The Billionaire's First Christmas - Contemporary Romance (10 page)

“Your father sounds like an amazing
man,” Aaron said. He looked like he meant it.

I wiped the tears that had spilled
over onto my cheeks and said, “Yeah. Definitely an amazing
man.”

“But what about Lisbeth? Did you ever
tell her that it was you? Did she wear the boots?”

“She did wear the boots, every day for
the rest of that winter she wore them to school. She told me and
all of the other kids that Santa Claus had brought them to her. I
never told her or anyone that we left gifts for. It would have
taken away from what we were trying to do. I didn’t want any credit
for it. I just wanted to see the smiles it gave them.”

Aaron was smiling when I finished my
story. The rest of the day while we played games and rode rides and
even sang along with carolers at one point, the smile stayed on his
face. It snowed lightly off and on and just about the time it was
getting dark, I dropped down into the snow on the grass and started
making a snow angel.

“What are you doing now?” he said. I
think he may have thought I was a little bit crazy.

“Making a snow angel,” I told him.
“Please don’t tell me you’ve never made one. You’ll break my
heart.”

“Well, as much as I hate to break your
heart,” he started. I grabbed his arm and pulled him down next to
me before he could finish. “What are you doing?” he asked, now
covered with snow.

“Lie down and make an angel with me,”
I told him.

“This jacket is a little expensive to
be lying around in the snow,” he told me.

I rolled my eyes and said, “Please, I
know you can afford a hundred more just like it. But, if it’s too
cold for you...”

“It’s not too cold for me. I just
don’t want to ruin my jacket. Sure, I can buy another one, but I
like this one.”

“Sure, I understand. Some people just
can’t handle the cold.”

I was beginning to realize how
competitive Aaron was after watching him play the midway games
earlier. I was egging him on, knowing that if I tested his
competitive side, he would do it. He pulled off his coat and lay
down next to me. For the next fifteen minutes we made snow angels.
He made three until at last one was perfect. When we stood back up,
we were both covered in snow. I reached up to brush it off his
shirt and before I had time to even react he brought his lips down
on mine and we shared the sweetest kiss. It wasn’t the tongue
tangling, spit-swapping kind of kiss I was used to men trying. It
was closed mouthed and tender, like the kiss of an old soul. It was
completely romantic and it made my stomach flutter and my head
spin. I may have even felt it in my toes if they weren’t already
frozen.

When we finally broke apart I had a
hard time getting my breath back. Aaron was looking at me
strangely. The animation and excitement that had been on his face
while we lay in the snow was gone. It was replaced with a look of
confusion or regret. Did he regret kissing me?

“I’m sorry, Robyn,” he said. “I just
remembered there’s somewhere I have to be.”

“Oh, right now?” It was quite a
coincidence that he only just remembered as we were sharing a
kiss.

“Yes, I’m sorry,” he said. “Thank you
for the day. I had a really good time.” Then he turned and walked
away, leaving me confused and quite a bit hurt. Was he sorry that
he had to leave, or sorry that he had kissed me?

I went back into the park that night
and caught the man who took pictures of the carriage rides just
before he left for the night. I made my purchase and as I walked to
my car, I let my mind run back over the day. I’d heard the way he
laughed on the ice. It wasn’t a fake laugh or a polite laugh. It
was a hearty, robust, from the gut kind of laugh. The kind that
says a person is having a great time. I looked down at the Santa
Claus in my hand and remembered the way he’d picked me up and swung
me around when he’d won it. Aaron had been truly happy then too. I
think he had fun… I know he did, but something was standing in the
way of him admitting that and going with his feelings. Maybe he
hasn’t been in a relationship for a while. From what he said about
Christmas with his family… or without them, he didn’t sound like
the relationship there was a close one either. Maybe he’d been hurt
in the past and had closed himself off from intimacy. Maybe
whatever happened to him had happened at Christmas time and that’s
why this time of year made him so unhappy.

I was sure that was what it was. He
was so successful and so rich that it probably intimidated a lot of
people. Some people might think that would give him an advantage in
the dating pool, but unless he was looking for someone just as rich
as himself, I can imagine how his position would scare a lot of
women off. Most men in his position dated actresses or models. They
were women with high self-confidence and just as much money. I did
have good self-confidence, but I was lacking in the money
department. He still didn’t frighten me; even knowing that he was
my boss wasn’t intimidating. I’m not sure why, I suppose because
I’d been raised not to judge people by the things they had or
didn’t have. Should I respect my boss’s authority? Of course. Did
that mean I had to cow down to him? Of course not. His businesses
and material possessions were only things after all. What really
mattered was your heart and soul. I felt his heart today; when he
laughed, when he hugged me and most definitely when we kissed. It
was a good heart, a romantic one, whether he was ready to admit
that or not. Maybe the wall he’d built around it just needed to be
chipped away at. I wasn’t ready to give up on him yet. I was
willing to do a little chipping and see if I could break through.
Besides, my heart already felt a connection to him. I wasn’t going
to cheat myself out of the first real feelings I’d had for a man in
a long time. I decided that he was definitely worth some time and
effort. If nothing came of it, at least I would be able to say that
I tried.

CHAPTER NINE

~

AARON

“Aaron?” Doug, my VP of marketing was
looking at me strangely. We were sitting in our regular Monday
morning meeting and I guess my mind had drifted off topic. I had no
idea what he’d just said. “Are you okay?” he asked me. Doug had
worked for me for years. He’d never had cause to ask me if I was
okay before this.

“I’m fine. I just have a lot on my
mind. I’m sorry, Doug. Can you repeat that?”

