Page 56 of Naughty Heart

She pushed the box closer.

Unable to stop myself, I reached in and grabbed the “E” out of the box. “Eating the ‘E’ for Evelyn sounds much more appetizing to me.”

Something darkened in Evelyn’s expression, but she refused to respond to me. I took that to mean good things for me, especially when she reached in the box and lifted the cupcake with the letter “M” out of it.

I waited for her to remove the wrapper from her cupcake, wanting us to take a bite at the same time. Even though I’d sat across from her at lunch and watched her eat, it didn’t compare to seeing her sink her teeth into the cupcake. That was likely because she’d gotten frosting on her lip and had to use her tongue to lick it off.

I’d never been more grateful for the fact I was sitting down behind my desk, because this woman was irresistible and effortlessly sexy. And for a brief moment after witnessing her lick her lip, I had regretted not kissing her.

Evelyn and I wound up eating two cupcakes each that afternoon, and it was easily the best experience I’d had with her. I didn’t care that there was still so much more work ahead of me.

In fact, I found myself eager to plan more.

And now that it was Monday morning and the start of a new work week, I was determined to kick it off right.

Evelyn unstuck herself from the spot just inside the door to her office and moved in the opposite direction, deeper into her office.

Needing to see her reaction, I stood from my chair, rounded my desk, and made my way across the hall.

I came to a stop at the entrance to her office and watched as her fingertips roamed over the tree and the decorations adorning it. Her eyes did the same, growing wet as she took it all in.

When her fingers curled around one specific ornament, I said, “I thought it was only fitting for you to have one of your own.”

She brought her shining eyes to mine and rasped, “I’m surprised you were willing to touch one. I thought you hated them.”

I shrugged and smiled at her. “I thought I did until you got me a life-size one.”

That fucking nutcracker was in my office now, and it freaked me out. But for some reason, I loved it. I knew it was because of her, because she’d gotten it for me and had done it to tease me. Because when she saw it, it made her think of me. I only wished we’d been on better terms when it had arrived last week.

Following a beat of silence, Evelyn said, “I can’t believe you got me a Christmas tree, Malcolm. This is very sweet of you.”

“You like it?”

She nodded. “I love it. I don’t have one at home, so this is really special.”

Damn.

It hadn’t even crossed my mind that she wouldn’t have a tree at home. As happy as I was that she liked the one I had put up in her office for her this morning, I hated she didn’t have one to go home to. “Well, we’ll have to see what Santa leaves under this one for you then.”

She shook her head. “No. I don’t want you buying me any gifts.”

“What? Are you telling me you no longer want to participate in a Secret Santa?” I questioned her, knowing how much she’d said she’d enjoyed that at her last job.

Surprise washed over her. “I didn’t realize we were doing a Secret Santa.”

My brows pulled together. “So, you set it up for all the other employees in every department at Westwood’s to be able to participate in one if they wanted to, and we don’t get to join in the fun?”

That had been the other idea Evelyn came up with last week when everything took a horrible turn. She’d organized the Secret Santa for every department, and from what I’d been told, everyone loved the idea and was looking forward to it.

Evelyn lifted a brow. “You know the point of it is for you to not know who’s getting you the gift, right?”

I shot her a look of indifference. “Doesn’t matter to me. I kind of like the idea of getting a gift for you and knowing I’ll get one in return.”

She considered my words for a moment before she acquiesced, “Okay. Fine. What’s the budget?”

“Pardon?”

Evelyn laughed at me. “We have to select a dollar amount that we don’t intend to go over. For all of the other departments, we settled on twenty-five dollars as the max. Will that work for you?”