Your Christmas Love (The Bennett Family 10)

“That’s an unexpected act of mercy.”

“I’m much nicer when I’m half asleep.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

I felt ridiculous in my overalls with my messy hair. But I’d feel even more ridiculous if I went to shower and change now. I was going to keep working anyway. I did head to the bathroom to brush my hair and pull it up in a high ponytail though. I almost put on makeup.

That would be ridiculous.

I splashed some water on my face, happy I was finally waking up. When I returned to the living room, Winston was already sanding the walls. He’d gotten rid of his sweater. He wore a white shirt that was so thin he could just as well be naked.

I allowed myself a few moments in which I did nothing but check him out. A girl needed to take some time for herself and indulge. Nothing wrong with that.

“I can feel you looking at me,” he said lazily, glancing at me over his shoulder. Aha... nothing wrong until I got caught in the act.

“I was just assessing your skills,” I said as nonchalantly as possible.

“And? Did I pass the test?”

“With flying colors.”

“So why don’t you get to work too?”

“Maybe my devious plan was to get you here and let you do all the work. Boss you around for a change.”

“That’s not how it works, Sienna.”

He was doing that thing again where he was turning my knees weak even from a distance. Those alpha vibes were traveling at the speed of light.

With shaky legs, I got to work. He was just doing me a favor. Because I was doing him a favor. We were basically scratching each other’s backs. And then my thoughts derailed completely... I could imagine my fingers scratching that perfectly toned back, and those abs. Yum.

Damn. I needed to concentrate on my task. I had trouble reconciling the bossy suit from the office with the man in front of me.

I was starting to believe that Winston really might not be the hellish boss I’d pegged him for, just under a lot of stress. Sometimes that could stretch one’s tolerance and patience.

The more time we spent on the rebranding campaign, the more I believed that this wasn’t just change for the sake of change. He was under a lot of pressure; I just couldn’t imagine from whom. He was the boss. His parents were calm, gentle people from what everyone told me, so I couldn’t imagine the pressure coming from his family’s side.

Not having a movie run in the background meant silence stretched between us. I’d never done well with silence, so I started talking.

“It’s good I’ve already done the upper floor. We should finish this in the evening.”

“Why do you live by yourself in a house this big? Does it have two bedrooms?”

“Three large ones and a smaller one. I lived here with my siblings for a while, before Victoria and Christopher got together, and then we moved into his penthouse. But I’ve always loved this house, so when it was time for me to get my own place, I came here. We moved here after losing my parents. It had been shabby back then too, but we’d made it a home. Victoria is a decorator, so she knows how to turn any space around.”

“How come there is such a huge age gap between you and your siblings?”

“They had Victoria when they were young, and I was a late surprise. After me, they adopted Chloe and Lucas. My parents had always wanted a big family. We did so many things together as a group. Decorating for Halloween and Christmas was always a huge deal.”

“I’m surprised you haven’t hung any Christmas things here.”

I placed my free hand on my hip. “Do not mock my love for Christmas.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it.” His lips were curled into a smile. Oh, this insufferable man.

“I just wanted to finish the renovations first, so the decorations don’t get all dirty.”

“You and my mom would get on well,” he said.