“We’re fine,” she insisted, though it was clear she couldn’t stop shaking. “You saved us, Nathaniel. If we’d been on that bridge and it collapsed, we could have ended up nose first in the water. I don’t even want to think about it.”
“Me, either,” he said. He rested his forehead against hers. “Damn it, little elf, I nearly ruined your storybook Christmas.”
She laughed softly, her fingertips caressing the hair at his nape and making him shiver. “There was never anything storybook about this holiday. I suppose today is more of the same. Come on. Let’s go get some lunch. Adrenaline makes me hungry.”
* * *
Dani moved through the next hours in a dream. She’d done her best to reassure Nathaniel that their near disaster wasn’t his fault. The experience shook her to the core. Personal danger wasn’t at the heart of it. What if Peaches had come to harm? Or Nathaniel?
The terrifying moments on the bridge replayed in slow motion in her brain, even as she greeted her family and introduced Nathaniel and Peaches all around. It had been a long time since the Meadows clan had an infant in the house, so the baby helped defuse any awkwardness about Nathaniel’s presence.
Nathaniel himself rolled out a generous helping of charm, complimenting Dani’s parents on their home and their view. Lunch was delayed when the men decided they needed to check the status of the rising creek. The four males donned rain boots—some borrowed—and trudged down to the bottom of the hill while Dani and her mom and sister put the finishing touches on the meal.
Dani held the baby and snitched a piece of ham. “This looks amazing, Mom. You must have been up since dawn.”
“Angie helped a lot. Why don’t we go hang out in the den until the boys get back? No sense standing when we can sit.”
Dani knew what was coming next. Jared hadn’t brought a date. With only her mother and sister in the room, the confrontation to come was a given.
Angie played leadoff. “So tell me, little sis. Since when are you and the head of NCT so chummy?”
“I explained that already. It was a weird situation. He was going to drive me to the train station, but the snow got too bad too fast.”
“And that’s when you found the baby.” Angie rolled her eyes. “Give me a break. This sounds like an episode of a really bad soap opera.”
Dani’s mother intervened. “Don’t be rude to your sister, Angie.” She pinned Dani with the kind of look parents perfect when their kids are still toddlers. “Are you sleeping with him?”
“Mom!” Mortification flooded Dani’s face with heat.
“That’s not an answer.”
“He’s my boss,” Dani said, desperately wishing she had never initiated the idea of Nathaniel coming with her. “That would be entirely inappropriate.”
“Danielle...” Her mother’s voice went up an octave.
Dani clutched Peaches and straightened her spine. “There’s nothing going on between us. Nathaniel doesn’t trust women. He’s a confirmed bachelor.”
Angie pointed across the room, sympathy on her face. “Too late, kid. Give it up. Mom was worried about the creek. She and Dad have been scouring the valley all morning.”
Dani looked over at the cushioned seat in the bay window. There were the high-end binoculars she had bought her dad last Christmas. For bird-watching. “Oh?”
Her sister put an arm around her waist and leaned in to whisper in her ear. “They saw the kiss, Dani. Every passionate second. You’re busted.”
“I can explain. We were scared. It was adrenaline.”
Her mother frowned. “Is this serious, Dani?”
“No,” she cried. “I swear it’s not. Please don’t make a big deal about nothing.”
Fortunately, the men returned before her mother could continue the inquisition. Dani was temporarily saved from further embarrassment. Everyone was hungry, so presents had to wait.
Over lunch, the adults teased each other with old stories about Christmases past. The year Jared opened all his presents in the middle of the night and tried to rewrap them before morning. The time Angie cried when she didn’t get a doll she had actually forgotten to ask Santa for. And then Dani’s most embarrassing Christmas. The one when her high-school boyfriend gave her a kitten because he didn’t know she was allergic.
Jared finished the tale. “Oh, man, Nathaniel, you should have seen Dani. She was covered in red welts from head to toe. It was the quickest breakup in the history of teenage dating.”
Nathaniel grinned. “It’s hard to imagine. The Dani I know at work never gets flustered by anything.”
“Okay,” Dani said. “Enough family stories. Pass the sweet potatoes, please. Mom, why don’t you and Dad tell Nathaniel about your trip to Hong Kong last summer.”
* * *
Nathaniel was actually having fun. He had expected to sit back as a spectator while Dani enjoyed holiday rituals with her family. Instead, he had been pulled into the fray with a vengeance. The Meadows clan swapped jokes and debated blockbuster movies and argued politics passionately, including Nathaniel at every turn.
The only subject completely off-limits was Peaches. He knew Dani had explained the bare bones of the situation. Dani’s siblings and parents handled the baby’s presence with sensitivity. They didn’t ignore her, but they also didn’t say or do anything to make Nathaniel feel uncomfortable.
In the unlikely situation in which he found himself, his hosts’ kindness and generosity were extraordinary. “May I propose a toast?” he asked as Mrs. Meadows brought out a ten-layer apple stack cake and a bowl of freshly whipped cream.
“Of course,” Jared said. “But do it quick—before we all fall asleep. The tryptophan in the turkey is doing a number on me.”
Nathaniel raised his glass of wine. “To snowstorms and spontaneity and hospitable families. Thanks for including me.”
“Hear, hear,” Dani’s father said. “Now, about that Hummer...”
As Jared and his father argued over who would get first turn behind the wheel, Nathaniel followed Dani into the den where a mound of beautifully wrapped presents was piled beneath a real Fraser fir Christmas tree. The room smelled amazing, a cross between Alpine ski weekends and the comfort of home.
For a moment, Nathaniel felt a keen sense of loss for something he had never known in the first place. Shaking off the odd feeling, he took the baby from Dani. “You’ve been holding her forever. My turn, I think.”
It was eye-opening to watch how the siblings and Dani’s parents related to her. At New Century Tech, Nathaniel knew Dani as sharp and capable and goal oriented. In this setting, she was the “baby” of the crew. They petted her and teased her. Perhaps it was so ingrained in the family dynamic they didn’t realize how much they underestimated her.
Nathaniel had done nearly the same on a more personal level. At work, he kept such rigid boundaries he never allowed himself to fully appreciate Dani’s qualities as a woman, though the physical awareness had been there all along. It had taken a massive snowstorm to make him see what he was missing.
Dani was funny and warm and sexy. Brains and beauty in one appealing package.
Not for the world would he have embarrassed her in front of her family. Despite his hunger to be with her, he kept his distance physically, never touching her arm or tucking her hair behind her ear. He and Dani played the role of business associates perfectly. No one would ever guess they had spent the weekend making