Boyfriend for Christmas

Chapter 21....

Twenty-five minutes later I had found the perfect gifts for Olivia. As soon as I came across the older cookbooks I had to get them. They looked well used and the older lady told me they had been in her family for ages but she felt like someone else could use them now. They were all baking cookbooks and I knew Olivia would love them. That is if my mom didn't try and steal them first.

Along with those three cookbooks, I saw a gorgeous scarf I just had to get. With how cold it got here I figured Olivia could always use another one. I was actually quite proud of the gifts but I had yet to find something for Knox.

He was so hard to read and I knew next to nothing about him. Christmas was literally three days away. He may be kind of an ass but he deserved to have something for Christmas. And as much as I hated it I was going to have to dig up some stuff about him this afternoon. That is if he will even say more than five words to me.

I know I needed to get past our first encounter and how rude Knox was. He was rude but it was odd of me to just randomly come up to him. Plus him and his sister were here doing this for me and on a holiday to boot. The least I could do was be nice to him and give him the benefit of the doubt.

So with a new found resolve I headed to find Knox. It was still early and we had more stuff to do. It will give us time to get to know each other more to help with the lie. I know my family and I know as soon as everyone is in the same room again they will bombard us with questions. It didn't help I've never brought anyone home before.

It took me a good ten minutes to make my way back to the front of the market where I said we would meet up. It seemed like more and more people had arrived after we did. Wadding through them all I felt like I wasn't getting anywhere.

Finally making my way through the crowd I looked around for Knox and instantly found him. He wasn't hard to miss. He stood off to the side, hands crossed over his chest, eyes darting around and that permeant scowl on his face back once more. He didn't look all too thrilled at the moment. I swallowed as I slowly made my way towards him, already feeling the weight of that scowl even though he had yet to see me.

I've only seen a peek of the glare he has and I wasn't too keen on having it be directed at me. It wasn't really my fault we got split up and it took me a bit to find him again. For a small town there's a lot of people.

"Hey." I greeted. At the sound of my voice his head snapped in my direction, his eyes instantly narrowing.

"Nice to grace me with your presence." Okay maybe I did take a bit too long looking. But in my defense it was for his sister so.

"Sorry I found some stuff I wanted." I smiled sheepishly.

"You should have sent me a text that you would take longer." In hindsight I probably should have.

"I didn't think about that." I mumbled. "But did you find anything?" I quickly changed the subject.

"No." He answered bluntly. Okayyy.

"Well uh...ready to go to the store?" With a curt nod, Knox turned on his heel and headed back to where the car was parked. As I trailed after him my eyes watched him. Beside the fact that he was tall, the way he walked you could tell he had a certain air about him. A 'don't-mess-with-me' type of vibe. Just from the way he walked I knew he was military.

I wasn't going to take his tone to heart. He was in a place he wasn't familiar with, probably doing things he'd rather not. So instead of snapping back at him like I normally would I bit my tongue. It's Christmas Aubrey, be nice. I told myself.

We were quiet as we made our way back to his truck. The clouds above us had gotten thicker and the air colder. I bet it starts snowing here soon. I shivered in my coat and grumbled under my breath. I hadn't realized how cold it had gotten too busy shopping. Now it felt absolutely freezing. I really should have brought a scarf and gloves.