Page 14 of A Game-Changing Christmas

Jaden nodded, his jaw locking again.

“Is it the same buyer?”

“It appears to be.”

“But you don’t think it is?”

He pondered for a minute. “I’m not sure. You know we’ve been through this before. Not exactly in this context, but the similarities are there.”

“You’re referring to the Lance and—”

“Yeah,” he acknowledged.

Claudia took in a deep breath. “Well, I could possibly ask Hunter if they are the buyers.”

Jaden’s brows dipped as a frown creased his forehead.

“I mean, I think he’s taken somewhat of a liking to me since I was there for his wife.”

“No.”

Claudia pursed her lips and gave him a doe eyed look.

“Don’t give me that look, it won’t work this time.”

She pushed her lip out further, putting on a full facial show of her phony sadness.

“It’s not happening.”

“But I want to help you or help us. How are we to begin building together if the bid is being sabotaged again?”

Jaden reached for her chin. “Leave that up to me, chérie.”

Claudia took in a deep breath, and her stomach growled furiously. She gasped and covered her belly, and Jaden’s brown gaze flipped down to her movement.

“You haven’t eaten?”

“I was kind of in the middle of lunch when Camilla went into labor.” She had also thrown up her guts. So not only was Claudia hungry, she was starving, and headed toward malnourished.

Jaden opened his door and exited, rounding the Wraith to open Claudia’s door. “Come,” he said, holding a hand out. “Let me feed you.”

She accepted his hand, and he pulled her into a tight embrace then step for step, they strolled into the house. As they headed to the kitchen, Claudia couldn’t help but become nervous about whatever Jaden was about to offer. At this point, she was unsure if anything would be kept down.

* * *

Northwestern Memorial Hospital

Labor and Delivery Lobby

Bri St. Jameswas awakened by the brush of a warm stroke on her arm. Her eyes fluttered opened, adjusting to the image that squatted before her and the darkness that surround them. Chocolate covered skin, and a soft piercing gaze stared back at her. A neatly groomed beard that connected to a thin mustache over succulent lips stood out in her vision. She blinked once then twice but still the image held there. Bri must have been dreaming; otherwise, why would Raphael Valentine be staring at her face so intricately? Deciding to shake herself from the dream, Bri reached out and touched his face, feeling the mixture of soft and roughness through his beard.

He didn’t move, but she felt him quiver as if her touch prompted something uninhibited inside him, the same something that wrecked her emotions since their hug at Hunter and Camilla’s rehearsal dinner eight months ago. Her fingers skipped up the side of his smooth face where she took a hand over the waves of his low-cut hair. This time a full shudder expelled from Raphael, and his eyes closed as his hand ran to greet hers almost immediately.

“Aies pitié,” his dark voice whispered, begging her for mercy. It had been years since Raphael felt any semblance of a connection with another woman. After his fiancé died on the eve of their wedding, he hadn’t so much as glanced at another. However, since meeting Bri St. James, his spirit had come alive again, and interestingly enough, it not only moved him but confused him as he hadn’t had this particular type of animation ruffle his feathers before.

Bri’s eyes popped as she realized this wasn’t a dream at all. Their fingers intertwined as Raphael cupped her hand in his and pulled it away from his head. The reprieve for him was exhaling as he didn’t know how to deal with the current of energy.

“Oh my God,” Bri said, feeling bashful. “Raphael, I’m so sorry, I … I thought I was dreaming.” She blushed. “Silly me.”

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