by Lindsey Hart
Because it was exactly how he felt.
Her mouth was glorious. Her lips were so incredibly soft. She tasted good, a hint of sugar and the underlying bitterness of gin. His eyes were closed, and lights really did flash behind them. It was a damn firework display in his head. Probably because his brain imploded.
It wasn’t just his head or his mouth that felt that kiss. It was everything. His entire body. He was completely winded when she pulled away and untangled herself. The kiss lasted only a few seconds, but god, he gasped like it went on for hours.
She put a hand up to her lips, as though were tingling, shock in her light blue eyes. Eyes that were so blue they were nearly purple. Or grey. He couldn’t decide, but he was damn well going to find out.
Behind Callie, her friend laughed softly. What was her name? Chantara. That was it. She hooked her arm through Callie’s and urged her away as if nothing had happened. Callie didn’t even turn around and look back.
Matt watched them go. Her eyes. I need to know what color her eyes truly are. Did they change with what she wore? The lighting? Her mood? That’s ridiculous and completely inappropriate. She’s my damn PA. He was supposed to be done with all of that. He’d promised himself he was going to take a break and get his head on straight. Maybe do what Jason said and figure out how to put out a better vibe so he got better in return.
Not eye up his damn PA. Right after he kissed her. At the Christmas party thrown by his company.
Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. That is seriously all the wrong fucking things to do. He found himself regretting the drinks he had. And the fact that come Monday, the regret wasn’t going to be strong enough to keep him from staring at Callie and figuring out just what shade those irises of hers truly were.
CHAPTER 5
Callie
By the time Monday morning rolled around, Callie’s Saturday morning hangover was long past. What wasn’t gone was the slightly foggy memory of kissing someone. She knew she’d done it. Which had been in part because she’d drank down all the gin and tonics Chantara kept handing her. The other part of her… she wasn’t sure what that was. She couldn’t say what came over her. Maybe it was the fact that she couldn’t actually see the guy.
No, wait. That made it worse.
Without her contacts or her glasses, Callie had no idea who she kissed. Her hands stayed on their clothes, which felt very much like a dress shirt only. Which gave her absolutely no clue to who it could have been since everyone was dressed formally. He was tall. Taller than her, but so were several guys. He tasted good. Like that really helps. His lips were so firm but so soft. Still doesn’t help. He kissed like a demon. Seriously that narrows it down not at all.
The worst part of it was that she knew it had to be someone from work. Really, the odds were completely against it being someone’s guest. No one wanted to go to boring office Christmas parties unless they actually worked there.
The guy was probably thirty to forty, but there were a lot of those too.
Callie arrived at work on Monday morning, hoping like hell no one would confront her about what happened Friday night. Maybe whoever she’d kissed had been drunk too and they couldn’t remember. Maybe they were embarrassed about it as well. It had kind of just happened.
There were a lot of things that night that just happened. After the DJ screwed up and there was no other alternate entertainment, people pretty much turned to the bar.
Callie made it through Monday without incident. Matt Hilbert, luckily enough, wasn’t in. He was away on business. She knew it because she booked his flight for Sunday. Obviously, he didn’t get drunk at the party. He had a five am flight to catch.
Tuesday wasn’t as easy for her. She got to work early and found a mysterious coffee cup waiting for her on her desk. She removed the lid and sniffed it. It smelled alright. The odds of someone bringing her coffee that had something in it, like something bad, were slim. She took a sip and winced.
Okay, maybe not slim enough.
It might not be drugs or poison, but whoever got her the coffee put a crapload of cream and sugar in it. As in, like, six sugars and half a container of cream.
She appreciated the thought but escaped to the lunchroom. When she was sure no one was there or watching her from the doorway, she dumped the coffee down the drain, rinsed eight inches of sugar out of the bottom of the paper cup, and filled it with the subpar work java. She added a splash of cream and put the lid back on.
There. Whoever brought it will never know I didn’t drink it. She still wasn’t sure who could have done it. It really could have been anyone. There were always things showing up at work. Doughnuts, fruit, gift baskets. She’d never actually got something before, but she had only been there for a month.
She’d just sat down at her desk when Matt Hilbert walked into the office. He was wearing his usual immaculate black suit and tie combo. He strolled up to her desk and stopped putting his briefcase down by her desk. She halted, coffee cup still in hand. She frowned. Why is he looking at me like that? He definitely was- staring at her. There really wasn’t another word for it.
He’d never done that before. Callie cleared her throat. “Uh… I have your emails sorted out, Mr. Hilbert. All your urgent messages are on your desk. I ordered them from most urgent to least, not by date. Uh- I guess- I guess that’s it for now.”
He kept staring at her, his face so close that she could smell his aftershave. Or deodorant. Or shampoo. Hair gel? She could smell something, and she was ashamed to say, she liked it.
What the hell? First, I kiss someone, a guy I couldn’t even freaking see and now I actually like the scent of Matt Hilbert?
She wasn’t about guys. She wasn’t about much of anything since her whole life came to a standstill a year and a half ago. She was lucky enough Chantara let her move in to lick her wounds. A year and a half later, she was still there, still licking away. They might not have been so fresh or so deep, but those wounds were still there. Common sense told her that people were untrustworthy. Ben had taught her not to let anyone in. It hurt a lot less being by herself, even if it was lonely.
