Page 22 of Another Christmas from Hell

She needed to get out of here, Cayley decided as she blindly reached over and grabbed Bryce’s hand and moved her ass, heading back to his truck only to curse, wince, and a weird combination of the two when the woman who should have known better than to fall for Sean’s bullshit turned her gaze on them and forced her to head for the nearest trailer.

Once there, she pushed Bryce up against the wall, grabbed onto his coat, and buried her face against his chest, hoping that it would be enough, only to curse and quickly switch positions when she realized that the crazed woman that she was really hoping hadn’t seen her, would be able to spot her. Swallowing hard, Cayley pressed her back against the trailer and pulled Bryce closer so that he-

“What exactly are we doing?” came the curious question as Bryce propped his forearm against the trailer wall above her head, providing her with more protection, something that she was truly thankful for at the moment.

“Hiding,” Cayley whispered as she looked up into Bryce’s amused eyes.

“From?” he asked, reaching up to brush a strand of hair behind her ear.

“Your brother’s a jerk face,” Cayley reminded him as she felt the heat radiating off him and found herself pulling him even closer for warmth, of course.

“And that means that we have to hide?” Bryce asked, lightly brushing his fingertips along her neck as he dropped his hand away, making it kind of difficult to focus on keeping them alive.

“She didn’t take the breakup well and for some reason, decided that it was my fault,” Cayley said, wondering why she’d never noticed the blue flecks in his emerald eyes before.

“Why does she think it’s your fault?” Bryce asked, placing his other arm against the wall and caged her in as he leaned in closer to her, forcing her to bite back a groan when she caught the scent of his cologne and-

God, he smelled good.

“Because there’s something seriously wrong with your brother,” Cayley said, nodding solemnly as she watched his lips pull up into a smile that she liked more than she probably should.

“You have no clue, do you?” Bryce murmured as his gaze flickered to her lips.

“None. All I know is that she enjoys yelling really disturbing things at me while demanding to know why I wrecked the best thing that’s ever happened to her,” Cayley admitted, licking her lips nervously only to watch as Bryce’s gaze turned hooded as he watched the move.

“My brother’s an asshole,” Bryce said, sighing heavily as he stepped back and put some much-needed space between them so that she could think straight again, which she truly appreciated at the moment.

“I’ve been saying that for years.”

CHAPTER12

“What if we-”

“No,” Bryce said, biting back a wince when the move caused more pain to shoot through his side even as he couldn’t help but notice just how fucking adorable Cayley was as she adjusted the knitted reindeer cap that she’d bought to ensure that they were in the Christmas mood.

Nothing would put him in the Christmas mood, but he had to admit that it definitely made her happier. Then again, so did the Rudolph nose that she’d bought until it suddenly stopped working on the way back here and she’d been reduced to sadly mumbling to herself. He’d been tempted, more than a little fucking tempted, to go back and buy her a new one, but he really didn’t think that was a good idea, not after what happened once they went back to grab their hot cocoa and-

It was probably for the best if he didn’t think about that or the really disturbing things that he’d learned about his brother. Decision made, Bryce folded his arms over his chest, barely managing to bite back a wince when the move caused his arm to brush against his side and glared down at the small woman sending him hopeful looks.

“It’s fine where it is,” Bryce bit out with a glare that he hoped would be enough to get her to drop it.

Clearing her throat, Cayley gestured to where he’d placed the huge fucking Christmas tree that he’d tried talking her out of buying. “It’s in the hallway.”

For a moment, Bryce simply stood there and glared at her, hoping that it would be enough to make her let this go.

“You do realize that doesn’t work on me, right?” Cayley asked, blinking up at him until he released a muttered curse, turned around and made his way back to the door, grabbed the damn tree and-

“Shit!” Bryce snapped when the move caused the muscles in his chest and side to seize up as pain shot through his ribs, forcing him to grab onto his side as he tried to breathe through the pain.

“Are you okay?” came the panicked question as the small woman that he’d been thinking about all day rushed to his side.

“I’m fine,” Bryce bit out through clenched teeth as he tried to shrug off her concern as he pressed his hand firmly against his side. When she didn’t say anything, Bryce glanced down to find her eyes narrowing dangerously on him, her lips pressed into a firm line as she reached over and grabbed his other arm, giving it a yank as she headed back towards her couch, leaving him with no other choice but to follow the little bully.

“I’m fine,” Bryce said evenly, only to end up grunting when the little brat shoved him down on the couch and quickly crawled onto his lap, stunning him into silence. That was followed by glaring at her when she shoved his arm away, yanked his shirt up and-

“Oh, my God! What the hell happened?”

-saw the damage from yesterday’s touch football game.

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