This year would be one for the record books, she promised herself. She’d been determined to make it big first to prove him wrong, then to prove herself right. Now, she just wanted to give Noah a gift that he would appreciate all the way down from his city manager practicality to his little boy holiday joy. She wanted that for him. And she’d be lying if she pretended that a part of her didn’t want him to always associate her with the festival. After this year, memories of Cat King would be so wrapped up in the Christmas Festival, Noah would never be able to separate them.

That was a kind of fame that Cat could really embrace. Being unforgettable to a man like Noah.

She dialed the pizza place and ordered what had become their usual. A grilled chicken salad and sausage and pepper pizza. They’d fight over the remote. Cat usually watched competitors’ shows for research while Noah preferred documentaries on the History Channel. Each proclaiming the other didn’t know what entertainment was.

“Pizza will be here in twenty,” Cat told Noah when he entered the kitchen. He pressed a kiss to her cheek and reached around her for the refrigerator.

“Hmm, not enough time to get you naked.”

She laughed and twined her arms around his neck. “There’s always time for you to get me naked.”

He picked her up and settled her on the counter. “Naked yes. But fully exploring your nakedness? No.”

“After pizza and Property Rehab,” Cat offered.

“After pizza and Submarines of the Pacific,” Noah countered.

“Hmm, I wish Sara was here as a tie-breaker.” Cat had been joining Noah and Sara for dinners regularly, to the girl’s delight. Sara’s entertainment choices ran toward binge watching sit-coms. “That reminds me, Henry passed along some crazy recipe his mother always made him growing up. I thought we could try making it and invite him over so he could tell us how horribly we failed.”

“Sara cooking dinner for a handsome British guy?” Noah mused. “Sounds like a father’s worst nightmare.”

“Oh, then we definitely have to invite Drake, too,” Cat teased.

Noah grimaced. “Put it on the calendar. I’m sure you’ll be Sara’s favorite human in the world for another week if you pull that off.”

“Hey, have you ever thought about redoing your kitchen?” Cat asked, running her fingers through his hair. She liked it messy.

“No, but I can see your wheels turning every time you’re in here.”

Cat grinned. “Guilty as charged. Don’t take offense. I do it to every room I’m in.”

“What would you do in here?”

“I’d kill this peninsula,” she said, slapping the counter she sat on. “Put in an island, a huge one, running length-wise. Bar stools. Black leathered granite. Extend the cabinets on to this wall.” She pointed.

“What? No walk-in pantry?” Noah teased.