Page 5 of Secret Santas and Holiday Dances

Why did she want to do this again? “I have a painting . . .” She had several paintings, actually. She’d double majored in college. Business and marketing were solid choices that would help her stay gainfully employed. They made sense. But art was her true passion.

His gaze shot up. “No, no, no. I don’t have time for amateur work right now. Especially not with the show and this month being one of our busiest.”

She swallowed the lump in her throat.

He patted her hand. “Don’t look so dejected, Grace. You’re an amazing marketer. Stick to that.”

He was probably right. No one other than her teachers had ever seen her art. It probably wasn’t very good, anyway.

The bell chimed again, and David swiveled to look. “It’s just Liam. Is it your lunch already?” He didn’t wait for her answer, dropped the invoices in front of her, and wandered off.

Grace’s gaze immediately found Liam. He stood by the lady who’d come in earlier, looking at the Jacobs’ painting. He’d replaced suit with jeans and a flannel shirt. Specks of gold shined in his light brown, layered crew cut, hair, and in his several day-old stubble. He was really into facial hair right now.

Seeing him chatting with their customer reminded Grace of the first time they’d met. David had just got new paintings in, and Liam came to look. It’d been five months ago now. David had been in the back doing something, and none of the salespeople worked that day. She wasn’t a salesperson, but he’d caught her eye with his kind smile and her attention at the way he examined the artwork before him.

They’d become friends over their love of art.

He said something to the woman, gave her his flashing, blinding smile, that had the woman chuckling, then he turned to Grace. Grace rolled her eraser in her hand and popped up from her seat. He meandered over with the confident, strong gait of his and her stomach flip-flopped. Almost half a year she’d known him, and every time she saw him, the feeling got stronger—worse. She had to clamp it down. Liam was her friend, and that was it.

She smiled as he stopped in front of his desk.

“Ready?” he asked.

Boy, was she ever? Her face heated. For lunch! She dropped her gaze to the eraser in her hands. “Yeah, just let me grab my purse.” She shoved the eraser back in her pocket and grabbed her bag.

Liam held his arm out for her to take, a gesture that had started after the first snow a couple of weeks ago. She’d hit some black ice and nearly fell face-first down on the pavement. But Liam had lightning-quick reflexes and had saved her an inch from having her nose smashed into cold, hard ground. He’d offered her his arm every day after that, and she decided she’d have happily face-planted to hold his arm.

* * *

“You went on their roof?” Grace’s stomach soured a little at the thought of Liam and Ryan on a snow-covered roof. “Wasn’t that dangerous?”

They had lunch at Blue Shadow Cafe today and enjoyed the Christmas-themed decorations artfully placed throughout that went well with the Swedish theme. They even had Santa stop by once a week decked out in traditional lederhosen with a long decorative coat. Come to think of it, she wouldn’t want Santa on a roof with snow either.

“Nah.” Liam pushed the remnants of his meatball sub to the side. “Most of the snow had melted by the time we got up there. Georgia Howard was really chatty this morning.”

Georgia Howard? Grace sucked in a breath. That was the family she’d left the ham for.

Liam called for the check. She’d paid yesterday, so it was his turn. Though, Grace knew he wanted to and would pay every day if she let him. She wouldn’t. Not only was it not fair, it was also too easy to confuse feelings that way. On the one or two rare occasions exes came up, he’d made it clear that he wasn’t interested in dating. So, she paid half the time.

Grace sat a little taller at the thought of Mrs. Howard. She hadn’t gotten to see the woman’s reaction to the ham like she normally would’ve. Still, it had been pretty funny watching Jessie tear through the Howard’s yard and down the street. “Oh, yeah? Is Mrs. Howard not normally very chatty?” She didn’t want to be too obvious, but maybe a little nudge might get Liam to spill.

Liam grinned as he pulled his credit card from his wallet. “She’s always chatty. She was just extra chatty today. Turns out the Secret Santa everyone’s been going on about left a ham for the Howard’s this morning.”

Their server brought their check, and Liam handed her his credit card.

Grace took a swig of her water to keep from smiling. “Oh, yeah? Did they want a ham?”

He nodded. “They did. They were so excited. And that ham was massive.”

Grace smiled. Warmth spread from the top of her head to her toes and back again.

Liam chuckled and ran a hand through his light, golden brown locks. “They barely made room for it in their fridge. You should’ve seen how they crammed it in.”

Grace frowned. Dang it. She hadn’t thought about whether they’d have space in their fridge. She’d have to remember that next time.

“Why are you frowning?”

“Frowning?” She forced a grin back into place. “I’m not frowning.”

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