Page 35 of Wait a HO HO HO Second!

Joy gasped, and Kian nodded, his grin widening. “Bet that didn’t go over well with little Johnny’s Mom.”

“Oh, I was expecting hysterics, but instead she walked over and picked him up. He was maybe three or four, and she dressed him down. She asked him what he expected to happen when he didn’t respect someone’s boundaries. Then she put him back on the ground, tears still streaming down his face, and told him he knew what the right thing to do was. The boy apologized for being mean. When the little girl tried to apologize for socking him, his mom told her she didn’t have to because he was the one who was wrong.”

“That’s some forward parenting,” Joy agreed. “Kind of kismet for you?”

“Watching that lesson play out was far more helpful than any research I could have done. It was an aha moment for me. Had my mom or any of my nannies done what that mother did, my entire life, and yours, might have been different. Now, that sounds like I’m blaming someone else. I’m not. I made my own choices. It was just an observation.”

“Sounds like you’ve done a lot of work to get to where you are today,” Joy said, her eyes drooping as they talked.

“Part of me is happy you can see that,” he agreed. “The other part knows I still have a long way to go. Speaking of going, I should head out so you can get some sleep. It’s been a long day.”

When he stood, Joy did the same. “Wait, you said you wanted to talk about something from earlier tonight.”

Kian took her shoulders and gazed into her green eyes. They were tired, but another emotion flared as well. Something he couldn’t define. Something he saw only when they were alone. He caressed her cheek with his thumb and smiled. “We’ve talked enough. We can talk business during business hours. Will you make a few hours for me tomorrow?”

“It’s Sunday, so that’s not a problem,” she whispered. “I’ll text you in the morning, and we’ll set a time.”

“I’ll look forward to your text. Sleep well, Joy. We pulled off something tonight, amid our grief, that made the community happy. I like to think it made Mom happy, too.”

When she nodded, her chin trembled. “I think so too. Thank you for stepping up, even though I was an ass about it.”

“You weren’t,” he assured her, cradling her face in both hands. “You were honest. It was too different, but we made it through.”

“You made a fantastic Santa, Kian. It was fun watching you with the kids. They connected with you, which was—”

“A surprise?” he asked, a smirk tugging at his lips.

“For me, at least. Now, after our talk, it’s clear why.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment.”

“It was one, even if it seemed backward. It wasn’t meant that way,” Joy said, her lips tipping upward.

Kian smiled, his thumbs caressing her jawline. The biggest surprise to him was that she was letting it happen without pulling away. He’d keep showing her he’d changed through his actions and words, and some of those actions would include his gentle touch, as long as she allowed it.

Rather than responding, he smiled and leaned in, touching his forehead to hers. “Understood and appreciated. Thank you for your grace and for trusting that I could do the job and represent the mall as my mom would have.”

“Maybe it’s time to stop trying to represent the mall the way Lorelei did and to represent it the way Kian would,” she whispered, her gaze meeting his. “You own it now, so it should reflect what matters to you.”

He did own it, but so did she. Kian wanted to tell her right then and there, but he couldn’t. Not when they were still finding their footing and trying to work together without angst and anger popping up every few seconds. Not to mention, his mother wanted him to wait until Christmas Eve. The little voice in the back of his head said it was a bad idea to wait, but did he really have a choice?

“We’ll talk about that tomorrow. For now, I’ll bid you good night and let you get some sleep. I know you’ve been up since the crack of dawn.”

“Goodnight, Kian,” Joy whispered.

Those two words said so much, and he hoped he was reading them right as he brushed his lips across hers, just as she had brushed hers against his the other night. “Goodnight, Joy.”

Then he caressed her cheek once more, let his hand drop, and walked out of the apartment. At the bottom step, he smiled. He’d learned something important while sitting in that apartment with her, eating lo mein at ten o’clock on a Saturday night.

Honesty is the best policy.

Now he just had to figure out how to reveal the biggest secret he was keeping without losing the girl.

Losing the girl? That inner voice asked as he left the mall and walked to his SUV.

“Yeah, losing the girl,” he whispered, pulling the door open. “Because Joy Brady is the best thing in my life right now.”

He climbed into his car, fired it up, and smiled. It was easy to see why his mom had fallen for Joy Brady. Maybe he and Joy could be friends, despite everything that had happened. Backing out of his spot and heading home, he thought of the kiss they’d shared. Maybe they could be more than friends. Was that too much to ask? Maybe, but Kian had never been the kind of guy to back down from a challenge.