Page 62 of A Princess for Christmas

She snorted. “I fail to see the problem. Except maybe for your blue balls. Poor Leo.”

“How can you not see the problem? I got Marie off in the woods!”

“So you’re having a little holiday fling. Enjoy it. Try to get off yourself next time.”

“Do you think she wants to have a fling with me?” Was that what was happening here? No. That didn’t make any sense. “What would be in it for her?”

Dani cracked up. Threw her head back and cackled.

“What?”

“Are you really that dumb?”

Leo didn’t know how to answer that. So apparently he really was that dumb.

“Have you ever thought about why Giada keeps fucking you even though you guys broke up years ago?” she asked.

“Because it’s efficient?” he ventured, falling back on the word he usually used to describe his thing with Giada.

“Yeah, but she moved to Jersey City! She hauls her ass all the way to your place.”

“Are you trying to say she has a thing for me?” Because she absolutely didn’t. Their relationship had been brief, and it was ancient history. The sparks—those kind of sparks, anyway—were long gone. And he hadn’t even seen Giada for the better part of a year.

“No! I’m trying to say that all signs point to you being good in bed, Leo.”

“Oh.” He was embarrassed. This was like talking to his sister about sex. “You know what? I gotta go,” he said.

“Yeah, you do that.” She smiled at him. “Bye, Leo. I would say, ‘Be good,’ but I think since you asked for my advice, I’ll actually say, ‘Be bad.’”

He needed to shower before dinner, but he had a bee in his bonnet about this, so he typed a text to Giada.Hey.He probably should have said more. She was going to interpret that incorrectly.

I can’t.

Leo chuckled. Yep. Actually, he shouldn’t do this over text. That was a dick move, right? Even if they weren’t really breaking up. They’d already done that, years ago. Still. He called her.

“Leo. I told you, I’m busy.”

“Yeah, that’s not why I’m calling. I just need to talk to you for a sec.”

“Okaaay.” Giada sounded skeptical, which was fair enough.

“I want to... break off this thing we have going. If we even have a thing going anymore.”

“We don’t have a thing going anymore. I met a guy like six months ago.”

“Well, good for you.” He meant it.

“He lives downtown.”

“So no need to haul your cookies up to the Bronx anymore.”

He’d been kidding, but she must have thought he was offended. “Leo, I’m sorry. Should I have told you? I didn’t think we were—”

“Hey, it’s okay. I met someone, too. It’s just a temporary thing while I’m on vacation. But I didn’t want to...”

She laughed. “Leo, you are honorable to a fault. I haven’t seen you since last spring. You don’t have to ‘break up’ with me.” He could hear the air quotes. “Iwas planning to keep you in my back pocket in case things go south with Mr.Lower Manhattan, but you were always better than I was.”

He wasn’t sure he agreed with her assessment, but he just said, “Thanks.”

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