Page 65 of Merry Little Hate Notes

I helped her open it and take out the contents, which includedchocolate cookies, whipped cream, pudding, and, of course, peppermint candy.

Holly’s eyes lit up. “This is good. Let’s go grab a space in the kitchen.”

We, along with everyone else, rushed to the kitchen to grab some counter space and the kitchen tools we needed. It was somewhat of a dog-eat-dog world. As much as all the employees complained about these team-building exercises, they were awfully competitive. Except Jane, who sat on a stool and ate the ingredients out of her box while looking down her nose at the rest of us.

“We’re going to make a peppermint dream dessert,” Holly informed me.

“Sounds good. What do you need me to do?”

She handed me the bag of candy. “Unwrap these and then crush them and the cookies too, please. Leave the rest to me.”

I saluted her. “Yes, ma’am.”

She laughed, but only for a second before she got right down to business finding bowls so she could whip up the pudding and the cream.

I practically manhandled Jason to get the rolling pin before he did. All’s fair in love and war, and this was all for love.

The kitchen was a flurry of activity with people yelling directions to their partners above the Christmas music playing in the background and the beeping of the three microwaves. Unfortunately, someone burned chocolate in one of them. Who knew how acrid chocolate could smell? That didn’t deter Holly. She didn’t bat an eye as she pushed her way through while most people were covering their mouths and noses, complaining loudly. This was why Holly was going to make an excellent attorney. She knew how to ignore what didn’t matter and get the job done. And did she ever get it done.

When the hour was up and Camille called time, Holly waved a hand over her masterpiece with the four layers of holiday goodness she had prettily plated using the leftover peppermint candy. “Ta-da,” she sang.

“It’s perfect.” As was she.

“Let’s hope it is.” She crossed her fingers.

I delivered our plate to the judges, and then Holly and I took our seats back at the bistro table.

A lot of smack talk ensued among our coworkers as we waited for Camille and the executive VP of finance to judge the desserts. I didn’t envy the task. While some desserts, like ours, looked delicious, others appeared downright inedible—a.k.a. the burned chocolate one.

Surprisingly, Holly placed her hand on my thigh under the table and squeezed it. Without thinking, I placed my hand over hers, silently begging for her to keep it there. She flashed me a nervous glance, knowing we were playing with fire and could easily get caught. Yet her hand stayed, allowing me to caress her soft skin. With every stroke of my thumb, her fingers dug deeper into my thigh, stringing the sexual tension between us tighter and tighter until I didn’t care if we got caught. We didn’t dare look at each other. I think we both knew if we did, our secret would be out.

Minute after minute, we played our dangerous game in silence while we let our actions speak for themselves. The beautiful agony came to an end when Camille announced they’d decided on a winner. The lively common area got quiet.

Holly removed her hand from my thigh and clasped her hands in front of her, squinting until Camille announced the winner.

We all waited with bated breath.

“The winners of today’s team-building exercise are ... Brandon and Holly!”

“Yes,” Holly shouted before throwing her arms around me.

Not thinking of the consequences, I enthusiastically embraced her and whispered in her ear, “You’re my soul Santa.” Yes, I had googled that one.

She let out a soft, melodic giggle, her body tilting slightly back, teasing me with a glimpse of her parted lips as she silently, and maybe unknowingly, invited me to savor the taste that awaited. Not able to resist any longer, I leaned in—just as Holly came to her senses, saving us from having to explain to our coworkers why we were kissing.

“We won.” She blushed deeply while tittering nervously as she gently pushed me away, her eyes darting across the room at all our coworkers, whose eyes were glued to us.

I had a feeling Holly was going to have some explaining to do in the bathroom.

Ihad some explaining to do too. Hopefully, it would lead to a merry Kiss-mas. Yes, I googled that one too.

HOLLY

I STARED OUT MY CAR window at our office building, dread building up inside of me like the condensation creeping up the glass. Jane and Krista were going to nail me in the bathroom. I saw all the looks Friday after Brandon and I almost freaking kissed in front of all our coworkers. If the dang man would just give me his TED Talk, we wouldn’t be in this situation. The longing between us was getting ridiculous, as were Brandon’s excuses for making sure we were never alone. Oh, I was so on to him. He was afraid if we were alone, we’d have to confront the enormous elephant in the room—our past.

For being so smart, he was kind of dumb. Obviously, I was there for our first kiss and knew he’d been a “jerk” about it. But I couldn’t have made it any clearer that I was into him now, so why didn’t he just tell me the truth, end this torture, and kiss me already? While the tension was oh, so yummy, it was winding so tightly it was about to snap and smack us both in the face.

Admittedly, it was fun to watch him squirm and come up with every reason in the book for us not to be alone. Let’s see, Friday night we went to the planetarium with his parents and watched a holiday laser light show. We spent Saturday making holiday crafts with the cutest kids at the group home. Yesterday, we froze at the Broncos game. The way I’d snuggled into him at the game should have givenhim every clue he needed to end this madness. I’d have finished it myself if I could, but my self-respect was on the line.

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