She laughed lightly at his teasing about Santa, but her eyes widened a little when he swiped the pad of his thumb over her upper lip. It was impossible to look away from his thumb as he brought it to his lips, and she blinked for a moment, trying to reclaim her ability to think straight. Why am I continually so distracted around him? she wondered, even as a grin spread across her face. She couldn't help teasing back. “If we're going to wait up for Santa, I ought to ask if you've been naughty or nice. Santa only brings presents to nice boys and girls, you know.”

Her eyes followed him as he moved the dining room table. It impressed her that he could be so relaxed about Kamau's openly hostile behavior, though he'd also brushed off the trouble-making teens who'd threatened him the first night. “There's a lot he's made up his mind about, unfortunately,” she said quietly, mostly to herself, but now wasn't the time to worry about that. Now was the time to enjoy being with Jim.

He had to lean over to pick up the table, and she realized with a jolt that she was staring. She shook it off as he put on music much faster than anything they'd danced to before. His words and expression were an open challenge, and she returned his mischievous smirk, planning to meet that challenge head on. She didn't really know what the quickstep was, but that wasn't going to dampen her confidence. “All right, teacher. Show me how it's done."