The Christmas Set-Up Read online

  She laughed. “You’re going to help me?”

  “Sure.”

  “You’ve never offered such a thing before.”

  “You’ve never given me the time of day before.”

  “I’m not giving it to you now.”

  He smiled, slightly lopsided and sexy as hell. The appetizer on his smile menu. “We could combine our efforts,” he said. “I’m not having trouble.” She narrowed her eyes. “Are you?”

  He laughed as if that was the most ridiculous thing he’d ever heard, and she had to smile that she’d even suggested it. Jason was a designer genius. He never had trouble. With anything. Or if he did, he kept it deep inside. “Go away, Jason.”

  He was still close, too close. In her near tumble, a strand of her long hair had caught on the day-old stubble of his jaw. She reached up to tug it free and another of those bolts of sensation went through her.

  Not annoyance.

  Not adrenaline.

  Lust.

  His eyes darkened, the only sign that he felt it, too. That, and the way his hands tightened on her hips. There was another beat, and for a minute she thought he was going to kiss her.

  “Zoe?” Susan, her assistant, called from her desk out front, making Zoe jump.

  Susan was one of a handful of office-support staff. “I’ve got the reference books you requested,” she yelled.

  Zoe shut her laptop and brushed past Jason without looking at him again. She accepted the reference material from Susan, and then was waylaid by Steele for a few minutes, exchanging pleasantries. Steele’s personality matched his name. He was respectful of women but not especially modern enough to fully believe in one. Zoe intended to change that.

  By the time she got back to her office, Jason was gone.

  Which was good. Perfect, really.

  Letting out a breath, she turned away from her laptop and stared out her office window. San Francisco had definitely dressed up for the holidays this year and was lit up like a Christmas snow globe, even in full daylight.

  It was beautiful.

  But she couldn’t enjoy it. Not when she hadn’t settled on anything close to a design worthy of the Weller project. And, as Jason had so thoughtfully pointed out, she had only two weeks left.

  Sighing, she scrubbed her hands over her face. Her mind wasn’t on the project, but the promotion, which she wanted with all her ambitious heart. It would give her a welcome leg up in the rivalry between her and her siblings. Her three older sisters had a head start. Cindy, Leanne and Valerie were a brain surgeon, a rocket scientist and a district attorney, respectively. Cindy and Leanne had married professional white-collar guys and were raising kids. Valerie had a significant other and was expected to reveal a diamond at some point over the Christmas holidays.

  All three practical, logical, smart-as-hell, right-side-of-the-brain, classic overachievers. Zoe used the other side of her brain, the “artist” side, and was an associate architect in a troubled field that traditionally had never been all that kind to women.

  Tonight she’d be smack in the center of the Anders’ family annual Christmas getaway, in their mountain cabin out in the middle of the Sierras, surrounded by nothing but snow and woods and more than one considerable ego. This time, Zoe wanted to be able to hold her head high and tell her sisters that she was finally on her way in her career. This time she was special.

  Except that without an architectural plan for the Weller Center, she wasn’t.

  She turned back to her desk and opened her laptop to eject the memory stick and pack up to leave.

  But the memory stick wasn’t there. She searched the desk, the floor, everywhere.

  It was gone. And so were all her notes and ideas.

  She whirled to the door and nearly growled.

  Jason.

  Grinding her back teeth together, she headed down the hall toward his office. The lights were off, so she hit the switch. His desk was clear of anything, including his laptop. The room was cool and quiet, and it took her a minute to realize what made it feel so stark. She hadn’t noticed before, probably because she’d always avoided his space, but unlike the rest of the entire floor, Jason’s office was utterly devoid of Christmas decorations.

  She turned back the way she’d come and stopped at Susan’s desk. “Have you seen Jason?”

  “He’s gone.”

  “Gone where?”

  “Left. In fact, you just missed him.”

  Zoe stared at her. “But he was just here.”

  “Yep. And now he’s gone. He’s heading out of town, I believe, and not expected in the office again until next week.” Susan smiled. “It’s Christmas Eve, Zoe. We’re all gone, or close to it,” she added cheerfully, grabbing her things.

  Zoe marched straight to Mike’s cubicle, which was the virtual opposite of his brother’s office. Every corner was decorated and lit for the holidays to within an inch of its life, including the naughty Mrs. Santa calendar hanging on the corkboard behind his desk.

  Mike was on his feet, pulling on a jacket. “Hey,” he said with a smile. “Just caught me.”

  “Where’s your brother?”

  “Jason?”

  “Do you have another obnoxious, sneaky, desperately competitive brother who steals files in order to gain the upper hand because they know they’re going to lose?”

  Mike laughed. “Ah… You caught him.”

  Zoe narrowed her eyes. “Are you telling me he really did it, he stole my flash drive?”

  He hesitated. “I’m telling you to never underestimate my brother when it comes to getting what he wants,” Mike said with a cryptic smile. “Not that he’d admit that.”

  “Where is he?” Zoe managed to say with what she felt was remarkable calm. “Susan mentioned something about him getting out of town?”

  “Yep. He’s probably halfway to Lake Tahoe by now.” Mike scooped up his portfolio and laptop.

  “Lake Tahoe?”

  “Yeah, I rented a cabin for my girlfriend and I, but she has to stay in town to do a family thing so we’re staying at mine and Jason’s place instead. Jason took the cabin to give us some privacy.”

  Zoe sighed. It could be worse. Lake Tahoe was four hours away but only about an hour and a half out of her way to her family’s Christmas gathering in Quincy. Not that it mattered. She wanted her files back. She also wanted to wring Jason’s neck. “I need the address.”

  Mike rubbed his jaw as he looked at her ruefully.

  “Mike.”

  “He specifically said he wanted to be alone.”

  Uh-huh. She just bet.

  “And there’s a storm coming,” Mike said. “You might get stuck there.”

  “I have all-wheel drive, I’ll be fine.” Besides, she’d checked the weather. She had until tomorrow morning before the heavy snow hit, and by then she’d be in Quincy with her family. “I’ll owe you a favor.”

  Mike’s eyes lit. “Yeah?”

  “Yeah.”

  Balancing his laptop and portfolio, he scribbled an address down on a piece of paper for her. “I’ll deny giving you this.”

  “I wouldn’t expect anything less.”

  * * *

  MIKE WATCHED HER WALK AWAY, his smile spreading as he sent out a three-way text:

  Operation Getting Jason and Zoe Laid is in progress.

  CHAPTER THREE

  JASON STOOD STARING at the cabin’s empty woodstove. Outside it was pitch-black in the way only the Sierras could be at night. There were no city lights, nothing but a tiny sliver of the moon peeking out from the long fingers of silvery clouds spreading across the sky with increasing speed.

  The storm was moving in. He was going to get a white Christmas. Woo hoo.

  He didn’t waste his breath cursing his brother, the reason he was here. But wasn’t it just like Mike to book a nonrefundable weekend at a cabin with the bills mounting and the creditors circling.

  It was maybe twenty degrees outside. Inside wasn’t much warmer. The place was a low-fri