Heating up the Holidays

His gaze flicked down to her breasts which were pressed against his chest. “Shame you don’t have any clothes with you.”

“I have some in my car.”

He brushed his lips over hers. “Sweetheart, believe me, you won’t need them.”

Twenty minutes later, after a quick shower, Brad tossed on a pair of boxer briefs, loaned Toni a T-shirt, then led her into the kitchen. He noted her looking around while he poured their wine and he wondered if this might be a good time to broach the subject that had been on his mind for days-Christmas. And them spending the holiday-or at least part of it-together. He’d delayed mentioning it for fear she’d say no, but since Christmas Eve was tomorrow, he didn’t have a huge window of time left to work with.

“I like your house,” she said, leaning against the counter, her gaze tracking over the white kitchen cabinets, then into the den with its coffee-colored sectional sofa, oak entertainment center and flat screen TV. “Do you own it or rent it?”

“Own. My grandfather passed away a few years ago and left me a little money. I figured a house, even a small house, was a good investment.”

Handing her a glass, his gaze wandered down her form. The soft white cotton clung to her every curve and barely covered the essentials. “I like the way you look in my T-shirt.”

She smiled and accepted the glass. “I think you’re just easy to please.”

“Actually, I’m very particular. Especially about who wears my T-shirts.”

She raised her glass. “Happy holidays.”

“Happy holidays,” he repeated, touching his rim to hers. After taking a sip, he said in a casual tone, “Speaking of the holidays, what are your plans?”

“I’ll be heading to Santa Barbara tomorrow after work for Christmas Eve dinner-aka The Huge Italian Seafood Festival-at my mother’s. Spending the night there, then Christmas Day at my sister’s house. Much eating, opening of gifts and the inevitable arguments will ensue. How about you?”

“I’m on duty from seven tomorrow morning til seven Christmas morning. After that I’ll catch some sleep then head over to my folks’ house. My brother and his wife will be there, too.” He moved to stand in front of her. Reached out and tucked a silky curl behind her ear. “I was thinking maybe you’d like to join us. Either for dinner, or dessert, or just a drink.”

She went perfectly still. Even in the muted light he could see she paled a bit. “You mean like… meet the family?”

Uh-oh. Didn’t sound like she liked the idea. Part of his brain warned him to back off, but the other part told him to push on. Hell, she’d have to meet them sooner or later. Besides, he’d already issued the invite-he couldn’t take it back now. “They don’t bite,” he said lightly. “At least not much.”

The loudest silence he’d ever heard seemed to echo through the room. Finally she set down her wineglass, then stepped away from him. “Look, Brad, I don’t think-”

A faint musical ring tone interrupted her words. She frowned and cocked her head. “That’s my cell phone. And it’s Jayne’s ring tone. I left her at the store to finish a centerpiece. I’m sorry-I don’t think she’d call unless something was wrong.” She hurried toward the foyer where her coat hung on the brass coatrack.

“No problem,” he called after her, grasping on to any excuse to not have her finish the very unpromising sounding thing she’d been about to say. He felt, literally, saved by the bell. “I need to see to the steaks anyway. Take your time.”

TONI ESCAPED to the foyer, feeling literally, saved by the bell. Brad’s suggestion that she meet his family, share part of the Christmas holiday with him, with them, had stunned her. Meeting the family was…serious. Which was why most guys avoided it like the plague. God knows she had no intention of bringing home any man she didn’t intend to marry. Unless, of course, she wanted to scare the guy off- one meeting with her evil-eye-giving family would surely send him screaming into the night.

No one brought their one-night stand to meet their parents. And no one invited their casual sex partner to a holiday meal. It simply wasn’t done. Clearly Brad believed that their one-okay three-night stand was something more than sex.

It is something more than sex, you doofus, her inner voice testily informed her. Just because you don’t want it to be and keep denying it, doesn’t make it any less true.

Drat. Her and her pain-in-the-ass inner voice were going to have a serious talk right after she finished with her phone call. She fished her cell from her coat pocket and flipped it open.

“Hi, Jayne. What’s up?”

“Hey, Toni. I’m so sorry to interrupt your date-”

“No problem. Trouble with the centerpiece?”

“No. It’s finished. But when I was putting the copy of the invoice on your desk, I found something odd and figured I’d better ask you about it.”

“What is it?”

“An order. It was underneath the book of bank-deposit slips. It’s in your handwriting, but it hasn’t been entered in either the appointment book or the order ledger.”

Toni frowned. Impossible. As soon as an order was taken it was entered into both logs. “What’s it for?”

“Saint Mary’s Cathedral. For five dozen poinsettias, six altar arrangements, and three dozen smaller arrangements. You noted on the order that the church van would arrive at 10:00 a.m. on the twenty-fourth for pickup. Since the twenty-fourth is tomorrow-”

“Oh. My. God.” Toni froze. Then the bottom seemed to fall out of her stomach. For several seconds the room actually went dark and dots swam before her eyes. Pressing her hand against her churning midriff, she leaned against the wall and tried to catch her stuttering breath.

The order for Saint Mary’s Cathedral. The huge order. The sort of high-profile order that could mean tons of business for her. The sort of order that could result in enough revenues to insure a successful bank evaluation. She’d spoken to the church secretary on the phone earlier in the week. Taken the order. She’d been very excited about getting it, but at the same time distracted. In a rush. Because by the time she hung up with the woman Toni had realized she was running late for her first “little dinner” at Sea Shells with Brad. So instead of doing what she should have done-taking the time to enter the order in the proper books, she’d left it on her desk and hurried off to get ready for her evening with Brad, promising herself she’d take care of the paperwork first thing in the morning. Instead she’d clearly set the bank-deposit book on top of the order. And had completely forgotten all about it. Until just now. Oh, God.

How could she have forgotten? How could she not have remembered it for four whole days?

But, of course, she knew the answer.

Brad.

Since that first night together, she’d been wandering around in a sensual, lust-glazed, emotionally confused haze. Instead of concentrating on her work and her business, she’d allowed her thoughts to wander to him constantly. She’d known getting involved right now was a mistake-that her business required all her focus. But had she listened to her better judgment? No. Instead she’d allowed her attention to be diverted. And now she was facing a business disaster of biblical proportions. If she’d failed to fill the order…God, she couldn’t even think of the consequences. The lost business of such a big client, and the other work that could have potentially come her way if she satisfied them. The black mark against her and her reputation. As it was, she wasn’t certain she’d be able to pull it all together.

“Toni, are you okay?”

She moistened her dust-dry lips. “Actually, no. All I can say is thank goodness you found that order and called me.”

“So it’s legit?”

“I’m afraid so.” She quickly explained her error.

“Oh, boy,” Jayne said. “That’s not good. We don’t have enough on hand to fill this order.”

“I know,” Toni said, her mind racing. “I’m on my way to the shop. The flower market opens at 4:00 a.m. I’ll put together as much as I can using what we have, then I’ll be at the market when it opens.”

“I’ll start preparing what roses we have right now,” Jayne said.