CEO of V-Sparks flashed on the screen for a few seconds then faded when the scene shifted from the studio to a shot of Lucas and the reporter striding around the enormous construction site almost a mile down the street from where I was in bed. According to the graphic in the top right corner of the tv screen, the interview aired months ago, a local broadcast I missed over the summer.

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