Page 127 of Bossy Wicked Prince

Minne descends on me the second I step out of the staff room. She’s hugging me before I know what’s happening.

“Merry Christmas, Cat,” she squeals.

I laugh. “You’re excited. Did you get into the eggnog already?”

“Oh, you know I don’t spike it until after eight.”

When I look around, I can see the party’s in full swing. Christmas music plays from a boom box. A huge pile of presents sits against the wall. I wrapped a bunch of them myself. They’re not the neatest ones, but they were wrapped with love.

Thanks to Nate’s donation, the presents this year are fantastic. New backpacks, fresh socks and underwear, and best of all, basic cell phones with external chargers and a year’s worth of data. Nothing nice enough to steal, but good for emergencies and keeping in touch with family.

“Dinner service just started, if you want to wash your hands and grab some gloves,” Minnie says. “Oh, and by the way…Santa’s here.”

Before I can ask what she means, I see him.

Nate Walsh, with a Santa hat on his dark hair, dishing out mashed potatoes. Instead of his usual suit, he’s wearing a forest green sweater that hugs his wide shoulders. Perfectly Christmas-y and perfectly yummy. I smell his stylist’s hand at work.

Photographers are snapping photos of him, but he doesn’t look at them. Instead, he looks every patron in the eye before he serves them. His body language is relaxed, his spine not ramrod-straight like it so often is. He looks like he belongs here.

“He looks so…comfortable,” I say.

Minnie laughs. “He didn’t at first. The first few times he served lunch, he didn’t say a word. It took us a while to warm him up.”

I whirl toward her. “Hewhat?How long has he been volunteering here?”

“For a month. He asked me to let him know any time he knew you wouldn’t be here, so he wouldn’t run into you.”

“And you justlethim?” I say, gawking.

“Of course I did! He donated all this money, I wasn’t going to stop him from donating his time. And if he didn’t want to be with his ex while he worked…hey, I get it. Look, I didn’t think it would upset you.”

“It doesn’t.” And it’s true. No part of me is angry. I’m happy. Seeing Nate standing there in a ridiculous Santa hat, in my shelter, giving Alice one of his rare smiles, fills me with so much joy that I’m practically floating.

Stop it. This is still the guy who secretly watched you for months.

The logical part of my mind yanks me back down to the ground. Nate’s smart enough to know that the shelter is the way to my heart. This could all just be for show, a ruse to convince me to get back together with him.

Or it could have nothing to do with me. I know how easy it is to fall in love with the people here. Maybe he stopped by to check on his donation and felt compelled to help. He might have totally moved on from me by now.

There’s only one way to find out.

My heart races as I go back to wash my hands. I have no idea what I want to say to him. Should I tell him that he shouldn’t be here? That I’m still grateful for the donation? That I miss him?

I stop and take a long, slow breath. I’ll have to trust myself to say the right thing in the moment. Before I can talk myself out of it, I slip in next to him in line, grabbing a pair of tongs to dole out dinner rolls.

“Hi.”

He turns to me, his eyes wide. He looks genuinely surprised to see me—didn’t he know I wouldn’t miss the shelter’s Christmas party?

Minnie giggles loudly, and I put it together. She lied and told him I wouldn’t be here. Apparently, she skipped right past Santa and straight to Cupid.

“Hi, Cat,” Nate says finally.

Cat. Not Kitten.

It stings, hearing him use my name and not his special nickname for me. It’s like confirmation that there’s no more intimacy between us. But at the same time, my heart swells, hearing his familiar low voice.

“It’s good to see you,” I tell him, and I mean it.