Page 106 of A Very Merry Enemy
Holiday turns to me. “Speaking of exes…do I know any of the people you dated?”
I swallow hard. “Do you really want to have this conversation?”
The smirk on her lips fades. “Yes. Because ofthatresponse.”
My heart races because I know this won’t make her happy. “Lindsay Moore, Kristin Benford, and Amanda Hartly.”
Holiday glares at me, and I see her nostrils flare. “You dated myfriends?”
I cross my arms over my chest. “Oh no, you don’t get to be pissed about that, babe. You were hardly friends with any of them. And you wereengaged. Anyone who could hold a conversation with me got a chance,” I explain. “I broke it off with each one of them because at the end of the day, they weren’tyou. I was happy for a little while, but it never lasted. I could’ve married any of them, and it would’ve been zero fucking prerogative to you. I really never believed you’d come back.”
“But here I am,” she says.
“Here you are,alwaysproving me wrong,” I tell her. “Showing me that my wishes on stars came true.”
She lets out a laugh. “You didn’t.”
“Yes, I fucking did. Every chance I got,” I confess.
Holiday licks her lips and I can’t help but notice. “Surely you didn’t wish for my relationship to end in flames?”
“Maybe a little,” I say, starting the truck with a chuckle.
“You’re terrible.”
We drive back to my house in comfortable silence. She hums along to the radio, and I steal glances at her when I think she’s not looking. She catches me twice and smiles like she knows exactly what she does to me.
I pull into my driveway and park next to her car. Neither of us moves.
“This isn’t goodbye, is it?” she asks, but she doesn’t reach for the door handle.
“Hell no.”
The cab feels more intimate in the darkness.
“Okay, then enjoy your five days without me,” she says.
“Enjoy? You’ll be the only thing on my mind.” I want to pull that turtleneck down and put my mouth back on those marks or add more. Want to make sure everyone who looks at her knows she’s mine.
We get out, and the November air is cold enough to make our breath fog. I follow her to her car, and we stand in the space between our vehicles.
Holiday looks up at me, and her lips are parted slightly. Her eyes are full of want and challenge.
I reach up slowly and tuck a strand of hair behind her ear. My thumb grazes the side of her neck, and she sucks in a breath.
“Lucas,” she whispers.
I want to kiss her. I want it so bad, my body aches with need. Right now, I could back her against her car and taste her mouth, make her forget every doubt she has.
My hand slides from her neck to cup her jaw and her eyes flutter closed.
“After fifteen years, you’ll survive five days,” I say close to her mouth.
“Asshole.” She opens her eyes, but grins.
“You haven’t seen anything yet.”
She steps back and opens her car door. “Good luck, Lucas. You’re going to need it.”
