I looked her up and down and couldn’t help but laugh. Olive was one of the most, if not the most, beautiful women I had ever seen before. The thought of Olive being insecure about or jealous of any woman was ridiculous. Sure, Olive had perfect blonde hair and a body that most women could only dream of. But more than that, her personality was incredible; she was smart, witty, funny and damn if she didn’t make me smile every time she looked at me.

Her eyes met mine, and I felt compelled to make a confession.

“Olive,” I breathed out her name. “If you were mine, you would never wonder how perfect you are.”

Woah. Even though I meant every word, I hadn’t planned to let something like that casually slip. I wanted to backtrack but honestly, who was I kidding? I was completely caught up in this girl.

“Finn, I—“

“Two hot chocolates!” Our obnoxious waitress came back and cut off Olive’s reply. This damn waitress was close to making me write a bad review on Yelp or some shit. Well, probably not. Only assholes wrote public one-star reviews. But I certainly wouldn’t give her the time of day. I said a quiet thanks and turned my body fully to Olive, giving her my undivided attention. Giving her what she deserves.

“What were you saying?”

I took a sip of my hot chocolate and regretted it as the tip of my tongue burned. I pretended like it didn’t affect me on account of trying to look normal in front of her.

“I was just going to say thank you for tonight. It was…fun.” She blew on her own drink and took a slow sip.

“So do you admit Christmas isn’t overrated?” My grin was wide and confident.

She puffed out a laugh and although it may have been sarcastic, it was music to my ears. “Absolutely not, Finland. I’m telling you, you don’t know what you’re up against.”

Her nickname for me made the pain in my tongue slip away. “Don’t worry, Grinchy, we’ve still got ten days.” I winked, and she lifted her cup up to her full lips.

“I’m not sure I’m ready for the next ten days,” she said, but the accompanying grin told me she was ready. She was excited.

“Oh, honey. We’re just getting started.”

20. Twenty

I tossed and turned for hours. I couldn’t be sure why. Maybe it was the amount of caffeine I’d consumed that day, or too much screen time. Possibly the fact that I had an amazing date with my hot fake boyfriend who I was slowly developing feelings for.

Nope. Not that.