She scanned the restaurant, taking in all the other couples enjoying the view. They weren’t so much looking out the window as they were at each other, eyes alight in the candles from the centerpieces. Those were real couples. It wasn’t feasible to expect she’d pull off an act like that with Gabe. Not without having her breath stolen away. And the way he was looking at her now...
It seems real. But obviously, it wasn’t.
“I don’t know if I’m up for the part.” She gave him a cheeky smile, one she hoped covered her nervousness and the fact that she wanted to lean in close to him. Flirt with him—even more than they’d already been flirting. But then, with a man like Gabe, it wouldn’t be all fun and games. There would be press and public recognition of their engagement at some point. And then Anna’s past would come out. “Maybe you should hire an actress.”
“If I did that, I’d have to get to know an actress. I already know you. And I already like you. I want you, Anna, not some random woman from a casting call.”
I want you. The words came out in a seductive tone that made her swoon a bit. Not too much, but a little. Anna sat bolt upright in her seat, quietly assessing Gabe.
He leaned in close, his eyes alight, and focused on her. He was flirting with her. Wanted her. For a fiancée if nothing else. And it would be nothing else—she decided that right away. Her last boyfriend hadn’t thought she was worthy enough to be seen in public with him. Anna wouldn’t make the mistake of giving anyone the power to hurt her again. Relationships were a thing of the past.
“My family’s not nearly as big-time as yours,” she said, trying to keep her voice in check. “We might not fit on paper.”
“What does that matter?” Gabe cocked his head to the side, gray-green eyes skimming over her skin and heating her up from the inside. “This is only a charade, not a real engagement, and even if it was a real engagement, a person’s past doesn’t matter nearly as much as the present. And the future.”
“It could matter,” she argued, keeping her tone light and pretty. “Wouldn’t that kind of thing matter to your grandmother?”
“She’s not going to dig into your past if that’s what you’re saying.” A grin flashed across his face and disappeared. “She’ll be preoccupied with the holidays and being happy. She’ll like you, Anna. That’s why I want you to come with me. You’ll be wonderful for her.”
I could be wonderful for you, too. But she didn’t say that out loud.
“Listen.” Gabe leaned in another inch, nudging his plate out of the way so he could speak to her in a low voice, one that sent desire curling through a place in her belly Anna had ignored since the breakup.
Desire! Who got such a mad crush on her own boss? Or colleague—whatever he was.
“We’ll stay at my family’s luxury ski resort for the holidays. It’s one of the nicest, most sought-after places in the country for winter vacations. There will be tons of Christmas traditions, like carols and cocoa and the whole nine yards. Lights on the trees—everything. And we can talk about your dream.”
“What dream?” She wrapped a hand around her wine glass and took a sip. They’d traded dreams back and forth over the many hours they’d been working together, but it had always been lighthearted and joking. For the life of her, Anna couldn’t remember what she’d told him.
“Of owning your own conference consulting firm. There are ways I can help you with that.” Gabe’s mouth curved up in a smile so attractive that she felt a gravitational pull toward it and had to keep herself firmly planted in her seat to resist it.
Anna would never have dreamed of asking him to give her a hand up. She’d worked hard all her life to overcome the lousy hand she’d been dealt—the father with the criminal record, the mother who married four times and couldn’t ever decide when to come down to earth. Holidays had been nothing like the picture Gabe was painting of his family’s resort. No cocoa, no carols, just fighting and bitter silences. Then there was the year her parents had finally split but decided they wanted to spend Christmas Day together. It had not been in the holiday spirit, suffice it to say.
Not that she was going to tell Gabe all of that. Getting that deep into her history would be way across the line for two people who worked together, no matter how close they’d been over the past few weeks.
“And...” Gabe sat up, looking her square in the eye. “Don’t forget, my grandmother is dying.” The confident look on his face slipped. “Please. Do it for me. It would mean the world to me if she knew I was engaged to someone wonderful and had my life all sorted out.” He let out a breath. “There. That’s it. That’s all my cards on the table.”
Anna felt like she was still holding a fistful of cards with things like a criminal father and her mother’s four marriages in her hand. But none of them could top the pleading look on Gabe’s face, or how incredibly handsome he was. She’d stolen so many glances at him while they were working together at the conference, trying to ignore the twist of want in her chest. Up until now, she’d been pretty successful at it. It was her job, after all.
And beyond that, the offer was one of the most attractive she’d ever received. Christmas at a luxury resort, far from anywhere she’d ever lived. No tense hours spent trying to calm high emotions with her parents. No new husband showing up with her mother. It would be like stepping into a different world for the holidays—the kind of world she saw in Hallmark movies.
“For how long? Fly out Christmas Eve, come back Christmas morning?”
“Oh, no. My family wants me there as soon as I can get there. Tomorrow morning at the latest.”
Her breath caught. “You want me to spend two weeks with you out there?” Suddenly Colorado seemed like a vast state of forests and wildlands, Anna trying to picture a luxury mountaintop resort they’d need snowshoes to get to.
Gabe shrugged. “Three. We’d leave in the morning and come back after the New Year.”
“But my job...”
He gave her a look. “You and I both know there’s nothing scheduled from now until after the holidays. No big conferences. Everybody’s going home for Christmas.” His eyes twinkled. “Honestly, Anna, no pressure. If it doesn’t seem like something you can do, then I’m not going to hold it against you. But it would be nice if I could show you off as my significant other.”
“I know you wouldn’t hold it against me.” She heard the sincerity in his voice as clearly as she felt it. Gabe moved fast when it came to making plans, but he was flexible, too. It was why they’d managed to put together such an excellent presentation. It was why they’d hooked all those international clients on his app. It was another success in his portfolio, but he still wanted more.
If that was how he was when it came to romance...
No. This wasn’t going to be a romance. This was going to be a project, like the one they had just wrapped up, only with more acting. A bright spark of anticipation lit up in her chest. A luxury Christmas—the very first in Anna’s life. And a chance to collaborate with Gabe on her own business idea. When she landed in Vegas after the New Year, life could be completely different.