Page 4 of Another Christmas from Hell

She could never get enough of him. He thought about how she always hid under his bed or in his closet, how she made a point to sit next to him whenever she got the chance, and all the fucked-up things that she did over the years just to get close to him. No matter how many times he’d made it crystal-fucking-clear that he wasn’t interested in her, it was never enough. Not that he could blame her, Bryce thought absently as he ran his gaze over her, taking in all the changes that the years had brought and had to admit that she was still fucking adorable. He took in her dark brown, almost black, hair pulled up into a ponytail, the green eyes that he swore shimmered blue, the plump pink lips that looked incredibly soft before shifting his attention to the generous curves filling out the Rerum Highland Construction tee-shirt, down to the old tennis shoes that she wore and everything in between before he went back to glaring at her.

“Is Connor here, Bruce?” Cayley asked, blinking up at him.

“It’s Bryce,” he bit out between clenched teeth.

“I’m sorry, of course, it is,” Cayley murmured with a wince and that polite smile that was really starting to piss him off. “Is he here?”

“You know damn well who I am,” Bryce snapped, making him wonder what fucking game she was playing.

“What can I help you with, Cayley?” Connor asked, his eyes lit up with unholy amusement as he joined them.

“I signed the papers,” she said, looking really fucking relieved to see Connor.

“Great. Let’s go have a look,” Connor said, moving past him to join her.

“It was great seeing you again, Bruce,” Cayley said with that same fucking smile as Bryce stood there, glaring at her as he watched her smile turn warm as her focus shifted to Connor as they made their way across the small hallway and-

“Is he always like that?” she whispered to the bastard that looked really fucking amused.

“You know who I am!”

CHAPTER2

She would never survive prison, Cayley admitted to herself as she walked into her apartment, her gaze locking on the large bastard that had finally gone too far.

“Here,” Cayley said, blindly reaching down and grabbed the lease agreement that she was tempted to rip up and shoved it in Connor’s hands as she focused on the man that she was going to beat the crap out of.

“Is something amiss, pookie?” Sean, her best friend and the man that she fantasized about shoving in front of an oncoming train at least a hundred times a day, asked, not even bothering to hide that shit-eating grin that was going to get him killed.

“Did you forget to tell me something?” Cayley asked in a deceptively calm voice as she shifted her focus to the stacks of boxes that took up the living room of her new apartment, the same one that she’d been forced to move into after the unfortunate incident involving the man finishing off her Coke as he watched her every move.

Not that she could blame him.

“I love you?” Sean said, trying to appear innocent as he reached for the bag of chips that he’d helped himself to.

“That’s nice,” Cayley murmured absently as she found the large box marked “Pans” and debated throwing a frying pan at his head, only to decide against it since that just seemed too easy.

“Did you meet your new neighbor? Was he nice?” Sean asked as Connor dropped down on the other end of the couch with a satisfied sigh and a murmured, “I really love this family.”

“And by new neighbor, do you mean your brother, Bryce?” Cayley asked as she shifted her attention to the stack of boxes by the living room window.

“Is that who that was?” Sean murmured, sounding thoughtful.

“It was,” Cayley said, nodding absently as she looked through the boxes and debated her options. “Which is funny because I seem to remember someone telling me that none of his brothers lived here and that I wouldn’t have to worry about the typical James brothers’ bullshit if I moved in.”

“I do seem to remember having that conversation,” Sean admitted with a solemn nod as he popped another chip in his mouth.

“That will make this easier,” Cayley said as she found the box marked “Throw pillows.”

“What will?” Sean asked as he tossed the empty chip bag aside and pulled the box that she’d marked with “Snacks” closer.

“We’ll get to that in a moment,” Cayley murmured absently as she ripped the box open and grabbed the large throw pillow on top with a satisfied sigh. “First, I thought we’d discuss why Bryce is living across the hallway from me.”

“Because he decided to sell the house that he renovated?” Sean said, helping himself to a package of chocolate chip cookies.

“And was this before or after you got me evicted from my apartment and got me fired?” Cayley asked, testing the pillow for durability as she waited for an answer.

Sean seemed to think that over for a moment before he said, “Before. Definitely before,” with a firm nod as he popped another cookie in his mouth.

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