Page 25 of Holding Holly
She laughs and gives me a little twirl. The dress fits pretty well, considering I had to eyeball it. The velvet falls to her knees and the full skirt flares out as she spins. Then it comes up, hugging her waist and breasts perfectly, with a modest neckline that doesn’t show any cleavage. With only elbow length sleeves, it’s certainly not warm, but we won’t be going outside.
Holly has let her hair down from the ponytail she always wears at work, putting half of it up with a clip and letting the rest fall around her collarbone. She’s also put on a bit of makeup that makes her wide hazel eyes sparkle.
She bursts into laughter, running her fingertips along the holly pattern on my tie. “You didn’t!”
“Of course I did.”
The music gets louder, and several voices can be heard echoing through the marble lobby. “Seriously,” Holly says nervously. “What is this? I probably shouldn’t be here.”
Taking her arm, I stroll into the very middle of the party, feeling like a million bucks with my beauty at my side. “This is the City Hall Mini Merry Musicmas,” I announce grandly.
She laughs, looking around at the gathering crowd. “The what now?”
“There’s a new name every year,” I explain. “Last year it was the Teeny Town Tinsel Fest. Once it was the Small Silver Soiree. I think someone keeps a list somewhere.”
Her hand tightens on my arm. “So… It’s your work party?”
“Exactly.” My arm drops to slip around her waist. “I heard everything you said about not being appropriate for me, and it broke my heart.” Taking her free hand, I place it in the center of my chest. “Luckily, I had the last few bites of Mrs. Mackenzie’s world-famous potato salad that I brought back from Holly Valley. I was instantly healed, and now we can move forward.”
“But I’m not?—”
“James!” We turn to face an older man holding out two champagne glasses for us.
“Hey, Jerry. Thanks.” The proud grin on my face feels a mile wide. “This is my girlfriend Holly. Holly, this is Jerry, the Chief Custodial Engineer of City Hall.”
He laughs, politely shaking Holly’s hand. “That’s a fancy way of saying I’m the janitor, gardener, and all around fix it guy. Nice to meet you.”
“Nice to meet you, too.” She throws me a saucy smirk. “So I’m guessing you’re the poor soul who has to clean mountains of food wrappers out of a certain policeman’s office?”
Jerry bursts out laughing, jerking a thumb toward Holly as he nods to me. “I like her.”
I grin. “Me too. She’s very likable.”
We make the rounds and I introduce her to Jonah, the town medic who also works in this building, and some of the Town Council. It’s about half an hour before I can pull her aside to the buffet table and set down our empty glasses.
Holly looks up at me with a laugh. “You must be starving.”
“Nope.” I back her up ten more steps into the corner, so that we’re somewhat alone. “I just want to check in.” I press my palm gently against the center of her spine, stroking up and down. “I know I totally sprung this on you. I don’t want you to feel uncomfortable, meeting so many people at once. But I really do need to show you how much I need you in my life. How I’m positive that we belong together.”
She looks up at me, beaming as she nods twice.
“Now, this is still all going way too fast,” I continue. “So we can take our sweet time figuring it out. If you want to live with me forever…” I waggle my eyebrows. “Or if you want an apartment of your own for a while. If you want to stay at the bakery. If you want to take over the back section of my garage as a craft space, and just do that. Whatever you want.”
Holly’s perfect lips fall open. “I… My own craft space? Really?”
“Why not?”
Her eyes positively glow. “There are so many gift shops in this area. If I had a proper workspace, I could make complete sets of seasonal candles.” Her gaze drifts away to stare at the wall.Oh wow, she has a thinking spot, too! “Maybe I could add some herbs and flowers to the very back of your garden and grow things specifically to embed into them?”
“Of course you could.” My hand presses against her as I step closer. “And there you go. You just said that you want to stay with me, at least until the summer.”
She grips my shoulder with one hand and the back of my neck with the other. “Of course I want to stay. You’re amazing. I wanted you from day one. I just… You know. Don’t want to be bad for your career.”
“Baby, you’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me. Honestly. I’m already a happy guy, but with you in my life, I am overloaded with joy every second we’re together.”
Her hands drop and she steps back, her expression clouding. “What if your bosses don’t think I’m appropriate? You’re kind of the face of their town.”
I follow her line of sight to see three big men in crisp designer suits stroll in, greeting everyone by name and shaking hands. One of them waves to me and gestures toward my office, then holds up his index finger.