“Really?” She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “You make it sound like my being self-sufficient is a fault.”
His gaze lowered to his plate. “I’m just saying sometimes you have to consider yourself.”
She didn’t like the turn in this conversation. It reminded her too much of how her stepmother used to needle her with snide little insults here and there. The food was overcooked, the laundry was too wrinkled—it went on and on.
Her gaze narrowed on him, and she became intent on turning this conversation away from what he viewed as her shortcomings. “All this advice from a man who wrote the book on being stubborn.”
“Stubborn?”
She nodded. “You insist on doing things your way.”
“This from the woman who refuses to accept that this apartment building is going to be demolished. Instead of making plans for the future, you’re clinging to the past.”
Her gaze narrowed on him. “The past is important. And it’s not just me that thinks so. Haven’t you learned anything by working around the building this week?”
“I’ve learned that Mrs. Campbell in 203 has a cute little dog that is very curious. I’ve learned that Mr. Merryweather prefers to be called Merryweather minus the mister. He also has a sweet tooth and he misses your visits. Apparently I’m not nearly as good of company as you. And I know there’s some really nosy woman on the first floor that refuses to change her own light bulb. She asked a lot of questions about you.”
Alina had a sneaking suspicion she knew who it was. “Did the woman have bleached blond hair?” When he nodded, she asked, “Did she have on a lot of makeup, especially eye makeup?”
“How did you know?”
“Because it was my stepmother. Although I thought she was supposed to be on vacation. I must have gotten my weeks mixed up.”
“Your stepmother?” When she nodded, he asked, “Do you two get along?”
Alina rolled her eyes. “Not at all.”
“Wow. That bad?” When she bobbed her head, he turned his attention back to his plate of food. “Is she the only family you have?”
“Yes. My father married her after my mother died. He was the building manager—”
“That’s how you learned to do everything.”
She nodded. “I always followed him around. He showed me how to replace pipes, paint apartments and everything else.” When she noticed Graham smiling, she asked, “What’s so amusing?”
“I’m just imaging you as a little girl with a wrench in one hand, a hammer in the other and a smidge of grease on your cute little nose.”
He thought her nose was cute? She wondered what he thought about the rest of her, but she didn’t dare vocalize her thoughts.
She swallowed hard. “That was me. A total tomboy. After some comments from one of the busybodies in the building, my father got it in his head that I needed a female role model—someone to teach me how to be a young lady. And so he married my stepmother.”
“I bet you weren’t happy about it.”
“In the beginning, she seemed nice enough, but once they were married, everything changed.”
Why was she telling him all of this? She never talked about her family with anyone. At least, she tried not to, but when they lived in the same building, it made it extremely difficult.
A yawn escaped her. And now with her stomach appeased, her eyelids grew heavy.
“You should go,” he said.
“I think you’re right. Thank you for dinner. It was delicious.”
“You’re welcome.”
On her way to her apartment, she replayed her dinner with Graham. Had they moved from adversaries to friends?
Because only a friend would order her dinner and from an A-list restaurant no less. And only a friend would wait on her. Then there was their conversation; it was the kind that was far too personal to have with her enemy.
She would have to maintain her distance going forward. Because falling for Graham would be the biggest mistake of her life. All she had to do was look at what he’d done to his temporary home. New furniture. New electronics. And a new coffee machine with daily doughnut delivery.
It was a life far from hers. Hers was so much simpler. So much so that he wouldn’t even have bothered with her if it wasn’t for their agreement.
CHAPTER NINE
AT LAST A day off.
A morning to sleep without an alarming rousing her. Much to Prince’s chagrin.
While lounging in bed, Alina decided how she wanted to spend her Saturday. A big smile pulled at the corners of her mouth. Prince marched up the bed and meowed loud and long.
“Okay. Okay.” Alina ran her hand over his head and down his back. “I get it. You’re hungry.”
She rushed through her morning shower and dressed. She and Prince shared breakfast. He had seafood supreme while she opted for two frozen waffles and juice. As she ate, she thought of her plans for the day and then she got an even better idea—one that would hopefully fill Graham with some holiday spirit.
With her dirty dishes in the sink, she grabbed her purse and coat. She rushed out the door. She was a lady on a mission.
She stopped outside Graham’s door. She didn’t have to knock because the door was already open with a sign that said Free Coffee and Doughnuts.
Graham glanced up from his computer, a smile lighting up his face. “Good morning.” His gaze momentarily dipped to her outfit before returning to her eyes. “You aren’t dressed for work.”
“I have the day off. And we have plans.”
He tilted his head to the side and looked at her. “Do I even want to ask what you have in mind?”
A smile tugged at her mouth. “Don’t you trust me?”
“I don’t know. I’m having visions of replacing plumbing or something even worse.”
