Page 31 of A Very Titan Christmas
“Oh, Richard.” Her mother’s rapidly blinking eyes were all the confirmation Rachel needed. “So nice to see you. How are you?”
His expression faltered. “Good. Good. Were we supposed to…” He cast an uncertain look at Rachel and Bryce before returning his gaze to Eloise. “Meet this morning?”
“We were,” Eloise agreed with a polite but up-shit-creek nod. “But I didn’t know—I wasn’t aware that my daughter—”
“Hi, I’m Eloise’s daughter Rachel,” she cut in. It was rare to see her mother flustered. Rachel ought to let her stew in the scheduling disaster, but if this was uncomfortable for them, it had to be awkward to the nth degree for Bryce. “This is my boyfriend, Bryce. You must be one of my mom’s friends.”
“Um, yes.” He nodded. “Nice to meet you. Timothy Martinez. I’m the accountant who does the books for your father’s reelection committee.”
“Ah.” She couldn’t believe Timothy was on the list of potential bachelors. He had to be at least twenty years older than her. “Nice to meet you. We were just leaving, so we’ll let you talk shop.”
Yes, she was abandoning her mother to the meeting she’d forgotten to cancel, but Eloise could probably use a gentle reminder that this whole matchmaking thing was a disaster.
Arm in arm, Rachel and Bryce rushed out of the lobby and into the wintry morning air, managing to keep their laughter at bay until they’d escaped.
“Oh my God, she was setting me up with him.”
“She really was.” Bryce shook his head. “I mean, I believed you when you said she had a mile-long list of men for you to meet, but I guess it didn’t really click.”
“Timothy is old enough to be my father.”
“Some people dig age differences.”
Rachel smacked Bryce’s arm. “Well, yeah, when they’re muscled-up mafia kingpins looking for a girl with a praise kink. Not Timothy from accounting.”
“What did you just say?”
“Nothing. Never mind.”
“No, I’m serious.” His eyebrow crooked. “Did sweet, quiet Rachel Porter just say, ‘praise kink’?”
She smacked his arm again. “I didn’t sayIhave a praise kink!”
“No?” He playfully elbowed her. “Would have been fun if you did.”
“Bryce Richmond, I will keep hitting you until you shut up.”
His hands shot up in surrender, though his laughter never slowed. “Kidding. Kidding. Sorta.”
“Bryce.”
“Kidding.”
They walked by an outdoor firepit encircled by Adirondack chairs and crossed the patio until they reached the stone divider wall that separated the large seating area from a snowy overlook. Years ago, they had sat on the wall, feet dangling over the edge, and talked for hours.
On the weekends, a fire constantly burned in the firepit, even when Rachel’s little family resort had been much smaller. She and Bryce had never cared if the patio was full or not; it had always felt like they were the only ones in the world. “We made a lot of memories here.”
His laughter sobered. “We made a lot of memories all over this place.”
A blush rocketed into her cheeks. He was not wrong. She turned to smack his arm or elbow him in the ribs—God, she was acting like a teenager again. His hands gripped her sides and lifted her on top of the wall. Bryce kept his hands on her waist. “We need ground rules.”
“What? No. We don’t need ground rules. This is just pretend for the sake of my mother.”
His fingers flexed into her side before he let go, but he didn’t back up. Bryce positioned himself between her thighs. She could lean forward, hang her arms around his neck, and kiss him. She’d done that a hundred times in what felt like a million years ago. Her heart raced just as it had when they hadn’t been playing pretend.
“I’m not the guy you used to know.” He pushed her hair behind her ears. “And I don’t really do distractions anymore. Work is it for me. It’s what I do. Hell, it’s all I do.”
“I didn’t say anything. I don’t want anything. I’m not sure what made you think I’m pining for my ex-boyfriend, but that’s not it.” She snort laughed. “And you can ask my mom. It’s the whole reason she’s trying to set me up with every and any single man. I work a lot. I love Philadelphia and am married to my job. That’s it.” She wriggled backward but couldn’t go very far with him standing between her legs. “Don’t touch my hair and act like I’m some needy woman you must set rules for.”
