Page 17 of The Christmas Entanglement

"Are you sure? I heard her bitching to Alayna all day today about how miserable she was. How you left her alone with the puppy and she's supposed to travel. She should have heard something by now."

He shook his head. Why the hell didn't his best friend just ask her for her number? It would have saved him so many headaches. "If you would have just given me her number, I would have called her. Instead, I had to message her over Insta."

"Don't tell me you did it with your Paddy K account."

"Of course I did." Friends like Kai knew that he would never do anything over one of his official accounts.

"You're such an idiot."

"What?" PK wasn't being dumb. He did everything he could shy of slipping Fitzy a bribe for his neighbor's number but he knew that Fitzy wouldn’t just hand people’s numbers out. It would have been too much of a security risk for the luxury complex.

"Does she even know how back in the day the guys would call you Paddy and that you weren't always PK?"

Damn it. Kai was right. It's been ages since anyone called him Paddy. He brought the phone to his head and tilted it back with his frustration. It was such a stupid reason to cast doubt on their relationship. It didn't help that she was blaming him for ghosting her when he thought she was doing the same since she ignored his social media messages.

The only good thing was, he’d be in Bourbon soon. There was a chance to set things right. He moved the phone back to his ear so he could ask, "What are the chances that I can make things right with her?"

"Fifty-fifty. She wants you, but she's also cutting you out pretty good. But my guess is, if you can pull out all the stops when you come to town, you can win her back."

He looked down at his watch and realized he didn't have much time to set up the perfect plan, but he wanted to. "Alright. Let me work on that part of things. I guess I'll see you tomorrow for the sound check."

"You know it. Just make sure you don't fuck it up any more than you already have."

"Thanks for the faith, man." He couldn't be mad at Kai. Things had gotten messed up so quickly, and he had to play his cards right. He ended the call and shoved the phone in his back pocket. He walked up to the case that Petey was at. He saw the perfect set for Clarissa. He knew that jewelry always helped out. He pointed to the set and said, "I'll have that one."

He wasn't paying attention to the fact that the clerk was helping someone else.

Petey smacked him. "Dude, wait your turn. I know you need to wow your girl if you're going to win her back, but let me finish my order first."

Clarissa

Clarissa had been vacillating between being depressed and being pissed off by PK's sudden ghosting of her. She wished she didn't care so much, but she had a hard-on for the oaf and nothing made sense. If they had a fight, she wouldn't be so ready to murder the guy for just dropping her. She needed to know why.

She dreaded running into PK at the toy drive. Her plan was to make it as painless as possible. Drop off the cameras to give out to the kids and give Nathan to PK. Get in and get out. Try not to fall for any of PK's lies. She just hoped that they didn't make a huge scene, but that would take a Christmas miracle. She was going to minimize the damage as much as she could by going pretty early, just after sound check but before the real crowd showed up.

Nathan was such a sweet puppy, and she was going to miss him terribly. She gathered up a small bag and filled it with Nathan's favorite toys: a stuffed sushi, his bone, a couple of tennis balls and squeaky toys. There was also the leash that PK liked to use on Nathan and even his favorite water bowl. It was probably a little petty, but she didn't give PK any of the food or the big stuff like the kennel or the doggie bed. Those were too hard to carry, and he had more than enough money to buy them again.

She picked up the puppy. "Looks like this is the end of the line for you and me."

Nathan shook his head and licked her chin. Of course, the puppy was going to make it difficult for her. She didn't really want to give up Nathan. But she couldn't travel with a puppy, and while PK might be gone a lot with his hockey thing, he would be home a lot sooner than she would be. She just couldn't take him with her on her world travels, although she was sure her blog readers would appreciate it.

She looked at the time; she needed to get going and try not to ruin Alayna's big night. This was about bringing holiday joy to kids who really didn't have enough. She grabbed the leash and put it onto the pup's neck. They headed for the door.

It didn't take long to find the benefit venue. After gathering the first load of gifts to bring inside, as well as Nathan, she went in. The whole scene was going to be magical once it was fully set up. She could hear the pounding beat of the drums.

She wasn't ready to hear those blasted drums again. It brought back all her emotions. She must have let go of the leash without realizing it because Nathan ran off and went straight for the source of the music. The music paused, and everyone could hear her saying, "Nooooo."

Chapter 11

PK

The moment that Natedog launched himself into his lap, he stopped playing. He grabbed the pup before he fucked up any of the microphones or his drums. That and if he didn't rush now, he might not get a chance to make amends with Clarissa. It would only push them further behind, but he didn't give a damn. He had one chance to fix things with Clarissa, and he wasn't going to mess things up any more than they were already.

Like the tongue-tied idiot he was, he opened with, "I think you lost something." He tried to place Nathan down on the ground so he could wrap Clarissa up in his arms, but the pup wasn't having it. She looked so goddamn beautiful in her wrap dress.

"Don't you . . ." Clarissa said with a pointed finger. She looked so confident and sexy while she was being all defiant. But he saw something behind her green eyes that showed him that he stood a chance.

"Babe, I love you." He never said those words ever. Just like he never took girls home. He wanted to take her home so much. After saying those four simple, heartfelt words, he could see the hatred fall off Clarissa's face. But she was still hurt.

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