Page 51 of Holiday Hostilities

Which means that for four entire days during my least favorite holiday of the year, I’d have his gorgeous mansion all to myself. Not a bagpipe or pantie thief in sight.

Just peace, quiet, and a place to escape Christmas, all the while not crashing Jake and Sofia’s first holiday season together, nor having to spend the money I need for a new apartment on an actual escape plan.

It’s too good to resist.

And he knows it.

I narrow my eyes. “If I say yes, do you promise no funny business?”

He crosses his arms, eyes gleaming. “Define ‘funny business.’”

“You know what I mean.” My cheeks redden for the thousandth time this conversation. “No stupid jokes or lewd comments. And absolutely no trying to charm?—”

“The pants off you?” he finishes with a huge grin.

For a moment, my eyes skate over his handsome, smiling face. The laugh lines around his green eyes. The dark, tousled hair poking out from under his hat. Those perfectly broad and sculpted shoulders, leading to a broad and sculpted chest.

Yes.

“No!” I glare at him. “I was going to say, no trying to charm me into beingfriendsor anything. We’ll be roommates only, and it’ll be a trade. A business agreement. Nothing else.”

“Feel free to continue loathing me, Olivia.” His eyes are twinkling now that he knows he’s got me. “I wouldn’t expect anything less.”

“That’s not what I meant!” I protest weakly, because itiswhat I meant.

“Yes, it is,” he says dryly, his green eyes twinkling. “And I promise, I’ll stay out of your way. Ships in the night, remember?”

Yes, ships in the night.Between my schedule and his, we’ll barely see each other, and I won’t have to contend with the weird and uncalled-for attraction I’m feeling towards him these days.

And it’s only for a few weeks, until the New Year.

I can do this.

“Okay.”

My voice is so quiet that I’m surprised when his expression becomes delighted. “So, we’ve got a deal?”

He holds a big hand towards me, and I stare at it for a moment. Take in the thick fingers with short and surprisingly neat fingernails, the olive skin, the veins that run along his perfectly muscled forearms. The bracelet around his left wrist.

“Deal,” I say thickly, extending my own hand to him. I hear myself saying the word like I’m watching this scene from above, a veritable out-of-body experience. The syllable feels a whole lot bigger than its short, clipped sound.

His hand clasps around mine, almost enveloping it. Even though his palm is warm, a shivering shock jolts through me as his calloused fingertips graze my skin. I wonder if I’ve just made a deal with the devil.

When I pull my hand away, it’s tingling, and Aaron’s smiling. “Who knows, you might even discover I’m not the worst person in the world, huh?”

I roll my eyes, but I’m smiling. “Doubtful.”

“So when are you moving in, Roomie?”

“Don’t call me that.”

“Suit yourself, Lil Griz.”

Ugh.

What fresh hell have I gotten myself into?

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