A Mistletoe Kiss with the Boss

Her eyes widened. “On your own?”

“Yes.” He smiled. “I took one of the buses that runs to the slopes and rented a board.”

A laugh bubbled up. “No kidding.”

“On the slopes I had some interesting revelations.”

“Sounds serious.”

He spun her around to change that mood. What he felt for her was serious, but it was also fun. Spontaneous. Wonderful. Snowboarding for the first time in a decade, he realized he’d already pushed through the hard stuff. Meeting her parents. Talking about his situation in front of them. Decorating a tree with her family. Eating cookies. And he knew that with everything in their relationship moving at the speed of light, he shouldn’t stop what was happening between them. He should grab this opportunity and run with it.

But he wouldn’t tarnish that by being ominous. He liked wonderful. He could get addicted to wonderful.

“My revelation wasn’t serious as much as it was true. Coming to terms with everything with Prince Alex at dinner last night, I felt like I was knocked back to the place I was ten years ago.”

She frowned. “Ten years ago? When you were starting out?”

Her question reminded him of Jason’s comment that she reminded him of Nina. It was ridiculous. She was nothing like Nina. “When I met the Saudi prince I wasn’t so much starting out as I was collecting capital. I knew I was good at what I did. I was also learning to have fun.” His eyes met hers. She might be “nothing” like Nina, but they did have the common denominator that they’d both pushed him out of his comfort zone to have fun. “You reminded me that I like to have fun.”

“Everybody likes to have fun.”

“Yeah, but some of us need to learn how to do it.” Kristen had brought him into her family. Nina had eased him into her social circle.

She smiled. “Well, you caught on really quickly.”

His chest pinched with a pleasure-pain. This was why he liked her. And what made her different from Nina. Kristen didn’t flirt. She didn’t have to flirt to make him feel good about himself, or life, or her. All she had to do was make him feel normal, worthy, honorable...and she did that by being herself, letting him be himself.

So though there were similarities between her and Nina; there were also differences. Big differences. “I like having fun.”

“But...?”

“No but. Just a statement.” He blamed Jason’s stupid comment for the fact that he was fumbling for what he really wanted to say. That she was warm. That she was honest. That she was everything he wanted.

The music stopped and they drifted out of their dance hold, but he didn’t let go of her hand. He needed to take her somewhere out of the ballroom. Somewhere they could talk. As he glanced around for a doorway that might lead to a private alcove, there was a commotion at the entry, and then King Mason strode to the stage, carrying a baby.

He took the microphone. “For those who don’t know, this is James Tiberius Sancho.” He kissed the little boy’s cheek. “He’s my daughter’s nephew by marriage. Dom and Ginny Sancho’s son.”

Dark haired, dark eyed, the child was as cute as a kid could be. The people clustered around the stage testified to that with their “Aw, isn’t he cute,” and “What a beautiful little boy.”

Dom and Ginny stood only a few feet away, proud, beaming parents, with Ginny’s mom and Dom’s dad, the King and Queen of Xaviera, now also married, looking on like the happiest grandparents in the world.

Kristen laughed. “That kid is going to be one spoiled child.”

Dean slid a glance to her. “Yeah, well, he is going to be a king someday.”

“His parents will make sure he’s raised right,” Kristen said with authority. “Dom looks all cool and sophisticated, but he’s got a father’s heart.”

A father’s heart.

Dean’s throat tightened. He had absolutely no idea what that was. Nina might have been able to ease him into her social group, and Kristen might be able to ease him into her family, but no amount of “easing” could make up for the shortcomings that counted.

Kristen tugged on his hand. “Come on. Let’s go say good-night.”