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I dart a glance at her, silently asking if she’s seriously questioning that fact. She has to know she’s stunning. “You’re so good at taking command of every situation.”
“I take command?”
“You’re a force to be reckoned with, Holly. A smart, brilliant, beautiful force. And I can’t seem to keep myself from staring, because I’m trying to figure you out.”
There. I said it. With plenty of words strung together to form sentences that she shouldn’t be able to accuse me of not speaking to her again.
“You want to figure me out?”
I can’t help but smirk at the way she’s been parroting me. “I apologize if it’s made you uncomfortable.”
“Well… apology accepted.” She picks up her end of the tree. “We should probably get this inside before it’s dark.”
With a nod, I return to the other side and hoist up the tree by the trunk. “Lead the way.”
We manage to get the tree up to the office with only a brief harrowing moment in the elevator, in which I shouted “PIVOT!” about half a dozen times. Fortunately, Holly seemed to find that hilarious.
Once we’re in the now-empty Noble Outerwear offices, Holly leaves me briefly to drop her coat and purse off in her office and retrieve the lights and decorations she needs.
When she returns, I have my sleeves rolled up and I give the tree a light shake. “Where do you want it, boss?”
She blinks a few times before frowning. “Don’t shake the tree. You’ll get needles everywhere.”
“No, I won’t.”
She stalks toward me and pulls the tree aside and points to the ground. “See.”
Sure enough, there’s a small pool of pine needles.
I lift a shoulder. “I’ll clean it up later.”
“You better.” But her words don’t have any heat.
For a while, we wordlessly work together while we get the stump in the stand.
“Wait,” I say before she goes to get a razor so we can cut the twine and release the branches. “Let me get a picture of you.”
She arches an eyebrow. “You want a picture of me?”
“With the tree. I’ll send it to my dad. So he can see I’m being helpful.”
“Shouldn’t you be in it too?”
I lift a shoulder. “Sure.”
I stand next to her, posing with the tree between us. I extend my arm and shake my head. “We need to get closer.”
Both of us lean toward each other. The hairs on the back of my neck stand up at her nearness. I snap the photo and pull the phone back for us to look at.
Now Holly shakes her head. “Nope.”
“What’s wrong with it?”
“You aren’t smiling.”
I roll my eyes but extend my arm again. This time, I plaster the biggest, cheesiest grin on my face, crossing both of my eyes as I do.Click.
I show her the photo on the screen. “Better?”
