A Christmas Date Read Free Page B

by for her. It
will give you a reason to be there.”
    Sean watched in
amusement as Sweet Lily, as he liked to call his wife in private, turned into
the little tigress he loved in the bedroom, speaking of which…
    “See you later dude,
let us know what happens!”
    Sean
purposefully escorted Luke to the door and Sweet Lily into the bedroom.
    ***
    Luke found himself standing
on the cold crisp New York sidewalk with a package of cinnamon rolls headed for
a florist shop and a girl he hadn’t thought he’d ever want to see again. Until this morning. Following Sean’s hurried directions he
arrived at Make Piece, Angelina’s specialty florist shop. Funny, Angelina
Makepeace apparently had a sense of humor.
    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