Emily inhaled sharply as she felt his warm breath caressing her skin, making her heartbeat accelerate as she tried to keep her breathing as normal as possible.

When she failed to reply even after a few moments, Kaiden decided to step even closer to her, barely leaving a few inches between their bodies.

Emily could clearly feel the heat of his body on her back. Her hands gripped the edge of the table as she bit down on her lower lip to make her focus return to reality.

"Merry Christmas to you too, Mr. Sullivan." She finally whispered out in a calm voice even though she was feeling anything but calm at that moment.

What she did not expect was to hear him groan as one of his hands caged her from one side as he rested his hand on the edge of the table just beside her own.

Her breath caught in her throat as she felt his lips so close to her nape as he whispered in her ear, "You are not allowed to be so formal to me. Don't you remember, angel?"

Emily felt something fluttering inside her as she heard him calling her 'angel'. The ways in which he addressed her were far too intimate and new for her.

"Mr.......Kaiden..."

Emily whispered out his name as she tried to think of a way to get herself out of his proximity which was threatening to consume get completely.

"Perfect!"

Kaiden whispered in her ear as a soft smile bloomed on his lips. Only he knew how hard it was for him to not pull the girl in his arms and hug her.

He took in a deep breath, inhaling her unique scent before he pulled away from her. He moved towards the other end of the table before he took out a few gift boxes from a bag and placed them on the table in front of her.

Emily checked the boxes and realized that two of them were from Rylan, and one from Shane.

"This is a special one."

Emily looked at the blue gift box that Kaiden placed on top of the other boxes as he spoke those words.

She looked at him with a raised eyebrow but when the man did not speak anymore, she turned her attention back to the box.

It was from him!

"Open it," Kaiden said as he signaled at the box, waiting for her to hurriedly open the box and see the present inside it.

Emily stared at the box for a few silent seconds before she picked it up and started taking off the gift wrapper.

It did not take her long to pull out the silver velvet box from it. Even the box looked so beautiful as it was designed very finely.

Her eyes once again looked up at the man in front of her, finding that he was too looking directly back at her.

Kaiden again signaled at the box in her hands with his icy blue eyes as he waited patiently for her to look at the present that he had prepared for her.

Emily took in a deep breath as her fingers opened the box to reveal whatever was hidden inside it.

And as the box finally opened, her eyes landed on the item that was laying inside it.

"What is it?"

She asked in surprise as she turned to look at the man in front of her. Out of all the things that she expected to see in the box, a glowing silver crystal ball was definitely one of them.

It was small, barely the size of a candy. However, it was glowing brightly as a silvery light surrounded it, making it hard for Emily to see the crystal properly.

"It's a present for you," Kaiden answered her as he took the crystal ball in his hands and placed the empty box on the table.

He moved to stand in front of her as he looked into her eyes as he spoke, "Do you trust me, angel?"

Emily was left surprised as she heard the familiar question. Shadow asked the same question barely ten minutes ago and here she was, once again facing the same question but from a different person.

She was silent as she thought about his question. Did she trust him? She was not sure. Even though he had never hurt her, was always polite towards her, cared about her, and even respected her, she was not sure if she could say that she was not afraid of him.

She was not worried about him hurting her. Rather, she was worried because she could not understand her reactions to his presence around her.

The way her entire being reacted towards his closeness made her question her sanity.

Not knowing exactly how to answer his question, she decided to go with her instinct as she spoke.

"I know that you will not hurt me."

Her words were sincere. She was confident that he won't hurt her, at least not intentionally.

Kaiden smiled softly at her words. How could he not notice that her answer was not exactly what he was expecting to hear? But it was still a start and he was more than happy to work hard to win her trust.

And he was sure that one day he would surely reach his goal.

"Since you think so, please hold this magic ball in your hand."

He told her as he offered the sparkling crystal to her.

Emily looked at the crystal for a few seconds as she finally took it out of his hands and hold it in her own.

She could feel that it was emitting a cold energy which made her palm tingle with little sparks.

"It's cold." She muttered as she tried to look at the ball more closely.

"It's filled with the essence of snow," Kaiden told her as he moved his hand to cover the ball as he looked at her.

His cerulean eyes looked directly into her green ones as he let his spirit energy drift into the ball to send the last message to the little devil who was sleeping inside the ball.

"I promise that you are going to love this present. Keep it under moonlight surrounded by snow for the next few days. The moment when the new year will greet us, I want you to keep this ball in your hands. This crystal will reveal the hidden gift at that time."

They both were silent as Emily tried to grasp all that he just told her. The tiny ball was suçh a mysterious thing that she had a sudden urge to crack it and see exactly what kind of secret it was holding.

"Is it a present for Christmas or New Year?" She asked as she looked at him with raised eyebrows.

A smile appeared on Kaiden's lips as he heard her question. He cleared his throat softly as he replied, "It's such a unique and priceless gift that it can make up for both occasions."

Emily shook her head at his words, letting out a soft sigh as she spoke, "You are a multi-billionaire. How can you gift me only one present for two different occasions?"

This time Kaiden could not stop the chuckle that escaped his lips as he shook his head before he spoke.

"Fine! I'll prepare another present for you. No need to look down on me like this."

Emily just shook her head as she very carefully placed the crystal ball back inside its box before stuffing the box in the inside pocket of her overcoat.

"No need. One is enough. And....thank you. Though I'm not sure exactly what is hidden inside this ball but I'm believing your words. I'm gonna see exactly what surprise I'm gonna receive on New Year." Emily said as she looked at the man with a smile playing on her lips.

The two of them were silent for a few moments before Kaiden decided to speak, "I was expecting you to reject my gift. But I'm happy that you accepted it."

He looked at her with genuine happiness filling his beautiful and alluring eyes.

"Make no mistake. You did not predict wrongly. I would not have accepted your gift if it had been something else, especially something expensive. But I did not expect to receive a magical gift. Even though I want to reject it, I just can't. I want to know what kind of magical gift it is."

Emily answered sincerely as she recalled the sense of connection that she felt with the crystal ball the moment she touched it as if it was meant to be in her possession.

It was the main reason why she did not reject to accept the weird gift. She wanted to know exactly what it was, what kind of secret it was hiding, and why she felt connected with it.

Her attention was pulled back at the silver-haired handsome CEO when she felt him inching a little closer to her.

Her eyes automatically moved to look at his face, finding herself once again falling for his devilish looks.

"If you don't mind me asking - what I'm getting as a present from you?"