Nice & Naughty (9 page)

Yes, Jason had seen the nearly nude fireman calendar, all twelve months of it. Aside from selling it at his store, Peggy had it hanging in her office for almost a month now even though it didn’t officially start until January of next year. The item seemed to be very popular with the ladies. Apparently from her rundown on Mr. December, Peggy had memorized all of the hunky firemen’s stats already.
 

He rolled his eyes and had to smile. Peggy was seventy if she was a day.
 

“Stop rolling your eyes at me. I’m old. I’m not dead. And yeah, I called. They got nobody for us today. All of their fireman Santas are either on duty at the firehouse or spoken for elsewhere. They got them playing Claus all over town, you know, not just here. The children’s hospital, the library. They said they might be able to swing somebody for tomorrow if he’s still not better.”

Jason pursed his lips as an idea struck him. He’d often wanted to be a fly on the wall in the store, see what his employees were up to when he wasn’t around, hear unsolicited comments from customers. But his face was too well known in the store. This little misfortune could turn out to be a perfect opportunity.

“Peggy. We’ve got the Santa suit here, correct?”

“Yup. Up in my office. Just got it out of the dry cleaners.”

“Excellent. I’ll arrange for a Santa. Oh, and I’ll be out of touch for the day, so if anyone calls for me, just take a message.”

Peggy cocked an already sharply arching black brow at him. “What are you up to?”

He winked at her and held one finger up to his lips to indicate she should keep quiet.

She shook her head. “You’ve got the devil in you, just like your grandpa.”

Jason smiled and laid an arm around her shoulders, steering them both out the door of the break room. “And you’ve worked for us both, for over twenty years now. So what does that say about you, my dear Peggy?”

She let out a loud crackling laugh. “It says that I know I’ll have a lot more fun working for a devil than a saint, that’s what. Come on. I may have to find more padding for the suit. You’re in better shape than last year’s guy.”

He grinned at her. She knew him too well, the mark of a great assistant.

Santa Claus for a day, this was an unexpected treat. He was feeling jollier by the minute. He may not be a hunky fireman calendar model, but in the world of retail, Jason considered himself to be Mr. December. Maybe he should print his own calendar. Hunky men of retail…something for the list.

Five hours and what felt like countless hundreds of children later, Jason was reconsidering his initial opinion about the merits of the Santa Claus business. He experienced a veritable rainbow of behaviors when it came to the children, with the emphasis on naughty rather than nice. A few skeptics pulled his beard, others ran screaming in fear, and some were struck speechless in the overwhelming presence of the great Mr. Claus. There were the criers, the pants-wetters, the whiners and the demanders. Children who didn’t know what they wanted, children who wanted everything, and parents who had waited on one line too many and were ready to take it out on anyone, Old Saint Nick being no exception.

If his little walk on the jolly side served any purpose, it was to help him understand the haggard looks on the faces of his employees. And as for wanting to be a fly on the wall and listen to unsolicited comments about the store, he must remember in future to be careful what he wished for. Apparently, according to the mothers in line, Bryant’s prices were too high and the clothing too, in the words of one customer,
farty
. How in the world was he going to convey that comment tactfully to the buyers?

The end result was that Jason used his entire whopping fifteen-minute break entering notes and ideas for improvements into his cell phone’s organizer application. Things like more cash registers, reserved time slots for seeing Santa and fashions that were…what exactly was the opposite of farty? Hip. Stylish. Phat? He’d have to ask one of the younger female sales associates for a term relevant to today’s buyer.

Jason sighed. He was only in his thirties himself, but he was a man, not a woman. He kept up with retail trends. Hell, they had the best clothing money could buy in the men’s department. He’d thought he had his finger on the pulse of the buying public, but apparently, he was falling short in women’s fashions.

