His Stand-In Holiday Girlfriend (Christmas in the City Book 1)

by Kasey Stockton

  “Actually,” Brady said, standing. “I will go and get the drinks. You stay and explain the design elements to Monica.”

  “What is going on here?” Monica asked, her voice going hard and irritation slithering into the set of her shoulders. “It’s almost as if you are trying to avoid me, Brady. Send the intern for the coffee. We have a lot to catch up on.”

  The panic in his eyes was enough to confirm to Ellie that he desperately wished to avoid that very scenario. She shouldn’t have been so quick to dismiss his plea down on the sidewalk earlier that morning. The man was in distress, and this woman was the cause. One small, idle meeting had already caused him alarm to a ridiculous degree.

  And they were going to be forced to work together closely for the next three weeks.

  “Actually, I’m not sure I’m comfortable with this anymore,” Ellie said, turning back toward Monica. The woman’s dark eyebrow arched up in confusion and Ellie found she couldn’t look at Monica while she lied. She turned her attention to Brady instead and hoped she wasn’t making a horrible mistake. “I know we’re supposed to keep this out of the office, but I’m not sure I like you spending alone time with your ex.”

  Brady stood across the clear glass table from her, his face a work of stone. “You don’t?” he asked slowly, his words coming out as though he was trying to figure out what they meant while he was saying them.

  “No,” Ellie said. “I know it was my idea to keep things quiet, but it’s probably just easier if we come clean now.”

  Brady’s gaze flicked to Monica and back. If he’d caught on to what Ellie was trying to do, he surely wasn’t helping it along.

  Ellie clasped her hands together in front of herself and turned toward Monica. “I know this can’t be comfortable for you to hear, but for the welfare of this project I feel it is prudent to inform you that Brady and I are dating.”

  Monica’s face went white. Her hands gripped one another on her lap and she turned a strained face toward Brady. “Is this true?”

  A slow smile spread over his lips as he nodded slowly, his eyes never leaving Ellie’s. She could get used to him looking at her with such appreciation. “We promised Mr. Gaines we would leave the romance out of the office, so we haven’t told many people.”

  The room was pregnant with silence. Ellie lowered herself into her chair and turned on her tablet, pleased to see a message from Brady which simply read, “Thank you.”

  Taking advantage of Monica’s stunned silence, Ellie pulled up her vision board for the gala, cleared her throat, and began.

  Chapter Six

  Monica had watched him closely after the sudden announcement during the meeting, and Brady had felt thoroughly under investigation by her gaze. But it had been worth it. The meeting had finally progressed, Ellie had delivered a perfect presentation, and decisions were discussed and finalized regarding the theme, guest list, and invitations.

  Brady stood shoulder to shoulder with Ellie on the bridge walkway outside of the design room and watched Monica sashay toward the elevators.

  She cast a final, curious glance over her shoulder before stepping through the metal doors and Brady held his breath until the elevator slid shut and the woman was gone from sight.

  Sighing, he pivoted toward Ellie. “I don’t know how I can ever thank you for agreeing—”

  “Not so fast,” Ellie said, facing him and lifting a finger. “I’ve got a few stipulations to go over first.”

  He swallowed. Women were so complicated. What was there to discuss? She’d pretend to date him during the meetings, and they could go about their normal lives otherwise.

  “This is purely for Monica,” she said, lifting her honey-colored eyebrows. “Otherwise it’s business as usual.”

  “Agreed,” he said.

  “And I’m feeling charitable right now, which is the only reason I agreed to this. But it stops with Christmas. After that, you’re on your own.”

  “I can agree to that,” he said.

  “And no kissing,” she added, her finger still raised as though she was berating a small child. “I’m sure HR would flip if they learned about this. But to protect ourselves, let’s just keep the physical contact out of the equation.”

  “That will be easy, since we’re trying to appease our boss anyway.”

