The Billionaire's First Christmas - Contemporary Romance (14 page)

For one night I wished that I wasn’t
the CEO of this company. I wished instead that I was one of them,
just a regular guy who worked here, so I could go over there and
laugh and joke and enjoy the party for a change. Sighing heavily
again, I told myself that wishing was a pointless waste of time. I
was Aaron Winters, CEO and I had to maintain my professionalism at
all times when my company and my employees are involved. I had a
reputation to uphold. I was this company and I always had to
remember that.

I turned back to my drink, finished it
and got up to leave. The party was over for me. I’d made my
appearance and I’d done my duty. I was going to go home now where
there were no red and green decorations and no Christmas music
playing. I started to get up and felt a tap on my shoulder. I
turned around and was looking into Robyn’s beautiful blue
eyes.

“Why so serious?” she said,
doing her best “Joker” impression. She’d probably be surprised to
know I was a big
“Dark Knight”
fan. It was a movie I watched at home, alone. I’m
not sure if powerful men were supposed to like comic book movies,
so I kept it to myself.

I did have to smile though. Just
looking at her made me want to do that. “This is just not really my
kind of party,” I said.

“A party’s a party. Look around you.
Everyone is having a great time and best of all, it’s because of
you. You did this for them, for all of us. You should be happy that
everyone is enjoying themselves so much.”

“I am happy people are having
fun.”

“Then you should try and have some
yourself. Ignore the Christmas atmosphere if you must and relax a
little. Being so serious all the time isn’t good for your health,
and besides, it will give you frown lines and you’ll have to spend
money on Botox injections. Then, you’ll have no expression at
all.”

I laughed, she was too much
sometimes.

“Dance with me,” she suddenly blurted
out.

I looked out on the dance
floor where people who’d had too much free champagne were moving
around with jerky and in some cases mildly obscene movements. It
was all set to a
“Rocking around the
Christmas tree”
soundtrack. They could get
away with that, they were only employees of the company. If I did
it, they would talk about it for years to come.

“I don’t think so, but thanks,” I told
her.

“Aw, come on, party-pooper. I don’t
have a date and everyone else does. You wouldn’t want to be
responsible for me sitting in a corner all alone without anyone to
dance with, would you?”

“Guilt, that’s dirty pool.”

“Yes, I admit that it is,” she said
with a grin. “All that matters is whether or not it
worked.”

A slow Christmas song started then.
This was exactly why I hadn’t seen her in three weeks. When she
looked at me with those eyes I couldn’t say no.

“Okay, one dance… a slow
one.”

She giggled and clapped her hands
together like a little girl. Before I knew it, she was towing me
out to the dance floor. I took her into my arms and we started
swaying to the slow music. I could feel everyone looking at us. I
wondered what they were saying about me, the boss who hates
Christmas… dancing with an employee.

“Relax,” she said.

“What?”

“You’re so tense. Don’t worry about
what anyone else is thinking. Pretend that it’s just you and me,
dancing alone in a deserted room.” I wished it were. I tried to
relax my muscles, but the more I thought about them, the tenser
they got.

Robyn started singing. She knew every
word to the song and her voice was lovely. I could feel her warm
breath on my neck and smell the fresh, clean fragrance of her hair.
For a few seconds I closed my eyes and tried to breathe in her
energy. It worked for a while. While the song went on I didn’t see
or feel or hear anything but the sound of her beautiful voice and
the feel of her warm body against mine. I wanted to kiss her so
badly that at one point I had to bite my own lip to stop myself.
The song ended… I’m not sure how long ago it had ended when
suddenly I realized that I was still standing there, holding her in
my arms, looking into her eyes and dying to kiss her.

When I glanced around the room I
realized that absolutely everyone was looking at us. I could feel
the hot color flooding my cheeks…

“Ouch! Oh my!” Suddenly I felt her go
slack in my arms and she fell to the floor.

“Robyn! Are you okay? What’s wrong?” I
bent and picked her up as people rushed over.

“I hurt my ankle,” she said. “I’m
okay. Do you mind taking me over by the door? I think I just need
some fresh air.”

“Of course,” I told her. I put my arm
around her waist and the people cleared a path for us. She limped
against me until we were outside. I sat her down on one of the
ledges where the plants and flowers were planted in front of the
convention hall. I knelt next to her and said, “Let me look at your
ankle.”

She winked at me and said, “I’m really
fine. I could see how uncomfortable you were getting in there. I
pretended to be hurt so they didn’t question why we were standing
in each other’s arms with no music playing.”

I had to smile at her again. She
looked so proud of herself.

“Well, that was quite the save,” I
said, getting up and sitting next to her. “Thank you.”

She grinned, “You’re welcome,” she
said. “Any time.”

“I should be going,” I told
her.

“Why? It’s early yet. You seemed to
just be starting to have fun.”

“I was, with you. I have to admit that
dancing with you was the best part of the evening. I’m just not
comfortable with that much attention. I have a lot to do before my
trip, so I really should go.”

She suddenly looked up and said,
“Okay, but there’s one Christmas tradition that I haven’t had a
chance to get you to take part in this year and I’d really
appreciate it if you would join me in this one last
thing…”

I raised an eyebrow. She wasn’t ever
going to get it, Christmas and I just didn’t mix. I had to ask
though, “What tradition is that?”

