Page 98 of The Duke Who Saved Christmas
“Kinky,” Thomas said, sipping his wine. He peered at me over the rim of the glass, and the playful sparkle in his eyes didallkinds of things to me.
Tummy-flipping, heart-pounding, vagina-clenching things.
None-of-my-bloody-business kind of things.
“Just shut up and eat,” I grumbled, shifting uncomfortably on the stool.
There was something about sitting here with him in his kitchen, eating hot soup and drinking cold wine while we tossed barbs back and forth.
I couldn’t pinpoint exactly what that ‘something’ quite was, but it was far more comfortable than I wanted it to be. Especially since my heart was quite unsettled by this closeness between us.
And just like the snowstorm, there was no end in sight to these growing feelings of mine.
The sooner this night was over, the better.
CHAPTER TWENTY – SYLVIE
I pressed my fingertips to my face and stared at the scene in front of me through my splayed fingers with nothing but pure disbelief and rampant infuriation.
I was beinghumiliated.
“You must be cheating. That’s the only way you can win Connect-4 ten times in a row.” I dropped my hands to the coffee table and glared at Thomas. “I don’t know how, but you’re cheating.”
“How can I possibly cheat at this game?” He laughed, leaning back against the sofa. “The pieces are right in front of you.”
“I don’t know, but you’re cheating somehow, you bastard.”
“Sylvie, just face it. You’re just really, really shit at this game.”
“How can anyone be bad at Connect-4?”
“I don’t know, but you are.”
I huffed and grabbed my glass. “I bet you always win at Rock, Paper, Scissors, too, don’t you?”
“I have been known to come out on top more often than not.” Thomas’ lips curved into a little smile. “Maybe we should call it quits on this one for tonight.”
“But I want to beat you.”
“I don’t think that’s going to happen tonight.”
I huffed and set my empty glass on the coffee table. “Then at least let me drown my sorrows in your wine.”
He raised his eyebrows and pressed his wine glass against his lips. “Aren’t you the one who said drinking around me is a bad idea?”
“Yes, but I need to drinkbecauseof you, so the situation is completely different now.”
“Has it suddenly become a good idea?”
“If I ever think anything to do with you is a good idea, that’s when you need to make mestopdrinking.”
“So, the key is to get you drunk enough that you enjoy my company.”
“I highly doubt that’ll ever happen.”
“It sounds like it’s a possibility,” he countered, getting to his feet and setting his glass next to mine. “And given that you kissed me while you weren’t that drunk, I’m intrigued to find out what you’d try to do if you were.”
“I did not kiss you deliberately!” I called after him.
