The Sheikh's Virgin Bride(116)
“Can I get your name?” the woman asked Yvonne. “I’d like to send our compliments to the home office on your behalf. You really saved us tonight.”
Yvonne took one last sip of her eggnog, tossing the plastic cup into a nearby trashcan. Shrugging back into her coat, she approached the door.
“No need. Just keep doing the great work you’re doing. You guys are the real heroes.”
Before she could get questioned further, Yvonne slipped out the door, walking with purpose around the corner. It felt good to walk after standing and lifting up boxes for so long. Glancing up at the night sky, a few stars peeked back down at her, winking in the moonlight.
She released a breath, steam puffing out before her as she continued her walk, feeling happy. She was so busy working at the firm that she rarely had the chance to give back to others. Usually when she did, it was a company-mandated activity that Zadid had scheduled. It hardly felt as genuine as she had just moments before.
A sound echoed on the wind, catching Yvonne’s attention. Curious, she followed the sound. She stepped out into an open courtyard. Standing there on the step with a few bystanders for an audience was a choir of carolers, their voices blending in perfect harmony as they sang into the night. Yvonne stopped and listened, enjoying the songs she had heard all her life, just one time a year.
She closed her eyes and remembered how she’d felt as a child on Christmas morning, her little belly filled with excitement as she plummeted down the stairs to find a mound of presents beneath the tree. There would always be a little note from Santa thanking her for the cookies and milk, and she’d often wondered why Santa and her mother had such similar handwriting.
Lost in her thoughts, she didn’t notice an old man approach, standing next to her.
“People don’t carol enough anymore,” he mused.
She opened her eyes, turning to look at him. He stared ahead, still listening to the singers.
“No, I suppose they don’t,” Yvonne agreed, turning her head to watch along with him.
“Sometimes there is so much in the world that seems lost, but then you come across something like this and you realize that we’ll always have little bits and pieces of who we once were. Humans will always find a way to create music and hold onto songs from long ago.”
Yvonne allowed his words to hang in the air as the choir announced their last song of the night, and then proceeded to sing a very soft, slow melody. A clear-voiced woman allowed her song to pour from her, and to her surprise, Yvonne found herself tearing up. She hastily brushed the moisture from her eyes before it could fall and expose her feelings.
“Merry Christmas,” she whispered to the man next to her, and he nodded in silence as he stayed to finish the concert.
Yvonne walked away, then, the exhaustion of the day finally catching up with her. The thought of her warm bed was too appealing, and she picked up her pace as she walked the last fifteen minutes to her apartment. She turned her key in the lock, letting herself in and making a beeline for her bedroom.
Somehow, she’d managed to busy herself away from home until almost midnight, her clock informing her that it was far too late for someone to be up when they had to drive several hours between Christmas parties the next day. Ignoring that little voice in her head, Yvonne stripped down and turned on the shower, steaming water pouring from the faucet.
She allowed her body to relax, the heat beyond welcome after walking around in the cold, her muscles already aching from the labor of service she had stumbled into. She closed her eyes and turned her face up to the water stream, her thoughts drifting to Zadid, as they so often did.
She wondered what he was doing in that moment. Was he asleep? That thought brought forward an image of Zadid in bed, a blanket covering only his lower half as his perfect chest rose and fell with gentle breathing. She had seen Zadid in swim trunks once or twice for some kind of silly corporate event or other. She knew exactly what he had going on.
And he certainly had it going on.
Yvonne chuckled, allowing herself to crush on him in the privacy of her own home. She had admitted her feelings to herself long ago, and had also determined that she would never act on them. There was simply too much at risk, wasn’t there?
She would have him over for a lovely Christmas dinner, where they would most likely talk business the whole time anyway, and that was the long and short of it. There was no reason to ever hope for anything more.
Sliding into a comfortable pair of pajamas, she hopped into bed, feeling clean, warm, and cozy. She wrapped her comforter around her after turning out the light, thinking about all of the fun things she could do with Zadid that in no way involved the workplace.
She wondered if there would ever come a time when she could stop dreaming, and find love in the real world. After all, it was the season of miracles.
Chapter Three
Yvonne pulled the piping hot rolls from her oven, breathing in the scent of warm bread as she set them in a travel container and placed it on the counter while she got ready. Dressing in a knee-length evergreen dress with long sleeves, she paired the dress with tall brown boots, curling her chestnut hair into perfect loops. When she gave herself one last glance in the mirror, she met her own gaze with a nod of approval.
“Not that there’s anyone to impress, but it’s nice to look one’s best,” she said to her reflection.
Her reflection had no response to that.