Matt Hilbert cleared his throat and finally must have realized he was staring. He was probably just jetlagged. “How’s the coffee?”
“What?”
“The coffee.” He indicated the cup in her hand.
“Oh. Right. It’s- uh- it’s good now. Or- just good. It’s good.” Matt blinked. No, he is not Matt. Don’t think of him as Matt. He is Mr. Hilbert or Matt Hilbert or Matthew. Not Matt.
“Good.” He picked up his case, which he had set down on the floor by her desk and walked off into his office.
Callie stayed frozen at her desk for a minute. She didn’t know if it was her, or if her boss had definitely just acted really damn weird.
A sudden, horrible thought filled her gut with dread. What if Matt Hilbert had seen her kiss someone? What if he knew how out of line she’d been? Or worse, he could have seen how drunk Chantara was. She could barely stay upright. Thank god there had been no cars for her to dance on. They’d taken a cab home right after her embarrassing kiss and that was that. Of course, just her luck, Chantara didn’t remember a thing past eleven the next morning. She was shocked when Callie asked her about the mistletoe incident. Callie hadn’t elaborated after Chantara said she didn’t remember a thing. Her best friend had been way too hungover to press her for details.
Callie’s stomach dropped out completely when she thought about what could happen if Matt did see her kiss someone. Would she get written up? Her job prospects weren’t great. She had an English degree, which didn’t leave room for a lot of jobs. Ones that paid beyond minimum wage, that was. If it wasn’t for Chantara, she wouldn’t even really have this job.
Despite the fact that the whole kiss thing was completely out of line, she’d actually enjoyed it. That was the kicker, the icing on the cake, whatever dumb cliché she could think of. She’d spent the entire weekend thinking about that kiss. How she’d felt it in every single
limb, right down to her toes and the tips of her fingers. And pretty much everywhere else. She was hot and cold at the same time when she thought about his lips on hers, how his tongue had darted into her mouth just for a second. God, he’d lit a fire in her she didn’t realize was even still possible.
And she didn’t even know who he was.
If only I hadn’t lost my damn contacts.
Callie spent the rest of the week in uncertainty. She felt that around every single corner was a danger waiting in the form of her being fired for what she’d done. Wednesday and Thursday were nearly unbearable. She could hardly concentrate on her work. She was sure her boss was giving her funny looks. She caught him a couple of times, staring at her through the glass of his office. Her desk was right in front of the large glassed-in room.
She tried to pass it off as her imagination. She was being paranoid. That was it. She was seeing things and thinking things that weren’t even there. Period. Nothing else was going on.
By Friday, her paranoia got the best of her. She managed to corner Chantara in the hallway when no one was around so that they could talk.
“Hey, what’s up?” Chantara’s forehead crinkled in concern.
“I… sorry. I just- do you have a minute?”
“Yeah, of course.” Chantara shifted the files she was holding under her arm. “I always have a minute for you.”
“Thanks.” Callie laughed nervously. “So… about that night. The Christmas party- when I asked you if you could remember anything about the mistletoe, there was actually a reason.”
“What?”
“Yeah- okay, here it goes.” Callie exhaled sharply. “I might have kissed someone. And I have no idea who it is.”
Chantara stared blankly at her for a second before she broke into a huge smile. “What?” she gasped. She remembered to keep her voice low, even if it was filled with shock and amazement.
“It was- well- I was a little bit drunk and you were right behind me telling me to do it and before I could say that I couldn’t even see anything and that I didn’t know who it was, he just kissed me. I was drunk enough that I really don’t even remember any details. Like his voice. It’s just all kind of foggy.”
“Except for the kiss, I’ll bet.”
Callie knew she was blushing. It was one of the total downfalls of having a pale complexion. “Well, whatever. It wasn’t right. It had to have been someone from here.”
“Of course it was, who else would it have been?”
‘Well, I know people bring friends and stuff, but I doubt that was it. It was getting late. A lot of people already left. We kept drinking after the DJ wasn’t playing and I lost you somewhere in the place and I was looking all over, mostly blind because I lost my contacts and you were supposed to stick with me. I ended up in the hall, I think, and I bumped into someone, I think. It’s kind of hazy. And then suddenly you were there and saying something about mistletoe and then we kissed, and we left. I think. I don’t really know if those are all the details or if they’re even right.”
“And you were hoping I could help you fill something in?”
“I guess so.”
Chantara shook her head. “I honestly don’t remember. I don’t even know how or why I had so many drinks. I don’t remember that either. I guess we started, and they were cheap and they tasted good and it just got out of control from there.”
“I think the bartender was free pouring. I seem to remember my first couple of drinks being really strong and then they kind of just went down easier after I got a little buzzed.”
“Hmm. Could be. At any rate, that guy and the DJ caused a fair bit of trouble. At least for us.”
“What am I going to do? I’m so afraid that whoever it is might write me up. And I’m afraid that someone might have seen it.”
