Page 148 of Mistletoe and the Billionaire Boss

“I’m working on it,” he says.

“Incessantly, from what we hear,” Victoria says.

He gives Catie an amused look, and she also turns the color of a tomato.

Kip grins and reaches for his glass of water, and Belle says, “Do you want some ice in that?”

Now it’s Alice’s turn to go scarlet, and the rest of us laugh as his eyebrows rise.

“Can’t a guy have any secrets?” Kip complains.

“Oh, we had great fun last night,” Belle says.

“Yeah, we’re putting in a bulk order of roses after Belle’s revelation,” Sidnie states.

Damon laughs and kisses his fiancée’s temple. “I see.”

“Roses?” I ask.

“It’s a suction vibrator,” Sidnie says helpfully.

“Ah.”

Sidnie winks at me. “They’re useful if the guy wants a break, although I understand you don’t tend to need one…”

“Jesus,” I say, and the girls all giggle.

“Sorry.” Missie looks embarrassed.

“Hey, I’d much rather you share that than you all be laughing because it’s so small.”

“Definitely no problems there,” she says, and everyone else chuckles.

“Anyway,” Damon says, “moving on… speeches time, Alex?”

I glance around. Most people are coming to the end of their dinner, and the waiters are refilling glasses. It’s nearly seven p.m. now, and although it’ll be light for another couple of hours, the sun is low on the horizon, and the sky is a deep blue above us and a warm orange-gold over the hills to the west.

I put down my serviette, stand, and catch Mae’s eye. She nods, so I pick up a glass, and tap it with a spoon. It takes a while, but gradually everyone falls quiet.

As we’re in the open air, Mae has arranged for a lapel mike for the speeches, so I clip it to my shirt collar and then address the guests.

“Good evening, everyone,” I say. “I think I’ve met most of you by now, but just in case you slipped through the net, I’m Alex Winters, Damon’s best man and Belle’s brother. I’ll be giving my proper best man’s speech tomorrow, but I wanted to say a few words today, as it’s a special occasion, with the bride and groom’s closest family and friends here. I didn’t really know where to start so I thought I’d trawl the internet. After a couple of hours I’d found some really, really good stuff. But then I remembered that I was supposed to be writing a speech, so…”

Belle bursts out laughing, which makes Damon laugh, and that sets everyone else off. “Thanks, sis,” I say to her, and she blows me a kiss. “All right, so I’ll keep this short and sweet,” I continue. “I thought I’d tell you a story about me, Damon, Saxon, and Kip.”

“Oh jeez,” they all say.

“When Saxon and Kip were fifteen, and we were thirteen, we decided it would be a great idea to form a band,” I say. “And thus the Antarctic Coyotes were born.” Everyone laughs, and I hold up a hand. “Damon told me that Belle had found some photos of us. Well, I happened to mention it to Mae, and she let it slip that she had some old video footage…” I nod at Neal, who’s linked his laptop to a projector that’s directed at a white screen they’ve erected for this purpose. He presses play, and the four of us appear on the screen, performing in our band.

We all look so young! Kip and Saxon haven’t changed that much, although their faces are baby smooth rather than bearded as they are now, but Damon and I have the most vivid bleached hair. Everyone whistles and cheers, and the four of us start laughing.

“I’m so sorry,” I say to Damon. “I didn’t realize it was that bad.” We listen for a minute. We’re not great. Damon can sing, and Kip’s guitar playing is terrific. I’m absolutely terrible on the drums, though, and Saxon’s bass is clearly out.

“Anyway…” I make a gesture across my throat, and Neal laughs and cuts the video, making everyone boo. “Ah, but I have a story to tell about that day,” I continue.

“Ah no.” Damon puts his hands over his face.

I try not to laugh. “Believing that we were going to be the next big thing, we decided we’d hold a concert, and we invited a group of friends over to watch us, including, I have to say, several rather pretty young women.” Everyone whistles, and I grin. “We played a few songs, which were, as I’m sure you can guess, terrible. Then we decided we’d all go for a swim. Except we’d forgotten we’d bleached our hair. So this happened.”

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