Page 23 of Christmas With A Billionaire

“I’m always on your side.” The words came out lower, with an air of sentiment that warmed me from the inside out.

She turned in my arm, looking up at me. “Are you okay?”

“Perfect.” I pinched her chin. “You look beautiful.”

A blush crept across her cheeks. “It’s just a sweater.”

“It’s never just anything with you.”

The moment stretched between us, charged and unfiltered. Then Aunt Marie burst through the kitchen doors with a tray of mac and cheese, and we eased apart.

“Tyson! Come taste this and tell me if it needs more pepper.”

The next hour passed in a blur of family arriving, dishes being passed, and Rose directing traffic like a five-foot-twogeneral. I kept finding reasons to touch Autumn - a hand on her back as we moved chairs, our fingers brushing as we set the table, my knee pressed against hers when we finally sat down.

“Little David,”Uncle Mack pointed his fork at my cousin, “when are you gonna tell your mama about that ticket?”

David choked on his collard greens. At sixteen, he thought he could hide anything from his mother, but news traveled fast in our family.

“What ticket?” Aunt Marie’s head snapped up.

“No ticket,” David said quickly, shooting Uncle Mack a betrayed look.

“The one you got for racing that Honda Civic down Cottage Grove,” Uncle Mack continued, clearly enjoying himself.

“You did what?” Aunt Marie's voice rose an octave.

“In his defense,” I cut in, “that Civic was pretty slow.”

“Don't encourage him!” But Aunt Marie’s lips twitched. “Besides, you were worse at his age with that motorcycle!”

“The one he tried to hide in my garage?” Rose shook her head. “That boy came over every day for two weeks straight to ‘help with the books.’”

“I was being charitable,” I protested.

Autumn snorted. “You were being sneaky. And terrible at it. Your shirt ripped when it was caught on the handlebar.” She shook her head and tsked.

“And he tried to convince me he’d torn it playing basketball,” Rose cackled.

“The boy was wearing dress shoes!” Uncle Mack wiped tears from his eyes.

Laughter cruised around the table as I leaned into their memories of me and my motorcycle, but at the other end of the table, my cousin mouthed, “Thank you,” and I winked. I didn'tmind taking the attention off him. I knew all too well how it felt to be under the gun. But I didn’t miss Uncle Mack’s yelp when David kicked him under the table and mumbled something unintelligible.

“Autumn, baby,” Aunt Marie said once everyone had filled their plates, “how’s your love life? Any special men I should know about?”

“Marie,” Rose warned, but Autumn laughed.

“Actually, I had dinner with someone a few weeks ago. A lawyer named Marcus.”

My fork scraped against my plate. The entire table went quiet.

“A lawyer?” Uncle Mack raised his eyebrows. “Well, well.”

“It was just dinner,” Autumn said quickly. “Though he did ask me out again.”

“And?” Rose asked.

“And... I haven’t answered yet.”

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