Page 35 of Mistletoe Bargain with the Billionaire

“Fancy perfume. Better than cat pee,” she comments. Her tone is dry but there’s no mistaking the hurt in her eyes when I tilt her chin up so she’ll look at me.

Christ, I’m an idiot. “Lydia started crying earlier and hugged me when I offered her a handkerchief, Carol. That’s all. I didn’t reciprocate the hug either.”

“Ouch. Non-reciprocated hugs are the worst.” I smile awkwardly. They are but I don’t feel all that sorry for Lydia. “She said she’d messaged you earlier.”

“Yeah. Another tagged post on social.”

“More bikini pictures?”

I hang my head. “I’ve blocked her now.”

“You didn’t mention this earlier. Not that you owe me an explanation or...”

But I do. No, she’s not really my girlfriend but I don’t want her to feel like I’m keeping things from her. Iambut that’s a different matter. “I didn’t tell you because I didn’t care about her dumb pictures. I only wanted to spend time with you.”

She looks up at me, vulnerable. “You were on your laptop a good bit.”

I hate lying to her but I don’t want to get her hopes up yet until the lawyers say we’ve got something solid. “It was, uh… work stuff.”

“Hmm.” Wow, how can one syllable hold so much judgment in it? “Why did she want to talk to you here?”

“She was hoping to get back together. She admitted her main motive for coming up from Boston for Marley’s wedding was seeing me.” Carol tries to turn her face away again. I can’t stand that. “We’re not getting back together, Carol. Not now, not ever.”

“Why not? She’s beautiful and brilliant and-”

“Not who I want,” I say very firmly.You’re who I want.

Carol bites at her bottom lip, gradually softening in my embrace. Thank God. “I think your grandmother is buying us as a couple,” she says with a casual nod in that direction.

“I think so, too.” Why wouldn’t she? It feels real to me. Dammit, is this going to hurt Grams when we break up? I don’t want to break up with Carol. But I don’t know if she’s interested in this thing between us lasting beyond the holidays, becoming real. And I’m a little afraid to ask with the lingering questions over Lydia on her mind.

“Why did you break up?” Carol whispers as the music plays on.

Not something I like talking about but with Carol… “She said I was boring outside of the bedroom, that I always had my nose stuck in a laptop. Only lasted past undergrad with me because she hoped I’d make big money someday.”

“What?”

“This was right before business took off. Anthony was still trying to find investors and I was knee-deep in my ideas. Lydia resented me moving to the West Coast and then, when she came out to visit, she resented me not dropping everything I was working on to spend all my time with her. To be fair, I suppose that was a sign that I wasn’t as invested in the relationship as I should’ve been. One day, she was talking to a friend on the phone, saying those things when she didn’t realize I was nearby. It wasn’t a flattering conversation to overhear.”

“Oh, that… well, I won’t say what I want to say about her with Christmas so close.” I chuckle at how cute she is when she’s pissed. She draws closer, lays her hands on my chest. “I’m sorry, Nick. I’m sure that hurt. If it’s any consolation, I don’t think you’re boring at all. You're brilliant. You inspired a group of kids you'd never met to start their own tech company for fruitcake’s sake.”

“Thanks. And, it’s okay. After we’d talked and agreed things had fizzled between us, it didn’t take me all that long to move on.”

“But she’s changed her mind about you now?”

“I’m suddenly much more interesting for some reason,” I say, wryly.

“Hmm.”

“That’s my line.” Carol laughs and it’s the best sound in the world. We sway closer and my nose brushes that spot behind her ear she likes. “I’m sorry if you were worried about her. You’ve got no reason to be, honey.”

Her fingers curl into my lapels and I have no trouble reading the look she’s giving me now. “Say, Nicky?”

“Yeah?”

“I can’t wait to get this stinky perfume jacket off of you.”

I grin, slowly moving towards the edge of the dancefloor. “I can’t wait for you to help me out of it. I think it will make a good bed for Mr. Jinglebell tonight. In fact, how about we take it to him now?”

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