A Very Merry Temptation: 'Twas the Season / Mistletoe in Memphis / Second-Chance Christmas

Max had, without shame, plugged the jump drive into his laptop, sat back and learned everything he could about her....

It was then he had decided a company party to celebrate the holidays was in order. And not just any type. For this holiday party, he had communicated to the staff the importance of attendance and dressing up.

He wanted to see her all dolled up, he had thought with a satisfied smile on his face.

Max felt a hot glide of awareness the minute she came into the room. He was snapped out of the memory, his glance colliding with hers.

Nikki Danes.

As those around him continued to speak—it was all background noise—his focus was all on her.

He moved his head to the side to try to catch a better look at her, and fought the urge to shove Larry from the design department to the side when the obese man blocked his view. When Larry finally moved aside to chase down one of the waiters carrying a platter of small sandwiches, Max finally caught a real good look at her.

Hot damn, he thought, his eyes on the gorgeous woman. He felt as though he’d been kicked in the chest the minute he got a good visual of her.

He’d had an idea she had a fine body, but no way did he know it looked like that. His cock thumped inside his shorts in response.

The dress she wore hugged every inch of her perfect curves like a custom-made glove.

The bold, deep red color of the wrap dress complemented her deep chocolate skin tone. Her legs seemed to go on forever and a day.... Again his cock stirred, thickening, elongating in response.

Even her shoes were sexy; they matched her dress in color, with strings that tied at her ankles and formed perfect bows. Bows he longed to unwrap. He loved a woman wearing stilettos, especially one with the kind of legs Nikki had.

He mumbled apologies as he began to move toward her, blindly ignoring those around him.

He only had eyes for her. And he intended to make her his....

Chapter 3

“I made it, chica!” Startled out of her deer-in-the-headlights stare with Max, Nikki nearly jumped out of her skin when Tony spoke directly behind her.

Turning, she was caught up in a hug filled with the mixed scent of True Star and jasmine, Tony’s personal “signature” blend.

Although moments before she’d only had eyes for the man heading her way, the distraction of her friend’s surprise appearance had her grinning ear to ear.

“I thought you weren’t going to make it!” she said, pushing away and smiling up at Tony. She was used to having to look up at most people, but tonight, in the five-inch stilettos she was rocking, she was almost five foot nine, which would have put her closer to Tony’s height of five foot eleven.

If he hadn’t been wearing heels just as high. All in black except for the shiny silver vest and matching wedge-heeled shoes, he was...spectacular.

“Wow, you look great!” Nikki screamed.

“Oh, my God, no, chica, look at you! Hmm, mami, you look beautiful! A perfect ten!” he exclaimed, and Nikki gave him a fierce hug. A compliment like that from Tony was no easy thing, as he considered himself the guru of fashion. Around the office he had Nikki giggling constantly in his role as the self-proclaimed fashion police.

She spun around in a small circle for his full inspection, lightly curtsying and laughing. “So you like?”

Tony tilted his head to the side. A look entered his dark brown eyes, one that immediately told her he suspected something. “Uh-huh...and just who is this for?” he asked.

“This night is all about me,” she said breezily.

Unable to resist, she glanced in the direction Max had been coming from, quelling the disappointment when she saw he had vanished. She barely refrained from slumping her shoulders and pouting like a little kid who couldn’t find her favorite toy.

She quickly turned away, not wanting Tony and his discerning eyes to catch on.

Placing a purposeful smile on her face, she looped her arm thorough his and asked, “Can’t a girl just wanna look good once in a while?”

He tsked at her. “Hmm. I guess. I’ll let it go for now,” he said. That moment, the band began to play a new song, one that was a perfect rendition of a current pop hit.

“Ooh, let’s dance!” he continued, not missing a beat. “I told you this group was good, right?” he said, and before she could agree or disagree, Tony was dragging her onto the dance floor. As he did, she glanced over her shoulder in time to see Max, his gaze locked with hers as a woman she recognized from upper management touched his arm, speaking to him in earnest.

Nikki barely held on to the frustrated sigh. She knew she wasn’t the only one who had her eyes on Max Stele.

* * *

“May I interrupt?”

Breathless from the exertion of dancing to not one but three back-to-back songs, Nikki turned and nearly collided with the hard wall of Max’s chest.

“Oh, my,” she said, her hands touching the granitelike wall of his chest, her fingers sinking into the soft, silk fabric of his shirt.

For the past two hours, between Tony keeping her busy talking—aka gossiping his damn head off—dancing, eating and drinking, and basically having the best time she’d had in years, she had been unable to continue her “mission,” as she thought of it. That was probably a good thing, as after that first encounter Nikki hadn’t been within ten feet of Max.

After the first dance, she’d begged off dancing again and had searched out Max, only to find him again surrounded by a bevy of women. All looking beautiful, all with one look on each of their faces: lust for Max Stele.

Refusing to let that ruin her good time, she’d allowed Tony to drag her onto the dance floor again and even accepted dance invites from some of her colleagues as well as men who’d come to the party as guests.

Occasionally she’d catch glimpses of him in the party throng, but as the night had worn on, folks had gotten bolder and more liquored up and the office party had acquired an all-out club vibe: dancing, singing, drinking...and many, many hookups, she noted.

“And I ain’t mad at ’em...are you, boo?” Tony had asked her at one point when they’d caught several employees acting in a way she knew they’d be embarrassed as hell about come Monday morning.

But it wasn’t Monday morning, and everyone was having a goooood time, she thought, giggling, the free-flowing alcohol and great music agreeing with her as she nodded her head at Tony, cosigning on his statement. Nope. She was definitely not mad at anyone for enjoying the event.

So when she bumped into him, spinning away from her current partner’s arms and smack dab into his, she raised her eyes and her hands seemed to, of their own volition, come up and touch his chest. Her fingers widened, as did her eyes, when she felt the...strength of the hard wall.

Hmm.

The man was fine, she thought. And in the words of her friend, she most definitely wasn’t mad at that fact, she thought, and giggled.

He smiled down at her. Placed a thick finger beneath her chin and raised her eyes to meet his. “Having a good time, baby?” he asked.

Any other time, a man calling her “baby,” particularly one she didn’t know, would immediately turn her off.

But when Max called her that... She kept her eyes on his, unable to look away as she held her breath, feeling a blush warm her face.

“I’ve been watching you all night. Dancing, having a good time.”

“It’s...it’s been wonderful, all of this,” she said, breaking eye contact to glance around.

At that moment, the bandleader grabbed the microphone and announced a small break, and immediately the sounds of a popular, bluesy R & B song filled the ballroom. Couples began to sway together to the music.