That made her laugh. “What if I told you there were no repairs involved in today’s activities?”
“Then I’d ask if you made sure all of the building’s residents were on board with your plan.”
She couldn’t stop smiling and it was all his fault. There was just something about him that made her happy when she was around him. “Stop being so difficult. If someone needs you, they can leave a message. Now grab your coat.”
“Not until you tell me where we’re going.”
His pointed stare let her know that he was serious. She sighed. “Fine, if you must know we’re going to get a Christmas tree. It’s past time to put it up. And I just can’t wait any longer.”
“Why me?”
“Because you need some holiday spirit. Don’t you want to put up a Christmas tree?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know.”
“Come on.” She headed into the hallway, hoping he would follow. This man needed some Christmas in his heart. And she couldn’t think of a better way to start his transformation than by picking out an evergreen.
She slipped on her winter coat. She wanted to glance back and see if Graham was following her lead, but she resisted the urge. She’d done all she could. If he didn’t want to have some Christmas fun, she wasn’t going to make him. But she would feel bad for him. Who didn’t enjoy the holiday festivities?
She’d just pulled on her knit cap when Graham said, “Are you going to just stand there all day? We have to get a Christmas tree.”
The smile returned to her face and so did the hope that there would be a Christmas miracle this year—that Graham would find his holiday spirit and her home would be saved.
* * *
Christmas tree shopping.
He didn’t have time for this.
Graham thought of the budgets he had to review, trying to cover the endeavors his father had obligated the company to participate in while trying to secure the necessary funds to cover the mounting expenses to build Toliver Tower.
&nbs
p; He had a plan to bring on a new partner who would take over some of the investments, freeing up Toliver funds. But finding the right partner was difficult. And now that he’d found someone who would be a good fit with Toliver, they were hesitant to commit in the current economic climate.
But he also realized the importance of making Alina happy. She was the key to having the Stirling residents moved out by the beginning of the year. It would give his contractors an extra two months to clear the land so they could be ready to break ground in the spring.
And most of all, she was finally doing something for herself. He hadn’t known her for long but it was long enough to know that she truly did put others’ needs before her own. Today would be different. He’d see to it.
As they headed out into the cold, crisp morning, Graham couldn’t help thinking of his father. He would say buying a Christmas tree was an utter waste of time and money. His priority needed to be on the company and fixing the financial mess he’d inherited.
But Graham’s mother would be all sorts of happy to see him doing something that wasn’t work related. He thought of calling her. His hand moved to his pocket to grab his phone. She would be happy to hear from me, wouldn’t she? He hesitated. The last conversation they’d had was harsh and some words were said that just couldn’t be taken back.
“What has you so quiet?” Alina said. “Did I pull you away from something important?”
She had but he wasn’t going to admit it. “Nothing that can’t wait until later.”
His response brought a smile to her face and it was then that he knew he’d chosen the right answer. Because when she smiled, it lit up his whole world. He didn’t even know something like that was possible. He’d certainly never felt something so intense before. And he had absolutely no idea what to do about it. And so he ignored it—pretended like it had never happened. Like any of that was possible.
“We’re almost there,” she said.
“Almost where?”
“At the tree lot where I’ve been getting my Christmas tree since I was a kid.”
“That’s a really long time. Wouldn’t it be easier just to buy an artificial tree?”
She scrunched up her nose. “I know it works for some people. And that’s great for them. But I love having a live tree. There’s just something about the pine scent and the look of it that really sets off the holiday.”
He actually never heard of anyone so enthusiastic about a Christmas tree before. He couldn’t help but wonder if she got this excited about everything in her life.
She glanced over at him. “I know you don’t celebrate Christmas now but what was it like when you were a kid?”
“My father thought the holiday was a waste of time, but my mother insisted we at least have a small artificial tree. It wasn’t much. It sat on a table in our living room. My father sighed every time he looked at it.” Graham remembered those days and how he didn’t understand how his friends would have these big fancy trees with all of the lights but they only had an itty-bitty tree. “The day after Christmas it went back into storage and life went back to normal.”
“Is that what you wanted?”
He didn’t want to answer. He didn’t like to think about the past. “It doesn’t matter. We’re here to get you a tree.”
She stopped just outside of the tree lot and turned to him. “But it does matter because unless you’ve decided to give in on our deal, we’ll be sharing the holiday season.”
Give in? Him? Never. He was in it to win it. Everything was riding on him lowering Toliver’s financial obligations and creating space for their growing workforce—something his father put off for far too long.
“Fine,” Graham said, “if you must know, back then I wanted a real tree—a tall tree—like my friends had. But it doesn’t matter anymore.”
“It matters,” she said with an understanding tone as though she could see right through him.
