Once Upon a Christmas by Lisa Plumley Page B

preferred his own office, Holly knew, but he couldn’t
    afford to go it alone yet.
    “Thomas is an obstetrician,” Brad told her. “Toes
    are hardly his specialty. Take my word for it—all that’s required is rest. Sam
    will be fine.”
    Sam waved from the sofa. “Thanks, Doc. And thanks for
    the warning, too,” he added with a grin, nodding toward Holly.
    She scowled. So much for making Brad jealous with her new
    roommate. Instead, Brad and Sam seemed intent on doing some sort of
    male-bonding thing, although she couldn’t imagine why.
    They had nothing in common, aside from gender. Brad was a
    successful doctor, respected by his peers. Sam was…not. Brad was organized,
    neat, ambitious, and blessed with model-quality good looks. Sam was…actually
    kind of scruffy-macho-looking, and if he were any more relaxed, he’d be asleep.
    And now he was her roommate. Holly hoped she’d done the
    right thing. Closing the front door behind Brad, she went to check on Sam in
    the living room.
    “You and Brad don’t go together very well,” he
    remarked.
    The pain reliever she’d given him must have taken effect,
    because he seemed in much better spirits than he had earlier.
    “What makes you say that?” Holly fluffed up the
    throw pillows in the brown armchair Brad had been sitting in, then bent to
    brush a piece of lint from the edge of the sofa.
    “For one thing, you didn’t give me your business card
    ten minutes after we met,” Sam replied, dropping Brad’s beige engraved
    card on the coffee table.
    She scooped it up and put it beside Sam’s wineglass, where
    he’d be sure to remember it later. “I didn’t do your bookkeeping, either,”
    she pointed out in Brad’s defense. “If I had, you can be sure I’d have
    given you my card, too.”
    “Okay, then, for another thing, you wouldn’t have
    embarrassed a friend for the sake of a funny story.”
    “I wasn’t embarrassed,” Holly lied. So what if she
    was a little sensitive to Brad’s teasing? It would have been much more
    embarrassing to admit her embarrassment. Besides, when she and Brad went to
    parties together, everyone else seemed to find his jokes funny.
    “Anyway, how do you know I wouldn’t?” she
    protested. “You don’t know—maybe I go around lampooning my friends all the
    time.”
    Sam grunted noncommittally. “I doubt it.”
    Holly raised her eyebrows.
    “I can’t explain it,” he said with a shrug. “But
    I still think it’s true. The two of you don’t mesh.”
    She didn’t know how true that could be when he couldn’t even
    explain it properly. She shrugged right back at him. “You’re wrong. Brad
    and I are perfectly well-suited for one another.”
    “Well-suited?” He made a face.
    She’d definitely have to think up another phrase to describe
    her relationship with Brad.
    “Yes. Brad is exactly the kind of man a girl dreams of.
    Even my mother loves him.” It was true. Her mom had all but hired the
    Goodyear blimp to broadcast the news when her daughter had begun dating Brad
    the Doctor.
    Sam looked up at her. For once his expression was serious. “Do you love him?”
    Despite everything, Holly hadn’t expected that . “Of
    course. Why wouldn’t I? Brad and I had planned a nice life together.”
    What a strange thing for him to ask. She leaned closer to
    Sam, intent on picking up the wine bottle so it wouldn’t leave a ring on the
    coffee table. The next thing she knew, he’d caught hold of her arm and was
    gently pulling her down.
    “Sounds real cozy,” Sam said. “Like a
    stockbroker’s convention.”
    Holly had to brace one hand on the sofa back to keep from
    toppling onto his lap. Their faces were only inches apart.
    “And anyway, you can’t ‘plan’ love,” he added
    quietly. “Brad doesn’t deserve your loyalty.”
    “It’s not just—”
    Sam pressed a fingertip to her lips to quiet her. She was
    too surprised by the tenderness of the gesture to move away.
    “I had to know,” he said.