Page 11 of Welcome Home for Christmas
“She found out?” he asked.
“And I was grounded for a month.”
Troytsked. “I lied to my poor mother all the time when I was younger, and I rarely got caught.”
“So there’s one thing I now know about you. You’re a good liar.” Allison folded her arms across her chest.
“Good, maybe. But I value honesty. Sometimes lying to someone is for their own good, though. A little white lie never really hurt anyone. Here’s one for you”—he leaned in closer and lowered his voice—“I have absolutely no interest in dating you, either.”
Her cheeks flushed.
“And I don’t think you’re the most beautiful woman in this room, and the thought of taking you out does not appeal to me whatsoever.” He shook his head. “Nope, not one little bit.”
She smiled. “Now I know two things about you. You lie well and you’re a smooth talker. So, do you agree to my proposal?”
Troy could have just said yes, but he was enjoying engaging her in a conversation. “You know, when I was a kid, Christmas was always magical. I’d sit with the toy catalog and create this huge, mile-long list of the things I wanted. I never got so excited about a pencil and paper.”
“Did you get everything on the list?” she asked.
“Usually.”
“So your family had money?”
He nodded. His family practically owned the town he’d grown up in. He didn’t know what it felt like to want for something until his cousin Dale had died on 9/11. That had been the deciding factor for his joining the military. “I figure the more money raised for those kids, the better their Christmas will be.”
“That’s my goal. I want this to be the best Christmas Mercy’s kids have ever had.”
“So, if I have to take you out…” He trailed off, smiling at her.
“We’re just going to talk. Have a meal or something together. No kissing, no hand-holding.”
Troy held up his hands. “I’m an honorable guy. I don’t force myself on women. Truth is, I usually have to fight them off.” He winked again.
“And you can’t act like that when you meet my mother.”
“Like what?” he asked.
“All flirty and charming. She’ll never believe that I’d fall for someone like that.”
He tried not to take offense because no matter what she was saying, she was attracted to him. He could see it in her dilated pupils and the way her chest rose just slightly under her racing pulse. “No? What kind of guy exactly would you fall for?”
Allison looked around the room. There was still a nice-sized crowd laughing and mingling. Christmas music filled the merry air. “I wouldn’t fall for any kind of guy right now. That’s why I’m pretending with you.”
His gut signaled a little alarm. There was something there that caught his attention. A backstory that he had no business investigating. Except he’d never been able to accept a cold case or an unsolved mystery. “Okay. How about I pick you up at your place tomorrow night and take you to dinner? Sound good?”
Allison stuck out her hand to shake his.
He enjoyed the feel of her smooth skin sliding across his. He had the sudden desire to feel more of her skin over his.
Pulling her hand away, she located a small piece of paper and a pen in her purse and wrote down her phone number and address, then handed it to him.
“You live one road down from me,” he said, reading the paper in his hands.
“Really?”
“So close, we’re practically living together.” He winked.
She flushed from her cheeks down to the low-dipping neckline of her dress.
