Page 80 of Mistletoe Mistake
~Cole~
Though I would have liked to sleep on the plane on the way back to London, I still had a lot of work to do, speaking with our PR team as well as our lawyers both in Japan and in New York. I managed to grab a couple of hours of sleep, but not enough to be as alert as I needed to be for my scheduled meetings when I arrived back in the UK. Since being rested up for my evening with Gemma sounded more enticing, I let Jackson know he'd have to do without me for one more day.
By the time I arrived back at the hotel, it was close to noon on Wednesday, and Gemma was still at work. Even without her there, I could smell her perfume lingering. Seeing her makeup bag in the bathroom and her clothes hanging beside mine in the closet made the place feel more like home than my actual home in New York had felt like in a long time.
After setting my alarm for four o'clock so that I'd be up and ready for her when she got back from the office, I got in bed and tried once again to rest. Sleep only came fitfully, though. I was wound up too tightly, excited to see Gemma again but nervous about talking to her about everything I'd been thinking about over the last few days.
When three o'clock hit, I decided there was no point in staying in bed any longer and turned my alarm off. After showering and getting dressed in a fresh suit, I headed out into the busy streets. The sheer number of people took me by surprise until I remembered it was mid-December and most people were probably out Christmas shopping. As I passed the store windows full of elaborate displays, I found myself wondering what kind of present Gemma would like. What would make her eyes sparkle as she opened it up on Christmas morning? How excited would she be on the actual day when she planned a whole month's worth of activities leading up to it?
The smile on my face caught my eye in the reflection of one of the store windows, and I shook my head at my own foolishness. My imagination was running away with me when I didn't even know if she wanted any kind of relationship with me after the end of the week. I had no reason to think we would spend Christmas together.
Eventually, my steps led me to the Anchor office, arriving there at quarter to five. Would Gemma think it was charming if I showed up a little early, or desperate? My indecision frustrated me. Second-guessing myself had never been my style. I never had with Samantha, but that was before I knew what it felt like to make a complete fool of myself over someone who didn't actually care for me at all. That didn’t seem to be the situation with Gemma, but then, I hadn't thought it was happening with Samantha either. How could I trust my judgement?
Either way, standing outside the office door like an idiot wasn't much better, so I went inside. The receptionist recognized me and gave me a warm, but slightly confused smile. “Good afternoon, Mr Stamer. You don't have an appointment today, do you?”
“No, I'm just here to see Ms Sudlow when she's finished for the day.” Gemma’s office door was closed, giving me no indication of how soon that might be.
The receptionist said she'd let Gemma know and invited me to take a seat, but before either of us could move, Gemma's door opened and she stepped out, already wearing her coat and hat. She didn't see me there, walking over to her assistant's desk across from her office instead.
“Denise, I'm heading out a few minutes early. If anyone needs me, let them know I'll get back to them in the morning.”
As she turned to go, I stepped out into her path. “Are you in a hurry? I was hoping to steal you away.”
Gemma's eyes widened in surprise as she took me in, and her face lit up with a genuine smile that warmed me through and through. “Cole! I didn't know you were coming here. Should I have?”
She went to pull out her phone to look for a missed message, but I put my hand on hers to stop her. “No, I just decided to come. I hope that's okay.”
“Of course.” She looked around at her staff who were trying a little too hard to look like they weren't paying attention to us. “Let's head out then, shall we?"
I let her lead the way and once we were out in the courtyard, away from the curious eyes inside, she turned back and gave me a hug.
“It's really good to see you, Cole. I missed you.”
My cheek pressed tighter against hers as I smiled. “I missed you too.”
I hadn't completely thought things through, I realized. If I had just waited for her at the hotel, we would have been in private. Instead, we were out in public, when what I really wanted was to feel her naked body against mine. I was an idiot.
“It actually works out well that you came.” Gemma pulled away and took hold of my hand as we started to walk back out to the street. “We were going to be quite rushed for dinner, so this gives us a little more time.”
“There's no chance of skipping tonight's entertainment?” I really just wanted to get her alone, to get her moaning beneath me for a while, and then to talk.
“I'm afraid not,” she replied, giving me a wink that told me she knew exactly why I asked. "This is the one thing the whole month that I really can't miss.”
That was frustrating. I had looked at my calendar today to see where we were going, and it only said 'gingerbread'. Since I didn't know what that meant, I had hoped it might be negotiable. “What are we doing?”
“It's a gingerbread house contest,” she explained, her eyes twinkling with excitement. “Children from disadvantaged schools across the city get teamed up with professional architects to help them put together a gingerbread house. All the pieces are already prepared from designs I sent over earlier, and we have three hours to decorate it and put it together. It's a lot of fun, and the schools of the winning teams get some really good prizes. I've been working on this year's design since March, and I've got a good feeling that my team is going to win.”
I hadn't been expecting anything like that, but I could see just how excited she was about it, and her enthusiasm was infectious. “What's my job, then?”
“We'll see when we get there,” she teased. “I'm going to let the kids put you to work.”
Gemma explained more about the contest to me as we stopped for a quick bite to eat, and afterwards, we took a taxi to the Dorchester Hotel. The event would be taking place in their ballroom, but when we arrived, we were ushered into a smaller meeting room where the children assigned to Gemma's team were gathering with their parents.
“Are you okay with kids?” Gemma whispered to me as we waited for the last team members to arrive. “Or are you afraid of them, like clowns?”
My eyes narrowed in mock indignation at her teasing. “I told you, I'm not afraid of clowns, I just don't see the point of them. Children have a purpose, so they're fine.”
Gemma almost snorted with laughter. “You 'see the point' of children, do you? How benevolent of you.”
