Page 75 of The Mistletoe Bluff
I’m going to show you MY favorite way to spend Christmas Eve.
See you soon.
As promised, Oliver picked me up after lunch, opening the door to his Jeep for me with a big, goofy smile.
“Hi,” I offered as I crawled in.
“Hello, princess.” Somehow his smile widened even more, and the sight of it sent my heart into overdrive. I squeezed my knuckles, and Oliver took my hand, interlacing our fingers and giving them a soft peck.
“I’m glad you came,” he said as if he’d given me a choice in the matter.
“I’m just here for the ‘happy’ you promised,” I reminded him.
His grin turned mischievous. “Just you wait.”
Twenty minutes later, we pulled into the driveway of Oliver’s townhouse,and my stomach swooped.
“What are we doing here?” I asked, swallowing down my nerves.
Even though I had been to his house before, now that he had confessed how he felt about me, it carried more weight.
“I told you. I’m showing you how I like to spend today. Since our dinner isn’t until tomorrow, and neither of us has anything else to do,” he stopped to quirk a brow at me, daring me to argue, “then we might as well spend it together.”
He wasn’twrong,so I didn’t even bother denying it.
I was so relieved not to have to spend the day by myself that I didn’t mind being here with him. There might have been more reasons too, but I wasn’t about to examine them—not even with a thirty-nine-and-a-half-foot pole.
“What are we doing then?” I repeated my earlier question.
“If I told you, what would be the fun in that?”
“It would be loads of fun,” I deadpanned.
Oliver’s low chuckle had goosebumps erupting on my skin.
“Come on, Feisty Maya. I promise you’ll enjoy today.”
Oliver unlocked the door, took my hand, and dragged me inside where I came to a stop.
His home looked like Christmas had thrown up all over it.
Bright silver and red tinsel hung on the tree we had picked out a couple weeks ago and on every possible surface. It dangled from the mantle, down the stair banister, and in each of the doorways.
The sad little tree was lit up in blinking multicolored lights, though there weren’t any ornaments on it, and two small presents were nestled beneath the boughs, one labeledMumand the otherDad.
Various Christmas-themed trinkets were placed here and there, like a little red truck with tiny gifts in the bed sitting on the coffee table and a miniature Christmas village along the mantle.
“Wow,” I said, at a loss for words.
“Too much?” he asked, his blue eyes shimmering in the twinkling lights.
Normally I would have said yes. Anything remotely resembling Christmas was too much for me. But here, with Oliver, it didn’t feel that way.
It was just right.
I shook my head, giving him a smile. “It’s perfect.”
The joy that spread across his face was like watching a child open a box with a puppy in it. AndIhad put it there.
