Page 91 of A Merry Mountain Christmas

“I’m falling in love with your sister,” I say, shocking both of us. My heart starts beating too fast in my chest, adrenaline riding my blood as it pumps through my veins. At least I didn’t tell him that his sister sat on my face the other night, or that last night I fucked her against a shuttered picture window next to a Christmas tree.

Zach lets out a jagged laugh and runs a hand through his slightly too long hair.

“Well, shit,” he says. “I thought maybe you had a thing for her, but I wasn’t expecting that.”

“If you want to punch me, can we get it out of the way now?”

He studies me for a second, then claps me on the back. “I don’t want to punch you.Yet. You keep being good to her, and you and I have no problem. You fuck up or start climbing trellises, and Iwillpunch you, even though you and I both know that you could beat the shit out of me. I’ll still do it. It’ll have to be a sly punch, delivered when you’re least expecting it, but if you mess with my sister, it’ll happen.”

“Fair,” I say.

“Now let’s go get drunk. I think that’s what you’re supposed to do when your friend tells you he’s dating your baby sister.”

“Are we friends?” I ask, lifting my eyebrows.

“I really fucking hope so, or else I might have to renege my approval.”

“I don’t know how this is going to work,” I admit. “I don’t see myself moving to Chicago.”

A corner of his mouth lifts. “Tina already has half a dozen plans to get Kennedy to move here. I’m sure she’d be more than happy to share them. She’s confident Kennedy’s boss loves her enough that she’d let her work remotely.”

Something lifts in my chest, or at least that’s the way it feels. Oliver works remotely, so I know it’s possible for some people.

“Would your parents be pissed off?”

He laughs with honest amusement and gives me another back clap. “Good God, I hope so.” It’s then that I remember that his situation isn’t all that different from my own.

“But wouldn’t they take away her trust fund?” I know she has big plans for it, once the money is hers to do with as she wishes.

The amusement drips from his face, and a different look enters his eyes. “You wouldn’t want her without it?”

Horror rips through me. “No. Fuck, that’s not what I meant. I just don’t want her to get it taken away because of me. I know she wants to use it to help fund her non-profit.”

He studies me, as if looking for signs of honesty, and God, I hope he finds it. Because I’ve never meant anything more. I don’t want to be the man who takes anything away from Kennedy—I want to be the man who gives her things.

“Okay, I believe you,” he says. “You know, there was someone she dated before, a little slug named Brian or Brutus or some shit. He was in it for the money, and it took her a long time to get over being used like that.”

Anger replaces my horror, because I want to find this Brian or Brutus and tear him to pieces for using Kennedy. “Did you make him pay?” I growl.

An almost delighted laugh emanates from him. “Not in the way you’re implying, I’ll bet. But I got him banned from all theplaces he wanted to network. Made sure plenty of doors were closed to him.”

“I still wish someone had punched him,” I say.

“Yeah, me too,” he says with a sigh. “But there’s always tomorrow. As far as the trust fund goes, no, I don’t think my father would take it away. He’s already shunned one of his kids…wouldn’t be great metrics for him to suddenly have one less Littlefield running around, especially if she’s everyone’s TV sweetheart. Besides, she’s going to mention the company she works for every chance she gets on that show. The last thing he’d want is for everyone to think he’s the kind of asshole who’d disinherit the daughter who’s devoted to public service.”

“And your father cares what other people think?” I ask, reflecting on what I know about the man, including that he’s not Zach’s real father.

He laughs as if I’ve made a rip-roaring joke. “It’s the only thing he cares about. Besides, the only reason he cut me off is that he figured out I’m not his. He won’t cut off his own blood.”

I’m shocked he told me so easily, because from what Kennedy told me, it’s a secret that not many people know. I say as much.

He shrugs it off. “I used to care. Not so much anymore. I’ve got everything I want in life. I don’t need the approval of a man whose opinion I never much cared for or a mother who never stood up for me or my sister and brother.”

I smile at that. “You know, I think maybe we have a lot in common. Let me pretend to buy you a drink.”

“Pretend?”

“Cole gives us everything for free now that he’s with my sister.”

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