Page 18 of Welcome Home for Christmas
“You’re mad at me and pretending like you’re not.” He cranked the engine. “That’s okay because this is all pretend. And if we’re pretending, I’m taking you back to your place to kiss and make up.” He winked as she punched his arm.
“In your dreams, Bullet. I don’t even want to ask where that nickname came from.”
He laughed out loud. “No, you probably don’t. And if you ever find out, that means we’ve advanced well past pretending.”
“Guess I’ll never know then,” she said, crossing her arms in front of her.
Something about that filled him with regret, too. In a way, Allison reminded him of Jess. She was beautiful and sweet, and deserved a lot better than a guy like him. He never wanted to see her in tears over a guy, much less over himself.
“All of your exes were fools,” he said, his gaze sliding across the seat as he headed down the road back to her place.
“What?”
“They had to be fools to let you slip away.” From the corner of his eye, he saw her relax into the seat of his truck.
“Thanks for saying that.”
“I mean it.”
“You barely know me.”
“I know enough to fool your mother and all your relatives at this family party of yours. And I know you’re not only beautiful on the outside.” He glanced over. “Your mom is right. You should give dating another shot. Dating someone for real. You’ve got me to kick the next guy’s ass if he gets out of line.”
Allison laughed.
Nothing sexier than a woman’s laughter. Her laughter.
“I’ll think about that,” she said.
