Page 41 of Another Christmas from Hell

Nodding, Cayley said, “I’d really like to get down now.”

“I’m sure you would,” Bryce said before moving on to his first question. “What did Sean want to know?” For a moment, Cayley didn’t look like she was going to answer, but she knew better than most what would happen if she didn’t.

“He had questions,” she finally admitted.

“What kind of questions?” Bryce asked even as he pulled his phone out of his pocket and decided to go to the source just in case this line of questioning didn’t pan out.

Not that he wanted to encourage the little bastard to get in his way, but he knew better than to waste a golden opportunity when it presented itself. For the past week, he’d been struggling to hold onto his fucking sanity, telling himself that this was a really bad fucking idea, but it was never enough to stop him from pulling her into his arms at night.

He couldn’t even begin to describe just how fucking good it felt to hold her.

What did you ask Cayley about?

“The kind that I didn’t want to answer.”

“Such as…” Bryce asked, feeling his lips pull up into a smile when he saw his brother’s text message.

You.

“I’d really rather not say,” Caley said as she tried shifting in her chair.

“I see,” Bryce said absently as he sent his brother another text message.

Anything I should know?

“We’re going to be late to your sister’s Christmas party,” Cayley said in a sad attempt to change the subject.

Don’t let her out. The vicious little leprechaun is planning my murder.

“It can wait,” Bryce said, deciding to focus back on the woman that was driving him fucking crazy.

For the first time in his life, he was happy and that fucking terrified him, knowing just how quickly it could be taken away. Every day, he told himself that it didn’t matter, that it was just to prove that the Bradford curse was bullshit, but that didn’t explain why he was afraid to open his eyes in the morning, terrified that when he opened them, that he would realize that it had all just been a dream, one that he never wanted to wake up from.

He was definitely losing his mind, Bryce thought as he considered the small woman glaring at him. He wondered if she had any idea what she was doing to him. God, if she ever figured it out…

“Did I mention that I’ve been strapped to this chair for seven hours?” Cayley asked, blinking at him. “Because I feel like it really should be mentioned.”

“I’ll take care of the little bastard for that later, but for now, I just feel like we should discuss all those things that you don’t want me to find out,” Bryce said as he pointedly examined his nails. He could practically feel her seething from here, but since that worked in his favor, he decided to take that as a good sign.

“What do you want to know?” came the question that had him biting back a smile.

“What did you tell Sean?” Bryce asked as he dropped his hand away and looked back up to find Cayley’s lips pressed firmly together.

Nodding, Bryce sighed heavily as he stood up and made his way to the cooler they kept filled with drinks and the occasional snack and grabbed a bottle of water before dropping back down on his chair, noting the way that she swallowed hard as she watched him. “Seven hours, huh?” Bryce asked as he opened the bottle of water and took a sip. “You must be thirsty.”

“Among other things,” Cayley admitted with a wince as she once again shifted uncomfortably in her chair.

“I bet,” Bryce murmured absently as he considered her for a moment, watching the way that she watched him, the way that she struggled between licking her lips and shifting anxiously in her chair, telling him everything that he needed to know.

Locking his eyes with hers, Bryce raised his arm to the side, slowly began to turn the water bottle over, watching as her eyes widened in horror and-

“I told him that I didn’t know what was going on but that I liked sleeping in your arms at night!” Cayley rushed to explain, only to add, “Please don’t do it,” when his hand stilled.

“You like sleeping in my arms?” Bryce asked, narrowing his eyes on the adorable woman that was back to pressing her lips tightly shut.

When she continued sitting there, glaring, he-

“Yes!”

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