Page 54 of Texting My Secret Santa

My resolve falters. I go back into the office and open the drawer.

Where’s my Secret Santa phone?

I open all the drawers, then comb through my office. It should be in the top drawer where I left it. I don’t lock my office, but I can’t imagine anybody would sneak in here and steal the phone unless?—

A particular Christmas elf has a penchant for playing pranks on me.

I smile as I leave the office, heading to the marketing department.

“Come in,” Holly calls when I knock on the door. She looks almost panicked to see me. Maybe because she’s hiding something?

As usual, she looks gorgeous in her work clothes.

“Has a Christmas elf been sneaking around my office?” I say.

“Huh?”

I shrug. “I’m missing something. I know how much you like to play pranks on me, Snowflake.”

If she stole the phone, surely she would have read the texts and realized that I’m her Secret Santa, but she’s giving me no indication of that.

“I haven’t been in your office. What have you lost?”

“It … doesn’t matter.”

“If it doesn’t matter, why are you here?”

“To see you.” I walk around her desk and lean down with a smirk. “What better reason could there be?” It’s when I get closer that I see her eyes are red. “Holly, have you been crying?”

She turns away. “No.”

I touch her face and turn her toward me. “You have. What’s wrong? Has something happened?”

She takes my hand. I think, just like last night, it’s to move me away. Then she tightens her grip around me. “It’s nothing.”

“Tell me, Snowflake,” I demand. “If something’s upset you this much, then it’s the most important thing in this office, this city, hell—the world.”

She rolls her eyes. “Theworld?”

“To me, it is, yeah.”

“It’s Derek.”

“Derek?” I snap. “What’s that asshole done now?”

“It’s my fault.”

“No, it’s not.”

“You don’t even know what happened.”

“If it involves him, it’s not your fault.”

“He was my Secret Santa,” she murmurs. “We were … friendly, just over text.” She quickly adds the last part. “We met up.”

My head spins. I quickly grab a chair and sit down.

“I still can’t believe it was him. When I told him I still wasn’t interested, he got mean. I just came back from HR. I’ve let this go on long enough.”

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