If Grant was implying it was because of all the sexy Instagram outfits, I was seriously going to punch him.
But Grant seemed to know what I was thinking. He smiled wryly. “Every woman in my family is now subscribed to the Taste My Muffin baking subscription box. When I tried to take a cookie, because I mean it was a whole box of baked goods, I was told that I should have bought my own.”
“Of course you should buy your own,” his wife Kate exclaimed. She patted me on the arm then clinked her glass to Holly's. “Maybe you can open up a café, Holly.”
“I was hoping to convince Chloe to open a Grey Dove Bistro location in my tower,” Grant continued, “but I hear she's not opening any more franchises at the moment.”
“Yes,” I confirmed, “she said she’s tapped out and doesn’t want to dilute the brand.”
“Sounds like an opportunity for you then,” Grant said to Holly. “You ever want to open a restaurant in my tower, let me know. You can have as much space as you want! Because I’m definitely taking the title back from you next year, Owen!”
*
We milled aroundand talked to people for the rest of the evening. Everyone seemed impressed with Holly. Apparently they were all watchingThe Great Christmas Bake-Off. Several people were even subscribed to her Taste My Muffin subscription box.
“Man, my feet hurt,” Holly said after the crowd had thinned considerably. “And I was expecting more dancing for a holiday party.”
“People just get together and schmooze,” I said. “And talk about potential business deals.”
“I barely got to eat any food.”
“There’s a lot left,” one of the servers said, coming by with a tray. “Eat up!”
Holly took several of the mini crab cakes and two more drinks.
“You don’t want one?” she said, holding up one of the cocktails.
“I need to be alert for the next surprise.”
“Oooh! I thought this and the clothes were the surprise.”
“This was work. I have something special planned for the two of us. You're going to love it. Are you ready?”
“Take us away!”
My silver Aston Martin One-77 was waiting in front of the hotel. I helped Holly into the passenger seat then pulled the car out onto the road. It was late and traffic was fairly light, mainly Ubers taking people to nightclubs.
“What is the surprise?” Holly asked. She’d taken a large plate of snacks to go and two cocktails that one of the servers had poured into a to-go cup.
“We get a lot of these requests,” the server had said. “Guys don’t want their tipsy girlfriends spilling their drinks in their expensive cars.”
I had generously tipped the server because one, it was an ingenious idea, and two, I didn’t want ants in my car.
“Are we going to a petting zoo?” Holly guessed. “Like a Christmas-themed one with penguins and reindeer and I don’t know what other Christmas animals there are.”
“No,” I snorted, “we are not going to a petting zoo.”
65
Holly
We were leaving the city. The skyline glowed behind us as the car roared down the highway. Owen had one hand resting lightly on the steering wheel, the other on my leg, caressing it. He pulled off several exits from town. “Ignore the fact that I’m taking you to a suburb,” he said. “But in my defense, it's a nice one.” He slowed down as we drove into a more residential area. There were huge fancy houses and—
“Christmas lights,” I breathed.
Owen slowed the car to a crawl and turned on the radio. “Silent Night” played softly from the sound system.
“It's so magical,” I said, tearing up. “When I was a little girl, I always helped my grandmother put up Christmas lights. She never took them down; we would just add more and more every year. But I haven't put up Christmas lights since she died. My mom and stepfather were not big Christmas people.”