He had already taken the step to lure in younger female buyers by allowing the firemen from the charity calendar to play Santa at Bryant’s for the week after Thanksgiving this year, as well as agreeing to host their charity bachelor auction and cocktail party at the store. Jason was on the board of directors of the local children’s hospital and since the proceeds from the sales of the firemen calendar were going directly to the hospital, of course Bryant’s would help promote it. And if events like the auction attracted a younger female consumer into Bryant’s, it was a win-win situation for all.

But it appeared that simply luring a younger customer base into the store wasn’t the problem. Having something they’d be interested in purchasing, besides the hunky firemen, was. Jason would have to get out, shop the competition and see what was hot or Bryant’s was a grand old lady doomed and on the brink of extinction.

Feeling rather less than jolly, Jason took his seat—actually, his golden red velvet throne—for the afternoon round of precious little ones. The coffee he’d consumed during his break hadn’t helped revive him any, and he felt embarrassed for offering it up as inspiration to his employees that morning as if it was a cure all. Perhaps a bottle of Irish Whisky would work better. No, he could never actually do that, but at the moment, it was a tempting thought.

Then something more tempting stepped into view and Jason nearly pulled off his white wig and fake spectacles to make sure he was seeing correctly. Perhaps he was delirious because she cut the line of kiddies still being held back behind the “Feeding the Reindeer—back in 15 minutes” sign and perched her shapely behind right on his knee.

“Don’t you look cute. Can I tell you what I want for Christmas?” She treated him to a gorgeous smile, followed by an immediate frown as she hopped off his lap. “Oh my God. You’re not Troy.”

No, he wasn’t, but right then, Jason sure wished he were. He did manage to shake his head to indicate to the woman that indeed, no, he was not Troy.

“I apologize. I must have gotten my signals crossed. I thought Troy O’Donnell was supposed to be here today.”

He finally found his voice. “No apology necessary. Your friend,” at least he certainly hoped they were only friends and nothing more, “was supposed to be here today, but he’s ill.”

She frowned. “Oh. I’ll have to call him. But, I sat in your lap. I’ve gotten friendlier with you than I did with my last date. I’m so sorry.” She cringed and covered her reddened face with her hands.

He stored away that information about her unfriendly last date for later use. “No apology needed for that either. Compared to what I’ve endured today, it was my pleasure.” Jason smiled. His pleasure, indeed. He took in the tall strawberry blond and her bottomless blue eyes.

The woman of his future dreams stuck a hand out. “I’m Troy’s sister, Tessa O’Donnell. I don’t recognize you from the fireman calendar. I was the photographer. Are you from the firehouse?”

He shook her warm hand and pondered his answer. “Um, no. The store brought me in last minute.” There, that wasn’t exactly a lie.

She smiled and shook her head. “I still can’t believe stuffy old Bryant’s is holding the Hunky Firemen Bachelor Auction here.”

Hmm. Farty and now stuffy too. Jason stifled a sigh. Instead, he opted for damage control. “I actually heard that the new COO is trying for a younger image for Bryant’s.”

Tessa screwed up her face. “The new COO is still a Bryant, isn’t he? Born with a silver spoon in his mouth and a maid, nanny, butler, chauffeur and chef up his butt from the day he was born. I wish him luck, but I don’t think there’s any hope of changing Bryant’s image after all these years. Particularly for a man who has no clue what life is like in the real world.”

Jason swallowed. She’d forgotten the private tutor and the gardeners that came with his upbringing, and also that he’d moved out of the house—all right, mansion—the moment he was old enough to escape that life and prove to himself and his family he could make it in the real world. But he had been born a Bryant and was now in charge of Bryant’s. That would represent nepotism at its best in Tessa’s eyes. Forget he had worked his way up from the bottom to get where he was today. He was still his grandfather’s heir and always would be.

She glanced over her shoulder at the growing line of irate mothers and irritated children that he’d been trying, and failing, to ignore as he concentrated on her. “Looks like the crowd is getting restless, so I better get to business before they rebel. I’m actually the photographer for the auction too, so I came by to check out the site. I’m taking press shots for PR. They promised us coverage in the local paper.” She frowned. “I’m sorry, I didn’t catch your name.”

