His Christmas Bonus

Chapter 1

KATHRYN

I hate Christmas.

The lights, the colors, the same obnoxious songs—even the food. Call me Scrooge, I really don’t give a damn.

But the thing I really despise about Christmas is how it gets in the way of my work.

I’m thirty-one. Youngest female CEO in America, and I didn’t get to where I am today by taking time off. Which is all my employees want this time of year.

They want to go home to be with family so they can unwrap gifts, sing Christmas carols, walk around their neighborhood, and admire the lights.

I don’t have a family. So none of that is an option for me.

Mom died just before I got into Harvard, and Dad died just before I graduated. Ironic, isn’t it?

They’re who I did it for.

All the studying, the late nights, guzzling coffee to keep myself awake. It was all for their approval. And they weren’t even around to see my success.

So when I look out the glass of my office at the office Christmas party, I don’t feel warm and fuzzy like they all do, I just feel…alone.

“Kathryn?” Francesca, my current assistant, knocks cautiously at the door. “I have those papers for you to sign.”

“Bring them in,” I tell her.

My business is an e-commerce business I founded three years ago. Most startups fail within the first few years, but my company is now valued at around 1.2 billion.

She hands me my Montblanc fountain pen. I see she found the red one to go along with the theme of the holiday.

I take it from her and am just about to sign when something over her shoulder catches my eye.

There, smiling beside the Christmas tree, is a man I’ve never seen before.

He’s tall—at least six feet—and although he’s wearing a work shirt and tie, it’s obvious he works out.

Something about him takes my breath away. My heart skips a beat, and it’s like the world goes into slow motion as I stare.

He’s not traditionally good-looking. Not movie star material. But my body instantly warms as my eyes scour his face.

Nothing but sharp lines—a powerful jaw, high cheek bones, and lips any girl would kill to kiss. And his hands…

Big and strong, with thick fingers that look like he could palm a basketball. I realize my skin is tingling and I’m starting to sweat.

Jesus, what is happening to me?

I’ve never had the time or the desire for men. In fact, I’ve started to wonder if I’m actually asexual. But right now, I can only think of one thing…

Him.

“Who is that?” I ask Francesca, pointing discretely in his direction.

She looks back. “Who?”

“Him, right there!” My voice is raised. I’m practically shaking. I take a deep breath, trying to calm down. “The man standing by the tree.”

“Oh, that’s our new intern, Blake Koch.”

Tasha, a pretty blonde from our digital marketing team, goes over to Blake and offers him a drink. He smiles and takes it from her, and a feeling gushes through me—a feeling I’m unfamiliar with. A feeling I haven’t felt in years.

Jealousy.

I’m actually jealous that Tasha is talking to Blake, an intern I’ve never even met.

That foreign emotion grows as I watch her flirt with him, batting her eyelids and laughing at everything he says.

Please, he can’t be that funny.

But when she reaches out and touches his arm, that’s when I lose it.

“Bring him in here,” I bark, causing Francesca to jump.

“Now? You want me to bring him in here now?”

“Yes, Francesca, now. I’ve never met him before, and I like to know who’s working for me.”

Francesca has been my assistant now for two years and knows better than to question me, but she does give me an odd glance before stepping out of the office.

I watch her thread through the party over to him. She places a delicate hand on his shoulder. He turns, and I almost have a heart attack.

His eyes…

They move down, clearly checking out Francesca’s cleavage. She’s wearing a blouse today with a neckline that’s lower than normal.

It didn’t bother me until now…

She whispers something in his ear, and he looks up. For a brief second, our eyes meet, and it’s like my soul leaves my body.

Heat floods through me. My thighs tickle, and a fuzzy feeling blows through my head. I have to blink several times to ground myself as he follows Francesca back through the party and to the door of my office.

She knocks out of formality, then introduces him.

“Kathryn, this is Blake Koch, our new intern.”

“Thank you, Francesca, you can leave.” It’s curt, but I want to be alone with him.

I need to.

In fact, if I could draw the privacy curtains without causing the whole office to start gossiping, I would.

He’s only a few feet away from me now. I can see that his clothes look professional but are second-hand. His tie is tied sloppily, and his watch is a knockoff.

This man does not come from money, but he got himself hired at my company, so he must be smart. Driven.

I open my mouth to speak, but before I can, he does.

“Hey, boss.” He smirks, and heat pours into my belly. Feelings I’ve never experienced before crush down on me. “Merry Christmas.”