He was talking about advertisement for
the products we distributed to New Zealand. He’d enlisted a
production company to shoot short videos and television ads. It was
going to cost a fortune, but start-up always did. I never let cost
get in the way of a good business decision. Today, I just didn’t
care either way. I let him give his spiel for the second time that
morning I suppose, and then I let Hal, my Chief financial officer
barter with him about the cost. I’d hardly even processed what he’d
said. My mind was definitely elsewhere; a few floors down to be
exact. I’d been thinking about Robyn almost constantly since… well,
I guess since the day I saw her step off the elevator if I’m being
honest with myself. That was what started it all. It was why I’d
even been at that auction in the first place. If I had been
thinking then, I would have known it was too close to Christmas to
get so close to anyone. Then I’d agreed to go to that fair. Against
my own better judgment, I’d had a good time… too good.

“Aaron?” This time it was Hal bringing
me back to the present.

“Yes?”

“I asked if you would be okay with
those figures…”

“Oh, um… what was it, exactly?” I
asked.

He repeated them and then said, “Are
you sure you’re alright?” Now, everyone at the table was looking at
me strangely. I needed to remember that I had a position to uphold
here.

“Yes, I’m sure. I apologize to all of
you. I don’t mean to waste your time this morning. I have something
urgent that I should deal with. I trust your judgment on this Hal,
and you too Doug. Go ahead and arrange it for whatever Hal thinks
the right budget will be and I’ll sign for it.” I looked at Sheila
then; she was taking notes for the agenda. Janice usually did that,
but she was busy working on plans for the Christmas party. It was
another thing I didn’t want to think about at the moment. “Just
transfer whatever else is on the agenda to next Monday, unless it’s
urgent. If so, star it and Janice can bring it up with me later in
the week.”

“Yes sir,” Sheila said, standing up.
The rest of the executives at the table were still looking at me
strangely, but they got up from it and before they finally left me
completely alone, Hal hung back to speak to me.

“Is this about the meeting with Xiong
this evening? Are there problems you’re anticipating?” The meeting
was important, crucial actually. Winters needed to branch out into
broader markets with the economy the way it was here in the states.
We’d gone into Russia and New Zealand so far and dabbled a bit in
the U.K., and now we were looking at China. But I didn’t anticipate
any problems. I had all my ducks in a row for the meeting. Hal was
a worrier though, so I wasn’t surprised that was where his mind had
gone.

“No Hal. That meeting should go just
as planned. It’s a personal matter. But, I’m fine,
really.”

He gave me a nod and the meeting
finally disbursed. I could understand why they were all so alarmed
by my behavior. It was definitely unlike me to be so absent during
a meeting. I was always on point and I was angry with myself over
being distracted today. I never let myself get so off track. That
reminded me of what Robyn had said about going off track and making
new discoveries. I had discovered plenty by staying on track,
hadn’t I? I was focused and driven, that was what had led to my
success at such a young age. I started this company with very
little and now look where we were at.

I was willing and able to put aside
things that other young men held up as priorities, such as
attachments to pretty women. I never got attached to women. I had
plenty of dates, and plenty of women who wanted to attach
themselves to me but I just never let it happen. Robyn was just so
different though. I wasn’t used to a woman who was so blatantly
enthusiastic about life. Not material things, not money… just
life.

She’d wanted to pay for everything
that day at the park. That was another thing I wasn’t used to. It
wasn’t that I minded paying for things. God knows I have more money
than I could spend in a lifetime even if I tried. But, somehow it
felt more human to have someone buy you a sandwich or a cup of
coffee for a change, especially someone who knew I could afford to
buy my own. I didn’t get the feeling that she was trying to attach
herself to me either. I got that feeling from a lot of women. I
mean… I think she likes me, but not the me that most people want to
be attached to, Aaron Winters, CEO, the guy with the power and the
money. She liked the Aaron on his ass on the ice, and the one who
felt compelled to beat a silly twelve year old at a silly midway
game. I can’t remember the last time that someone liked that Aaron.
Heck, I couldn’t even remember the last time that I was that Aaron.
Robyn had brought that out in me, the guy who wasn’t afraid of
relinquishing a bit of control and having fun. I think that’s what
it was about her that had gotten under my skin.

I’d gotten so caught up in it all that
day that I had kissed her. It was an amazing kiss. It was the kind
that sent electric currents running down your spine and into your
toes. I wanted nothing more than to deepen that kiss, but instead,
I’d run away like a coward and left her standing there alone. I’d
probably be lucky if she ever wanted to speak to me again. Someday
she was going to see something like whatever it is that she saw in
me in another guy. He’d end up with her and I would be right where
I am today, rich and lonely. Lately the only time the feeling of
loneliness went away was when I was with Robyn.

The kiss was two days ago though and I
haven’t seen her or called her. I’ve never been afraid of anything
in my life. When my parents died I knew instinctively that I was
going to be the only person that I could count on for the rest of
my life. I’d learned to do everything from that point on, by
myself, and none of it frightened me. It motivated me, in fact.
Robyn, and the way that kiss had made me feel frightened me to no
end. I’d had plenty of kisses, but none of them hit me in the gut
the way that one had. The fact that it frightened me made me angry
with myself.

I sat at that desk in the empty
conference room staring at the walls wondering if I should call
her. Should I just go down there and talk to her? I’d love to see
her. Her energy alone infects me. I hadn’t realized until the
moment I’d become infected by it that something was missing in my
life. I thought I had everything I wanted or needed. The rest of it
was just extraneous and usually required more time and attention
than I had or wanted to spare, and if it did I’d always just walked
away and left it behind me. Perhaps I should stay up here in my
ivory tower and let whatever it is that I feel for her and she
feels for me fade away. Surely if I just stay away from her now,
the feelings will eventually fade. It wasn’t like I was in love
with her…