A Clandestine Corporate Affair(40)

“I’d like to meet her. Will you be bringing her to Emilio’s wedding?”

“Unfortunately I don’t think she’s available.” Available or not, there was no way he could bring her. Which wasn’t fair to either of them, but it was the way it had to be.

“First I got married, now Emilio is tying the knot.” Adam grinned. “Maybe you’ll be next.”

“Yeah, let’s not get ahead of ourselves.”

“Settling down, having a family, it’s not such a bad thing, Nathan,” he said, as he walked out.

He wished he could tell Adam that he already had the “having a family” part nailed down. He wanted to be able to brag about his son, show photos around the office and to his friends.

Just a few more months, then and he and Ana would be home free.





Eleven





This was ridiculous.

It was four on Christmas Eve night, and Ana still hadn’t heard one word from her father about Christmas dinner the next day. She had called him half a dozen times this week, leaving messages, asking him to please call her back. She had even resorted to apologizing yet again about Sunday morning, and telling him how wrong she was.

That was yesterday, and he still hadn’t acknowledged her.

She looked at the clock, knowing Nathan would be there any minute, then she glanced at the phone, wondering if she had time to give him one more quick call.

Why? Why should she call him again? She already apologized and practically begged his forgiveness. Maybe he thought that making her spend Christmas alone was the ultimate punishment. Although she couldn’t see him passing on an opportunity to shower Max with gifts. Knowing him, he would wait until the absolute last second to pick up the phone and expect her to be at his beck and call. It was astounding that a man responsible for running a multi-billion-dollar corporation could exhibit such childish behavior. Well, she was sick of playing his games, and it was time he realized that. Nathan didn’t have any plans for dinner tomorrow and she would much rather spend the evening with him anyhow.

If her father didn’t call by the time Nathan got here and she made other plans, he would miss Max’s first Christmas.

Feeling only slightly guilty, she dropped her phone on the kitchen counter. She turned toward the open bottle of wine breathing on the table to pour herself a glass, but the doorbell chimed.

Four o’clock, right on time. Maybe she should think about giving Nathan a key, so he could let himself in from now on. She dashed for the door, and pulled it open.

“Merry Christmas!” Nathan said, grinning as he stepped inside.

Before he could even get his coat off, she threw her arms around his neck and kissed him. It wasn’t until she backed away that she noticed the ornately wrapped box in his hand. It was around the size of a shirt box, only thinner.

He handed it to her. “Do you have room for this under the tree?”

“Barely,” she said, nodding to the Christmas tree and the dozens of wrapped packages that had arrived earlier that day. “Did you buy out the entire store?”

“Close to it, I think.” He shrugged out of his coat and followed her into the living room, where she set the gift under the tree near the front. “Where’s Max?”

“Taking his afternoon nap. He should be up any minute. Would you like a glass of wine?”

“I’d love one.”

“So, you’re technically on holiday break?” she asked as they walked to the kitchen.

“I may stop into the office for a few hours between now and New Year’s to catch up on a few things, but my entire team is gone. My only other plans are to spend as much time as possible with you and Max.”

She poured two glasses of wine and handed him one. “I have a proposition for you.”

“Okay,” he said.

“How would you like to have Christmas dinner with your son this year?”

His brow wrinkled. “What’s wrong? Did something happen with your dad?”

“No. In fact, absolutely nothing has happened. He still hasn’t called me back. For all I know he isn’t going to. I’m tired of these silly little mind games. So I decided I would just make other plans.”

“And if he calls at the last minute, expecting you to come?”

“I’ll regretfully decline.”

“You’re sure about this?”

“Absolutely.” She rose up on her toes to kiss him. “There’s no one else in the world Max and I would rather spend the holiday with.”