“Oh, um, thank you.” God, I’m stammering like an idiot. I’m CEO of this company. He should be the one afraid of me, not the other way around.

I look down at my desk, anxiously tracing my lower lip with my tongue as I take a deep breath.

My heart pounds against my ribs like a drum. It doesn’t get this high even during my morning run.

Bringing him in here was a bad idea. I’m about to fall apart.

“Something wrong with your lip?”

His words shock me out of my stupor. I look up to see his eyes bearing down on me, amused and hauntingly sexy.

“Ex-excuse me?” I ask, shocked at his bluntness.

“Your lips,” he repeats, pointing. “I saw you were licking the bottom one. Thought maybe it was bothering you.”

Is he…flirting with me? Coming on to me?

I’m his boss. I run this company. I could fire him in an instant. He should be afraid of me.

“Nothing is wrong with my lips,” I reply. “I just wanted to meet you because—”

“That’s good,” he interrupts, coming around to my side of the desk.

“What are you—?”

He sits casually on top of my things like this is his office and not mine. I’m looking up at him now.

I can feel the heat from his body. I can even smell his scent, like he hasn’t showered in a couple days. But it’s glorious. Like man perfume.

“I wanted to talk to you too and ask for some time off for the holidays.”

There’s a pause as we stare at each other. A tense moment like a guitar string stretched too tight.

“Time off,” I repeat. “You’re kidding, right?”

“I’m not,” he chuckles. It’s like he’s already assuming I’m going to give him what he’s asking for.

But I want to keep him here.

I’m not taking time off. I’ll be here every day until everyone gets back. Having him be here with me would be…well, it would be like my own little gift to myself.

“You have family to go home to?” I ask him. He shakes his head.

“No.”

“A girlfriend then?” This time, he nods.

“Yes.”

My stomach flips. Jealousy burns through me like a hot poker stabbing me in the chest.

His eyes are unforgiving, gripping me like he has an actual hold on my body. Try as I might, I can’t look away.

Thankfully, he turns—but not before bowing, almost mocking my status as his boss.

“Thanks, boss. Have a good Christmas.”

He turns his back on me, and my eyes rake up his body, searching for the lines of his physique beneath his clothes.

His strong, thick hand reaches out for the door. What do his palms feel like? Are they rough like a man’s should be?

He takes a step, and his pants snug up over the muscular curves of his backside.

Oh my God, he’s got a great ass…

I don’t think like this. These thoughts are foreign to me.

I’m Kathryn Meyer, CEO of Meyer Enterprises. I don’t get distracted. But the thought of Blake going home to some girl—the thought of him being with her—causes something inside me to snap.

“No.” The word falls simply from my lips, causing him to stop.

“What?” he asks, turning.

“I said, no. No time off for you.”

His eyes narrow, glaring at me like a wolf. “But you just said—"

“I know what I said. But you’re an intern. Time off is reserved for people higher up on the ladder.”

I should not be behaving this way. I’m abusing my power to keep him here, and it’s wrong.

I can hear my pulse as he stares back at me, causing the tension to rise. It’s like a stare down during a business negotiation, with both parties waiting for the other to crack.

But I don’t crack. And apparently, neither does Blake.

I’m shocked when he smiles back at me. Total lack of propriety.

“Okay. If you say so.”

“I do say so,” I reply. My God, the way he talks to me. It’s like I’m just some girl at a bar or something. He’s not even taking me seriously.

“It’s okay. I get it. You don’t want to be alone.”

My jaw drops.

I’m stunned as he gives me a simple nod and exits my office, leaving the door open behind him.

I’m burning inside as I watch him rejoin the party. Tasha finds him again and instantly goes back to flirting. And it’s not long before more girls from marketing join in, all clearly smitten by the new man.

He smiles, even laughs. Is he enjoying the attention? He couldn’t possibly be interested in any of those girls.

Besides, he has a girlfriend.

The thought causes my insides to twist. My whole body tenses up.

There’s that jealousy again.

I’m just about to look down at the contracts Francesca left me when I catch his eyes from across the room.

He’s looking at me, and it’s like he’s staring into me.

Like he can see something nobody else can.

It terrifies me, but at the same time, it thrills me all the way down to my core.

Maybe I am abusing my power by keeping him here over the holidays. But it’s too late to go back now.

I’m smitten. It’s like he already owns me.

My only question is, what happens next?