  The corner of her mouth lifted in an amused smile, her eyes sparkling. “Yeah, that was quick thinking. If Monica thinks Gaines is okay with you dating an intern, then it’s a lot more believable.”

  Brady began walking toward his office and Ellie fell into step beside him. He turned to look at her and noticed she had a scar on her temple. Drawing his eyebrows in, he indicated it with a flick of his chin and asked, “How did that scar get there?”

  Her cheeks went beet red and she dipped her head. It was cute. He’d seen her embarrassed when she spit his coffee all over the board room, but he hadn’t seen her shy like this yet.

  Clearing her throat, she delivered a bashful smile. “I fell while dancing. In high school.” Gesturing toward her tablet, she nodded her head toward her own desk down the hall. “I better get on these invitations.”

  He watched her start to walk away. Calling after her, he waited for her to make eye contact. “We’re just meeting at the museum in the morning. Would you want to meet here and ride over together?”

  “That might be more believable,” Ellie agreed. “I’ll see you here at eight.”

  Something tugged at his stomach to follow her, but that was absurd. He had work to do and a team to manage and they were all in the design room just behind him. The intern with a bouncy step and tacky Christmas themed earrings had her own tasks to manage.

  Shaking out his head like a wet hound dog, Brady pushed the door open into the design room and dropped onto his chair.

  Zane crossed the floor and paused in front of his desk, and Brady lifted his eyebrows.

  “I just wanted to ask if you’ve looked over the file I sent you yesterday about my designs for the new Bear Mobile building.”

  “Sorry, Zane. There’s been too much going on with this gala project. I’ll have a look sometime today.”

  Zane’s face fell, but he managed a brave nod and Brady offered him a tight smile, waiting for him to retreat to his own desk. The guy hadn’t been overly inventive thus far and Brady was hesitant to give his ideas any stock. He hated letting the guy down, but this was business.

  After Ellie’s presentation showcasing the delicate balance between a modern Christmas and traditional components, Brady had been feeling more festive than usual. Which was a feat since he absolutely hated the holidays.

  But what was there to like? It was one of the few times his family all got together and much like the rest of America, it always ended in fighting and gloom. Christmas never felt good. Christmas was a chore.

  But Ellie clearly did not agree with him if her little snowman earrings or subtle pushes for more traditional components were any clue. One large Christmas tree as a centerpiece at the gala with an enormous star and an invitation for guests to bring one ornament to place upon it was as traditional as it gets. Making it more enjoyable by allowing each guest to select a different ornament to take home with them was brilliant.

  It was a high-end white elephant gift exchange. A smile lit his lips as he imagined Ellie giving the presentation. She might be fresh from college, but she knew what she was about. And she had excelled during that meeting earlier.

  Opening his laptop, Brady pushed the intern from his mind and focused on work. Except after multiple attempts to organize his thoughts, he was still stuck on Ellie’s long blonde hair and the winning smile she’d given him when she had glanced from Brady to Monica at the close of her presentation and realized that she had done it successfully.

  Although, that triumph could have been due to the fact that Ellie was able to deliver the entire thing without further interruptions from Monica. But Brady had a feeling she had been proud of herself too.

  Leaning back in his
chair, he ran a hand through his hair and blew out an exasperated breath.

  Focus, man.

  Sitting forward in his chair, Brady pulled up his email and got to work catching up after the meeting. It was time to separate his business and personal lives mentally.

  The staff room was nicer than her kitchen at home, and Ellie found that if she waited until later in the afternoon, most everyone else had already come and gone. She sat at the small white table in the corner and pulled out her phone, scanning through posts on social media and mindlessly eating her peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

  “You are the worst sort of confidante,” Cassie said, crashing into the room. She pulled out the chair opposite Ellie and sat down, plopping a clear take-out box full of salad on the table. Crossing her arms over her chest she leveled Ellie with a look. “What happened this morning? And don’t tell me nothing, because I saw how disappointed Monica looked when she stalked out of here.”

