A Clandestine Corporate Affair(22)

He shrugged. “So I’ll go in early tomorrow.”

“But we don’t have a visit scheduled.”

“I wanted to see Max. I guess I missed him. I thought I would take a chance and see if you weren’t busy.”

“Oh.” She looked as though she wasn’t quite sure what to make of that. “We sort of have plans. We were going to have an early dinner then go get a Christmas tree.”

“Sounds like fun,” he said, more or less inviting himself.

“You hate the holidays,” she said.

“Who told you that?”

“You did.”

Had he? “Well, then, maybe it’s time someone changed my mind.” He paused, then said, “Is that Thai place you used to love so much still around?”

She folded her arms, eyeing him skeptically. “Maybe.”

“We could order in. My treat.”

The hint of a grin pulling at the corner of her mouth said she was close to caving. “Well, I suppose if I’m going to get a free meal out of it…”

He grinned and handed Max over to her so he could take off his coat.



Ana sat on the couch, listening to the all-holiday music channel on the satellite radio, watching as Nathan set up the Christmas tree in the stand.

This was probably a really bad idea. She probably shouldn’t have invited Nathan to come tree hunting with them. The more she saw of him, the harder it was to keep her feelings in check, but Max had been so happy to see him, and Nathan had seemed pretty darned happy to see him, too. She just hadn’t had the heart to turn him away. Besides, getting a Christmas tree was supposed to be a family activity. Not that she and Max and Nathan were a family. Not in the conventional sense, anyway. And Max was so little it wasn’t as if he would remember it.

So, was she doing this for Max, or for herself?

Good question.

Max had fallen asleep in the car on the way home and had gone straight to bed, so there was really no reason for Nathan to be here. She was perfectly capable of setting the tree up by herself. So why, when he offered to do it, had she said yes? Why wasn’t she telling him to go?

Because she was pathetic, that’s why. Because spending the afternoon with him, and going to pick out a tree together, had been everything she could have imagined it would be. Because she wanted them to be a family, wanted it so badly she was no longer thinking rationally.

She’d been doing her best to avoid Nathan, to give him and Max time to get to know one another, but it seemed as though the less she talked to him, the more he tried to talk to her. She was all for them being friends, but her feelings were still a bit raw. They were going to have to set some rules about his popping in unannounced. Especially if he decided to be a permanent part of Max’s life, which certainly seemed to be the way he was leaning. She hadn’t brought it up yet. She figured he would broach the subject when he was ready.

“So, what do you think?” Nathan asked, stepping back to admire his work. “Is it straight?”

“It’s perfect.” The tree was larger than she usually got, but she’d figured what the heck, it was only for a few weeks, and she knew Max would be so excited when he woke up and saw it in the morning. Tomorrow night, after the branches had time to settle, they would decorate it. Everything about this holiday season would be special because it was Max’s first.

Nathan grabbed his hot chocolate from the credenza where he’d set it and sat down on the couch beside her, resting his arm across the cushion behind her head. And he was sitting so that their thighs were nearly touching. What was this? A first date? Did he have to sit so close? There was a perfectly good chair across the room. Why didn’t he sit there? Or even better, why didn’t he leave? Would it be rude to ask him to go?

With the fireplace lit, and only the lamp by the couch on, there was an undeniable “date” vibe in the air. Or maybe she was mistaking intimate for cozy. Cozy and platonic.

“I had fun tonight,” he said, sounding surprised by the realization.

“Does that mean you’re changing your opinion about the holidays?”

“Maybe. It’s a start at least.”

“Well then, maybe I should let you help us decorate the tree tomorrow.”

Ugh! Did she really just say that? What was wrong with her? It was as if her brain was working independently from her mouth. Or maybe it was the other way around.

Nathan grinned. “I may just take you up on that.”