Page 35 of Hiding for the Holidays
“You kept the gloves Asher gave you,” I say, trying not to get upset. Does she like him more than she likes me? Is that why she accepted his gift?
“That’s different.”
“How?”
“He wouldn’t let me say no.”
Asher smiles in satisfaction and crosses his arms over his chest, looking at me like he’s won.
But I just smile back. Turning to Clara, I tell her, “Neither will I. Consider it your Christmas gift if it helps. Besides, I took the tags off, so I can’t return it.” It’s a lie, but I’ll say almost anything to get her to keep it.
“You’re really going to force this on me, aren’t you?”
Leo laughs at her question, and she looks at him as he tells her, “You make it sound like something bad. He’s giving you a gift. The correct response is,thank you, Grant.”
She turns to me and grabs my hand, giving it a squeeze as she says, “Thank you, Grant.” I can hear the sincerity in her tone and squeeze her hand back.
“You’re welcome. Now, want to get out of here?”
“I can’t.”
“Why not?” Leo asks as he stands and looks around the car.
“I can’t just quit in the middle of a shift. There is nobody else here to clean, and the train won’t be ready for tomorrow.”
Her good sense of work ethic frustrates me, although I understand why she wants to finish the job.
“Alright, we’ll stay and help you clean. But you’re quitting after tonight, deal?” I ask, sticking out my hand for her to shake.
“You don’t have to help.”
“Deal?” I say, wiggling my fingers and not givingher another choice.
Finally, she sighs and shakes my hand. “Deal.”
“Put us to work, shortcake!”
Two hours later, we’re passing Clara all the cleaning supplies as she stashes them in the cupboard.
“You know, I’ve never had so much fun working here before,” she says with a smile as she puts her denim jacket on.
“I’m glad you like our company,” Leo says with a smirk.
“I’ve also never been done so fast! I’ll actually be able to get a decent sleep tonight.”
“You can come in later tomorrow,” I suggest, but she quickly shakes her head.
She shoots me a look that has me holding my hands up in surrender. “Sorry, it was just a suggestion.” I suggested it before. I even told her to take the weekend off, but she begged to work through it.
I suppose if I lived where she does, I’d rather be at the gym, too.
If only we could convince her to move in with us. Of course, having her that close could make things tense between me and the guys.
But they had to understand where I was coming from. I didn’t just have some crush on her… I was falling for her.
Chapter 12
Rosalie
