Page 24 of Mistletoe Mistake
“Well, if Holly’s anything to go by, get used to it. She—” Billie waves a hand my way. “Hasn’t shut up about him since I met her.”
“Please,” I scoff. “That is absolutely not true.”
Billie’s mouth drops open. “It absolutelyistrue.” She stops, narrowing her eyes at me. “Do you not realize you’re doing it?”
“Do what?” I don’t know what she’s talking about. After Nick left for college, I didn’t even see him for five years and I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve seen him since he moved back home.
There is no way I have mentioned him more than a few times in passing.
No way.
“You talk about him all the time, Hols.” Troy backs up Billie and obviously our friendship is over. “Just last week I was telling you about my cousin’s wedding in Baltimore and you told me about some random football game he played there his freshman year of college.”
“It was his first game and his parents couldn’t go, so Brandon and I went instead.” I sound defensive even to my own ears.
Billie puts her half-eaten sandwich down and leans toward me. “I think we’re just saying that maybe your feelings are stronger than you realize and we want you to be careful.”
“Right,” Troy agrees. “His friendship with your brother makes this a tricky situation and we don’t want you to get hurt. You both need to be sure of your feelings if you’re going to take the risk of alienating Brandon.”
“You don’t need to worry,” I assure them. “We both know what we’re doing and trust me, Brandon wants both of us to be happy. If that means Nick and I being together, then he won’t have a problem with it.”
Right?
* * *
Ignoring the cold, I put my head down and power through the biting wind as I make my way into the movie theater. Nick better have a good reason for dragging me out tonight.
It has been a long day full of work that wouldn’t come together and a lot of second-guessing everything that happened yesterday. Not helping was the fact that I didn't hear a word from Nick until right before I finished work.
Even then, all I got was one line of text.
Meet me at the Regal on 42nd Street in half an hour.
Despite my exhaustion, excitement at seeing him had me rushing down to grab a cab for the short trip to the theater.
It’s colder than I expected and I realize I left my jacket back at the office, so I wrap my arms around my waist, shocked at how chilled the thirty-second walk from the curb to inside the building has left me.
As soon as I step inside, I hear my name called and look up to find Nick sauntering toward me. The minute I see his face all my doubts evaporate and I remember the most important thing he said to me yesterday.
“I’m in this, Holly. We’re not going to sneak around or lie to Brandon a second longer than we have to. We’ll tell him as soon as he gets home.”
And I choose to believe him.
“Hi,” I murmur as he reaches me, bending down to brush a kiss along my mouth. He follows it with a brief touch of his lips to the slope of my neck that sends goose bumps shooting along my skin.
“We’re seeing a movie?”
“Movies.” He accentuates the S and it’s then that I look up and see all the signs advertising tonight’s movie marathon.
Tonight’sChristmasmovie marathon.
“Oh. How… festive.”
He laughs and hands me a tub of popcorn I hadn’t noticed he was holding. “Extra butter, right?”
I nod, a small smile tilting the corners of my lips.
“Trust me, if you’re not feeling the Christmas spirit after these movies, you just might be broken beyond repair.”
