Harlequin Holiday Collection - Four Classic Seasonal Novellas

“—in less than half an hour.”
    Olivia stood. “There must have been a glitch in the e-mail system last night. I’ll resend it now. Or print you a hard copy.”
    “Just resend it.” Callie looked even more flustered as she shifted her attention to the mound of paperwork on her desk.
    Olivia hurried back to her station and logged on to her computer. A few clicks later and she searched her e-mail’s Sent box just to set her mind at ease. Then a new wave of confusion furrowed her brow. “That’s impossible.” She had sent the file. But her Sent box indicated otherwise.
    Olivia shook her head and prepared to resend. She clicked the necessary keys. Strange. File does not exist .
    Fear detonated in her chest. What the hell? She searched her system. Nothing.
    Hours of work gone. Poof!
    The file had vanished.

Chapter Two
    Olivia scrambled through her notes. She had twenty-eight minutes to pull her results back together and e-mail them to Callie for the second time. Her hands shook. She could do this.
    “Want some help?”
    Olivia’s heart thumped against her sternum. “Jacob.” Breathe! That made twice this morning that she’d been so caught up in her own thoughts that someone had sneaked up on her. Only this time it was him. Jacob . “I—” she cleared her throat of the lump lodged there “—I have to reorganize the results on the Tanner case and give it to Callie again.”
    He smiled.
    Her heart jolted again. He never smiled! Not for her, anyway.
    “I know. Callie asked me about them before you got here this morning. I assumed something had gone wrong.”
    Focus . “I e-mailed her the file, but it has…disappeared.”
    He moved in next to her, hip to hip. The air evacuated her lungs all over again. “Let’s try this.” His fingers flew across the keys. “What time did you send it?”
    Olivia blinked. Answer the question! “Four-fifteen, four-thirty yesterday.” She had to stop staring at his mouth…his jaw. And, God, he smelled so good. Something subtle and earthy. Very sexy. She wondered if he understood that the cologne or aftershave he selected was so enticing. He certainly didn’t give off any availability vibes.
    “Let’s take your system back to five p.m. yesterday. That should give us what we want.”
    She desperately needed to find that file. But right now what she wanted had nothing to do with her job. The realization startled Olivia. She’d worked hard to get through Harvard. She’d been at the top of her pay grade in her former position. All because she was focused, driven. How had meeting this man suddenly diverted a significant portion of her attention to…sex?
    “There it is.”
    Relief flooded her, washing away those forbidden desires. “I should have thought of that.” She’d been so shocked when Callie questioned her that she hadn’t been able to think straight. “Thank you, Jacob.” She knew the file had to be there somewhere. “I’ll run a virus check on my system. There must have been a glitch.”
    “Callie’s under a lot of pressure right now.” Those dark eyes studied Olivia closely as he spoke. “We all have to be on our toes.”
    Olivia was glad he returned to his station without a backward glance. Her face had gone beet red. The heat scalded her cheeks. She’d foolishly stood here, gawking at him in all her schoolgirl adoration, when he hadn’t been helping her—he’d been helping Callie.
    Olivia mentally added a bottle of wine to her list of things to pick up after work. She was definitely going to need it to shed the day’s stress.
    At five-thirty she shut down her system, locked up her station and gathered her things. Besides Jacob, she was the last to leave.
    The temperature had dropped significantly with the sinking sun. She glanced longingly at the snowcapped peaks in the distance as she trudged across the parking lot to her Volvo. In Boston, there would be lots of white stuff by now. Her family would be preparing for the big Christmas feast and exchanging of gifts.
    No looking back. Olivia had done the right thing. She’d needed to prove herself. To strike out on her own instead of always following the parental master plan. Each of her siblings had done exactly that. She was the youngest and the first to go after her own dreams.
    “Not such an easy task,” she muttered as she climbed into her car. She shoved the key into the ignition and gave it a turn. Something under the hood growled then sputtered to a grinding halt.
    She gave