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“Last I checked, there’s room for both,” he teased, pressing a kiss to her forehead. “Now, where was I? Oh, yes, your tender skin. The hardest decision will be whether to start with your shirt and work down or with your pants and work up. For this example, I’m starting with your pants.”

“Why?” Joy asked, his warmth making her sleepy the longer he spoke, though she registered his snort, which made her smile. “Okay, I know why, but doesn’t that reveal the prize a bit too early in the game?”

“You could be right,” he said, nodding against her head. “But I really want to put my hands on those hips.”

Joy took his hand and rested it against her hip. “There. Problem solved.”

His soft laughter filled her head, lifting her lips as he squeezed her hip. “It’s a start, but since I can technically hold these hips while kissing every inch of your neck, I’ll start there. Once I’ve had my fill of your neck, I’ll have to peel my hands off your hips long enough to unbutton these very sexy flannel jammies. You won’t need them to stay warm.”

“I don’t need them right now.” Her moan ended in a laugh as he tickled her side.

“And to think, I’m just getting started.”

With a contented sigh, Joy drifted off to sleep as Kian described how he planned to love her body from head to toe and everything in between.

31

#Backtoreality

“You’re sure you can fix it quickly?” Joy asked the plumber as they stood amid a mess behind the food court. “We’ve never had frozen pipes before.”

“Piece of cake, Joy. The pipes are insulated, which explains why you haven’t had any issues. It looks like the insulation has broken down in this spot. I haven’t had time to investigate why yet. Has there been any damage to the floor back here?”

“Not that I’m aware of, but I don’t work back here. Let me reach out to my maintenance crew. I’ll ask whether they’ve noticed anything while cleaning. I’ll also check with the vendors. I’m certain that if the damage were obvious, they would have come to me.”

“Yeah,” Marvin agreed, rubbing his chin. He held up a finger and squatted at the edge of the floor, now open to access the pipe.

When Lorelei expanded the mall, she asked the builders to keep the pipes easily accessible. Joy was never more grateful. Breaking apart tile floors could do even more damage to the pipes beneath.

“I think I see the problem.” He motioned her over and traced a line with his finger. “I know you can’t kneel to see it, but—”

“But I can,” Kian said from behind them, making Joy jump.

“Kian, what are you doing here?” Joy asked, her hand to her heart.

“We rushed back to take care of a plumbing problem. Did you think I wasn’t going to see what the problem was?”

Rushing back was a bit of an overstatement. They couldn’t leave Middleburg until after ten, and it took an extra 45 minutes to get back. They’d had no choice when Marci called to say a pipe had burst in the food court. By the time they’d gotten back to Snowcap Ridge, Marvin had arrived to look at the damage. She just didn’t expect Kian to hang around. This was her mall, and she didn’t need help managing it. Biting her tongue, she forced herself to remember that this was a Van Adler Holding and that he had every right to know what was going on with it, even if she could handle it.

Marvin, probably uncomfortable with their posturing, cleared his throat. “As I was saying, there’s a crack here in the tile.” He showed them, tracing the line that ran down the hallway toward an outside door. The mall was open-air, but the food court was set back in an enclosed space, with a curved wall that protected the booths from the elements. That was the only way to ensure the ovens and grills stayed at the right temperature, and the revolving doors meant they could heat and air-condition only the food court to keep guests and workers comfortable. The back, where the pipes were, was heated in the winter, but that didn’t mean the pipes weren’t susceptible to temperature changes.

“The crack may not be related to the pipe freezing in this section, but I’d still recommend having a flooring specialist look at it before it spreads.”

“I’m on it,” Joy said with a nod. “I’ll head back to the office now and give them a ring if you’re okay being alone here.”

“Alone is good,” he said, motioning toward the pipe. “This will take some work.”

“Let us know if you have any further issues,” Kian said, patting Marvin on the shoulder. “We’ll be in the office.”

Joy smiled because, even though he was sticking his nose into her job, she liked that he now used ‘we.’ Life had changed in the last 24 hours, and she wanted to shout from the rooftops that Kian Van Adler liked her. She knew that was a very high school thought, but she hadn’t seen this coming when he showed up two weeks ago. Not who he had become or how he had changed. He’d done a 180 since high school, and it was hard to trust he wouldn’t slip back into his old ways. She was beginning to, though.

Kian motioned for her to go first. Once they were outside the food court, the air was noticeably cooler, and Joy couldn’t help but wonder whether the record cold temperatures they’d already experienced this year were partly to blame for the frozen pipe.

“At least it’s an easy fix,” Kian said as they walked. “The floor might take more work.”

“I’m glad it’s at the back of the food court so they can work on it without disturbing anyone. You don’t have to stay if you have work to do. I can handle it.”

“I know you can,” Kian said, opening the customer service door for her and following her to her office. “I have nothing else to do, and when I ran into Marci, she said she needed to talk to us ASAP.”