  “Nothing,” Ellie said around a bite of her sandwich. She offered a closed-lipped smile and picked up her water bottle for a sip.

  Rolling her eyes, Cassie opened the salad and began moving lettuce around with a fork. “What did Brady say to her?”

  “I know this will be a disappointment, but Brady didn’t say anything.” Ellie took another bite of her sandwich and looked the receptionist in the eye. It was not a lie, exactly. Brady didn’t tell Monica he was dating Ellie. Ellie did.

  And she wasn’t quite sure yet if Cassie was the right person to trust with this secret.

  Cassie’s exaggerated frown was interrupted with chewing as she took a bite of her salad. “Bummer. I wonder if they texted each other then. The woman came in looking so smug and top-lofty I was rooting for someone to knock her down a peg.”

  Ellie shrugged. “So, who’s answering phones right now?”

  Cassie shot her a sly smile. “The machine. I never step away for long but I’ve been instructed not to eat at the desk anymore. So they’ll have to deal with waiting a half-hour for their messages.”

  “That seems reasonable.”

  “What’s not reasonable is Mr. Harvey taking all of the popcorn from the office. I’m sure he did it after everyone left for the day. He’s been complained about the smell for weeks like it’s a bad thing to smell popcorn. Can you even?”

  “No, I can’t even,” Ellie responded, drinking more of her water. She didn’t care if there was or wasn’t popcorn in the kitchen.

  “I know. And did you hear about Mandy from the legal department? She was caught sleeping at her desk last week. More than once.” Cassie lifted her eyebrows.

  Ellie waited for her to continue.

  “You know what that means, right?”

  “I’m sure you can tell me,” Ellie said, amused. She had made the right choice in keeping her secret to herself. Evidently, Cassie didn’t know how to not share information.

  “Obviously there’s trouble at home or she wouldn’t be staying so late she falls asleep. Harver Allen is spotless. Legal doesn’t have that much work to do to keep her that late.”

  Chair legs scraped against the cool tile floor as Ellie pushed back from the table and rose. “I’ve got to get back to work.”

  Cassie watched her through narrowed, disbelieving eyes. “Right. Let me know if anything happens at your meeting tomorrow.”

  “Sure thing,” Ellie called over her shoulder before tossing her garbage in the trash can and heading back toward her desk. Cassie was difficult to predict; her moods seemed to change as frequently as Monica had interrupted during that morning’s meeting.

  Which was a lot.

  Turning down the hallway, Ellie bumped shoulders with someone coming the opposite direction and jumped out of the way. A tablet fell to the floor and skittered against the wall with a resounding thud.

  “Shoot!” Ellie said, reaching for the tablet. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t even see you.” She glanced at the screen and was immensely relieved to find it unbroken. Lifting her gaze, she met the eyes of the hipster guy who’d checked on her outside of the design room the day before.

  “Oh, hi,” she said.

  He reached forward. “I’m Zane.”

  “I’m Ellie.” She shook his hand and laughed. “It seems like we can’t meet under normal circumstances.”

  His returning laugh was polite and he indicated the tablet. Ellie’s cheeks went warm as she handed it to him. Had he been reaching for it earlier and not trying to shake her hand?

  “Welcome to the company,” he said politely. “It’s a great place to work for the most part.”

  “Thanks,” Ellie said. There was an awkward moment of silence when Zane looked around like he didn’t know what to say. “Well I guess I’ll see you around,” she said, turning to go. It was a good thing she already had a best friend at home, because work did not appear to be the place she was going to make lasting relationships.

  Chapter Seven

  Ellie arrived at the office at eight sharp and waited in front of the building for Brady. The museum wasn’t too far away, but it was enough of a distance that they’d likely grab a cab.

  “You’re early,” Brady said, hurrying toward her with two to-go cups in his hands.

  She glanced at her watch. “Actually, I was on time. You are late.”

  He gave her a once over before handing her one of the cups and turning back the way he came. “We should decide how we want to explain our romance to Monica.”

