Page 40 of The Love Penalty

She feigns surprise. “I’m sorry, you don’t have a twelve-step plan on how to decorate this tree? I’m disappointed in you, Bobbert.”

I straighten and point at her with the tree topper. “I had a twenty-four-step plan, but I’m trying not to scare you away.”

She laughs and shakes her head. “Impossible. You’re stuck with me, Bobbert.” She holds my gaze for a beat longer and I can see the soft smile that is tugging at her lips.

Stop focusing on her lips. For now.

We spend the rest of the afternoon listening to Christmas songs and decorating not only the tree, but also the rest of the house. My Christmas lights were already up and once it got dark we went outside and turned them on. I opted for no color this year, so the lights are a mix of soft and bright white and they range from icicles dangling from the porch, to snowflakes wrapped around the pillars.

It’s been snowing all day, and there’s a thin layer of snow on the ground. It makes the house look like a picture-perfect holiday card. The giant blue spruce wreath on the front door is decorated with a single red bow, and there is more greenery we placed around the window sills.

“It’s beautiful,” she says as she takes it in.

“I couldn’t have done it without you,” I say and wrap an arm around her shoulder, giving her temple a soft kiss. “Thank you. For being here. You’ve made this holiday extra special.”

Olivia wraps her arm closest to me around my waist and rests her head on my shoulder. I squeeze her tight against my side and rest my own head on top of hers. We stand there like that for a minute until I feel her shiver.

“Come on, let’s go inside and make some hot cocoa,” I say, letting go for a second before reaching down and grabbing herhand. We walk to the front door, but after climbing the few steps to the porch, I tug on her hand so she stops with me.

“Olive,” I say to get her attention. Once she turns her beautiful green eyes on me, I smile and look up at the mistletoe. She follows and I immediately see the confusion on her face turn into excitement. Her eyes go wide and she looks back at me with a smile.

“When did you do this?”

I give her a grin. “When I sent you to the truck for the wreath. I was very quick and sneaky about it,” I whisper.

Her smile is infectious and I can’t help but return it. So we stand there, under the mistletoe, grinning at each other. I’m still holding her hand, so I tug on it again and pull her into me. As soon as our bodies collide, everything around us goes still.

She is everything.

From the moment I saw her, she’s been a beacon of light. When I’m away from her, I’m glued to my phone, waiting for the next text or call. Waiting for her to complain about her job or to tell me about her day. The fact that I get to be the person she confides in makes my heart soar. I’ve always craved that kind of connection with someone in a relationship.

We’re so close our foreheads are touching and I bring my other hand up to her face. My fingers are cold, but so is her cheek as I gently caress it. She leans into me more and our noses brush. This is it.

As I bring my lips to hers, I hear gravel crunching and a set of bright lights blinding us from the driveway. We both break apart a few inches and look to the side.

A car stops and I can’t make out who it is until they turn off their headlights. Ash jumps out of the driver’s side and Elias, Jordan, and Alice follow. Why are they all here?

I groan and drop my head between Olivia’s head and shoulder. She lets go of my hand and pats me on the back. Igive her neck a quick kiss and quietly say, “I can’t believe this happened again.” Then I pull back and glare at my so-called friends and sister.

“What are you all doing here?” I say, sulking.

“Oh, cheer up, Grandpa,” Ash says. “We came to see how you decorated. Plus, it’s Olivia’s last night in town, we wanted to hang out. You can’t just keep her all to yourself,” he says with a damn smile on his face.Asshole.

“I sure can. Don’t you know it’s rude to show up uninvited?” I say back with more bark than bite.

“I tried to tell him we should just leave you be, but he won’t listen,” Eli says, hands in his coat pocket.

“I also tried to stop him, for the record,” Alice supplies, as she comes up to give me a quick hug before doing the same with Olivia.

“I was enjoying a game ofOverwatchwhen he kidnapped me,” Jordan offers.

Great. I guess it’s “friends’ night” in. I contemplate telling them to hit the road so I sigh and give Olivia a longing look and a pout, but she’s smiling and giving everyone hugs. As we all head inside, I realize how important this might be for her. She doesn’t have many friends, and the fact that mine accepted her so quickly and made her part of our group must make her happy. How can I deny her that?

We spendthe whole night playing board games, drinking mulled wine, and talking about anything and everything. Elias shares stories from his hometown in Finland and Olivia asks him lots of questions about his family and how he got interested in playing goalie.

Alice and Jordan seem to be in their own little bubble for most of the time, chatting and laughing. I’ll have to find out what’s going on with them. Is he interested in my sister?

Ash is unabashedly loud and flirtatious, asking Olivia lots of questions as well. I don’t know if he’s doing it to rile me up or if it’s just his way of being friendly, but he keeps finding ways to touch Olivia. Whether it’s to grab her arm to get her attention, or take her hand to “admire” her rings. My fingers are aching from clenching them so tight the whole night.

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