deep chocolate brown. Several tendrils of hair escaped her tight bun and framed an olive-shaped face.
Not classically beautiful, but she was striking in an unusual and rare way.
And her figure—he didn’t even want to go there.
“Never mind,” she declared, and stepped around her desk. “My name is Carli Tynan. I’m regional project manager for Hammond Retail. James hired me, but I work more closely with Jackson.”
He reached his hand out to shake hers just as she said, “You, of course, need no introduction.”
Her tone suggested she didn’t mean that in a complimentary way. “Nice to meet you.”
She pointed to the file he still held. “Is there anything you’d like to go over?” This woman was all business. Regardless of what she’d been doing at the mansion earlier, he had no doubt she was an efficient employee who clearly had things under control.
“I made a few notes, things that I wouldn’t mind some further clarification on.”
She indicated the chair in front of her desk. “Have a seat. We have some time before the meeting.”
Justin hesitated. He wasn’t used to being ordered around; the feeling made him uncomfortable. As did the incessant echo of Christmas music playing in the lobby.
“Would you mind if we closed the door?” he asked her, already walking to it.
“Any particular reason?”
“I can’t focus with the cursed Christmas tunes playing in the background.”
He shut the door and turned back to find her studying him with curious eyes. “You have something against Christmas music?”
“Christmas is one day. But for some reason the whole world is burdened with listening to those blasted tunes for weeks on end. That doesn’t happen with any other holiday, now does it?”
“Christmas is hardly like any other holiday.”
“Only because the whole world insists on dragging it out. It’s one day, yet we insist on calling it the holiday season.”
“Some would argue it’s at least twelve days,” she countered.
Clever, she’d referenced another Christmas carol. “Don’t tell me you’re one of those types. The ones who make their shopping list in October. You pull out the tree and decorations as soon as the Thanksgiving turkey is consumed. Am I close?”
“And what would be so wrong about it if I was?”
He shrugged. He wasn’t going to try to explain it. Christmastime around his house as a young boy had usually meant the start of weeks of arguments followed by loud, drunken fights. With his father working long hours and his mother growing more and more resentful at his absence. Of course, there were problems throughout the year, but the holiday season seemed to bring out the worst in his parents. An excuse to purge their anger and throw everything in the open. By the time Christmas morning rolled around, he and his brother were more than ready to have it all over with. Even the toys weren’t enough to make up for the turmoil and chaos.
How had they even gotten into this conversation anyway? Justin wondered. All he’d asked was to shut the door so he didn’t have to hear the music from the lobby. He didn’t need to explain himself to a woman he’d just met.
Carli was still staring at him expectedly. She’d asked him a question that he’d left hanging. “Nothing. Never mind. Forget I said anything.”
“Okay. But I feel I have to say just one more thing.”
Why was he not surprised? “Go ahead.”
“That you have to realize how—” she paused and glanced at the ceiling, as if scrambling for the correct word “—curious your perspective about Christmas is. Given who you are.”
Of course he realized that. He was heir to one of the most successful retail toy operations in the Northern Hemisphere. A business that earned most of its profits in the weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve. Sure, it was true that as an adult he’d made his own way and had become a successful businessman in his own right. But he’d been granted worldly advantages at birth that most people could only dream of. He should be thanking his lucky stars for the gift of Christmas and the commercialism that surrounded it.
And to anyone on the outside, he probably sounded like an ungrateful, cranky Scrooge who didn’t appreciate all the blessings he’d been granted.
Judging by Carli’s expression, that’s exactly what she was thinking.
* * *
Carli watched as Justin walked out of her office half an hour later, relieved to finally have some time to herself. What a strange morning it had been. It had taken all she had to remain cool and professional once he’d walked in here. She’d pulled it off, but barely. The whole while she was speaking with Justin regarding the business, her insides had felt like jelly. Thank heavens she hadn’t eaten anything this morning. It probably wouldn’t have stayed down.
The problem was, she wasn’t sure what was causing all the turmoil. Sure, it had been upsetting when he’d so casually dismissed her as she was trying to introduce herself. And she’d known he was judging her by her appearance. But none of that was anything new for her.
People always underestimated her at first. She just made sure to prove herself, had been doing so her whole life. Not to mention, she’d had to find ways to somehow differentiate herself from her four siblings. Right smack in the middle, she was oh-so-easy to overlook. Tammy was the wise oldest sister, happily married with a lovely little boy. Janie, the beautiful one. People in their town actually called her JB, short for Janie Beautiful. Janie had the sort of looks that made men stammer when they spoke to her. While Carli was curvy and voluptuous, her next older sister was gorgeous in an angelic and soft way that Carli could never compete with. She certainly hadn’t been able to last year...
Don’t even start with that.
And the twins...well, they were twins. That fact alone made them stand out.
Carli was just the middle sister. Nothing special there. Barely noticeable in the crowd. So she made sure to work harder than any of them. Years of study and long hours, first at business school and then at the office, she hadn’t taken anything for granted.
And now the arrival of the other Hammond son might be threatening all of that. No wonder she felt so out of sorts when Justin was near. She had to do something to fix that, but what exactly?
Jocelyn tapped lightly on her door before she could answer her own question.
“Come in.”
“Hey, how did it go? Were you even able to focus?”
Carli shrugged as she opened her email inbox. “Of course,” she said, though it was a fib. “Why in the world wouldn’t I?”
“I’m sure I wouldn’t have been able to. Not with those deep dreamy eyes focused on me.”
Carli resisted the urge to grunt. “Not this again.” No way was she going