He wanted to argue the point but decided it was better not to. He followed her into the tree lot. With it still being early in the season, the lot was filled with trees—to the point where it was difficult to walk down many of the paths.
There were short chubby trees, tall slender ones, short needles, long needles, some greener, some bluer. He honestly never stopped and paid enough attention to realize just how many different types of Christmas trees were available.
He followed Alina around the lot. She paused to give some a closer inspection before moving on. He wondered what she was inspecting but he didn’t ask. He didn’t want her to get the impression he cared all that much.
Christmas was just another day. Or at least it should be. Instead it was a day where no work got done. A day where his plans to prove himself to his mother, to his board, to the world, were put on hold. If anything, Christmas should be for the children, but let the adults get on with business.
* * *
Alina carried the top of the tree.
Graham held the trunk.
With a light snow falling, they walked home. Not that the tree was heavy. Graham offered a couple of times to carry it all by himself, but she wouldn’t hear of it. After a bit of back and forth, they agreed to share the task.
However, now that they were back in her apartment and had the tree set up, Alina realized she might have been a bit overly ambitious when it came to the size. The top of the tree touched the ceiling. It hadn’t looked that big in the tree lot. There were lots of other trees that were so much bigger.
And it was wide—very wide. The corner she’d cleared, next to the window, wasn’t big enough. The couch had to be moved. Again. And an end table had to be put into her bedroom in order for people to be able to move about the room.
Still, it was a pretty tree. She stopped and stared up at it. It was going to take her stepstool to reach the top. Then again, she might have to borrow the stepladder from the building manager’s office, erm, from Graham.
“Do you want me to cut the top off so it fits better?” Graham’s deep voice drew her from her thoughts.
She turned to him. “Definitely not. You really don’t know anything about Christmas trees, do you?”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“That you never cut the top of a tree. If you want to shorten it, you do it from the bottom.”
He shrugged. “Same difference.”
“No, it isn’t. If you cut off the top, it’ll look funny. And you won’t be able to add the angel.”
“Do you want me to cut the bottom?”
She stepped back, taking in the sheer magnitude of the tree. There was no room in her tiny apartment to cut it. They’d just have to make do. “It’s good just the way it is.”
Graham moved up next to her. “It is?”
“It is. Now we have to decorate it.”
He shook his head. “I’m out. I’m no good at that kind of stuff. Besides, I have work to do.”
She pressed a hand to her hip. “Don’t you ever take a day off?”
“Listen to who’s talking—”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“That you work all of the time. If not at the café, you’re working here.”
She huffed. She wanted to argue with him, but it was true. She worked as much as she could to save money for her uncertain future. But she didn’t want to ruin the day arguing with him over the future of the building because day by day he was beginning to make friends with the residents of the Stirling. But would it be enough to change his mind?
“Okay,” she said. “Go do your work. I’m going to turn on some Christmas music?”
He shook his head and headed for the door.
She turned her back to him and started opening the box of decorations closest to her. She lucked out, finding it was the box with the light strands. She plugged them into the wall to make sure they still worked before she star
ted stringing them at the bottom of the tree. It wasn’t an easy task when the tree was so large. She couldn’t even come close to wrapping her arms around it.
She had made a couple of rounds when she stretched as far as she could to place the bundled light strand on the tree branch before repositioning herself to pass it around the back when her fingers brushed Graham’s. Her head jerked up, surprised to find he hadn’t left, and their gazes met. A current of attraction pulsed up her arm and set her heart pounding.
CHAPTER TEN
THE BREATH STILLED in her lungs.
For a moment, it was though time came to a sudden halt.
Alina stared deeply into Graham’s eyes. She could see the future—a future with him in it. She could imagine this was just the first of many Christmases where they’d decorate the tree together. In her daydream, she envisioned him pulling her close and kissing her, not just any kiss, but one filled with passion and...and love—
She jerked her hand back. That was not going to happen. She wasn’t going to put her heart on the line. She wouldn’t get hurt again, because she knew whoever she loved would eventually disappear from her life. And that was agony she couldn’t live through again. She refused to put her tattered heart on the line. The price was just too steep.
And once Graham got what he came for—the residents’ agreement to move out early—he’d be gone. Her apartment would be empty. And her stepmother would be right—she wasn’t worthy of love.
“I’ve got this.” Alina put a respectable distance between them.
His confused gaze searched hers. “I’d like to help. Will you let me?”
She wanted to argue the point but didn’t. Instead she nodded her reluctant agreement.
This time she made sure their fingers and any other body parts didn’t touch. However, as the silence stretched out, the more awkward it became. She glanced through the full branches at Graham. What had happened for him not to enjoy the holidays? She was curious about that and so much more about him.
Fairytale Christmas with the Millionaire Page 7