Page 39 of Merry Me
Direct. Steady. Devastating.
Like I’d been the only one in the room the entire time.
I stiffened, trying to pretend I was fully focused on the half-melted ice cube in my glass. But I couldfeelhim watching. Like an actual heat wave was passing through my body.
Every time I peeked? Yep. Still looking. A small, maddening smirk curving those stupid lips like he couldseewhat he was doing to me. Like heknewhow hard I was trying not to care.
Which, of course he did.
Because as much as I wished it wasn’t true, besides being heartbroken, I hadn’t changed that much in the last couple of years. And if there was anyone who knew me…it was him.
I groaned under my breath. “Why can’t he have hairy warts?”
“Because that would be too convenient,” Paige said, popping up beside me like a gremlin.
She was grinning at me, already holding her own festive cocktail—some sparkly thing with a rosemary sprig and actual glitter floating in it. She was wearing a sparkly white cocktail dress, and she looked like the smuggest little shit I’d ever seen.
“You should just give in,” she said casually, sipping her drink like she wasn’t the devil incarnate.
“Aren’t you supposed to be circling the room, thanking guests, doing the bride thing?” I asked, nodding at the crowd of people milling around with their matching Christmas-themed drink cozies.
Paige raised one perfectly groomed brow. “Why would I circle the room when the entertainment isright here?”
My eyes narrowed.
“I’ve already exchanged five bets that you crack tonight,” she added gleefully, swirling her drink with a flourish.
I rolled my eyes, not surprised in the least that she'd done that. “That’s rude. At least allow me to be in on the bet.”
“Everyone’sbetting on you,” she said brightly. “Aunt Kathy has fifty bucks on a ‘full makeout by the bonfire,’ and Levi thinks you’ll fake trip and fall into his arms like you’re in one of Easton’s movies.”
“Ishouldtrip,” I muttered, “just to take him out.”
She didn’t even bother responding to that, just took a slow sip of her drink and gave me a pointed look.
“Don’t look at me like that,” I snapped. “You’re the one who invited him.”
“Levi invited him,” she said with a shrug. “It’s not my fault your unresolved sexual tension is the most entertaining part of the evening.”
“I hope you get glitter in your eyes.”
She snickered, entirely unfazed, as if the threat of ocular sparkle damage meant nothing to her. “I hope you get laid. We all have our holiday wishes.”
Before I could come up with an appropriately scathing retort, the DJ’s voice boomed through the speakers, sounding way too cheerful for someone in charge of ruining lives. “All right, folks! It’s karaoke time! Who’s ready to get on stage and embarrass themselves in the name of Christmas?”
Paige let out a little squeal, immediately bouncing like she’d just been told Taylor Swift was about to enter the building. “Oh! We’re doing ‘Baby, It’s Cold Outside!’” she declared, practically lunging over to where Levi was standing and grabbing him by the arm. He looked alarmed but also resigned in the way men in long-term relationships often do.
Levi, bless him, let himself be dragged. “Can we do the version where shedefinitelywants to stay and it’s not creepy?” he asked as he stumbled after her.
“That’s the one I queued up,” Paige called over her shoulder, her drink still somehow intact. “We’re the progressive couple everyone wants to be!”
I blinked after them. “Great. Feminist Christmas karaoke. That’s…fine.”
As they climbed on stage and the crowd started cheering, I turned back to my drink like it held the answers to life’s deepest questions.
Maybe drinking myself into oblivion reallyshouldbe the game plan tonight.
Karaoke was still going strong…which was to say, it was as wildly entertaining as it was an outright assault on the ears. I was equal parts impressed and deeply horrified.
