Page 1 of Blame It On the Secret Santa

One

Cassidy

“You’ve got to be kiddingme,” I mumbled, staring at the small, folded piece of paper in my hands. Bruce, our manager, went on about the Secret Santa gift exchange while the bowl of names was passed around the breakroom as everyone took one. It wasn’t that I was grumpy about doing a gift exchange—we did one every year. It was that Ihatedthe person who I drew, and from the way he had acted toward me since he started working at Waldon’s, I was sure he hated me, too.

My eyes scanned the room until I found fucker face’s head. His short brown hair fell in a messy heap, but what was even more infuriating was how it looked perfectly tousled, just like it used to when I would run my fingers through it. Blue eyes looked up and caught mine, so I quickly looked away after making sure to give him an ice-cold glare first.

Sean had been working for Waldon’s for three months, but I had known him since we were five years old and in kindergarten together. Back then, he was nice. He helped me when I fell off the monkey bars and got me a band-aid from the nurse when I scraped my knee. We were friends through most of our childhood years until we became teenagers and made the mistake of dating in eleventh grade. That lasted a whole six months until a rumor spread around the school and ended things for us on the spot. Since then, I hadn’t stopped despising Sean Wheeler.

Bruce finished up the meeting after going on and on about this being the jolliest time of year and how our smiles can speak a thousand words. Basically, this translated to—you work retail and it’s going to be a busy, grueling three weeks while everyone tries to cram all of their Christmas shopping into one trip—so don’t be grumpy about it.

I got up and headed to the sales floor so I could get as far away from Sean as possible. It was bad enough that I had drawn his name for the gift exchange, but I didn’t want to get stuck working with him today, either.

“Hey, slow down,” Rachel said, rushing to keep up with me. She was the only one at Waldon’s I had really considered to be my friend, mainly because we were the same age and had gone to school together. Everyone else was either of retirement age or still in high school.

“Sorry, I was just trying to get to the sporting goods department before fucker face could beat me,” I said, glancing over my shoulder to see where Sean had gone. Rachel chuckled, fully knowing our history and how much I disliked our coworker.

“It doesn’t matter. Bruce started assignments this morning, so we don’t get to decide which department we want to work in anymore. You and I are both in toys today.”

I tossed my head back and groaned. The toy department was theworstdepartment to be in any time after Thanksgiving. It didn’t matter what day it was or what time of day—parents would come flocking in, desperate to get their hands on a sold-out toy that they couldn’t find anywhere else. Even when we gave them dates for when we would get our next shipment, they still demanded that we go in the back and check, just to be sure we didn’t have one hiding on the shelves.

“Don’t seem so happy to be stuck with me today,” she teased, pinning her Waldon employee nametag to her shirt.

“I hate toys,” I moaned, looking at her as I put mine on.

“I know. But we’ll make today fun. Maybe it won’t be as busy.”

“It’s a Saturday and three weeks until Christmas. We’ll be lucky if we have time to stop and pee, let alone eat lunch today,” I replied, not hiding the dread in my tone. I wasn’t trying to take my bad mood out on Rachel, but drawing Sean’s name in the gift exchange was literally the worst thing that could happen to me.

“I love your positive, cheery attitude,” she teased, giving me an exaggerated smile as she made fun of the pep talk Bruce had just given. “Don’t forget to smile and show the world how much Christmas joy we have to give at Waldon’s.”

“How about we take that Christmas joy and shove it right up Sean’s as—”

“Right up my what?” Sean asked, coming from out of nowhere and startling me. He rocked back on his heels and shoved his hands in his pockets as he smirked at me.I hated that smirk.

Of course he was there. Why wouldn’t he be? It would be impossible for him to fully irritate me if he weren’t always around.

“Well, since you were eavesdropping, I was gonna say right up your ass.”

Why bother lying when he clearly knows how I feel about him? It had been over twelve years, and my feelings for him hadn’t changed one bit. My grudge against Sean was something I would surely take to the grave.

“Aww, that’s not really the way you want to talk about the person who is responsible for bringing you some extra holiday cheer this year, is it?”

I narrowed my eyes and glared at him. What was he talking about?

“You know, the wholeSecret Santathing,” he whispered loudly, pretending to look around to make sure no one heard him. My heart sank as my stomach soured.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” I groaned. “You drew my name?”

“I sure did. And while I know it’s supposed to be a secret, I figured I’d let you in on it since you were talking so nicely about me before you knew I was there.”

“You can do what you want,” I said with a shrug. “There’s nothing that’s going to change how I feel about you.” I gave him the fakest smile I had and stared him down until he broke eye contact.

“Well, then. Let the games begin.” He winked, and it sent chills over my skin in the worst way.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I demanded with my hands planted firmly on my hips.

“You’ll see.” He walked off, tossing the words carelessly over his shoulder. Ugh. He seriously got under my skin just by breathing.

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