Page 4 of Merry Christmas To Me
Chapter 2
Sia~
My head quickly shot over at my best friend’s voice andthank God.
I had no idea who this man was, apart from recognizing him from the night of that party, yet we were having one of the most personal conversation I’ve ever had with a person.
And, by the way, was it getting hot?
Was Brenner having some sort of freakish heat wave in the middle of December? Were all the Christmas lights strewn around town emitting some sort of charged heat? Because I was tempted to grab the front of my shirt and fan myself with it a bit.
“I thought that was you,” Lily said, walking over to join me and…him, whoever he was.
“Hey, Lil,” I replied and was that…breathlessness?
Her head tilted a bit, her eyes blinking, like she knew something was off. But then, Lily’s been my best friends for years, she could easily recognize if something was off with me.
Taller than me by three inches, Lily stood at five-seven, and she always looked elegant and refined. Her blonde hair was always styled to perfection, and she was a fan of manicures and pedicures. Now, while I had nothing against them, I didn’t have standing appointments for them either.
Lily looked like the classic girl-next-door, but her blue eyes were sharp, and she had a fierce legal mind. She was a criminal attorney while her husband, Daniel, was a corporate attorney. They’d met in law school, and when Lily had told him about her plans to come back to her hometown of Brenner, he had followed without any hesitation, whatsoever.
We were both the same age, but while I wasn’t thinking about kids at the age of thirty, Lily and Daniel were ready to make that move into the next step of their relationship. I was happy for the both of them, and I really couldn’t ask for a better extended family. I had no siblings, and my parents lived in Northern California, where my dad, Mark, was an accountant, and my mom, Amy, worked in a florist shop. I didn’t make the trip to see them often, but we video chatted a lot.
I shook my head out of my heated stupor. “Are you…shopping?” Though it was already past four on a Friday, Lily and Daniel worked long hours. Once I had asked her how they made time for each other, and she said one of the upsides to being partners with your husband in your own law firm was that they got to have lots of ‘behind-closed-door’ meetings. I couldn’t even imagine what someone would think if they were to take a black light to their personal offices.
Lily lifted the bag in her hand. “Some last-minute office decorations,” she replied. She glanced over at the hot giant standing next to me before asking, “What areyoudoing?”
I jerked a thumb over my shoulder. “Getting my results back.” At this point, I’d already made a fool out of myself in front of the semi-stranger, what was the point in trying to be discrete? Besides, Lily already knew all about how I’d caught Rodney cheating.
“Everything good?” she asked, and I loved how her voice had softened with genuine concern.
I nodded. “Yep,” I replied churlishly. “I’m ready for the next cheating asshole to come along.”
Lily looked up the Mr. Muscles still standing next to me. “Are you the next cheating asshole she’s referring to?”
He shook his head. “I can admit to the asshole part, but I don’t cheat,” he said as he stuck his hand out. “Archer Bentley.” And, of course, his name would be Archer Bentley. I mean, just look at the man.
He had to be six-foot-three or four, and it wasn’t a lanky six-foot-whatever. The man was built like he could break your bones if he squeezed too hard. He had a head of dark brown hair and a pair of golden eyes that were decorated with flecks of dark brown. And those unusual color of eyes were on a face that could have been cast in the movie 300. Talk about hot as sin.
So, of course, his name was Archer, and not something like Bob or Gilbert. His name had to be sexy enough to match his looks and that mouth-watering physique.
I watched Lily take his hands in hers. “Lily Edwards.” She smiled up at him as she asked, “How do you know Sia?”
“He was at the party where I caught Rodney in a blonde sandwich,” I supplied for her.
Lily’s loyalty came shining through as she reared back a little, her face no longer smiling. “You’re a friend of Rodney’s?”
Archer shook his head. “No,” he answered. “I don’t even know the guy.”
“He recognized me and came over to check on me,” I told her, lying but not really.
Lily smirked, and I knew that wasn’t a good sign. The girl was a troublemaker. “Is that so?”
“Yeah,” I replied as I started pushing on those hard abs of his. “And he was just leaving, right?”
“No,” he automatically replied, and Lily laughed.
I looked up at the imposing man. “No, I’m pretty sure you were,” I argued, still pushing at him.
