Martha Kennerson - An Unexpected Holiday Gift

Keylan set his mouth in a tight line. His legendary charm clearly wasn’t having an effect on Mia Ramirez. By now he should have her number, address and be making plans to meet up later. He gave his head a slow shake, pushed out a quick breath and said, “I have some mandatory community service hours I need to—”

“Let me guess,” Mia interrupted, nodding as she slowly walked toward him. “You’d like me to work with your assistant or someone to set up some type of photo opportunity with the kids where you come in and present us with a check.” She stopped and stood two feet in front of Keylan.

“Well—”

“No, wait. I got it.” Mia held up her left index finger and her nose crinkled as though she’d just encountered a foul smell. “You have a couple of signed balls you want to give me to auction off for the proceeds. You get a photo op, the hours you need, of course, and I get a big check...literally.”

Mia might look like a kid with the cute high ponytail and minimal makeup she wore, but looks were deceiving. Keylan folded his arms across his chest and stared down at Mia. “Seems like you already have a set of brass ones. You certainly don’t need any additional balls from me.”

Mia’s mouth flew open but quickly closed as she matched his stance. They stood glaring at each other in silence. While Keylan liked Mia’s moxie, he didn’t know what angered him more: the fact that she’d made such judgmental assumptions about him or, given his time restraints lately and the fact that he hadn’t spent much time in a place he loved so much, that she had every right to question his sincerity. Keylan’s aunt Elizabeth ran their foundation and had been trying to get him to spend more time there for years.

Keylan dropped his arms. “Look, Ms....Mrs.... whatever—”

“Mia is fine,” she offered.

“I’m not here to put on some show and get out of doing my community service. In fact, until about—” he checked the time on his Bulgari Diagono watch “—eight minutes ago, I was really looking forward to spending time here...with the kids.”

Mia dropped her arms and shifted her weight from one foot to the other. “Well, if you’re serious about putting in some real time here, we could always use a few extra reliable hands. I think our kids would love seeing you, too.”

“But clearly not you.” Keylan smirked.

“My personal feelings aren’t important. This is your family’s foundation...you can come and go as you please. Besides, you really don’t want to know what I think,” she murmured, turning to walk away.

“Oh, but I do,” he assured her.

Mia turned back to face Keylan and placed her fingertips in her pants’ pockets. “I wouldn’t want to insult my boss’s nephew right to his face.” She smirked.

“It’s a bit late for that, don’t you think? I’m a big boy—I can handle it.” Keylan leaned forward. “And I can keep a secret.” Keylan returned to his full height.

Mia smiled. “In my experience, Mr. Kingsley, men like you—”

Keylan tilted his head slightly to the right. “Men like me?” He ignored his buzzing cell phone.

“Yes, men too busy for their own good. Do you need to get that?” she said, gesturing toward his pocket with her head.

“No, please continue,” he insisted.

“Men that think the world revolves around them. Men that think they can simply smile, lie, buy or flirt their way out of doing the right thing. Men like that—” Mia mirrored his tilted head “—don’t care about anything or anyone but themselves, and they certainly don’t have time for a bunch of kids they don’t know whose families can’t afford to buy their child’s favorite sports player’s overpriced shoes that they had made overseas for three dollars.”

“Wow.” Keylan circled Mia, coming to stand behind her. He leaned forward, ignoring the sweet scent of vanilla radiating from her petite body and the rise and fall of her breasts making his crotch suddenly uncomfortable, and spoke softly. “Good thing I’m not one of those men.”

“We’ll see,” she said, taking a step forward and turning to face him. Keylan’s phone buzzed again. “You sure you don’t need to get that?”

Probably. However, I won’t give you the satisfaction. “No, I’m good. When and where do we start?”

“If you follow me to the office, we can go over the schedule.”

“After you.”

Mia turned and Keylan couldn’t help but admire her firm backside as his body reacted instantly. Calm down, boy...not just yet.

“Did you say something?” Mia asked and stopped, looking over her shoulders.

Did I say that out loud? “No, but what’s with the paint?”

Mia smirked. “We were painting one of the smaller rooms. It got...messy.”

“I guess you weren’t wearing those tennis shoes.”

“Nope, socks.” Mia started back toward her office.

“Wait. Why were you painting a room? I can’t believe my aunt wouldn’t hire someone to handle that for you.”

Mia laughed and the sound sent a strange feeling throughout his body. “It was more of a fun activity for the kids than a real painting job, but you’re right, your aunt wouldn’t have allowed such a thing to happen.”

“Now, that I can believe.” Keylan scanned the halls as they proceeded. “Some things never change.”

“Pardon me?”

“Thanksgiving was last week and this place is already decked out like Santa’s workshop, with Christmas still several weeks away. The Christmas tree at the front entrance is beautiful, by the way. I love all the kids’ ornaments on it.”

“Yes, the decorators were here first thing Friday morning.” Mia visibly forced a smile. “I’m just glad they used the stuff the kids made. They would have been very disappointed.”

* * *

Mia could feel Keylan’s eyes on her as they made their way down the quite long hall. She couldn’t understand how such an arrogant man, king of the playboys and known as an aggressive player on the basketball court, could have her body responding in a way it hadn’t in years. So what if he was tall, with a sun-kissed tan, and handsome beyond reason? Why had her breath caught in her throat at the sight of him, and why had the sudden ache and weight of her breasts made Mia think she was wearing the wrong size bra?

It had been years since twenty-six-year-old Mia had been even remotely attracted to anyone. It wasn’t as if she didn’t like men; it was just that dating and sex wasn’t a priority of the mother to a four-year-old boy with Down syndrome. Mia hated the idea that it was Keylan that had awakened her dormant and sexually deprived body. To make things worse, she’d basically insulted her boss’s nephew to his face. Nice going, Mia.

Mia led Keylan into a midsize office several doors down from the gym. An oak desk with a salt finish sat on the right side of the room across from a large bay window that looked out over the playground. A dry-erase calendar on the wall behind Mia’s desk outlined the year-long activities that were in several different stages of planning.

“Please have a seat, Mr. Kingsley,” she said, taking a seat behind her desk.

The left wall of custom shelves was filled with a few personal photos and years of memorabilia from the many events and activities she’d conducted, along with awards she’d received during her tenure. “It’s Keylan, or KJ, if you prefer,” he said, admiring all the objects on her shelves. “How long have you worked for my family?”

“Almost five years,” she replied to his back, trying to ignore the way his perfectly cut suit draped his Greek-god-like physical form.

“I can’t believe we haven’t met before, especially since you’re the one who organized the annual three-on-three basketball tournaments, the charity bowling and the Holiday Toys for Tots drive. Those are our three biggest charity events.”