Page 91 of Another Christmas from Hell

“You chose Sean over me,” Bryce said, taking her by surprise.

“What?” Cayley asked, frowning as she watched Bryce run his eyes over her before making their way back up and met her gaze.

“You chose Sean over me,” he repeated evenly.

“When?” Cayley asked, trying to make sense out of what he was saying because, if anything, the last twenty-five years of their friendship really should have been considered a hostage situation.

“When we were little. You used to follow me everywhere, and then one day, you couldn’t seem to stay away from Sean,” Bryce bit out, only making her frown deepen.

“Are you sure that he wasn’t dragging me everywhere? Because I seem to recall a lot of that happening,” Cayley said, only to watch Bryce’s expression turn confused.

“Actually, now that you mention it,” Bryce said, clearing his throat as he moved to shift, seemed to remember that wasn’t exactly an option at the moment, and continued looking lost in thought.

“Did it never occur to you to steal me back?”

Sighing heavily, Bryce said, “I couldn’t do that to him.”

“Because of your mother,” Cayley said slowly as everything started to click into place.

“I couldn’t do anything to hurt him,” Bryce admitted as she sat there, nodding as she thought that over.

“And your mother was the reason why you avoided me for all these years and pushed me away last night, wasn’t it? Because you were afraid that I would end up walking away one day,” Cayley said, watching as that muscle in his jaw started twitching again.

“Yes,” Bryce admitted as he met her gaze.

Nodding, Cayley murmured, “I see,” as she reached down and picked up the can of whip cream only to rethink that decision and settled for the bottle of peppermint lube instead.

“I’m nothing like your mother, Bryce,” Cayley said as she lowered herself to the floor so that she was kneeling between his legs.

“And I’m not letting you go,” Bryce said, “not again.”

“Which brings us to the next item on the list,” Cayley said, flicking the bottle open and gently squeezed a line of peppermint lube from his chest down to his navel before closing the bottle and placing it back on the floor.

“And what’s that?” Bryce asked, only to release a hiss of pleasure as she leaned forward and traced that line of lube with her tongue.

“What happens next,” Cayley asked, placing her hands on his thighs as she sat back.

“You untie me,” Bryce said, watching as she slowly slid her hands over his thighs.

“That’s really not going to work for me,” Cayley murmured as she slid one hand over the large bulge between his legs and gently massaged him through his pants, earning a moan.

“I’m going to do whatever it takes to make you fall in love with me,” Bryce said, groaning as she continued rubbing him through his pants as she reached for his belt with her other hand, pulling it loose before unsnapping his jeans and reaching for his zipper.

“And then…” Cayley said as she carefully pulled his zipper down.

“We’re going to fix Thomas House under your supervision, of course,” Bryce said, and since that pleased her, she reached back for the scissors and cut through the rope securing his legs to the chair.

“And then…” Cayley said, standing up and moved around him and freed his hands so that they could move on to the next phase of her interrogation.

“And then,” Bryce said with a soft groan as he pulled his hands free and rubbed his wrists, “we’re going to move in.”

“Move in?” Cayley asked, frowning as she watched him stretch. “You’re not selling Thomas House?”

“No,” Bryce said, shaking his head lazily as he toed off his boots and kicked them aside. “We’re keeping Thomas House.”

“We are?” Cayley asked with a watery smile as she watched Bryce shove his jeans and underwear down before pulling off his socks and tossing them aside.

“We are,” Bryce said, his expression softening as he reached for her.

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