A Mistletoe Kiss with the Boss

Her gaze jumped to his.

He raised his arm, putting the mistletoe directly above them before he put his hand on her shoulder and stepped closer. Her eyes widened, but he didn’t give her time to ponder or protest. He dipped his head and pressed his lips to hers.

CHAPTER NINE

SURPRISE AND INSTINCT caused Kristen to lift her lips and kiss him back. He took advantage and nudged a bit, encouraging her to open her mouth. When she did, he deepened the kiss and all the breath stalled in her lungs. His lips were smooth and sleek, his kiss experienced.

Desire whooshed through her. Her brain stopped. Wonderful urges spun through her. She shoved her hotel room key into her coat pocket, stepped closer and smoothed her hands up his silky shirt, over his shoulders until they met at his nape. Another half step eased her body against his chest.

It was heaven. As his hungry mouth took hers, and his hands slid down her back, then up again, the whole world slimmed down to just him and her, and spiraling sensations that made her feel dizzy and warm and just a little confused.

Then he broke the kiss and stepped back, away from her.

Kristen stared at him. Her heart beat crazily. Her thoughts sambaed. The mouth he’d just kissed so thoroughly couldn’t form words.

“It was really nice to meet you, Kristen Anderson. Good luck with your charity. When the time comes, let Stella know and you’ll have your computers.”

She watched his long-legged stride take him down the hall to the elevator, her entire body shimmering.

The man had kissed her! And not like some soulless nerd, like a poet—a love-starved poet.

Her brain couldn’t sort it out. He’d barely wanted to hold her hand the day before. He’d absolutely walked away from a kiss at this very same hotel room door. But tonight after she’d all but ignored him, he’d kissed her.

She didn’t know what to think, except that his parting words were definitely a goodbye.

She tried not to read too much into the wistful way he’d said goodbye, and the puzzling sadness that tightened her throat as he turned a corner and disappeared from view. Each was for nothing. They both knew how this worked. No matter how attracted he might be to her, men like him didn’t date ordinary girls.

They also didn’t deal with assistants—even if said assistant was executive assistant to a princess. As he’d said, he’d be communicating with the royal family from here on out. When she needed her computers, she’d be talking with Stella. She’d never see or speak to him again.

She shook herself to force away the sadness that brought, and opened the door to her suite. If he and his staff planned to be in Grennady the next day, and he intended to communicate with the royal family, she couldn’t spend her time wondering about a stupid kiss and a sexy, interesting, but patently unusual man. She had some calls to make.

She tossed her coat onto an available chair and found her phone. After calculating the time difference between midnight in New York and middle of the day in Xaviera, she dialed.

Princess Eva answered on the second ring.

“Kristen?”

Eva’s voice was soft and sweet, but there was a thread of steel that ran through it. She might be a wonderful person, but she was a future queen. A strong woman destined to rule a country.

“Please don’t fire me.”

“Fire you?” Eva laughed. “You’re the best assistant I’ve ever had. What could you have possibly done to be fired?”

She took a long drink of air to steady her nerves, then said, “I’ve been watching you and Alex try to entice a tech company to Grennady.”

“Yes.”

“I also know your list had dwindled. There was no one left to contact.”

“That’s a subject we intend to revisit in January.”

She swallowed. “Well, you may not have to. I approached Dean Suminski—”

“Of Suminski Stuff?”

“Yes.”

“Oh, no! Alex hates him.”

Kristen said, “I know.”

“Then why would you approach him?”

“At the time, I didn’t know Alex hated him. I just thought maybe you and Alex didn’t think we stood a chance with him.”

“Oh, Kristen!”

She paced into the bedroom of the suite out of the area that reminded her of Dean helping her with her coat, talking about the press, and them deciding they could “date” for real. All of that was just so confusing. In a couple of days of being with Dean Suminski, she’d really grown to like him. But he didn’t want anything to do with her.