Page 45 of A Cozy Kind of Christmas

FORTY-TWO

JOHANNA

Connor pleaded with Johanna, pacing in front of the fireplace and dragging his hands through his hair. “Would you stop being so stubborn for like five seconds and listen to me?”

“What is there to listen to?” She grabbed her phone from the coffee table, ignoring the pile of gorgeous flowers.

Connor had picked her favorites—deep burgundy roses and cream lilies mixed with greenery and sprigs of rosemary.

He must have been serious about buying out the stock because there had to be at least a hundred stems, enough to open her own flower cart.

She wanted to believe him.

If he had really given up a job for her—for love—Meg would lose her mind.

But the evidence was stacked against him.

She had tangible proof he was lying.

She scrolled through her email until she found the announcement. “Read it for yourself—it’s all right here. ‘Connor Howard to lead new ESPN personalities division.’”

Connor moved close to her. Close enough to smell his aftershave and feel the heat pulsing off his rock-hard body.

Don’t go there, Johanna.

He’s lying.

She tossed him the phone and ducked away from him, curling up on the opposite side of the couch, as far away from him as possible.

He scanned the email. “Yeah, I saw this.” He shook his head and handed her back the phone. “It’s not true, Jo.”

“So, HR is just blasting out random emails now? Announcing your promotion? Sending out company-wide congratulations just for kicks?” She scoffed. “How stupid do you think I am?”

“No, no. It’s not like that.” He ran his hands through his hair, making it look tousled and sexy like it did first thing in the morning after a long night in bed. “Yes, they offered me the position.”

“Offered it to you.” She blew out a breath.

“You went behind my back and interviewed without even telling me. I’m not even mad that you took the job—well—yeah, actually, I’m pissed about that, too, because you’re part of the boys’ club, but I’m furious that you didn’t have the nerve to at least tell me you were going after the role. You owed me that much.”

“I know, I know I did, but it wasn’t like that. I swear.” He massaged his temples and shook his head. “Look, I did an interview, and I should have told you about it, but it wasn’t for the same job. At least not when I first went in.”

“What job were you interviewing for?” Johanna didn’t believe a single word coming out of his mouth.

It was semantics and lip service. He was trying to save face for one reason and one reason alone—himself.

He couldn’t handle having anyone upset with him.

Connor loved being the golden boy, the guy everyone on staff adored. She was ruining his brand image.

He wasn’t here because he was in love with her or serious about trying to win her back. He was here solely for the PR spin.

Well, good luck, babe, because she was not playing that game.

“Well, technically, the same role, but I didn’t realize it at the time.” He stumbled over his words, backtracking into another lie.

“Connor, let’s cut through the bullshit.

You interviewed for a role you knew I was the key candidate for—a role I’ve been vying for for the last year.

You did so behind my back, and now you’ve been caught and are trying to smooth things over so I don’t cause a scene back in New York.

Guess what? It doesn’t matter. There’s literally nothing you can say that will make me believe you.

You’ve shown your true colors. You used me.

You got what you wanted, so enjoy and leave me out of it. ”

“Johanna, I swear it wasn’t like that.” He sounded desperate as he collapsed onto the side of the couch. “I’m telling you, they offered me the job, and I said no.”

“How do you explain this email?” She tapped her phone screen and glared at him.

He had some nerve gaslighting her like this.

“They didn’t want me to say no, okay?” He shrugged and ran his finger along his jawline like he was trying to release tension.

“What do you mean they didn’t want you to say no?”

He pinched the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes. “There’s more to the story that you don’t know, okay? Can we just leave it at that?”

“No, we can’t leave it at that.” It took every ounce of self-control not to drag him out of the cabin and kick him to the curb.

They were spinning in a ridiculous circle of lies and mistruths.

“You came all this way. You might as well tell me the whole story.”

He swallowed, letting his shoulders sag. “Okay, but you’re not going to like this.”