Page 75 of Hold On Me

Jaxson

Fine by me.

Nicole

I didn’t agree with the plan the first time.

Lockheart

Whatever makes my phone stop pinging.

Angie

Right. I’ll be the Brady spy for the evening as I’m the only one who’ll be attending the Christmas party. I’ll keep you all updated. Love ya.

39

PENNY

I can’t stop smiling. Nothing is dampening my good mood. Not even the biting cold weather or the enormous amounts of snow I had to shovel not only from my own drive, but from my dad’s too. But I’m not letting anything ruin this feeling I’ve got.

It’s been such a long time since I was happy. My dad’s on the mend, my friends are all in love, and I’m having the best sex of my life with the sexiest guy I’ve ever seen. Who just happens to also be my boss. But we don’t let little details like that derail our happiness, now do we?

Nope. Nor the fact that we don’t know what the hell this is or how long this is going to last? How he really feels about me and what everyone will think when they find out. Or how I’ll cope with seeing him once he’s moved on now that I know what it feels like to be worshipped by him. We ignore those thoughts and focus on the happy times, because that’s the healthy thing to do, right?!

I know if I allow myself to give these thoughts any space in my mind I’ll spiral faster than a spool of ribbon. So today, I’m done questioning myself. Especially while wearing a ridiculously tight emerald green dress that drapes low in the back, has an obscene slit up to my thigh, and makes my ass look fabulous.

One final swish of mascara and I’m done. Standing back and admiring myself in the mirror, I grin when Angie’s blue eyes appear over my shoulder.

“You look fucking HAWT. I want to take a bite out of your arse.” She slaps my ass cheeks and whoops loudly as I shake my head.

“You do too. I wish I had your bazookas. Look at those bad gals.”

She shimmies, but the red corset she’s wearing barely lets her girls jiggle. The effort isn’t lost on me, though. She knows how envious I am of her boobs.

“You know we’re the only two from the family who’ll be in attendance tonight, so if you want to slip off somewhere and get your freak on, I promise I’ll keep it a secret. It can be your Christmas present to me whilst being a gift for yourself too.” She flutters her lashes at me as I roll my eyes.

The truth about me and Ben is on the tip of my tongue, but I want to keep it back from everyone for a little longer. I love my family, but they know everything about me—well apart from what happened at the school, and I have a good reason for not telling them that. I like that this is just for me and Ben to know. That we’re being discreet and not letting anyone see. He’s been so attentive, almost loving, and I don’t want anything to change.

Who knows, once the thrill of keeping it all hush hush has worn off, he might get bored. Move on and find someone way more glamorous than me, and I’ll be left looking like the poor dumpee, nursing a broken heart while the Brady clan decide to try and fix me by pairing me off with any singleton they can find. No thanks. It’s just safer and easier if I keep this to myself. At least until I know whatthisis.

But I’m desperate to tell Angie all the details. Mainly to get her take on it, but also because she’s scarred me with enough information about screwing my brother that I’d love to repay thefavour by messing with her view of her boss. But it’ll have to wait for now.

“Angie, I’ve already told you. Nothing happened. We went ice skating, explored the city, and came home. He was hot and cold, but I’m used to it now.”

She opens and closes her hand in front of my face while shoutingblah blah blahover my words. “You keep repeating the same old crap. But I know you. I see you. You think you’re clever, but you’re not. But I’m a good friend, so I’ll wait until you’re ready to come to me. Just know I’m getting pretty ticked off with you keeping things from me.” She folds her arms over her chest and a laugh bursts out of my mouth.

“I’m sorry, but you’re trying to tell me off while your boobs look like two angry bald men fighting each other. Stop crossing your damn arms, they look ready to burst.”

She eyes her cleavage carefully and grins back. “They are pretty impressive. I used to hate them, but now I kinda like them. Oh, you sneaky little witch. Distracting me with my own breasticles. Tut tut, your Brady is showing.”

I grab my bag from the dresser in my room, swing it over my shoulder, and wink as I stroll out of the bedroom with her giggles following after me.

“And then he ran across the field with nothing but pom poms in his hand. He tried to cover his junk, but when campus security grabbed his hand, it slipped and he ended up showing the whole school his wang. You’d think he’d be embarrassed, right? Nope, he helicoptered it for everyone to see. The man’s a legend.”

Laughter erupts from the group of people huddled around my desk in the office as I roll my eyes and sip my drink. I’veheard this story about Jenson a million times. I was there for the origin of it all, and no matter who tells it, it always gets embellished. He wasn’t helicoptering his wang to anyone, he was mortified. But Jenson being Jenson, he pretended he didn’t care. Even made up a few embellishments himself, which then spread around to a few people who missed the action, and like wildfire, it spread.

Smiling politely at Travis as he starts to regale the group with another story about the Bradys, this one about Jameson—the one who got away from him apparently—I slip away from them in search of Angie. After all the preparation and organising of this party, it’s a bit of a let down. I haven’t seen Angie since we arrived, and I’ve only managed to catch a brief glimpse of Ben as well. For everyone else, it’s a great time. The beer is flowing, shots are being downed, but I’m not feeling the party mood. I’d rather be back in Ben's office, just me and him and his delicious demands.

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