His time with Kristen was almost at an end. And he had some decisions to make in the few minutes left of their drive to her hotel.
He debated a couple of things, but in the end, he knew Mrs. Flannigan was simply too powerful to ignore. He was going to have to take his staff to Grennady. He fingered the mistletoe in his overcoat pocket. But to keep things simple and protect Kristen, he also had to cut Kristen out of the picture.
They got out of the limo and for the first time in two days there was no paparazzi following them.
Kristen noticed too. “No press?”
“It’s late and cold, and we gave them enough pictures yesterday to keep them happy.”
She said, “Ah,” as he held open the door for her.
They walked to the elevator in total silence and waited for it to arrive in equal silence.
She gave him a confused look when he followed her inside, but he said nothing. When the elevator reached her floor, he walked out with her, staying as quiet as they had in the limo.
At the door, she turned to him with a polite smile. “Thank you very much for this evening. Heck, thanks for introducing me to Mrs. Flannigan. She’s wonderful. Perfect. I know that with her help my charity will be up and running in about half the time it would have taken me alone.”
He smiled. “Probably even less than that. She’s very powerful.” He smiled again. “And she likes you.”
“I like her too.”
Pride for her surged through him. Not because she was great, but because she was honest. She genuinely liked Mrs. Flannigan, and with her assistance Kristen probably would changes the lives of hundreds of thousands of women, maybe millions, over her lifetime.
“You’ll make a good team.”
“Thanks.”
For the first time all night, she looked him in the eye. The effect was instantaneous. Dean’s heart swelled again. His breath froze in his lungs.
And he knew this had to be the last time he saw her. If he let her stay in his life, he wouldn’t be able to resist this pull.
Digging her key card out of her purse, she said, “I’ll be in touch when it comes time for the computers.”
“Good.”
She turned to open her door, but he stopped her. “Not so fast, Cinderella. You want me and my company in Grennady, and it looks like you’ve got us there.”
Her eyes widened. “Really?”
“You heard what Mrs. Flannigan said.”
She frowned. “Yes, but everybody’s been saying that and you didn’t appear to have taken any of them seriously.”
“Mrs. Flannigan’s a brilliant businesswoman. And she wields a lot of power. Not taking her advice would be like asking her to downgrade my stock.”
“So you’re moving your company to Grennady?”
“Temporarily. If my staff can finish this project before the first of the year, I will consider a permanent move.”
“But that’s three weeks! And Christmas is in there!”
“Yeah. Bad luck for you. If I were you, I’d be on the phone tonight, finding office space. And I hope you have a strategy for handling Prince Alex because once we get to Grennady I’ll be dealing exclusively with the royal family.”
That was how he planned to circumvent his unwanted feelings around Kristen. He would simply push her out of his life by working only with King Mason or Princess Eva. He had it all figured out.
But that didn’t mean he didn’t recognize that something wonderful was passing him by. He’d never before felt the way he felt around her. He knew he wasn’t made for what she wanted or needed. But he also knew what he felt for her was special. She was special.
And he couldn’t walk away without a kiss.
He fingered the chunk of mistletoe he’d taken from Mrs. Flannigan’s huge display. His heartbeat slowed as his brain cleared. He deserved at least one kiss. He wasn’t the guy who would get the girl. He wasn’t a guy who was going to have a happily-ever-after—
But surely he was entitled to one little kiss from the first woman who made him think happily-ever-after might exist.
And even if he wasn’t, he was taking one.
He pulled the mistletoe from his pocket. “You said this only works if it’s overhead...right?”