Seasons Greetings by Chrissy Munder Read Free Book Online Page A

everything in Russ’s world turned upside down. The day he couldn’t manage to forget…
    Mondays at Left-Brain Cards tended to be crazy, but Ian’s first day had seemed chock-full of more than the average amount of weirdness. There were advantages to working for the boutique card publisher instead of freelancing, but damned if Russ could have named any of them that morning.
    Bad enough the coffee machine had malfunctioned. Even worse, the malfunction involved a crack in the pressurized water line and a weekend’s worth of time gone by without anyone noticing. Russ had come in early, hoping to get a jump on his latest project and forget about last night’s hook-up from hell; instead he had been the first to find the mess.
    When Russ had walked in the front door of the office building where Left-Brain rented their suite, it had seemed like any other Monday. His hangover hovered on this side of tolerable, and with the promise of caffeine dangling before him, he punched in the code to silence the alarm’s obnoxious beep. Instead of blessed quiet when Russ hit the last key however, he heard something… different.
    Following his ears, Russ searched out the source of strange noise. The squelch of the wet carpet beneath his boots alerted him to the problem. With the overhead fluorescents turned off for the weekend, Russ squinted through the faint glow of emergency lighting to see a waterfall flowing above the receptionist’s desk.
    Russ stopped in his tracks, stunned by the surreal image pouring out of the recessed light fixtures set into the ceiling. The water splashed and pooled across the switchboard, clear rivers streaming over the dark wood to saturate the rug underneath. Honestly, it looked pretty cool.
    However, by the time Russ had contacted the building’s tenant emergency number, made his way to the second floor and found that the leak started from the coffee machine in Left-Brain Card’s suite (which mean no caffeine for him, damn it), the coolness had worn off.
    When it became obvious a flooded office building didn’t qualify for an emergency response from maintenance any quicker than anything else ever did, Russ gave up and fumbled to find the main shut-off valve for the water supply himself so the mess wouldn’t get any worse.
    By the time the rest of the office had shown up for work, grease covered Russ’s shirt and he was wet, cold, and still un-caffeinated. Not a good combination. He sprawled across the couch in Left-Brain’s small foyer, arms crossed over his chest and eyes closed to the soggy mess in front of him. He knew where the cleaning crew kept a mop and bucket, but he had already gone above and beyond his job description.
    “I’m still drunk, aren’t I?”
    Russ groaned when the sagging cushions of the couch bounced and his headache worsened. He frowned at the dark-haired man responsible. That was Mike. Russ’s closest friend at work and a royal pain in the rear.
    Mike’s specialty included the new line of divorce, breakup and any type of card needing more than the usual amount of sarcasm. He would be the first to admit he worked in a niche market. Left unspoken were the reasons he was so good at his job.
    “Either I’m still drunk or you had way too much fun this weekend and didn’t invite me. I’m deeply hurt.” Mike ran his hand over his thinning hair and sniffed. “Gross, you smell like a wet dog.”
    Russ ignored Mike in favor of the large, carryout cup of over-priced coffee he carried. “Nothing about this morning has been fun, trust me.” Taking advantage of Mike’s distraction, Russ grabbed the container out his hands and took a deep gulp, disregarding all risk of cooties in his desperation. He sat back out of reach while Mike waved his arms in protest.
    “Wow, look at you two.” Lacey, the older woman who worked on what they called the “grandma line,” walked in next. She unwrapped the cable knit scarf at her neck (unlike Russ she was born and bred in Florida and