Page 20 of His Off-Limits Christmas Gift

Damn.And he seemed like such a happy-go-lucky guy. That just showed how everyone could hide behind a wall and act like nothing was wrong.

“Be my plus-one so I don’t have to drink the night away like a pathetic loser. One that everyone remembers being dumped like I was.”

I watched him glance away, realizing that he wasn’t in any better shape than I was. Even though he’d married Yasmin, and the end of their relationship happened six years ago, he was in no better state than I was after being with my high school sweetheart in a sexless relationship.

“A pathetic loser?” I asked. “I don’t think that term caneverapply to you.”

“Do we have a deal, then?” he asked, not replying to my comment and vote of confidence in him.

I looked at the hand he offered me and decided not to think about it. Not to debate.

I followed my heart, that stupid organ that had failed me already, and went with what it suggested.

“Deal.”

I clutched his hand and shook it, thinking after the fact that we probably should’ve laid down some rules to this mentorship.

Because I felt like I’d just signed up for a deal with the devil. And I had no clue what the rules were so I could break them.

8

NATE

Icouldn’t believe that Rachel said yes. That she agreed to be my “student” like this. She had to be downright blind or oblivious not to see how much I wanted her. It felt duplicitous to joke about showing her how to snag a man when I wanted to be the one she chose.

I couldn’t believe that I even proposed this deal. Sleeping with Rachel felt like a pipe dream. Something out of reach and forbidden. She was younger. She was my assistant. And she was my friend’s sister.

Yet, she was an adult, fully aware of her choices. If she wanted to play along while I tried to show her how to be with someone like me, I wouldn’t hold her back.

In fact, I couldn’t wait to begin.

She seemed just as impatient, riding the high of this conversation we should have never held. “So, when do we start?—”

My phone buzzed on the table top. I winced, hating the distraction. Seeing that it was my mother’s number, though, I knew I had to answer.

“Dammit. I’ve got to get this.” I winced at her looking at my phone.

“No, no. No worries. It’s not like this was important.”

I hated, absolutely hated her self-deprecating laugh. It sounded forced. She didn’t laugh often, more of a dry humor sort of woman, but I didn’t like the idea of her not being herself with me.

“Hey, no. This is—youare—important.”

Still, she scooted out from her side of the table. Squeaks marked her exit along the vinyl booth seat, and I scrambled to catch up. I scribbled my signature on the check that had been dropped off, putting it on my tab.

“I mean, if my wish is a Christmas one,” she said as she looked at her smartwatch, “there’s time.”

“Only fifteen days to go,” I warned playfully. “Cutting it close.”

“That depends on how good of a ‘teacher’ you are.”

God damn, I was loving this sassy, teasing side of her. Every little detail I learned made me want to know more and more. My phone had gone silent, but as I stood facing her, smiling down at her smirking up at me, it rang again.

“Dammit,” I repeated.

“Better get that. We’ll catch up later,” she said in a hasty farewell.

I didn’t care for the thought of her running from me. If she was shy, we’d work around it, through it, or with it. But if she was taking off quickly like this because she was regretting this deal, I wanted to make sure she would stand by her choice. I wouldn’t force her into anything, no matter how much I was already hooked on the idea of having her attention intimately, even in the guise of “teaching” her.

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