A Christmas Date (3 page)

Angelina looked up when
the door chimes jangled. When she saw him, a frown knit her delicate brows
together instantly. He just wasn’t used to people feeling that way about him.
He held out the package.

“Peace offering,” he
said sheepishly.

A moment later, a small
equally round, no, wrong word again, voluptuous, that was it! That’s what they
used to call women in the old movies, came dashing from the back. “I swear I
smell cinnamon!” She screeched to a sudden halt almost worthy of a roadrunner
cartoon. “Hi, I’m Charlotte,” she said, her eyes alight with interest, she
extended her hand. He shook it firmly.

“Are you sisters?” he
asked in an attempt to make conversation as Angelina still hadn’t said a word.

“No, why would you
ask?” Charlotte seemed genuinely surprised.

He saw the edges of
Angelina’s lips twitch just a little. She could see right through him, and
suddenly he felt shallow and foolish. He blushed. That was another first for
him.

“Because you both work
together I guess,” he bluffed.

“Oh,
no we’re just friends.”

Charlotte wasn’t the
sharpest crayon in the box, but she was the most creative. That was why Angie
had hired her. “Take the rolls into the back, you can take your break now
Charlotte,” Angie instructed, then eyeing Luke carefully. “Tell Lillian I said
thanks, okay?” she said, and turned back to her work.

“You’re ignoring me?”

“I thought you were
leaving.”

“Have dinner with me.”

“No.”

“Why
not?”

“I don’t like you.”

“You seemed to like me
just fine last night,” he accused, unable to help the sting to his pride her
blithe remark had caused.

Angie turned to find
Charlotte still standing in the doorway with her mouth open. “Enough already,”
she hissed, glaring at him.

“A cinnamon roll and
coffee?” he suggested.

“Okay fine, I’ll get my
coat. It’s not what you’re thinking, Charlotte,” she muttered on her way out,
as Charlotte snagged a cinnamon roll and handed the rest back to Angie.

“Uh-huh?”
Charlotte grinned, giving Luke a wink. Luke was surprised to find himself
winking back. He never did things like that!

They walked to the
nearest corner coffee station and purchased coffee, sitting down at the small
park bench with Lillian’s cinnamon rolls, sipping the hot coffee in the cold
morning air. He never did things like this either. She was quite adorable. He
wasn’t sure why he hadn’t allowed himself to see that right away last night.
Her long curly chestnut hair framed her face perfectly, her cheeks were pink
and fresh looking in the cool air, and her eyes sparkling green and focused
directly on him, a puzzled frown marred her lovely features.

“Why are you here?”
Angie asked, snapping him out of his perusal of her features.

“Lillian asked me to…”

“Okay. You’ve delivered
the cinnamon rolls. Task accomplished. Did she say you had to take me out too?
Because you don’t seem like the type to be ordered about!”

“Thanks, I’m not. I
wanted to see you.”

“Why?”

“To
apologize.”

She raised her brows,
her expression clearly skeptical.

“I wasn’t on my best
behavior last night. I was just annoyed at them both for trying to set me up…”

“They always do
that,
surely you know that by now? You don’t have to spend
the rest of your life with someone, just a pleasant evening.”

“I
know, and I’m sorry.” He sounded genuinely contrite.

“So does this mean if
they try to throw us together again, you’ll at least be polite?” she teased,
finally loosening up.

“Cross my heart.”

“Good, because they are
having a Christmas Eve dinner party and I suspect we’re both on the guest list.
We probably
are
the guest list!” she
murmured with a groan.

“Good,” he said and
grinned.

“Good?”

“I really want to see
you again.”

A tiny smile curved her
lips and he wanted to see more of that kind of reaction from her. But he knew
better than to push his luck at present. She rose, taking away his choice.

“Well, I guess I’ll be
seeing you on Christmas Eve then, Lucas.”

“See you Angelina.”

Chapter Five

Luke wasn’t a
relationship kind of guy, never had been, but Lillian and Sean were rapidly
getting to him.
Every time he saw Sean, he was either
checking his text messages or saying ‘I love you’ into his cell phone.
And what’s more, he’d never said another word about Angelina. He wondered if
she was seeing someone
now?
Maybe that guy Adam she’d
mentioned. It had been almost three weeks.

“It’s the Christmas Eve
dinner party tonight, don’t forget Luke, okay?” Sean said as he tucked his cell
phone back into his belt.

“Yeah, um Sean, will
Angelina be there?”

Sean nodded warily,
arms crossed.
“Yes, why?
You’re not backing out are
you?”

Thank God, at least
she
hadn’t backed out. He ignored the
question. “Is she seeing Adam now?”

“Who?”
Sean’s lips twitched.

“Adam...oh,” he
groaned, and then burst out laughing. So, there was no Adam; she’d just been
pushing his buttons, and he’d deserved it.

“I gotta go. Lillian
wants me to pick some things up for her on my way home.”

“Anything
I can do?”

Sean stared at him for
a moment, stunned at the unexpected offer, and then shook his head. “I can’t
even imagine you in the grocery store, let alone the kitchen,” he grinned and
took off with a wave.

Luke strolled home,
picking up some flowers and a box of candy on the way as hostess gifts for the
evening ahead. Sean was right, he didn’t know his way around a kitchen, but
apparently Sean did, and for some odd reason Luke was starting to feel jealous.
Sean had it all.

