Page 79 of Holly and Nick Hate Christmas
I shrugged. Hard to be offended when I agreed.
“I guess we’ll let the judges decide what’s hot and what’s not.” Nick winked at her and Chloe giggled.
NowI glared at her.
“Come on, let’s go.” She made a face at me, then tugged at Axel’s arm. “You haven’t gotten one of Dad’s sausage balls yet.”
“I’m on it.” Axel grabbed a fresh fork and eagerly followed her.
“Not wearing it for me, huh?” I tossed a knowing glance at Nick. “So you just like contests?”
He grinned. “It’s fun to mess with them—and way too easy.” He brushed at the front of his jeans. “I would say this sweater is growing on me, but I think I’m becoming a health hazard. How is your glitter staying on so well?”
I patted the hideous felt cat on the front of my shirt. “Confidence.”
Nick choked back a laugh. “I must have missed that in the box of craft supplies.”
“Was 50percent off at Hobby Lobby.” Our gazes met and held, amusement dancing in Nick’s eyes. He was being such a good sport about this—about all of this.
Was he actually enjoying himself? Operation: Naughty List might have been a bust, but Operation: Jack & Sally seemed to be going great.
Which was a little scary if I thought about it too long.
I popped a cheese and cracker combo in my mouth. Our conversation yesterday before Mom interrupted was also a little scary in hindsight. There was so much more to Nick than I’d first realized.
And fake-dating him was starting to create a bit of an ache in my chest that I realized was not going to be assuaged by fancy cheeses.
I stepped out of the way of old Mr. McIntosh gunning for a cluster of grapes and nabbed another cracker for myself. If I wasn’t this close to the finish line, I’d consider calling off Operation: Jack & Sally and just let Piper be right. (Why was shealwaysright?) But Christmas was just a few days away, and we couldn’t stop now. The truth would be more than awkward, especially since my family seemed to like Nick so much. I’d probably end up with more pity than I would have otherwise. And Ryan…besides giving us a few funny looks during karaoke, he’d not had much reaction to the whole ploy yet.
I frowned. We needed to up the ante, get a rise out of him.
Make all this torture worth it.
“Has Ryan said anything to you about us?” I dipped a berry into the chocolate fountain.
“Not really.” Nick followed suit, drizzling his strawberry with more finesse than I did. “But we haven’t had much time alone, especially with Axel bunking with me. I think Ryan avoids the media room at all costs.”
Ha. “We’ll have to do something about that.” I stepped closer to Nick and lowered my voice, even though Mr. McIntosh seemed completely focused on his grapes. “Maybe we should be more affectionate tonight during the party. Really up the love fern vibes.”
Did Nick’s face get paler? I started to backpedal. Then—
“Whatever you say, dear.” Nick looped one arm around my waist, and thankfully, it didn’t feel like being hugged by Treebeard this time.
“You’re so agreeable, honey.” I smiled up at him, then spotted Ryan in my peripheral. Perfect timing. “Quick, say something funny.”
“I’m not your show pony.”
I laughed for real. “Nice.”
“About the whole agreeable thing.” Nick grinned down at me. For the operation’s sake—or genuinely? “I kind of feel like if we really dated, we’d never fight.”
I smirked, watching out of the corner of my eye as Ryan’s gaze locked on us. I pressed closer against Nick’s side and batted my eyes a little. “Or we’d fight all the time.”
“You’re starting a fight with me right now over whether or not we’d ever fight?” Nick pressed his free hand to his chest. “I’m wounded.”
“Love is a battlefield.”
“Nowthatsong makes for good karaoke. We need a redo.” Nick squeezed my shoulders, then let go and moved back toward the food.
