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.

As soon as I caught sight of Knox's truck I practically shoved him to the side to get to it faster. I was freezing and needed warmth now. Rocking back and forth on my heels I waited impatiently for Knox to unlock it. I could have sworn he took his own sweet ass time doing it too. Almost like it was payback for leaving him at the market.

Like a weirdo I huddled closer to the vent as the warm air flowed out. Yeah I definitely should have worn something warmer. Not wanting to come off as a wimp though I tried not to look too cold. Especially since Knox didn't even look fazed by the weather.

"We better get going before it snows." Knox remarked. I nodded agreeing, the last thing we wanted was to get stuck in the snow.

The two of us were quiet as he pulled back onto the road. The only time I spoke was to give him directions to the store. I wasn't quite sure what to say. I could tell he was a bit peeved at me but the silence was starting to get the better of me.

"So uh...you own a hardware store. How is that?" I suddenly asked. As soon as the question left my mouth I cringed. Seriously Aubrey. That is what you went with?

I fought to keep the blush off my face as I felt Knox's eyes on me. You really love to make a fool of yourself. I inwardly face palmed myself.

"It's good. A little different than what I'm use to." He answered.

"I bet it is going from the military to a less stressful job."

"It's taken a little bit to adjust." I noticed his hands clenched the steering wheel a bit tighter. Realizing it was a sore subject I quickly changed the topic.

"I bet Olivia is happy you're home. She's a sweet kid."

"She is and she's definitely the smartest Mikelson." I found myself staring at the side of his face as he spoke. From the corner of my eye I saw his hands loosening just a little around the steering wheel.

"Is she planning on going to College next fall?"

"Yeah she already got accepted into Dartmouth." I didn't miss the proud tone in his voice.

"Wow that's incredible." Dartmouth was a great school to get into. It was one of those schools everyone around here wanted to get into. It wasn't the easiest to get into either so Olivia getting in was amazing.

"It is and it's only an hour and a half away so she can be close enough if she needs anything." I had no doubt he was the over protective brother and the fact that his little sister was going to go to college a bit away didn't sit right with him.

"She'll be fine don't you worry."

"Have you seen college campus's? They are crawling with idiotic kids and don't even get me started on the boys there." I couldn't help but laugh as Knox spoke. His voice got lower and he his jaw clenched.

"What?" Knox raised an eyebrow at me as I laughed.

"I have been to a college campus. I went to college remember? But what you are imagining right now is pretty far from how it is." I looked over at him. "Yes there are a few things she needs to be careful of and stay safe, but most of the time its tired college students that barely leave their dorms. Plus Olivia is a great girl, she isn't going to be the type that parties every weekend."

I may have only known Olivia a few days but even I know she isn't like that. Her parents raised her well.

"I hope so." Knox grunted. "Were you the party type in high school?"

"God no." I shook my head. "I spent most of my time in my dorm or in the library. My friend Leah would occasionally drag me to a party but they were never really my scene." Knox didn't need to know how much of a loser I was in college. Without Leah getting me out of my comfort zone I would have been a hermit.

Even now I still stayed to myself. With Leah now out of the apartment and with Oliver, I basically only went to work and home. I was living the life.

"So you went to school to be a web designer?" His question kind of shocked me, not fully expecting him to even want to know more about me.

"Um kinda. I mean I originally went for business but I took a computer science class and found out I was good at it. One of the assignments was to make one of our own websites and it came easily to me." I shrugged.

Knox pulled into the grocery store parking lot, halting our conversation for a moment.

"What kind of stuff do you do?" The two of us made our way towards the store. I kept my hands huddled in my coat and picked up my pace a little.

"Well a business will contact the company I work for and pay us to make them a website for their business. Anything from ads, to full out websites. Then we keep up to date on them and change what is necessary every couple of months. Things like that." I explained.

He was quiet for a moment as we grabbed a cart.

"Do websites really help business's?" The way he asked made my ears perk up.

"I think so. Not because it's my job and it makes me money, but I have seen a lot of companies and business's grow once they got things online. Whether it be to buy/sell, or even to just promote things they have and sales for holidays. Over 200 million people shop online or look at online stores. So having one can really boost sales." I rattled off.

"Sorry didn't mean to go all business mode on you." I ducked my head, realizing how my tone changed like I was talking to a client. Knox actually chuckled.

"It's okay. That's good to know though." A glance up at him I found Knox deep in thought. His eyebrows were pulled down as he thought about whatever it was.

As I stared at Knox an idea slowly started to form in my head. The more I thought about it the more I liked it. In a matter of seconds I knew what I wanted to do. I had just thought of the perfect Christmas present for Knox.