Page 46 of Real Tree / Fake Boyfriend

“Oh, but I don’t have to be in the picture,” Julien said, not that he would argue that he needed a shower. He definitely did.

“Yes, we are all in the picture. Now go shower before you get oil everywhere,” Mrs. Ashford instructed with a flourish of her hand, pointing him to the stairs.

Julien tried not to feel any type of way about the motherly tone she had taken with him. Still, it made his chest ache, and he found himself marching up the stairs dutifully before he could even think twice about it.

When he exited the shower, he stepped back into Tyler’s room in a towel. Tyler was there, changing into the most hideous Christmas sweater Julien had ever seen.

It was thick, with red, green, and white snowflakes. It made Tyler look like he stepped out of one of those bad nineties photoshoots.

“What are you wearing?” Julien asked with a laugh.

Tyler’s mouth hung open again. Julien realized that while he had asked what Tyler was wearing, he was wearing only a towel.Oh yeah. He was being ogled.

“I…umm…have one for you too.”

Julien raised his eyebrows. “Uh, no, I don’t think so.” He stepped back as Tyler produced another sweater from his bed.

“It’s the law. We all have to wear them.” As he advanced, Tyler pulled his eyes from Julien’s chest to his face.

Julien backed away until he hit the wall. “Ugh…it’s seriously ugly, Baby.”

“Well, good. Maybe it will bring you back to the same level as the rest of us.” Tyler unfolded the sweater to show off an identical pattern and color.

“I hate it.” Julien grimaced at the sight of the ugly sweater.

Tyler grinned. “So do I. That’s part of the fun. Comeon. Suit up.”

Julien had let Tyler play dress up with him since before they got here, but this was almost a step too far. It was nice to be included in a weird family tradition without payment held over his head.

“Fine,” he grumbled. He snatched the sweater away. “But only to prove that I look good in anything.”

“You look good in nothing,” Tyler said, and when Julien looked up, his mouth was firmly shut now, and he was blushing. “I mean notnothingbecause you’re in a towel.”

Julien licked his bottom lip, his eyes sweeping over Tyler as he considered how nice he would look in a towel. Of course, he didn’t wander around without clothes on as much as Julien did.

“Perv,” he said before he did something inadvisable, like dropping the towel then and there.

Tyler shook his head. “Shut up. You know what I meant. Get dressed. Mom will kill us if we’re not ready in time.”

Julien rolled his eyes but found a pair of his new, Tyler-approved jeans and returned to the bathroom to put on the most horrible sweater he had ever seen. At least it was soft.It didn’t do him any favors, though. He was man enough to admit that.

When he stepped back into Tyler’s room, Tyler grinned. “Much better.”

“Better than the towel or the greasy shirt?” Julien asked with a flirty raised eyebrow.

Tyler pressed his lips together, and Julien felt a low roll of satisfaction pool in his belly as pink decorated Tyler’s cheeks. “What do you want me to say? Yeah, you look cute in an ugly Christmas sweater.”

“Thank you, Baby. So do you,” Julien said, satisfied. It almost felt as if they weren’t pretending anymore. Julien was playing with fire again, but he couldn’t help himself.

They got downstairs just as the photographer set up the lighting and the tripod.

Cece and Brad had finally returned to the Ashford residence, all in the same ugly sweaters. Even Duke had been forced to wear one, the poor mongrel.

The photographer posed them and rearranged them, and honestly, Julien had never been so warm in hisentire life with the camera lights and heat from the fireplace. He tucked his arm around Tyler’s waist.

They took what felt like four hundred pictures with various but minute differences. When he thought they were done, the photographer said he wanted one with all the couples individually.

“You think we can sneak a drink while Cece and Brad are up?” Wally asked Julien, Tyler, and Hailey.

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