Page 56 of Holiday Hostilities

Jing promptly straightens to her full and tiny height. “Good thinking. I will swoon inwardly instead.” She turns big eyes on me. “Can you introduce me?”

“Can you be normal if I do?”

“I can try.”

“Try really hard, because I don’t need him to?—”

A throat clears behind us, and I turn to see Aaron looming over us. He looks even more gorgeous than usual, his hair windswept and his cheeks rosy from the cold. He’s wearing dark jeans, vintage-looking sneakers and a gorgeous olive green jacket that makes his eyes glow. “Am I interrupting something?”

“Yes!” I say, just as Jing says, “Oh, no. No, no, no.”

Aaron looks from her to me, and he quirks a brow.

“Nothing important,” I relent, then cock my head. “What are you doing here?”

“I’m picking you up from work.” Before I can say anything, he turns to Jing. “Hi, I’m Aaron. OIivia’s new roommate.”

“I know who you are,” Jing says, all breathy and sounding nothing like herself. She has stars in her eyes, their brown depths positively shimmering.

“Nice to meet you…?” He holds out a big hand, and Jing snaps to sudden attention.

“Bing.” She winces. “Uh, Jing. I’m Jing.”

Aaron looks at me, a little bemused, and I clarify. “Her name is Jing. She is a fan of yours, as you can clearly see. But she’s not picky when it comes to the Cyclones and is a fan of all of you, so don’t let it go to your head.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it.”

As he shakes Jing’s hand, Aaron gives her a lopsided, all-too-humble smile that I should loathe, but instead makes my insides prickle in an all-too-pleasant way.

“I could’ve taken the train to the apartment, grabbed my bags, then bussed to your place,” I say.

“What kind of a man would I be to allow that?” he replies while winking at Jing, who simply gazes back at him in adoration. She might have a new favorite Cyclone. “My schedule’s open this evening, so I’m at your service to help you move.”

“Well, that’s… kind of you,” I say.

And I mean it. Because the prospect of lugging my suitcases around on public transit was not exactly something I was looking forward to.

“Happy to help.” He shrugs. “What about you, Jing? Need a ride?”

Jing—who is meeting her date shortly for margaritas at a Mexican joint by the airport—looks like she’s all but forgotten the poor guy’s existence. “I, um… No, actually. Which is a pity.”

I have to hold back a laugh at Jing’s downtrodden expression. “A real pity,” I agree—Jing would probably be a great buffer for Aaron’s whole charming, “I’m at your service” persona right now.

All too soon, we’re outside the airport saying goodbye to Jing (the brat hugged me and whispered “get it, cowgirl” in my ear). Aaron then somehow gets ahold of my suitcase handle and I endup trotting after him (and my suitcase) all the way to short-term parking.

“Over here,” he says as he directs me to a behemoth truck that I’m impressed he managed to squeeze between the lines of a tiny parking spot.

“What’s this?”

“I borrowed Dallas’s truck in case you had a lot of stuff to move.”

“Oh.” I blink in surprise. “Good thinking.”

He unlocks the truck. “Least I could do, Lil Griz. You’re doing me a bigger favor helping me with this Brandi thing.”

I raise a brow at him. “All I have to do is bid on you at a Christmas auction.”

“No, you’re saving me. Seriously,” he says dryly. We climb into the truck, and Aaron turns the key in the ignition so the engine roars to life. “You know what Brandi did today?”

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