Page 13 of Take Me Home for Christmas

I was completely off guard when he walked over, placed his hands on my shoulders, and said, “Takemehome for Christmas.”

Chapter Five

Brax

I was an idiot, and not just because I’d chosen to follow Mia outside into a snowstorm. I felt like I’d just swallowed my heart whole, where it was now lodged in my throat and obstructing my breathing. A state I almost never occupied except when I was a foot away from her.

Which was why I tried never to get close enough to smell her hair, stare at her pretty, full lips, or see all the emotions that flitted in her eyes—confusion, wariness, and maybe even a little bit of shock.

Accompanying her home was my worst nightmare. She was from, I had no doubt, Happy Family, USA, and I was the poster child of…well, I’ll spare you the details, just to say I survived—I did better than survive, actually. But that didn’t mean I ever talked about my past, except in therapy. Or wanted to be reminded of how I’d grown up. Or be thrown into a situation where I had to pretend I was used to affection and unconditional love, and people who always had your back.

I’d had my own back for as long as I could remember. And if I tended to keep my distance, it was because the people who were supposed to love me had kept their distance from me. It was my greatest survival skill. And Mia was threatening it.

“Come again?” she asked, her eyes blinking behind thick, dark lashes. My whole body felt funny, numb and tingly, like when your arm falls asleep. Maybe I could blame it on the blustery cold, but all sorts of weird things happened to me around her. Like muscle twitching. And sweating—I never sweated. I had the reputation of being cool under pressure, always.

“I—yeah.” I swiped a hand through my hair, which I discovered was already wet from the falling snow. “You’re not taking Drake.”

In retrospect, I could’vepossiblyphrased that just a tad differently. She crossed her arms and huffed. “And you have an opinion on thiswhy?”

Just then, two of our favorite patients made their thirtieth pass of the day around the ward. This time, Pedro was pushing Bianca, which was kind of cute. They spotted us outside and put their faces up against the glass, clearly thinking that shivering out in the thick of snowmageddon was some sort of new game.

I lowered my voice. “You wanthimwith your family?” Okay, that didn’t come out right either. I’d made him sound sort of like the bubonic plague.

“Why wouldn’t I?” She’d stabbed a pen through the complicated bun at her neck. Today she wore her glasses, which she sometimes did post-call. With the glasses on and tapping her foot, she looked like a schoolteacher. A really hot one. She crossed her arms from the cold. “He…um…he wouldn’t say please and thank you.”Oh, come on, Braxton, you can do better than that.“He wouldn’t keep his big feet off the furniture.” Andthe third reason, I kept to myself:He’d spend the entire time trying to get you into bed.

“Brax! Geez!” She gave me an incredulous look. My face heated. Did I actually just say that out loud?

“I appreciate the big-brother talk,” Mia was saying, “but I can figure this out on my own, thanks. And you can tell that to Gabe too. ” She started to walk away, to get out of the frigid cold. Good thing, because if she had any idea hownon-big-brotherly my thoughts were, she’d be running instead.

If I were on a cardiac monitor, my pulse would be continuous bleeps. “Look, I don’t know exactly what’s going on, but I’m your friend. Friends help friends.”

She did a one-eighty and faced me, her jaw slightly agape. I might’ve just shocked her for the second time in five minutes. Except I’d just managed to shock myself even worse. I was basically begging her to let me to do the thing I hated most in the world.

Her brows knit down with concern. I could see the clouds of worry in her eyes. And the doubt and mistrust. Both of which I’d caused.

But right now, I genuinely wanted to help.

She narrowed her eyes. “Why are you so eager to help me?”

I should have asked that very question before I opened my giant mouth. “Families are important.” I tried to visualize what a family Christmas would entail. I’d sip a little hot chocolate, bring Mom D’Angelo something nice, hang out with everyone around the tree.

Who was I kidding? The only Christmas tree we’d ever had was the one I’d bought when Jenna was eight and I was twelve. It was right before we’d gone into foster care for the first time. I’d wanted her to remember that I loved her. That we were brother and sister, no matter if we were separated—which, it turns out, we were.

“I’m off until the twenty-sixth, just like you,” I said, sounding my most convincing. “And I don’t have any call until after Christmas. I promised April Green I’d cover for her if she went into labor, but she’s not due until January first. So I’m free as a bird.”

“I don’t need your help,” she said, but something in the way she said it made me wonder if she meant it.

Why was I forcing this? I’d be lying if I said I knew the answer. But damned if I was going to let that asshat go.

From behind her glasses, her astute, sharp gaze assessed me, and I quickly looked away, suddenly knowing the reason. It was right in front of me, in the form of that honest, shrewd, intelligent gaze drilling me down.

I’d failed Mia in a lot of ways, but I wouldn’t now. Not when she needed me.

I saw that in her eyes. And that made it impossible for me to do anything else.

“Given our history,” she said, “you would not be the best candidate.”

I nodded, acknowledging she was right. I was the one who should be running away as fast as possible instead of standing here, freezing my butt off, pleading with the last person on earth I would ever want to be alone with again. Then why wasn’t I?

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