Page 40 of Naughty Heart

I gasped and spun around, my hand flying to the center of my chest at the sound of Malcolm’s deep voice. “Oh, my God. You scared me.”

“Sorry,” he lamented. “Are you okay?”

Nodding, I took a second to catch my breath. “Yeah. Yeah, I’m okay.”

He jerked his head in the direction I’d been facing when he entered his office and asked, “Why did you look so puzzled?”

I swung my arm out in front of me, indicating his entire office, and answered, “I’m trying to figure out what I’ve missed.”

“Missed?”

Spinning around slowly, my eyes scanned the entire office again. I eventually returned them to Malcolm and said, “All of the decorations I went out to purchase last week have been displayed or crafted. Everything is up.”

Malcolm was looking at me like he thought I was crazy. “Wasn’t that the point?”

“Yes. But something is still missing.”

“I’m lost, Evelyn. Are you saying there’s something you bought that’s not here?”

I shook my head. “No. No, I’m saying that there needs to be just one more thing here.”

There was no longer any chance I could ignore it. Malcolm officially believed I’d gone crazy. “I think it looks great. What are you talking about?”

It was best to offer my agreement and offer an additional explanation. “Yes, I know. And I’m thrilled that you like it. But it’s not complete. I want that one thing that’s going to make this perfect. I mean, I want you to not only be happy with it, but I also think it should put you in a festive mood.”

He laughed. “And do you believe everything that’s already here isn’t enough to put me in a festive mood. Do I seem like a grouch?”

Oh crap. I hadn’t meant to insinuate anything like that. “No, not at all.”

Malcolm moved away from the entrance to his office, set a few things on his desk, and returned to the coat rack to hang up his jacket once he slipped it off.

Damn.

It had been a week and a half since I started working here and seeing him like that every day, and I still hadn’t gotten used to how good he looked in a suit.

Once he’d accomplished that task, he turned toward me again and started moving in my direction. I anticipated the proximity to him with each step he took. Only after he was a matter of a few feet in front of me did he smile down at me.

“You should know that I think everything you’ve done here is perfect,” he started, his voice slightly deeper than I’d grown accustomed to hearing. “In fact, I’ve never been happier about the approaching holiday before this year, not even when I was a kid.”

My brows shot up, questioning him. “Are you serious?”

He dipped his chin. “Absolutely, Evelyn. Meeting you really turned around my holiday season, because it was proving to be the very opposite of festive.”

I smiled at him, wondering how someone like him could have ever had any reason not to be happy.

And that’s when it hit me.

My eyes widened. “What about a nutcracker?”

“What?”

I nodded my head furiously, looked around the room, and tried to figure out where I could place one or two of them. “A nutcracker. I think that’s what missing.”

“I hate nutcrackers,” he revealed.

My head snapped in his direction. “Really?”

“They’re creepy.”