Page 52 of The Holiday Fail

Peter glanced at me, but there was no malice or anger. He was assessing me like he was really seeing me for the first time, and there seemed to be…approval in his eyes?

Levi hugged him.

“Thanks, Pops. I love you,” he murmured with an armful of his pops.

Even though the words weren’t directed at me, hearing them come out of Levi’s mouth had my heart tingling.

Henry watched his husband and son, fretting a bit, then wrapped them both in his arms. They laughed as Henry started pressing kisses onto both of their heads. It was so obvious they loved each other the way a family should, and though theremight have been a hint of jealousy at the scene, I was mostly happy Levi had this support system.

“All right, let’s leave them alone for a bit. Come on, honey. There’s lots of cleanup to do out there,” Peter said, breaking the hug, then dragging his husband, who was muttering about being left out again, out of the room.

Levi and I stood a couple of inches apart. We looked at each other and then started laughing.

“Well, I guess that means we have your pops’ approval,” I said when the laughter died down.

Levi looked at me with soulful eyes when he heard my statement. He bit his plump bottom lip, and the action had me closing the distance between us, wanting a taste too.

I reached out and released his lip from the abuse. It was slightly red from his teeth, and I really had to hold myself back from kissing him.

Levi met my gaze, searching for something, then asked softly, “Is there anything between us that warrants approval?”

There was no doubt in my mind what I wanted, so I didn’t even hesitate when I replied, “I want there to be.”

The smile Levi gave in reply, full of dimples and teeth, captured me like a sunflower drawn to the radiance of the sun.

I wanted him, and most importantly, he wanted me too.

Chapter Twenty-Two

LEVI

The grand opening of the expanded restaurant was a success, and it wasn’t the only success of the night.

I hadn’t meant to call Andy ‘babe,’ especially not in front of my dads, but I was just on a high from how happy I was about the successful day.

Andy had worked so hard on this project, and I wanted so badly for things to work out for him. So when the day passed without a single pause in the flow of customers, I couldn’t contain my excitement and blurted that word.

And I was so glad I did because we were nowboyfriends.

Officially.

Although nothing in our relationship really changed, since we were basically dating without the title already.

I was ridiculously happy.

My dads were supportive, too, when I told them Andy and I were dating. Dad was mostly surprised I was dating someone my age, which, fair. My love for silver foxes didn’t go away, I just loved Andy more.

Pops took the news well, which was surprising since he’dcalled it before Andy and I even had a chance to really establish what there was between us. But Pops had been right about me being happy and how Andy made me happy—because he did.

This wasn’t like my past relationships, where I worried I was being too much of myself and would chase them away.

Andy saw me for me, a workaholic, who wasn’t perfect, yet he still liked me anyway.

My dads wanted to spend more time getting to know Andy after I told them about us, but besides a quick late-night dinner, there hadn’t been time with how busy the B&B was, and now the restaurant too. Thank god we were able to hire more people in the last week because demand for the restaurant hadn’t died down after the first day, which also meant that Andy hadn’t had a day off since the restaurant opened.

I suggested closing the restaurant a couple days a week, but he’d beenadamant about staying open since it was still so new. It was good for business, but it also meant we didn’t have much energy after work for much more than quick hand jobs before falling asleep curled up together.

Even though I was exhausted, I was also happier than I’d ever been.

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