Their Festive Island Escape

Still, the encounter shouldn’t have shaken her up as much as it had. She was a professional, after all. And she’d certainly suffered through worse humiliation. The best thing to do would be to try to just forget about the whole incident and put it completely behind her. She would chalk it up to yet one more instance of a negative holiday memory. As if she needed any more of those.

With a calming inhalation of breath, she sank to the carpeted floor. She would meditate until the whole interaction with the wayward St. Nick was nothing more than a mere ghost of a thought in her head. Relaxing all her muscles, she began to count down from ten. Then she did nothing but clear her mind.

It wasn’t easy.

* * *

Knock. Knock. Knock.

Celeste had no idea how much time had passed before the annoying knocking roused her out of her deep state of meditative trance. Was it too much to ask for just some calming time after the morning she’d had? Apparently, this day was just going to be one irritation after another.

“Room service,” came a soft, feminine voice from the other side of her door.

It took a moment to reorient as Celeste forced herself to stand from her cross-legged sitting position on the floor. Her leg muscles screamed in protest at the abrupt movement as she walked to the door.

“There’s been some kind of mistake,” she said to the petite uniformed woman standing outside with a cart. “I haven’t ordered any room service.”

The woman smiled as she shook her head. “This is on the house, madam.” Without waiting for acknowledgment, she wheeled the cart toward the center of the room.

“I don’t understand?”

The woman’s smile didn’t falter as she answered. “No charge, madam. Compliments of the resort.” She handed her an envelope that had sat in the middle of the tray. With that, she pivoted on her heel and left the room.

Celeste blinked in confusion at the shut door before understanding dawned. Sure enough, when she read the note, her suspicion was confirmed.

Please accept this complimentary gesture as a token of appreciation and regret that you may have been inconvenienced in any way this morning.

Sincerely, The Baja Majestic Resort.

Someone in upper management must have witnessed the unpleasantness between her and Santa earlier this morning. She studied the goodies before her on the food service cart. They’d certainly made an effort to appease her. A silver carafe of steaming hot coffee sat in the center of the tray. A chilled bottle of champagne sent a curl of frost into the air. Orange juice and a variety of pastries rounded out the offerings. Not bad at all as a conciliatory gesture. Someone was trying hard to make things up to her. A foolish part of her felt guilty that perhaps bad Santa might have been chastised harshly by his superiors. Or even worse, that he’d been fired.

He may have been an overbearing clod, but he didn’t deserve to have his livelihood jeopardized. She would have to look into that. The desk attendant in the concierge lounge would surely know exactly what had transpired and the ultimate outcome that had led to the enticing cart she’d just had delivered. A visit later this afternoon wouldn’t hurt. If he had been let go, it was probably not too late for her to intervene. Not that he deserved her good will. Still, she would be the bigger person if needed.

It was a role she’d been well groomed for her whole life, after all.

CHAPTER TWO

“ONE OF THE guests would like to see you, mi paadie.”

Reid looked up from the spreadsheet he’d been studying to the man who had just entered his office without knocking. Alex was co-owner of the property and Reid felt grateful every day for that fact. He wasn’t sure what he would have done without the other man’s intimate knowledge of the island and its customs. Not to mention his sharp head for business.

Though Alex definitely had one flaw: a clear aversion to knocking before entering a closed door. Not that Reid had been doing much in the way of concentrating just now. A set of light hazel eyes and tumbling dark hair had interrupted his thoughts unwanted and unbidden throughout the morning. He wondered if she’d liked the tray of goodies he’d had sent to her room. Would she find it all an adequate apology? Or had she huffed in disgust and pushed the tray aside. He suspected the latter. Not that he could really blame her if she had.