Page 20 of A Bond Beyond Blood

With a huff, I pushed the covers back and climbed out of bed, pulling my robe tightly around my body as I strode from the room, but when my reflection in the mirror on top of Dad’s dresser caught my eye, I nearly stumbled.

Mother of God, why do you hate me?

I spun and looked at myself, frantically running my fingers through my matted hair as I shook my head.“Of all the cruel jokes,” I whispered, “I had to end up in bed with him for the first time looking likethis?”

“First time implies there might be a second time,” Vinny called from somewhere within my apartment.

And the hits just keep on coming.

As I passed the other rooms on my way down the hall, I paused at the open doorway of my childhood room.

Vinny sat on the edge of my bed, leaning back on his hands, comfortable as could be...as if he hadn’t just invaded averysacred space.

Teenage me squealed at the sight of him.

He lifted his gaze and cocked one eyebrow.“Pink ruffles and Pierce the Veil posters?”His smirk turned into a delicious grin.“It’s an intriguing dichotomy, I’ll admit.”He looked around and I crossed my arms over my chest, suddenly feeling more exposed than I’d been in his arms last night as I sobbed and told him all about my childhood.“Why didn’t you move back into this room?”

My eyes snapped to his.I opened my mouth, then closed it, not really sure how to answer.

Vinny’s smile fell as he pushed off my little twin bed and strode toward me.“Hey.”He pulled me into his arms and looked down into my eyes.“I’m sorry.I didn’t mean to dig.”

Shaking my head, I said, “No, it’s okay.I just...”I breathed deeply, assessing my thoughts to make sense of them.“I guess I just missed him.”I shrugged and Vinny nodded.“So after the hospice people came and cleared his body, I stripped the bed and started to clean up...just going through the motions and removing any signs of him or his sickness from the room...”My voice cracked and I cleared my throat to shove the emotion back.“And then I realized what I was doing, the magnitude of it all, and—”

Vinny cupped my cheek.“You don’t have to explain.”

“I know.”I sniffed.“I fell asleep on the bare mattress that first night.”

He nodded, his thumb stroking back and forth over my cheek.

“When I woke up, I couldn’t stand the thought of leaving that room or changing it at all.It smelled like him.”

“Still does.”

My eyes widened as hope bloomed in my chest.“Really?”

Vinny nodded.“Really.It’s a mixture of the two of you, but he’s still there.”

Tears pressed against the backs of my eyes even though I should have been all cried out after yesterday.

“So...”Vinny began, “it’s Christmas Eve.Last night, right before you started snoring like a freight train, you mentioned—”

I groaned and tried to pull away from him but he tightened his grip.

“What’s your Christmas Eve tradition?”He searched my gaze and his eyes narrowed.“Mass, like a good little Catholic?”

I snorted.“I’m not a good little anything.”

“I doubt that,” he murmured.When he licked his lips, my gaze fell to his mouth, and I was acutely aware of our closeness.Wrapped in his arms like this, his mouth just inches away from mine, bodies pressed tightly together...

I inhaled a shaky breath.All I had to do was push up onto my tiptoes and lean in—

“Focus, Jacqueline,” Vinny practically growled.“Christmas Eve.”

Focus.Right.Giving him a curt nod, I thought back to spending all those Christmases with my dad and brothers, but with the memories came a wave of sadness.“It doesn’t matter.My brothers both have other lives now.”

“It matters to me.”

Good grief, was he determined to make it impossible for me to keep my distance?

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