“It’s Ja…um, Jay Bee.” Jason nearly groaned. He’d never been a good liar, particularly not on the fly.

She smiled and repeated, “JB, nice to meet you. You better get back to work before the
big boss
fires you.”

He nodded, noting that she said
big boss
as if he were the big bad wolf, something to be both mocked and feared at the same time. Although he could live with JB. Better than his invention of Jay Bee, and it wasn’t even really a lie, just his initials.

“Maybe I’ll come back later and take some candid shots of you and the kids, if you don’t mind.” She raised a brow, waiting for his answer.

“Um, sure.” Hopefully she wouldn’t need a name to go with the pictures or he’d have to lie about a last name. He didn’t want to lie, but he couldn’t exactly tell her he was the hated big bad boss, now could he? This was getting complicated.

“Great.” Tessa treated him to a wave and a smile, and then she was off, leaving Jason to slump in his throne.

He groaned. The first female in a long time to make his heart beat faster, and she not only hated the real him on principal, but he’d already lied to her. It didn’t bode well for their future romance. But he’d faced bigger dilemmas than this before, and a Bryant never gave up.

Chapter Two

Tessa walked away from the hunky Santa and nearly smacked directly into an elf on her way out of Bryant’s holiday department. It had been a long time since just speaking with a man had affected her that way. Well, to be honest, she did more than speak. She’d sat in his lap. That wasn’t too embarrassing.

The ringing of the phone in her purse disrupted any further thought of her embarrassment as she began the arduous battle to locate the miniscule device in the giant bag before it stopped ringing.

Just in the nick of time, she flipped it open. “Hello?”

“Tessa. It’s Amy. Your brother is home sick. I wanted to call and catch you at home before you went over to Bryant’s to take the pictures, but I’ve been so busy trying to take care of him all morning. Is he always such a stubborn ass when he’s not feeling well?”

Tessa let out a snort of a laugh. Her brother’s fiancé had never had the pleasure of tending a sick Troy. “Oh, yeah. You should have seen him when we both had chicken pox. He tried to get out of bed to play football. Said the team needed him and they’d all had the chicken pox already anyway so it wouldn’t matter. He actually snuck out of the house and got all the way down to the field before the coach sent him back home.”

Amy sighed. “Well, I think the worst of it is over. He hasn’t thrown up in a little while and he managed to keep down some dry toast and tea, although you would have thought I was feeding him poison with the faces he was making over the tea.”

Tessa laughed. “Yup. That sounds about right.”

“He’s still insisting on going down to Bryant’s to play Santa today.”

“Tell him don’t bother. I’m here and I met his replacement. He’s handling it just fine.” And he was hot enough to melt North Pole ice, even dressed in the Claus suit.

“That’s good to hear. Is it one of the other guys from the calendar?”

“No. The store found someone to fill in.” Tessa said a silent thank you that it wasn’t one of the guys she’d photographed nearly naked for the Hunky Firemen Calendar. Since she’d been the photographer for the calendar, it probably would be pretty inappropriate and unprofessional to start dating one of them. And judging by how all the firemen had steered a wide berth around her during the shoot, she strongly suspected Troy had stuck his nose in her business, yet again, and warned them to stay away from her.

She sighed. It wouldn’t be the first time he’d thrown a wrench into her dating. But this time, she’d met someone all on her own. Someone clear of Troy’s influence. Troy wasn’t here now, but JB was. A date with Mr. Claus sure would be nice…

Wow. She’d only just met JB and she was already thinking about
dating
him. Unbidden, Tessa got a mental picture of JB without the Santa. She was enjoying the image when Amy’s voice came through the earpiece and interrupted her fantasy. “I’ll be sure to tell Troy they got someone else. You keep your phone near just in case he doesn’t believe me and you have to back me up.”

“He’ll probably think we’re both in on some great Santa Claus conspiracy together, but I’ll do my best to convince him.”