The Billionaire and His PA novel Chapter 92

It was a Christmas of firsts for both Felix and Cassie.

For Felix, this was the first time that his house had ever been decorated for Christmas. In the past, he had put up a plastic miniature tree if he remembered and while Hazel had still been alive, she had put up a menorah for the December festivities. Now, the decorations started right from the gates to the mansion, with the pathway leading to the house lined with colorful reindeer figurines, giant candy canes and plastic snowmen. The house was decked in strings of flashing Christmas lights that Felix was certain would be visible from space.

He had spared no expense in decking out his house in all the Christmas decorations that Cassie had requested. At first, she had been worried that they wouldn’t get any of the good decorations seeing as they had only started their Christmas shopping two days before Christmas but after he had gotten a Nordmann fir tree – the best type of tree for Christmas trees – flown in from Europe overnight, her worries had evaporated. The tree stood tall and proud in the corner of the grand foyer, its branches reaching upward to the ceiling. It was decked with sparkling ornaments and ribbons, some of which Cassie had been able to salvage from the fire. A string of colorful lights were wrapped around the tree, lighting up the room with a warm glow from the hundreds of twinkling lights. Under the tree, more wrapped Christmas gifts than Felix had ever seen in one place were stacked and someone had to always closely monitor the twins and Eliza to ensure that they wouldn’t start to open the gifts before Christmas morning. Over the fire place, a string of stockings were piled for everyone in the house, including Snowflake because Eliza had thought it was funny. The hallways were lined with tinsel and more than half of the doors bore festive wreaths on them. No matter what room anyone in the house entered, they found that they couldn’t escape the smell of cinnamon and gingerbread which wafted out from the scented candles that had been strategically placed around the house for maximum diffusion.

As Christmas for the year fell on a weekday, it would also be the first time that Felix was absent from the office because of a holiday. Usually, he would have still gone to work but maybe closed an hour early and then go back an empty house. With Cassie in his life, his house was more than a building; it was a home.

For Cassie, this would be the first time that she would be spending Christmas outside her family home. And while she was sad that it had been burnt to a crisp, her heart fluttered with happiness at the thought of the first Christmas she was going to spend with Felix. As Felix’s place had a total of eight room, there hadn’t been a question of where everyone would sleep but rather in which room they wanted to sleep in. By default, Cassie had roomed with Felix. Eliza had taken the room furthest away from them stating that she didn’t want to be disturbed by anyone’s moaning in the middle of the night. Lily and Aaron had claimed the room down the hall and had taken Snowflake with them.

On her first night at Felix’s place, Cassie had fallen asleep in the dining room whilst going over the insurance documents for her burnt house and had woke up in Felix’s bed with his arms around her and her back pressed against him. She had sighed contently regretting that she needed to get up to pee. She could get used to waking up in his arms. It was all she could think about as she waited for him to get back.

It was almost midnight and they were the only ones still awake. In the middle of a Christmas movie, Snowflake had started pawing at the door and Felix had donned on a coat and taken her outside to do her business. His low groan announced his arrival back inside. Cassie immediately knew what had happened. There was a particularly low hanging draped tinsel that Felix kept walking to because of his height. Taking the tinsel up by a couple of inches or removing it all together would have ruined the aesthetic.

“Sorry.” She apologized turning to face him. “I think I might have gone a bit overboard for Christmas.”

“Nonsense. It’s perfect.” Felix said. He sat beside and on the couch and unhooked Snowflake from her leash who shook off what was left of the melted snow from her fur and trotted up the stairs, back to the twins’ room. He stared blankly at the television screen as the credits rolled by. “Did you finish the movie without me?” He asked disbelievingly.

Cassie smiled at him guilty. “I’m sorry. I wanted to see how it ended and you were taking too much time.”

“But… But you promised to wait.”

“I’m sorry?” Cassie said, her words coming out as a question. She genuinely hadn’t thought that he was all that interested in an animated Christmas and she had wanted to see how it ended, so to find him staring at her with a pouty expression was beyond cute. And funny. She couldn’t help bursting into a fit of giggles.

“Don’t laugh. It’s not funny.” Felix said.

“I’m sorry. I just can’t help it.” She managed to say between giggles. “You should see your face.”

“If you want to laugh, I’ll give you something to laugh about.”

Before Cassie could figure out what his words meant, she found herself being pulled toward Felix’s lap and before she could manage to escape, he dug his fingers into her sides and began to tickle her. As someone who was ticklish, well everywhere, Cassie help but scream with laughter as Felix’s fingers danced around her skin. “Stop! Stop! Please!” She gasped, trying to catch her breath between laughs.

“Say you’re sorry.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Like you mean it.” He demanded in a low voice, his mouth close to the nape of her neck so that his breath tickled against her skin.

Cassie had to struggle to coordinate herself enough so that she could get her words out.

“From the bottom of her heart, I am very sorry for finishing the movie again and I promise that it will never happen again. Please, stop!”

Felix stopped tickling her but still had his hand firmly around her. He placed a kiss on her cheek. “See. That wasn’t so hard now was it?”

While she sat on him still trying to catch her breath, her phone’s screen lit up beside her. Isabel was calling. “It’s Isabel.”