Chantara shrugged. “Don’t be. Don’t be so worried. First of all, I’m sure whoever kissed you had a little something to do with it. You’re a pretty girl, Callie. Anyone in their right mind would definitely want to make out with you. If they wrote you up, they’d have to write themselves up too.”
“It was one kiss,” Callie hissed. “Not a make-out session.”
“In your case, I wish it was a full-on make out. You could use a little bit of spice in your life.”
“Chantara,” Callie said in warning.
“Seriously. I know all about you and what happened with Ben, but it’s been so long! You need to get on with your life! You aren’t dead, Callie. There are good things waiting for you down the line. You just have to take a chance and put yourself out there again.”
“I am definitely not interested in doing that.”
“I know. I wish you were though. Then I wouldn’t have to worry about you.”
“What do you mean worry about me? You don’t have to worry about me.” Callie softened her tone. “You’re my best friend. I’ll be fine. I’m just not interested in doing any of that right now. There are other things in life.”
“Like what? Books? You read way too much.”
“There isn’t anything wrong with books.”
“You need more hobbies! You need to get out more. Maybe you’d meet someone then and you’d realize that all guys aren’t bad.”
“I don’t think all guys are bad. I’m just really not interested.” Callie wished she could have said that Chantara sounded like a nagging parent or sister or something, but she couldn’t. Her family didn’t nag her. They didn’t know the first thing about her life, because they hadn’t been involved in it since her breakup with Ben and barely before that.
“So really, you’re just here for confirmation that you’re not going to get fired. You don’t want me to help you figure out who it is. Because I could ask around-”
“No!” Callie gripped Chantara’s arm frantically. The files nearly fell to the floor. Chantara shifted them and grinned.
“Relax. I’m not going to do that. I was just kidding. Don’t worry about your job. No one saw. And everyone was doing some really dumb shit that night, I bet. I think that we weren’t the only ones who got a little drunk. I’ve heard a few whispered conversations going around the office. Yours isn’t the first mistletoe story that I’ve heard.”
“Oh god. I’m afraid to ask.”
“It’s probably better if you don’t. I think that bartender was to blame for all of it. Let’s just go with that. His drinks were waaaay too strong.”
“Oh geez. Okay, next year, I definitely am not going to the Christmas party.”
“What?” Chantara giggled. “And miss out on all the excitement! At least you got a kiss. I went home and all I got out of the night was a killer hangover the next day. You at least enjoyed yourself.”
“I didn’t enjoy myself,” Callie protested, face hot again.
“Right.” Chantara rolled her eyes. “I’m glad you did. It makes me think there is some hope for the future.” She shifted the folders and walked off down the hallway, laughing softly to herself.
Callie gave herself a full minute to try and regulate her heartbeat, return her breathing to a normal pace and try and get her face under control before she went back to her desk. She sat down heavily and brushed her hands nervously over her loose hair. It was a habit and she knew it. She carefully tucked the long strands behind her ears and found something else to occupy her hands.
When she glanced behind her at Matt’s office, she swore he saw him look away quickly, back down to whatever he was working on, but she couldn’t be sure.
She couldn’t be sure at all. Not about the kiss. It drove her nuts. She was going to have to find out who it was, or she was going to drive herself insane.
CHAPTER 6
Matt
He wasn’t creepy. Normally.
The things he’d been doing for the past week, okay, that was a little weird. Maybe even a little stalker like. No, not that far. He wasn’t a stalker.
Matt just wanted to know why his personal assistant, proper secretary by day, wild and sexy seductress b
y night, was ignoring him after that blazing kiss.
After a quick business trip to San Diego, he wasn’t sure what he’d come back to at the office. As it turned out, a whole lot of nothing. Callie ignored him like nothing happened. Maybe for her, it wasn’t that good. Maybe that kiss was just a stupid under the mistletoe kiss and that was that. For him though- he’d spent his entire weekend and the rest of the week thinking about it.
He’d never experienced a reaction like that before, physical or otherwise. He tried to summon back the feeling, the exact way his body reacted in the moment, but he couldn’t. Of course, he couldn’t. That feeling was reserved for kisses like that. Stolen. Illicit. Apparently, ones Callie would rather forget about and pretend didn’t happen.
He couldn’t pretend. And he sure as hell couldn’t forget.
Matt slipped into the office on Friday morning, half an hour before eight. He knew that Callie was always there at quarter to. He placed a cup of coffee on her desk like he had for the past three days. His brain was still buzzing with the information he’d overhead the day before. He hadn’t meant to follow Callie. He’d seen her walking to the kitchen and then she changed directions. He was going for a coffee refill and just happened to be on the other side of the hall when she started talking to Chantara.
The whole reason she was ignoring him was because she had no idea it was him at all.
He was stunned when he overheard the conversation. She had no idea it was him she kissed. She hadn’t given much away, but from what he could gather, she enjoyed it. She was worried about losing her job. He’d be worried too if he had no idea who had produced a reaction like that inside of him. It was like his entire insides imploded when he kissed her. He wasn’t a big believer in romance, especially after his experiences. He’d never liked the whole dramatized thing about first kisses and sparks and feeling drunk on it.