  “And good morning to you, too,” Ellie said, pulling the straps of her bag higher on her shoulder. She smelled the tea. It was peppermint. “Thanks.”

  “No problem. I’m a little anxious,” he said with a bashful smile. “Monica makes me crazy.”

  “Evidently.”

  Brady paused on the sidewalk, pulling on Ellie’s sleeve until she turned to face him. “Listen, I realize this whole thing is kind of crazy, but I really appreciate you helping me out. Monica has got this ability to make me come back to her every time we break up. And I don’t know how she does it, but I always find myself back in a toxic relationship with her, willing to give it another shot. This” —he indicated to himself and Ellie with a hand gesture— “will keep her from even trying.”

  “I don’t know about that. But it’s worth a shot.”

  “And that is why I appreciate you,” he said.

  Ellie turned back toward the street and waited for Brady to wave down a cab. Climbing into the smelly back seat, she waited for Brady to give the driver their direction and then said, “So as far as our office romance is concerned, we can say that it was love at first meeting. I mean, we do have a cute intro story with the spitting coffee in the boardroom.”

  Brady lifted an eyebrow. “I’m not sure that qualifies as cute.”

  Ellie scoffed. “Come on, be a gentleman. At least pretend you found it cute. As my boyfriend, you know, you totally would.”

  He gave her a heart-melting smile. “Well as your boyfriend I can pretend, I guess.”

  The taxi came to a stop and they stepped onto the busy sidewalk before climbing the pristine white, marble steps to the museum entrance.

  The entrance to the museum was large and spacious, studded with white painted columns throughout the room, with vast vaulted ceilings overhead. There were various art pieces on display, but Ellie could see how perfectly the main floor would work for the gala when they were removed.

  Heel steps clicked, echoing throughout the room.

  “Good morning,” Monica said, coming toward them with her hair slicked back into a sleek ponytail. She wore a black pencil skirt, offset with a crisp, white shirt. Her cheerful smile was belied by the strain in the slight wrinkles around her eyes. “Shall we begin with a tour?”

  “That would be great,” Ellie said.

  “Well this is our main foyer. As you can see by the desk and our fabulous Julianne here,” Monica said, sweeping her hand to indicate the front desk and ticket sales information behind a short, curly-haired employee, “we have a
coat check room just beyond that door over there and will station security guards around the entrance here.”

  “And employees to accept invitations?” Ellie added. “With the high-value art contained in this building, we should probably do our best to ensure that only invited members enter through these doors.”

  “Precisely,” Monica said crisply. “Moving along, we’ve got a lot of open space to set up.”

  Ellie stepped away from the group, walking around the room and envisioning the gala how she had designed it in her mind. She came upon an art piece in the very center of the room and stopped, surveying the room from that vantage point. It was precisely in the center and from there it was clear that the pillars were designed in a loose circle around the very middle of the room. Artfully done, of course, because it was unclear that they were meant to be a circle until Ellie stood in that very place.

  “What do you think?” Brady asked, approaching her with a casual step.

  Ellie glanced over his shoulder to Monica, who was following close behind him. “Will this piece be moved before the gala? This is the perfect place for the gifting tree.”

  “The gifting tree,” Brady said. “I like that.”

  “Yes. This will be moved to a separate floor next week.”

  “Fantastic,” Ellie said. “The tree can go here. We can put cocktail tables around the main floor for mingling, and then set up tables over there in front of the steps for the ceremony.”

  The other two were quiet as Ellie finished speaking and she glanced between them, suddenly acutely aware of her own low status within the company she represented. She turned to Brady. “If you think that would be wise, of course.”

  He nodded, impressed. “I think that would be perfect. I’m not sure I’d be able to come up with anything better.” He turned to Monica. “What do you think?”

  “It’s fine, I guess. Should we go to my office and discuss the charity details?”

  Brady looked to Ellie and she agreed. “Let’s.”