Page 8 of Wait a HO HO HO Second!

Growling, Joy squinted and forced her gaze to the floor. That was enough of that. She had to work with this man for at least a few days, so wherever the hell that voice was coming from, it had better back the hell up. Let it be said that she, Joy Brady, had no interest in Kian Van Adler’s ass.

“Everything okay?”

“Oaf!” Joy exclaimed, running straight into his tight, warm body. In her desperate attempt to forget his finer attributes, she wasn’t paying attention and didn’t notice he had stopped.

“Joy!” Kian exclaimed, grabbing her shoulders to keep her from falling. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” though her heart was pounding after the near fall. The last thing she wanted, this close to Christmas, was to fall and break something. She had to get her head back in the game. Being back in the house must be messing with her head.

Sure, girl, keep believing that.

“You were growling. Are you sick?”

“No, sorry, I just forgot I was supposed to do something. I’ll take care of it when I get home.”

“Are you steady?” he asked, gazing at her from beneath his well-groomed brows. This was the first time she noticed how long his eyelashes were, too. Probably because his eyes always stole the show, but now those glasses magnified the brown globes of goodness hiding there.

Dammit. Operation Bye-Bye Bossman was not going as planned.

“Good to go,” she promised.

Once in the kitchen, he took her coat and pulled out a chair for her at the small breakfast table. Knowing she was here to be ‘nice,’ she lowered her crutches and sat. “Stay for coffee,” he said, carrying a tray to the table, pouring her a cup, and offering creamer and sugar.

“How did you find time to make coffee? It’s only been five minutes since I arrived at the gate.”

“The staff always keeps coffee ready. It was something my mother insisted on, remember?”

“That’s right!” Joy exclaimed, bringing the cup to her lips. It wasn’t fine china or expensive dishware. It was a sturdy pottery mug from Terra Verde Pottery in the mall. Lorelei loved them because they kept coffee hot to the last drop. They were beautiful, too. “She never wanted to be anything but a quintessential host.”

“Which is funny because she never cared about any of it.”

Joy laughed as she set the cup on the table. Wait, was she having a civil conversation with Kian Van Adler? It seemed so, but they were talking about Lorelei, someone they both loved and missed dearly.

“When I lived here, I used to come down to have coffee with the staff just to drink it up. I hated seeing it go to waste. Thankfully, the staff assured me that someone on the grounds always drank it. That made me feel better about it.”

“Wait, you lived here?” Kian asked, sinking back into his chair. “Mother never told me that.”

“It wasn’t for long,” Joy said quickly. “I lived here for a few years while I was in school.” The school Lorelei paid for, though he didn’t need to know that yet. Joy already knew Lorelei hadn’t told him she’d paid her tuition at the local community college.

“Why did you have to live here? I don’t understand.”

No, he wouldn’t understand because he had lived in his own little world since leaving Snowcap Ridge. He had attended Wharton Business College on a full scholarship, which was ironic, since he didn’t need it. Pennsylvania was a long way from Wisconsin, and he seemed to prefer it that way. The one time he came home, Joy had stayed with Marci to avoid him.

“I was your mother’s assistant at the time,” she explained. “Lorelei said it made sense for me to live here, so when I wasn’t at school, I was available to her.”

“I wonder why my mother never told me.”

“I asked her not to,” Joy said candidly.

“Why?”

“Simple. I didn’t want to deal with the teasing and sarcastic comments you’d level at me on the rare occasions we ran into each other.”

“I deserve that,” he said with a nod. “Just know I’m not that person anymore.”

“Forgive me if I don’t jump on the 'Kian is a nice guy’ bandwagon. That was never my experience.”

Be nice, Joy, she reminded herself. Then again, there was nothing wrong with being both nice and honest.