Page 47 of The Jinglebell War
I’m thrown. “What gives you that idea?”
He looks back at the fire. “As much as I’d like to pretend I’m just that perceptive, Demon, we live in a small town with people who love to gossip.”
I relax a bit. “Ah, you’ve heard the stories about my mother.”
He nods. “And you think I had a great life here and just threw it all away because I didn’t appreciate what I had?”
“Pretty much.” That’s not entirely true. “But it doesn’t make sense, because you aren’t that guy in Yuletide. You’re loyal to your friends and employees. You’re a charmer, but even when you’re being a grumpy asshole, people just seem to want to be around you.”
He gets up and comes over to sit next to me, his back against the armrest, one leg curled on the couch. He looks tired in a way I didn’t notice before, drawn, like the day has taken everything out of him. “Maisey is three years younger than me. She’s the baby of the family, and when I was six, she got sick. She hasdiabetes and her illness, rightfully, took a lot of attention from me in a family where the attention was already spread thin.” He runs a hand through his hair and looks at the fire. “I never doubted my parents loved me, but I resented the attention Maisey got. I didn’t handle it well, and I acted out. At home and at school.” He grins wryly. “I was a selfish little shit.”
“You were six.”
He nods. “But I was still acting out at ten, even when Maisey’s meds got figured out and she got a service dog and everyone relaxed a bit. To my family, I became the troublemaker, the one to worry about. My parents tried to rein me in and I pushed harder against the restraints.” He shrugs. “Maybe it was just my genetic make-up or maybe it was everything that had happened, but I embraced my role as troublemaker. It was mine. No one else in the family had more fun or caused more chaos than I did.” His eyes light as he grins at me. “But then I went to college, and I figured out what I wanted to do and everyone just assumed I’d screw it up majorly or that me wanting to build my own business was me being irrational and rebelling just for the sake of being difficult. I had to get away to figure out who I am. I had to fail or succeed on my own merits.”
“Except you could have come back here if you failed. You could have lost everything and your family would have opened their arms to you.” I’m always honest, even a bit blunt at times, but this feels too revealing, even for me. Still, I can’t seem to stop.
He straightens in his seat, brow furrowed. “And they would have labeled me a failure on top of everything else. I would have had no option but to work for my family.”
I nod, because I do understand how suffocating family expectations can be and I don’t know his family, not really. But… “You know what would have happened to me if I started a business and failed? If I put everything I had into some bigdream and I lost everything, I’d have no one. There wouldn’t be a single person I could impose on to give me a safe place to land. I have a mother who often needs to borrow money from me just to avoid ending up homeless and a sister who—” I remember where I am and pinch my lips shut. Garrick doesn’t need or want to know all of this and I certainly don’t need to give him gossip fodder about Peach. I just want him to understand how good he has it.
His frown makes it clear he doesn’t like what I’m saying. “I’m completely aware of my privilege, Demon. It doesn’t change the fact that my family has one idea of who I should be and they’re never going to see me clearly enough to accept I’m not that screw-up anymore. Money doesn’t make people easier to get along with.”
I can’t even with this guy. “And no money sure as hell doesn’t make things easier. All I’m suggesting is maybe you should cut your family some slack. It might be annoying that they have an unrealistic view of who you are, but at least none of them calls you at midnight to bail them out of jail because they got caught shoplifting again.”
He stands and stalks to the fire, his hands fisted, his jaw rigid. “It’s late. We should go to bed.”
I walk over to him and put a hand on his arm. The fire is blazing, and it’s almost painful to stand so close to its heat. “I do understand what it’s like, Garrick. My mother sent me away to boarding school to try to make me toe the line. I’m never going to be the daughter she wants. I know how it feels to be rejected over and over again by your own blood. What I don’t know is what it’s like to have a big, warm family that’s so clearly full of love.” My gut is telling me to drop this and walk away, but he looks down at me and the vulnerability in his eyes makes me want to connect with this man who’s been my enemy for so long. “I’m jealous of your family, Garrick. And I may have spoken more bluntly than Ishould have because I think you’re throwing away something I’d pay every cent I have for.”
His expression softens, and he snorts. “Have you ever not spoken bluntly?”
“I usually reserve white lies and tact for people I don’t think can accept the truth. I thought you could take it.”
“Sensitive topic.” He shifts, so he’s facing me, just a breath of space between us.
I’m not blind. I’ve noticed just how good looking Garrick is. I just spent half an hour in a truck with him, his masculine, woodsy scent filling my nose. I’d be lying if I said my thoughts of him have remained PG.
But nothing could have prepared me for how it feels to be this close to him with him looking down at me with a hungry, needy expression.
Why is he looking at me like that?
He reaches out and cups my cheek, leaning forward. In a soft, sexy voice, he says, “I call dibs on the bed.”
I’m so dazed, I don’t move as he rushes from the room. It takes three full seconds for my body and brain to accept I’m not getting kissed before I spin on my heel and sprint after him.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Garrick
There’s no time to brush my teeth or wash my face. I need to get in this bed and fall asleep before Blue gets in here and I do something dumber than almost kissing her.
Thank God my big brain kicked in at the last moment.
I cannot get physical with my fake girlfriend, who is also the mayor. I can’t work with her after I’ve seen her naked. And what if she falls for me?
Although, moving my business to Sugar Valley is an option now… No, I’m not going to risk my business just to get to see Blue naked. To slide into her heat, feel her undulate beneath me…
And now I’m hard. Shit. Fuck.
