“Is that what you’re really apologizing for? Because you’ve had no problem being a dick to me in the past.” Devyn leaned into the dirty white siding of the house.
He gritted his teeth again. “Okay, no. That’s not all.”
She raised an eyebrow at him. “Then I’m waiting for the rest.”
“Can you not just accept the apology?” Chad growled.
Devyn’s eyes grew.“No. You came to my house and interrupted me while I’m off the clock to apologize to me. I’m not just going to accept your damn apology. You should be apologizing for pushing me up against a wall and shoving your tongue down my throat without at least asking me if I was okay with it first.”
“You didn’t seem to be complaining much,” he retorted, a smirk growing on his lips as the memory flooded his brain.
Devyn’s face grew hot. She paused, trying to count backwards from ten.
“Is that all, Chad? Because I’d like to get back to what I was doing before you decided to ring my doorbell.”
Devyn turned to go back into the warm house despite the loud Christmas carols and tree branches that awaited her.. He caught her arm, pulling her back away from the door.
“Devyn please—,”
She spun around. “Do not put your hands on me like that ever again.”
Chad pulled away.
“Earlier wasn’t supposed to happen. I’ve worked really hard to stay away from you, but then I let it happen anyway. I don’t know why, but I just lost control.”
Her eyes softened and she peered up to him. Mentally, Devyn cursed herself. She felt as though she let her defense, down too soon.
“Are you saying you’ve wanted to do that before today?”
Chad looked away, stealing a glance into the house. He saw Maria, tugging the green tote full of Christmas decorations from the couch and onto a coffee table next to her.
His eyes met hers. “Yes.”
Devyn let her breath sit in her throat, pausing to let his words sink in. After all the time he had spent insulting her, he had been wishing to wrap his arms around her and press their mouths together.
“That would have been much better than you screaming at me everyday.”
His expression hardened. “Funny.”
A smile flickered on her lips, the curve of her mouth pointing up.
“Am I keeping you?” He pointed inside.
Devyn looked puzzled, but then remembered the task she was leaving inside.
“Oh.” She hesitated. “No, it’s okay. I hate putting up the tree.”
A cold breeze grazed her skin, sending shivers down her spine. She rubbed her skin harder trying to generate some heat.
He raised an eyebrow at her. “Why?”
“I just don’t like Christmas.” She shrugged.
“Have you ever liked Christmas?”
“Not really,” she admitted, her hot breath making a cloud in the air. She looked out into the city at the snow that was beginning to fall. “Christmas reminds me of my mom and I don’t like my mom.”
Devyn looked back up at him, eyes softened at the mention of her mother.
“Why don’t you like your mom?”
“You’re nosy.” She gave him a sharp stare.
“You just told me you didn’t like her. You can’t expect me not to ask.”
She rolled her eyes at him. “Whatever. It’s not a secret. I don’t know why I'm pretending it is.” Devyn sighed. “Drugs. She chose drugs over me. She always made the holidays miserable, so I just avoid them. I hate the Secret Santa they make us do every year. I’m just glad we don’t have a tree up in our office.”
Chad raised an eyebrow and looked like he was thinking up an idea of turning the entire office into a scene from “The Polar Express.”
Devyn raised her finger, cutting him off before he could tell her his plan. “Don’t even think about it.”
A smile stretched across his face. His right cheek showed a small dimple, one she hadn’t seen before now. Probably because she had never seen him actually smile before their encounter today.
“I bet I can make you like Christmas,” Chad said confidently.
“Sure, and you can prove that Santa is real too,” she mocked, shoving her hands into her pockets.
“I’m serious,” he said, his face falling flat. “Bet on it.”
His confidence made her belly warm and the flush in her cheeks reappear. She shouldn’t want to take him up on his offer, but she couldn’t help but wonder what her prize would be when she won. There was no way a week from now she would feel any differently about the absurd holiday.
Why the hell not?
“What are your terms?” She pushed a lock of hair behind her ear.
“I bet I can make you like Christmas by the Christmas Party,” he said with a smile.
She snorted. “That’s about a week away.”
“I’m pretty good at what I do.” He shrugged. “If you win, we’ll pretend this thing that happened between us never happened, but if I win you’ve got to go on a date with me.”
“Your way of asking me on a date is by making a bet that you can get me to like Christmas? You must suck at this whole dating thing, because it would have been much easier to get me to go out with you by not being a total dick and just asking me a couple months ago.”
“Do we have a deal or not?” He stretched his hand out in front of her.
She stared at his palm. If she wanted what was going on between them to stop she just had to proceed as normal. There was no way he was going to get her to like Christmas, but what if she didn’t want it to stop? What if she wanted to see just how much further they could take it?
Her heart swelled. There was no way anything between them would ever work out in her favor. She was his boss. He was her employee. She gripped his hand in hers.
“Deal.”
8
“Listen, I
