Page 15 of Forever His This Christmas

“You are the best bartender I’ve ever met,” she told him with a kiss seeing Colin come into the dining room out of the corner of her eye.

“You’re dating a bartender?” Ashton questioned. “God no wonder you’re back to being the stupid party girl again.”

“I am not and have never been stupid Ashton Michael Branson,” she said shooting him a glare that put him in his place. “Just because you don’t approve doesn’t mean you get to pass judgment. You’re not God.”

“Yeah, well, you’re certainly never going to meet him acting the way you do,” Gerald countered.

“Oh, so sorry that hurts you all somehow. For fuck’s sake, I didn’t even want to come to this lousy place for the damn…”

“Calm down babe,” Corey said giving her a kiss that said exactly how he really wanted to calm her down.

“Mmm…and that’s why it’s been the best six weeks of my life,” she sighed slowly opening her eyes to look up at him.

“Well guess that answers my question,” Colin said glaring at them. “You always were easy, weren’t you?”

“I’d shut the hell up before I put my fist in your face,” Corey threatened standing up against the guy. “You’re a sore loser because she shut you down. You thought she shouldn’t have a brain, but without it she’d be nothing but a blow-up doll, so why don’t you go back home to yours and leave us alone.”

Lisa couldn’t deny she’d been enjoying the show, but when Corey mentioned the blow-up doll, she couldn’t stop the snort that slipped out and he shot her a wink as the table looked on in shock.

“He’s not worth it Corey. What he thinks won’t bother me at all,” she said grabbing his hand pulling him back over to sit beside her. Her mother quietly talked with Colin, and she couldn’t believe her own mother would take his side over hers. He was the one who’d come over and disparaged her.

Dinner was never ending, and she nearly stabbed herself with a fork just to get out of there sooner. Instead, she sat listening to the boring gossip about everyone that never changed. She heard the music start in the bar area and whispered to him of their chance to escape.

“Gladly,” he agreed seeing clearly why she was the way she was. Her family seemed to gang up against her wanting her to change and be who they wanted her to be. He didn’t see anything wrong with the Lisa he knew, and he pulled her into his arms as they hit the bar and danced with her while the place grew more crowded.

It seemed they had a decent business, then again, it was where people could relax more than the dining room and he loved seeing her smile. He slid his hand into her hair and kissed her. He would have done it no matter how he was pretending to behave because he couldn’t resist kissing her. She was addicting but he didn’t mind falling down the rabbit hole with her.

“Keep that up and we’ll end up behind the bar,” she teased as he pulled her closer to him.

“That would certainly be a show for everyone around here,” he chuckled as they edged towards the bar to get a drink. He lifted her up onto a stool stepping between her legs, kissing her as they waited on them.

“Damn girl…you two are making it hot enough in here without the heaters,” Trina joked bringing their drinks over.

“Working in the bar now?”

“Helping out with this madhouse crowd…so who’s the hunk?”

“Oh yeah, this is Corey. We don’t really like labels but he’s the one sleeping in my bed this week,” she stated knowing the bartender was listening in likely to report back to Colin.

“This week?” Corey said staring down at her. “I think you should revise that statement, babe.”

“Alright so it’s not just this week. He’s trying to get me to move in with him, but you know me, I keep telling him no.”

“Oh, I know you girl,” Trina agreed.

“You’re practically living with me and have been the last three weeks,” he said hedging the truth. “You just don’t like me being right.”

“Maybe,” she stated letting Trina move off as they sipped their drinks. This wasn’t going to be as easy as she expected. Then again, she hadn’t really expected anything about this to be easy.

Although there was one thing that was very easy and that was being with Corey. She didn’t want it to be though because she knew it was dangerous. Although not being with him was dangerous to her sanity.

Chapter 5

“Seems you certainly know how to push buttons around here,” Corey said as they walked along the path back to the main house.

“It’s my specialty didn’t you know?” Lisa joked leaning into him wondering how much of this she could actually put up with before blowing her top.

“I think you secretly like it. You enjoy putting people on the edge because that’s where you’re at all the time,” he stated wrapping his arms around her. “You’re scared of letting someone see the real you because you think they won’t understand you.”

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