Page 17 of The Santa Swap

Luke’s smile widened. “So, you’re working on your audition for the show?” He nudged her side. “I guess that means I’m hanging out with someone soon to be famous.”

Olivia dropped a handful of green bricks into a bowl. “Ugh. No way I’d ever want to be famous, but I am pretty excited with the direction my project is going. If everything goes right, I have a small project that the boys can build each day. When they get to Christmas Eve, they will have assembled an entire winter scene.”

“I’ll admit, I’m kind of jealous.”

“That they are getting building sets and not you?” Olivia bit back a smile.

Luke bumped her knee with his and she had to sternly remind her heart to stop racing. “No. I’m a little jealous that they have someone who spoils them so well. I never had a cool aunt.”

“Me either. That’s why I love spoiling my nephews so much.”

Luke reached across Olivia’s side of the table to throw three red bricks into a bowl. “Then I guess we’d better get this job done.” He reached for another handful, letting his leg rest against hers and heat raced through her body. Maybe this friendship thing wouldn’t be so bad after all.

CHAPTER8

The following day at work, Luke couldn’t stop yawning. He hadn’t stayed too late at Olivia’s apartment, even though he wished he could spend more time with her. Instead, after a casual dinner of pizza that they ordered in, he went home. The tiredness came from the sleepless night he had afterwards. None of his other friends haunted his dreams, but she did.

When Olivia arrived at work, there was an ease to her step. She greeted him at his office door with a smile that told him their awkward tension was gone. Who knew that helping heft a tree up a flight of stairs would be enough to break that barrier?

Luke met Olivia’s eyes, drinking in the sight of her before he raised his hand to wave hello. “Did you get the tree decorated?” he asked.

Olivia grinned. “Not yet. I will this weekend. See you at lunch?”

He had forgotten about the off-site lunch Tara had planned for the heads of each department. As office manager, Olivia was definitely included in the group.

“Sure thing,” he said, forcing his attention back to his computer. He couldn’t look too eager to be spending more time with her, but his day was definitely looking up. If he was lucky, maybe he could find a way to invite himself over for the tree decorating when that happened, too.

Olivia disappeared around the corner and Luke pulled up his expense reports. They had implemented a couple of suggestions from James on how to make the company run more smoothly, but so far, his brother’s suggestions weren’t yielding any concrete results. Like everything else in life, it was going to take time to get the momentum rolling forward.

By the time lunch rolled around, Luke’s eyes were tired of reading reports. If someone mentioned numbers to him, he’d probably curl up under his desk and call it a day. He couldn’t wait to see what Tara had planned for their lunch.

Luke met everyone in the foyer of the building, glancing up at the elevator every time it dinged to see if it was Olivia. Susan came to his side. “Are you looking for someone special?” she asked.

He was busted. “Uh, no. Just making sure everyone is here. I’m starving.”

Susan turned away, but not before Luke could see the faint smile dancing across her lips. She made her way over to Tara and leaned down to whisper in her ear. Tara looked straight at Luke and then she laughed. Could they actually know about his crush on Olivia?

Five minutes after they were supposed to leave, Tara cleared her throat. “It looks like we are all here. Thank you for coming. If you’d like to follow me, the cars are waiting to take us to lunch.”

Luke shook his head. There was clearly a mistake because the one person he expected to see wasn’t there. He started to walk to the car outside but then he stopped, pulling Tara to the side. “What about Olivia?” he asked. “She’s one of the people in this group. Where is she?”

Tara smiled knowingly and patted his shoulder. “Don’t worry about Olivia. You'll get to see her later.”

His stomach sank knowing Olivia wasn’t going to be at the lunch. Luke took a deep breath and followed Tara to their car. “Where are we going?” he asked the people standing nearby.

Susan jerked her thumb towards Tara. “Ask her. She wouldn’t say a peep to me.”

Tara raised her hands in the air. “Hey. Let me have my fun. I don’t usually get to surprise you guys.”

“True,” Luke said. He leaned back and watched the streets pass by. When they turned onto 4th street, his stomach began to dance. He was a block away from the Christmas tree lot where he met Olivia. The memory of their previous night lifted his spirits.

The cars turned down another street, and now they were passing by Olivia’s apartment. Luke raised his eyebrow at Tara but she was deep in a conversation with Susan and didn’t seem to notice. It wasn’t until the cars made the final turn that Luke realized where they were going.

Getting out of the cars, the employees had various reactions to standing in front of the Frisky Cow Cafe. Luke assumed most of the snickers came from people who hadn’t been to the restaurant before.

“Who vetted this place?” Sandra asked from the side of the group.

“You’re going to love it,” Luke said. He followed after Tara, who opened the doors with a grin. On his way in he noticed a sign taped to the door. CLOSED for a private event.

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