Page 50 of Mistletoe Face Off

Smooth, Clarke. Real smooth.

But Holly’s reaction is to laugh, her cheeks flushing a pretty pink, and it strikes me that she's as nervous as I am about tonight.

Good. Nervous is a good sign. Nervous I can work with.

“You clean up pretty good yourself, Santa,” she replies with a smirk.

“I saw you on The YouTube,” Cindy says. “You're quite the skater, and I don't mean the hockey kind, although I'm told you're pretty good at that, too.”

“Thank you so much.” I crouch down next to Macy once more. “If it's okay with you, I'd like to take your mom out, Princess Macy.”

“You may,” she says with a curtsey. She lifts her finger to scold me, much like her mom did in our argument. “Just don’t sing with her.”

I raise my hands in the air. “Is that your royal decree?”

“It’s my royal rule,” she replies with a giggle.

I place my hand over my heart. “I solemnly promise not to sing with your mom.”

Macy nods. “Good. Because you're a horrible singer.”

“You can't say that, honey. That's rude,” Holly says.

Macy pulls her brows together, looking super cute. “But it's true.”

“It's fine,” I say as I straighten back up. “She’s right. I can’t sing.”

“How about we go play princess some more?” Cindy says to Macy.

“I can be a princess and you can be a queen,” she replies.

“I think we can do that,” Cindy says as she takes Macy by the hand. “Now, you two have fun.”

“We will do our best, ma'am,” I reply, eager to get Holly alone.

Holly slips on her coat and kisses her daughter on the top of her head. “Night, honey.”

“Night, Mommy.”

Feeling like the luckiest guy in Illinois, I offer her my arm, and she hooks hers through it. “Shall we, Mrs. Claus?"

“To your sleigh, Mr. Claus,” she replies.

Although I’ve got no less than three layers between the skin of my arm and her hand, nevertheless her touch sends a bolt of electricity through me.

If we go as far as holding hands or even kiss tonight? Yeah, I’m in serious trouble.

We climb into my car and begin to make our way through the busy Chicago streets to my chosen destination. I'll admit, I'mkind of proud of what I've pulled off tonight. Holly told me that day at the Community Center that she's into art, so I've chosen a venue where we can soak up some art and culture before we eat a delicious meal I prepared. Okay, I didn't prepare it, but I did pay for it, which is kind of the same thing, isn't it?

“Where are we going?” she asks.

“It's a surprise. But don't worry, it's not a hockey game.” I grin at her, nerves and excitement duking it out inside of me. I want tonight to be nothing short of perfect. It's our first time being alone together with no cameras or expectation of an argument. Tonight we get to be our true selves, and I cannot wait to get to know Holly better.

And kiss her.

Definitelykiss her.

“Is it figure skating? Because Macy would be so jealous.”

---