Page 82 of A Very Merry Enemy
“Yep.” He walks to the door and pauses with his hand on the handle. “Thanks for this.”
“Thank you.”
“That’s what partners are for, right?”
He steps out into the cold, and I watch him walk to his truck. Before he gets inside, he looks back at me, watching him. I see a small smile play on his lips, and that shouldn’t please me as much as it does.
I lock up, then head to my car with my mind racing. I can’t stop thinking about the way he looked at me tonight or how his hand naturally rested on my hip.
I like having Lucas around. He makes me feel capable and strong. But I have to stop reacting to his voice, his touch, and his presence.
Honestly, I thought this crush of mine would’ve faded. Guess not.
And in seven days, Dominic is going to show up and try to take all of this away from me. He’ll try to make me doubt myself, doubt Lucas, and everything in between.
But as I drive home, Lucas’s words echo in my head—I notice everything about you.
For a brief moment, I let myself believe things will work out and that maybe I’m strong enough to handle whatever comes next. Even if this is the calm before the storm.
CHAPTER 16
LUCAS
It’s a brand-new day of me trying to not lose my fucking mind as she bites her bottom lip.
Holiday’s been doing it for the past ten minutes while she measures ingredients for the cookie bars we’re bringing to Mawmaw’s tonight. She has no idea what she does to me, and I can’t focus on anything except the way her teeth catch her bottom lip and?—
Focus.
I’ve been playing this game with her all week. Watching her and noticing things I shouldn’t is at the top of my list. It’s hard to ignore how she hums when she’s happy or the way she looks at me like we were supposed to spend a lifetime together.
Our moments are smothered by the weight of what Sammy told me, and it sits like an elephant on my chest. Dominic controlled and isolated her. Made her believe she was nothing without him. Stole her work and claimed it as his own.
I also notice the damage that piece of shit left behind. Holiday second-guesses herself in ways she never did before. Every day, she’s genuinely surprised when people line up for her cookies. Sometimes she shakes her head when someone gives her a compliment, like she doesn’t believe it.
It makes me want to fly to Paris and punch his fucking face for trying to break her. Instead, I do what I can. I show up. I help. I try to make her see the reality right in front of her.
“Lucas? Did you hear me? You’re very distracted,” she says, flattening the dough with a candy cane-striped rolling pin. “Everything okay?”
“Yeah,” I offer, but I don’t think she believes me. The problem is, I know too much.
Holiday places the dough in a pan, then pops it in the oven.
“What’s really going on?” she asks, moving in front of me.
I force a smile and place my hands on her shoulders. “Just have a lot on my mind.”
“About?”
“Life,” I say, being philosophical as I fight an internal war, one I will probably lose.
“If you want to quit?—”
“No.” I shake my head. “I won’t be your excuse.”
She pulls away from me. “What? I’m actually looking forward to this contest.”
“Really?” I ask.
