Page 35 of Another Christmas from Hell

“I can take care of myself,” Cayley pointed out as she looked over her shoulder one last time and-

“But this way, you don’t have to.”

* * *

He should probably be concernedthat Cayley was breaking into his apartment but after last night…

Bryce decided to see where this was going. With that in mind, he took a sip of soda as he watched Cayley, who was too fucking adorable for words, quickly close his door behind her, throw the lock, and immediately plaster herself against the door so that she could look out the peephole. As she mumbled to herself, something that she seemed to do a lot when his brother was fucking with her head, Bryce leaned back against the kitchen island as he ran his eyes over her, taking in everything from her oversized sweatshirt to the way that she stood up on her tippytoes so that she could reach the peephole.

“Your brother’s insane.”

“This is true,” Bryce murmured in agreement even as he couldn’t help but wonder what his brother did to piss her off this time. He watched as her small shoulders dropped in defeat as she mumbled, “Damn it.”

“What’s he done this time?” Bryce asked, still surprised that she hadn’t smothered Sean with a pillow by now.

“Besides piss me off?” Cayley asked, closing her eyes on a defeated sigh as she pressed her forehead against the door.

“Besides that,” Bryce said, shrugging it off since that was a given.

“He’s taken it as his personal mission to see me married,” she said, making everything inside him go still.

“What the hell are you talking about?” Bryce asked as she raised her hand and gestured weakly in the direction of her apartment before dropping it. “He set me up on a blind date.”

Frowning, Bryce pushed away from the kitchen island and made his way to the door, only pausing long enough to pick her up and move her aside. Once he had her out of the way, Bryce looked through the peephole and was forced to bite back a sigh when he spotted some asshole standing outside her door, looking really fucking hopeful as he held a bouquet of red roses in one hand and a bottle of wine in the other.

He was going to fucking kill Sean.

Taking his phone out of his pocket, Bryce quickly typed a message that he was praying that his brother didn’t ignore.

Call off the date.

He-

Not happening.

-was going to fucking kill the little bastard. Biting back a curse, Bryce looked through the peephole again to find Cayley’s unwanted blind date leaning back against the wall, looking resigned to the long wait ahead.

Shit!

“What happened on the eighth-grade field trip?” Bryce asked, glancing back at Cayley to find her worrying her bottom lip between her teeth.

“I already tried that,” she admitted on a helpless shrug that left Bryce standing there, trying to come up with something that would get his brother to back the fuck off while he tried to figure out what the hell he was supposed to do about Cayley.

She…

Fuck.

He didn’t know what she was. The only thing that he knew was that he couldn’t fucking stop thinking about her or just how badly he wanted to pull her back in his arms. He just needed time to figure this out and he couldn’t fucking do that if his brother was pushing every asshole that crossed his path at Cayley. With that in mind, he sent another text message.

Call. It. Fucking. Off!

Bryce glanced back out the peephole and found himself frowning as he watched the asshole waiting in the hallway pull his phone out of his pocket, only to shake his head in disgust and walk away. That had been too fucking easy, Bryce thought, glancing back down at his phone just in time to see the next text message come through.

Done.

When his brother didn’t elaborate, Bryce looked back through the peephole and-

Sighed when the little brat shoved him out of the way and went back on her tippytoes. That was followed by an adorable frown and a mumbled, “He’s gone?” as she threw him a questioning look.

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