Page 41 of Holiday Hostilities

I peer at her. “Off where?”

“No.” Olivia shakes her head so forcefully that strands of her red hair come loose from her topknot. “Like I’m off work for Christmas.”

My lips pull up in a half-smirk as I reach up and grab a dirty glass balanced on a high shelf above her head that I noticed her eyeing. “Might just be me, but isn’t it a good thing to have the holidays off?”

“I figured I’d be gone somewhere, but I guess I’m stuck at home.” She turns her hazel eyes on me, then flicks them heavenward. “My roommates are having a three-day Christmas rave and I was very much hoping not to participate.”

I frown. “That’s an… interesting way to celebrate the holidays.”

“They’re interesting humans, to say the least.” She snorts.

“Well, interesting can be fun. Maybe you’ll love getting dressed up in neon spandex with the roomies.”

“Should probably go dust off my glow sticks,” she says with a smile, but I know her heart’s not in it.

“What about a trip somewhere?”

Liv shakes her head. “That would be ideal, but flying standby around the holidays is a nightmare. Traveling at Christmas is really expensive otherwise, and I’m trying to save up to move to another apartment. You know, because of said raving roommates.”

She makes a face, and I chuckle.

“And you can’t stay at Jake’s?” I ask. Her brother has a super nice condo in Midtown with gorgeous views of the city and a swimming pool on the roof. It also has at least a couple of spare bedrooms, last time I counted.

“Sofia’s family are coming from Monterrey.” Olivia lifts a shoulder, then begins scrubbing at a pot. “Don’t want to crash their first Christmas with her folks.”

“Makes sense.”

I know better than to ask Liv if she would go home to see her own folks for Christmas. Jake’s not close with his parents or either of their new partners, and far as I know, Olivia isn’t either.

I’ve been friends with Jake since the tenth grade when we started playing high school hockey together, and have known Olivia since she was fourteen. Throughout high school, I don’t recall their mom making it to a single one of our games, while their dad showed up at every one for the sole reason of screaming at Jake about everything he was doing wrong on the ice.

Olivia would usually come to our games, too, and I still remember how pale her face would get as she sat next to their father, flinching at his harsh words. Such a contrast to my own parents, who showed up to every game they could, proudly waving banners with my name.

The first thing I did when I signed my first contract with the Cyclones was help my dad retire from the family business and let my uncles continue running it. It was the least I could do given how much he and my mom always supported me.

“Hey, Aaron?” Liv’s voice yanks me from my thoughts as I’m putting away the last pot.

I look down at her, still hardly believing that she’s standing here in my kitchen. “Yeah?”

She pauses for a moment, fingers playing with the strings of the apron she’s currently folding. “How did you remember?”

“Remember what?”

“My allergy.”

I meet her eyes. “I remember everything about you, Olivia. Every last detail.”

16

OLIVIA

Aaron’s green gaze lingers on my face. It feels like all the air has been sucked out of my lungs.

My heart stutters as I try to absorb his words. Words that have caught me entirely off guard because they don’t mesh with the mental picture I have of him. Words that simultaneously chill me to the bone and set me on fire.

And suddenly, Dallas Cooper’s earlier teasing rings out loudly in my head.

“You’re totally into our captain, aren’t you?” he asked with delight, rubbing his hands together like I just let him in on an exceptionally juicy secret. All I’dactuallydone is inquire, very casually, if Aaron was feeling okay after yesterday’s cockroach debacle.

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