Page 50 of The Santa Swap

Luke sucked in a breath. “It wasn’t like that.”

“Uh huh.”

The conversation was veering wildly out of control. “You’re missing the point. I started dating Susan to protect you.”

Lasers were shooting out of Olivia’s eyes. “How did that help with anything? Do you know how uncomfortable I felt watching you two together? Every time you came into the office, I had to plaster a smile on my face like it was the best thing in the world to watch how happy you were.”

Luke was struggling to keep up with her line of thought. “I don’t understand. Why would it matter if I was dating Susan? You said I couldn’t date you. It shouldn’t have made a difference.”

Olivia stood up from her chair and turned to leave. When she reached the door, she spun to face Luke. “It mattered to me. You were one of my only friends. With you dating Susan, I had no one to talk to.”

Her words punched Luke in the gut far more effectively than any fists could. In trying to protect Olivia, he had made things worse. “But we weren’t really dating.” He realized how stupid that sounded as soon as the words left his mouth.

Olivia smoothed down the front of her skirt and straightened her shirt. “If there’s nothing else, I have things to do.” She left the office before Luke could respond. It didn’t matter anyway. At this point, he didn’t think anything he said would make a difference.

Susan came into his office a few minutes later. “So, did you two kiss and make up?”

Luke shook his head. “If by kiss and make up you mean make things ten times worse than they were before, the answer is yes.”

“Oh no. You told her we were just fake dating, right?” Susan seemed genuinely distressed.

“I think that was the problem. I got the paparazzi off her back, but I guess she felt alienated. I mean, no offense, but I don’t get women at all.”

Susan laughed while tossing her hair over her shoulder. “You’ve come across our greatest purpose in life. If we can trip you guys up and keep you guessing, then we’ve done our job.”

“So, what am I supposed to do about Olivia?” Luke looked at Susan, waiting for words of wisdom to come out of her mouth.

Susan sat in the chair Olivia had vacated not that long before. “What were you hoping would happen when you fessed up? What did you think Olivia would do?”

Those were questions Luke hadn’t really thought about. “I mean, I was kind of hoping we could start hanging out. Maybe she’d even let me date her.”

“You guys would make a great couple. Let’s go with that for starters.”

“We can’t exactly be a couple if she won’t give me the time of day.” Luke pushed his chair back so he had room to cross his feet in front of him. “I don’t think there is a way out of this one.”

Susan glowered at him. “If you had that kind of attitude when we were building the company, none of this would exist. You don’t quit things.”

“Except relationships.” The words hung in the air. He knew Susan understood what he meant, because she was one of the relationships that he had quit years before.

Her voice was soft when she answered. “We were both young, and neither one of us was ready for a real commitment. I mean, we could both see that in the long term we were heading for disaster.”

“Still, I haven’t had any better luck, and I’ve dated my fair share of women since you.”

“Oh really? Do you have a secret list of women somewhere that I don’t know about?”

Luke adjusted his tie. “Okay. Maybe not my fair share, but I have dated at least a few other women. None of them worked out.”

Susan reached forward and placed her hand over his. “I’ve known you for a long time. I’ve never seen you look at anyone the way you look at Olivia. Including me. I think it is safe to say that you are smitten, so the real question is how to make amends.”

Luke nodded, knowing full well that anything Susan said wasn’t going to help. She hadn’t been in the office to hear how hurt Olivia was. “If you have any ideas, I’d be glad to hear them.”

The words were enough to get Susan out of her chair. She began pacing the room. “Let’s see. You were on her team, for the work party, right?”

“Yeah.”

“How did it go working with her?”

Luke smirked. “We were getting along great until Brittany caught us talking.”

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