Holiday Sparks

His fingers tightened along her hips, riding the curve of her backside. “I like it a little too much, but I’m not exactly for voyeurism.”

“Too bad.” Shocked that it came out of her mouth, she detangled herself. “I—”

He laughed. “Kinky manager. Oh darlin’, we’ll have some fun.”

She stopped. “We will?”

He paused, then nodded. “I think we both could use it.”

“Even if I hate Christmas?”

“I’ll change your mind.”

“You are one cocky man.”

“Just about making you have some fun. I’m good at it.”

Of that she had no doubt. “Work first.”

He curled an arm around her waist, brushing his fingertips along the curve of her rib cage. “Authoritative women are hot.”

She pushed him back, delight beating down the doubt. “Well, then you’ll love me.”

His smile slipped a bit. “Do you need to go talk to boss lady?”

“She’s going to come up and check on us in a few minutes.”

“Then let’s get to work. I have most of the lights set up on switches. Now we just have to follow the grid I made up.” He scooted back, grabbed a graph notebook and handed it to her.

She crisscrossed her legs, settling beside him again. The tree was to scale, and was damn close to a photograph representation. The man was talented. He had each bough sectioned off with a string of lights and labeled with letters. Along the side there was a paragraph of code that meant less than nothing to her. She turned the page and found scribbled notes and a rough sketch of the registers with more lights labeled. The fat retro ones were obvious and the tiny twinkle lights were so effortlessly weaved throughout she didn’t even know how to react.

Through Ben’s eyes, the store would be beautiful.

He was going to put her on the path of assistant manager. With Christmas.

The irony wasn’t lost on her.

She turned to him. “This is amazing.”

He took the notebook with a smile. “It’s going to be amazing when I get it set up.”

She brushed her hand over his shoulder. “Let me just brush a little of that confidence off you, Ben.”

He rolled onto his knees. “You want this store to be the best. I’m the best.”

“What did I say about that confidence?”

“I’ve been working on this for years. Now I get to implement it on a grand scale. I’m going to make this so good you’ll be able to feel Christmas right into your bones. And you’re going to love it.”

“It’s just lights.” But she wasn’t so certain anymore. The pure determination in his eyes was contagious. She straightened her shoulders, not willing to back down. “You’re going to make my career, Ben.”

A little of the cocky swagger faded as he changed course and slid out the back of the tree. “I hope I change your mind about Christmas at the same time.”

She followed him. The moment was lost. Because of her. But this was about business and she had to remember that. “What do I need to do?”

“I’ll head back up the ladder. Why don’t you work on the bottom branches? I’ve got it sectioned off into four.” He handed her the notebook and climbed the ladder with an armful of

the retro lights.