“Open the door.”
Despite my shakiness, I unlock the door on the second try. I step inside and flip the switch as Julian crosses over the entryway.
The Christmas lights reflect off his dark eyes and face, basking him in a warm glow as he takes in the lobby. “Holy shit.”
Out of all the pranks we have pulled on each other over the years, this might be my absolute favorite, and that’s saying something since I managed to temporarily dye his skin blue during high school.
“When did you do all this?” He walks up to Sam’s gift-wrapped desk.
“Lily and our moms helped yesterday morning before the festival.”
“My mom was in on this?”
“How else would we have gotten a key after you banned Sam from lending me his?”
He tries so hard to frown, but it’s a losing battle against the smile slowly stretching across his face as he takes in the array of decorations mounting the walls, furniture, and fireplace behind Sam’s desk.
“Do you hate it?” I ask.
“With every fiber of my being.”
“Will you tear it down?”
“Come January first.”
I laugh. “Wait until you see your office.”
He ditches both our coffee cups on Sam’s desk before taking off down the hall toward his private office suite. I have to run to keep up with his long strides, but luckily, I make it in time to see his face as the door swings open.
His eyes widen. “Damn.”
Julian’s office looks like the bargain bin section of a holiday store, with the obscene nutcrackers lining the shelves behind his desk and the eight-foot inflatable lawn decoration of Santa riding a dinosaur.
A nice touch, if I do say so myself.
He quickly turns his attention toward the tree standing in the corner beside the window facing the road.
He shakes his head hard enough to ruffle his perfectly styled hair. “This is the tackiest setup I’ve ever seen.”
“I know.”
“It could be your best prank yet, but I have to check my list.”
His admission makes my cheeks warm. “You think so?”
He smiles at me, and I lose all train of thought.
“Not better than the time I snuck your car onto that floating dock and anchored it to the middle of the lake, but close enough.”
I grin at the memory. “You haven’t seen the ornaments I picked out yet.”
Julian motions me toward the tree, and I spend the next five minutes showing off all the ornaments I chose, earning a couple of deep chuckles from the formidable man beside me.
He carefully places them back on the branch. “I can’t believe my mother was in on this.”
My laugh steals his attention from the tree. “In on it? She was practically running the whole operation once I told her about my idea.”
“Did you have fun?”
“Tons.”
“Good.” He steps toward me.
“What are you doing?” I take a step back.
“You had your fun, so now it’s my turn.”
“Julian…”
He wraps his hand around the back of my neck and slams his lips against mine, killing my protest with a single kiss.
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
Julian
I wanted to kiss Dahlia since I saw her sitting by herself, sipping on a cup of coffee while scrolling through her phone, doing God knows what at six a.m.
Dahlia isn’t a morning person, which should have been my first clue that something was wrong.
Her prank was great—master level even—but I can barely appreciate it when all I can think about is kissing her stupid.
So I do just that.
At first, she is surprised, but it only takes her a few seconds to match my tempo. Her nails dig into my skin from her tight grip around my neck, and I pay back the bite of pain by sliding my hands through her hair and tugging at the roots until she gasps.
Kissing Dahlia feels like a battle of teeth and tongues as I fight the temptation to hike up her skirt and fuck her against my newly decorated desk.
You need to take things slow, I tell myself while dragging my tongue across hers.
You’re supposed to wait until her arm is cleared. I groan as she slides a hand over the material covering my cock.
Stop before you can’t anymore. I rip my mouth away from hers, earning the sweetest frustrated sigh.
Only a few more seconds, I promise as I tug on her hair and expose her neck.
She teases my cock, brushing the tips of her fingers across it while I kiss, nip, and suck on the column of her throat.
She latches on to my hair and yanks hard enough to have my head snap.
“Hey.” I rub at the sore spot.
“My mom would freak out if she saw a hickey.”
“Perfect time of year for a scarf.” I lean in, only for her to hold me back with a single finger to the middle of my forehead.
“Who knew you were so desperate to mark me?”
“Your neck might be off the table, but your ass is still fair game.”
Her eyes widen.
I brush my index finger across the red blotchy skin of her neck. “Would you like that?”
“Not sure, but I’m up for finding out.”
“I’ll hold you to that after you get your cast off.”
“Fine.” Her deep sigh of resignation can probably be heard a mile away. “I better get to work anyway. I’m on a tight deadline for my décor launch, and I don’t want to miss it.”
“See you at the Founder’s house later?” I ask before she disappears out the door.
“Why?”
“I want to check on a few things and make sure we’re still on schedule.”
“Still itching to get me out of here?” Her eyes glimmer.
“You knew about that?”
“There was only one reasonable explanation for why you wanted to get the project finished in half the time.”
“Perhaps I should slow things down, then.” Now that I admittedly want to spend time with Dahlia, there is no reason to rush things.
What happened to keeping things casual? The small, paranoid voice in my head asks.
“Why—” Her question is cut off by the rattling of keys. “I need to see Sam’s reaction! Bye!” She darts around the corner, leaving me alone with the silliest smile on my face.
I’m not sure if Ryder hired another male carpenter to spite me, but he’s lucky I need him, or else I’d fire him.
Hell, I’m tempted to do so to prove a point.
The attractive carpenter leans into Dahlia’s side under the guise of getting a better peek at her drawing.
My blood pressure spikes. “You there. With the goatee.” I keep my voice neutral, although my stiff posture seems to draw Dahlia’s attention.
The carpenter beside her looks up. “Me?”
“Well, I’m certainly not talking about Ms. Mu?oz.”
“Of course not, Mr. Lopez.”
“What’s your name?”
“Patrick.”
“Congratulations, Patrick. You’ve been promoted.”
His brows jump. “What?”
“Go find Ryder outside and tell him I want you working on the Lake Aurora project.”
“Really?”
“Yup.” I wave him away.
Patrick takes off running for the door, leaving Dahlia and me behind.