Free You Had Me at Halo by Amanda Ashby

apartment, and when he wasn’t being annoying, he was an okay guy.
    xxx
    Holly glanced at her watch. She’d arranged to meet Gemma in the reception area before the weekly staff meeting, but there was still no sign of her, which was a nuisance since some of her “last steps” had involved the ladies room, and there was no way she could recreate them without Gemma’s help.
    Vince seemed unnaturally quiet as they watched everyone hurrying past them, and Holly could only guess he was finding this just as hard. Once, at Todd’s bequest, she’d worn some skimpy lingerie underneath her black suit. It had felt sexy and exciting in equal measures to be walking around with such a secret on underneath, but nothing prepared her for how it felt to be walking around with a secret like this.
    “Sorry I’m late.” Gemma panted as she careened to a halt in front of them, and Holly was grateful to be jolted from her thoughts. Thinking of skimpy underwear and Vince Murphy in the same sentence was just disturbing.
    “I was wondering where you’d got to,” Holly told her friend.
    “I had a rotten sleep last night.”
    “I know the feeling,” Holly agreed.
    “You poor thing.” Gemma flushed as she reached out to give Holly’s hand a squeeze. “How are you feeling?”
    “Okay, I guess. Considering I’m back from the dead in someone else’s body.”
    “Oh yes.” Gemma quickly pulled her hand away and scrutinized them. “By the way, who am I speaking to? Is it Holly-Vince or Vince-Vince?”
    “It’s Holly, you idiot.” It was obvious that despite staying on the phone for an extra half hour last night to try and explain the new situation, Gemma was still having problems making sense of it.
    “Hey, that’s a bit unfair calling me an idiot when you’re the one that managed to get herself into someone else’s body,” her friend complained.
    “My point exactly,” Vince piped in. “And for the record Gemma, I promise I had nothing to do with Holly trying to hit on you at the funeral yesterday.”
    Gemma giggled and Holly rolled her eyes. “Please, don’t encourage him. And Vince, don’t you have something else to do while we talk?”
    “Sure, I’ll just go over and grab a cup of coffee. Oh no wait. I can’t move.”
    “Ignore him,” Holly advised Gemma. “Because we can’t afford to waste any more time and—Oh...there’s Todd...”
    Holly sighed as she looked over to where he was striding through the foyer with a paper under one arm and a coffee in his other hand—a decaf skinny cappuccino, not that he ever let on, but Holly knew he was secretly worried about his weight. Probably wanted to look good for their wedding. She sighed again.
    “Great, and things just keep getting better and better,” Vince growled but Holly didn’t pay him any attention.
    “Look at how gorgeous he is. I love they way his hair goes all tousled...see...like that.”
    Vince squinted. “ It’s sort of a weird color if you ask me. Does he dye it?”
    “Oh, well I guess he gets a few tones and highlights, but there’s nothing wrong with male grooming. In fact some of your colleagues would do very well to take a leaf out of Todd’s book.”
    “I’ll be sure to pass that little tip along,” Vince said in a dry voice.
    Holly continued to stare in Todd’s direction. “This is so annoying. I mean he’s my boyfriend and I can’t even go over there and tell him how much I love him . And what’s she doing?”
    “Who?” Gemma spun around to see what was going on.
    “Rochelle Jackson,” Holly said in disdain as she stared at Todd, who was paying an awful lot of attention to the stupid girl. “She is so unbelievable. I feel like going over there and giving that slut a piece of my mind.”
    Gemma’s hand shot out and grabbed Holly’s arm. “Don’t be stupid,” she hissed. “You’re only Holly on the inside. On the outside you’re—”
    “Vince Murphy,” Holly muttered. “Yeah and don’t I know it. I mean what’s