A Mistletoe Kiss with the Boss

His baby.

He shook his head to clear it of the totally absurd thought.

She pointed to a discreet sign on a table only a few feet away. She said, “Thirty-one,” and started moving toward it.

He breathed a sigh of relief. Not that the vision was gone, but also that she’d finally started walking. They reached their seats and he pulled out her chair for her.

She sat. “I want lots of kids.”

He sat beside her. The discussion might not have changed, but it had shifted off him and to her. That he could handle. “While you’re globe-trotting for your schools?”

“There are ways around that. Like nannies. And my mom.” She laughed. “I don’t have a doubt that she’ll be a hands-on grandmother.”

His breath stalled as a memory of his own grandmother popped into his head. If she’d been “hands-on” it had been with her palm to his bottom when she’d decided that he’d misbehaved.

He rose and shook hands when another couple arrived at their table, working to bring himself back from the memory of his grandmother paddling him for spilling milk when he was five or asking for a baseball mitt when he was seven.

But as he frantically struggled to block his bleak, solitary childhood from his brain, Kristen said, “I can’t imagine not having my own family. I mean, I love my parents and all, but I want a crack at being a mom. Teaching someone everything I know.”

An empty feeling filled him and on its heels came an envy so strong it was a battle not to close his eyes. She must have had a wonderful childhood. But being jealous was stupid, pointless. He’d gotten over his hollow beginnings years ago. Being lonely had forced him to entertain himself, and that ultimately had made him rich. He was pragmatic about his past. So, it shouldn’t make him feel bad that his childhood had been crap. Just as it shouldn’t make him jealous that Kristen was so confident in her decision to have kids. Or make him wonder how much fun the family she intended to create would be.

Dinner was served, a very untraditional meal of steak and vegetables. To his surprise, Kristen ate with gusto. While the wives of his counterparts pushed their food around their plates, Kristen ate every bite of her steak and was on the edge of her seat waiting for dessert. Crème brûlée.

Then he realized they hadn’t fed her all day. He’d had a sandwich and fries delivered to his office as he’d made all his calls to brokers, but he’d forgotten to tell Stella that Kristen hadn’t eaten. And skinny Stella was known to skip meals.

He leaned over and whispered, “I’m sorry we forgot lunch.”

Her head tilted as she smiled. “I slept the day away. I was fine.”

Her pretty face made his breath stutter again. Her smooth, pink skin glowed in the candlelight. Her genuine smile warmed him. She wasn’t faking having a good time.

And hadn’t she said she needed a good time?

Ignoring the odd happiness that filled him when he realized he’d done something to please her, he motioned to her plate. “You were obviously starving.”

She frowned. “You think I was starving because I ate all my steak?” She burst out laughing. “I eat like that all the time.”

Her laugh made him laugh. Muscles he hadn’t even realized were knotted untangled. She really was the most honest, most open person he’d ever met. He might feel the need to fight all the crazy feelings she inspired, but he simply could not help relaxing around her.

Gina McMurray, wife of Tim McMurray, leaned across the table. “I didn’t mean to eavesdrop but, oh, my God, I would love to eat like that.”

Sherri Johnson said, “Me too. I can’t, though. I’d blow up like a cow. What’s your secret?”

Kristen said, “Good metabolism probably. But my parents own a dairy farm. I still do my fair share of the chores.”

Sherri nodded. “When I ran around after my kids, I didn’t have to worry about weight, either.”

Gina said, “I guess it’s all about moving.”

As the women chatted, Dean glanced over at Kristen and let her work her magic. He now trusted her enough not to worry about what she’d say or how she’d say it. He liked hearing her tell their tablemates about her life. She was interesting. She worked for a princess, lived on a farm very different from anything he’d ever experienced and had a degree that she intended to use to start a charity that built schools. While she did all that, she wanted to have kids, and teach them to be citizens of the world.