She pointed above our heads. There was
a sprig of mistletoe hanging on a line between the two trees, tied
up with a red bow. This was the one thing out of all the traditions
that I really was interested in, at least tonight with Robyn. I
wanted to kiss her so badly that my chest almost physically ached.
I couldn’t do that though. If I kissed her now, feeling the way
that I did, I’m not sure I’d be able to walk away without telling
her how I felt. It wasn’t the right time though. I was getting on a
plane in two days. When I got back….

She leaned in towards me and I could
feel her warmth. I had to physically pull myself away to keep from
meeting her lips. I wanted to kiss her worse than I’d wanted
anything for a really long time. Instead I stood up and said, “I
have to go.”

I walked away from her and when I got almost to the parking lot, I
turned back and looked. Robyn looked like I’d just broken her
heart. I almost went back, it was killing me. I didn’t though. If I
went back and kissed her, things would just get more complicated. I
turned back around and continued on to my car. All I could hope was
that she didn’t hate me too much to talk to me when I got
back.

CHAPTER
THIRTEEN

~

ROBYN

I sat on the little concrete ledge
outside the room where the Christmas party was going on and watched
Aaron walk away. As the snow drifted softly down onto my bare head
and shoulders I didn’t even notice the cold. My heart felt like it
had gotten trapped in a vice and someone was tightening it every
few seconds. I wasn’t capable of feeling anything beyond that. I
watched him get in his car and drive away and I knew that any other
woman faced with the same situation that I was in, would be
disheartened enough to give up. I pushed myself up off the little
ledge and went back inside wondering why I wasn’t. Was there
something wrong with me, or was this how you felt when you finally
happened up on the other half of your whole? When I got inside the
door, Max was the first person I saw.

“You’re all wet. You’re going to catch
your death in cold.”

I smiled at him, weakly. “I’ll be
fine. I have an awesome immune system.”

Max raised an eyebrow at me, but he
let it go. “How’s the ankle?” he asked, instead.

“What?”

“Your ankle, didn’t you hurt
it?”

“Oh… oh yeah, it’s fine, thanks. I
mean, it’s better. I just needed to stay off of it for a
bit.”

“Is Aaron still out there? I don’t
think he’ll be in the office before he leaves for his trip and I
had a question for him.”

“No… I guess you’ll have to call him.
He’s gone,” I told him. “I think he had all the Christmas party he
can stand.”

Max laughed, “Yep, just the fact that
he keeps coming to these things every year surprises
me.”

“Why?”

“Why what?”

“Why does it surprise you that he
keeps coming? What is his problem with Christmas, Max?”

“I don’t know. I just know that when
he hired me, it was right after Halloween; Janice took me aside
after I got the job and told me not to mention the holidays any
time after Thanksgiving in Aaron’s presence. She told me that he
would take really good care of us and we’d get some really good
benefits and bonuses around the holidays, but I wasn’t going to get
far with him on a personal note at all unless I was willing to act
like Christmas didn’t exist in his presence. Janice doesn’t even
know the source of it all, and she knows more about him than any of
us do.”

“Wow, I didn’t get the memo about not
mentioning Christmas,” I told him. I started wondering if I had
taken it too far. Had I not only jeopardized any possibility of a
relationship with Aaron, but had I possibly jeopardized my job as
well?

“Things are too politically correct
these days,” he said. “The company has grown a lot since I was
hired. Winters Inc. has absorbed over twenty companies in the past
five years. I have no idea how many people work for Aaron now, but
in our office alone we have over three hundred full-time employees.
It’s not something we can really talk freely about around the
office without putting Aaron at risk of some type of backlash, or
lawsuit. You know, someone saying that he disrespected their
customs or something silly like that. It’s all the rage these days.
Instead, it’s just something that somehow we all come to know
without talking about it. In truth, this is the fifth executive
position I’ve had in my career with a major corporation, and I’ve
never been taken care of so well around the holidays. I just don’t
mention them around Aaron and I never send him a Christmas
card.”

“Something terrible must have happened
to him around Christmas time for him to feel so strongly about it.
I wish I knew what it was. It’s so sad for someone to be all alone
at Christmas, even if it is by his own choosing.” I said that more
to myself than I did Max. I didn’t really notice I’d said it out
loud.

“You have feelings for
him…”

Panic constricted my chest. I could
hear the rumors now. Trying to waylay it I said, “He’s a nice,
interesting man, that’s all. I feel strongly about Christmas and I
just have a hard time understanding others who don’t. I really,
firmly believe that holding Christmas in your heart renews your
spirit for the upcoming year.” He was looking at me strangely so I
asked him, “Is that naïve, or silly, you think?”

“No Robyn, it’s not silly. It’s how
you feel, but just because you feel so strongly about it, doesn’t
mean that you can convince other people to feel that way
too.”

I was nodding. He was making a valid
point, but although I knew it wasn’t possible to make everyone
believe, it had to be possible to convert a few. People convert
religions all the time, maybe Christmas could be the same. Maybe
Aaron was one of the ones I’d get lucky with if I tried.

“Are you okay, Robyn?”

“I’m great,” I told him. “It’s three
days until Christmas. I’m never not okay at this time of year.” I
smiled at him and went back to the party to continue my role as the
life of it. I wasn’t really pretending either; my feelings for
Aaron didn’t rule my life. I still loved Christmas and I still felt
the magic of it all around me. My feelings about Aaron were always
there though, at least in the back of my mind.