***

When Angie arrived at
Lillian and Sean’s house, she thought she was almost prepared for seeing Lucas
again, but she wasn’t. The
man
who opened the door,
was the same man who had reappeared wearing Sean’s Christmas sweater and jeans
after their snowball fight, relaxed and casually dressed in blue jeans and a
warm red wine sweater, and wearing a sheepish smile. Not the cold dark clad
stranger with the aloof and disdainful attitude she had first met. Angie eyed
him suspiciously.

“Who are you? And what
have you done with Lucas Hart?” she asked, walking in and allowing him to take
her coat. It wasn’t as cold as before, but snow was forecast. She planned on
keeping an eye on the weather this time. But she wasn’t about to stay home
alone on Christmas Eve just in case of snow.

Luke
was about to answer when he realized she was standing under the mistletoe. He
grinned. “Oh, you mean my domineering alter ego? He’s right here!” He stepped
under the mistletoe, took her in his arms and kissed her, his lips moving
gently but firmly over hers. He didn’t try to deepen the kiss, though it
wouldn’t have been hard, her lips had parted in surprise and he took full
advantage, savoring the taste of those gorgeous full pink lips, enjoying both
the texture and warm softness of her mouth and her curves pressed closely
against him.

“So who was that?” she
asked, stepping back breathlessly when he released her, her cheeks a furious
pink.

“Who was what?” he
asked confused.

“Was it Luke, or Lucas
Hart the alter ego?”

“Luke, just Luke,” he
grinned, surprised and relieved when she grinned back.

“Dinner’s ready!”
Lillian called from the other room.

There was something odd
in the air. Lillian had a slight nervousness to her this evening that was
completely uncharacteristic, something was going on, Angie was sure, even Lucas
appeared to have noticed and was watching their hostess in anticipation. Angie
was still having trouble thinking of him simply as Luke.

When Lillian brought
out her famous Christmas trifle, and it didn’t contain a single drop of booze,
Angie was pretty sure she knew what that something was. She was almost jealous,
but very happy for her friends nonetheless. They were going to make great
parents.

Sean rose to his feet,
tapped his glass with his fork and cleared his throat. “Ladies and gentlemen…”
he began in a stentorian tone that had Lillian nudging him and rolling her
eyes.

“We have a world
changing, life altering announcement to make…Lillian and I, are having a
family!”

“A
family?”

“Sweet Lily is
pregnant…”

“With
triplets!”
Lillian interjected proudly.

“Oh
my God!”
It burst from her lips, Angie had meant
to sound sweeter, more polite,
happy
for them!
But triplets?

Lucas was looking
dazed.
“Triplets?”

“Exactly!”
Lillian was laughing at their shocked faces. “Trust me, we both looked equally
shocked when we were told too!”

“Congratulations!”
Angie and Luke chorused in unison. Angie hurried over to hug her friend and
Luke grasped Sean’s hand for a hearty shake that became a manly hug with both
men slapping each other on the back.

***

Angie could not believe
that the silently falling snow had rendered the roads uncooperative twice, and
once again she was sleeping on the loveseat across from Luke who was stretched
out on the sofa.

“We’ve got to stop
meeting like this,” Luke joked, turning over, and watching her in the glow of
the firelight. Leaning up on his elbow, his chin propped up on his fist.

“Yeah,” she laughed.
“This is the second time we’ve slept together, watch out or I might expect a
commitment.”

Luke
laughed as she had meant he should, but then his gaze turned serious. “Do you
want to get married Angie?”

Angie
raised
up on one elbow to look at him better. He’d finally
called her Angie,
wow, that
was almost relaxed for
him! But then he’d actually chosen to kiss her tonight too. “Is that a
proposal?” she teased, trying to get into the spirit of things.

“Not yet…but…” he
allowed the sentence to trail off with a shrug.

“We have to sleep
together three times for that, right?” she laughed.

“So, watch out for New
Year’s Eve?” he chuckled.

“Good night Luke.”

“Night
Angie.”

Chapter Six

Angie hurried inside,
out of the ice cold crisp night air. Tonight it wasn’t an option, snow or not,
she had planned to stay over with Sean and Lillian, it was New Year’s Eve and
getting home in the early hours wouldn’t be easy, even if the roads were clear,
finding a taxi would be virtually impossible. She found herself almost looking
forward to seeing Luke again.
Almost.
She’d slipped
out early from their last sleepover once again, to spend Christmas day with her
parents.

Sean opened the door
and Luke walked out of the kitchen wearing a pair of brightly colored oven
mitts, her eyes grew wide and his crinkled at the corners at her reaction.

“You’re cooking?” she
exclaimed in disbelief.

“Surprised?” Luke asked
conversationally.

“Stunned!”

“Well don’t be,”
Lillian clarified, appearing in the kitchen doorway behind him. “He was just
getting something out of the oven for
me,
my hands are
covered in flour.”

“Faker!”
Angie accused him laughing, and felt a sudden knot in her stomach at the way
Luke was looking at her. He almost looked pleased to see her.

“Can
you believe we’re all together again?” Lillian said, over dinner.

“Third
time lucky,” Luke said, looking at Angie meaningfully.

Angie’s fork clattered
to her plate and Sean guffawed at her outraged expression. Luke actually
blushed. “I just meant I’m lucky to see you again Angie,” he said glaring at
Sean.

Angie rolled her eyes,
hadn’t they joked the last time, that they had to sleep together three times
before a proposal? And why was the thought of sleeping near him not quite
anathema to her anymore? And why were her thoughts moving to more than just
sleeping? He wasn’t her type.
Not at all.
She blushed
as his eyebrows rose at her flustered expression, and then suddenly his
features softened and he gave her a heart stopping smile. Her gaze rested on
his lips for an instant before Sean spoke, breaking the spell.