Page 11 of Just for the Holidays
“Sure I can,” she told him, like he was overreacting. “The SUV has all-wheel drive.” With every word out of her mouth Gael had a harder time not forbidding her to leave the house, especially when she kept putting on layers like she was going somewhere. “I bet it’s just a squall. I’ll probably drive right out of it once I’m farther from the coast,” she assured them as she plucked her purse from the couch and set it on the floor by the door. “Here, let me check my messages.” She was only in her socks, but had pulled out her sneakers from the rack by the door. The urge to grab her and keep her safely in his house until the snow stopped was so intense he was practically levitating.
If she stayed, she would stay there as his girlfriend, and these past two hours had already frayed his nerves raw. He didn’t give a damn. All he cared about was keeping her safe.
“Shoot.”
The tension in his neck and shoulders barely allowed him to snap his head back in her direction. He could hear the edge of panic in her voice as she read through whatever was on her phone. She squeezed her eyes shut for a moment and before she opened her mouth, he knew what she’d say. “The flight’s canceled until noon tomorrow at least. The crew from the jet said they can’t be cleared for take-off because there’s a weather system coming through over the next eighteen hours.”
He was still considering why his chest was tight enough to suffocate him, when his mother’s scream of delight broke through the tension in the room.
“Well, you can just stay here! And if the flight can’t go out tomorrow, you’ll celebrate Nochebuena with us. I’m sure your sister will want you to stay put until it’s safe to fly again.” Gael’s lips tugged up a little at how pleased his mother looked. Even if this was definitely a terrible turn of events.
Perla kept sending him looks that practically screamed “This is all your fault,” and maybe it was, but he certainly was not sending her out in these conditions. They would just have to extend their fake relationship for a little longer, and that was that.
“Mami, take it easy on poor Perla,” he said, trying very hard to sound at ease as he made his way to her. “You’re going to scare her off. Give me your keys,” he said, extending out his hand to her. “I’ll get your bag for you.”
“My bag?” she asked, like she had no idea what the word meant.
“Your bag, so you can have your stuff for tonight.” He kept his hand out while she glared at him and the rest of his family looked on. He knew his mother was poised to go into full-on mama bear mode as soon as Perla relented.
Perla looked up at him, her face defiant, and moved in until she could bring his head down low enough for her to talk into his ear. She wrapped her arms around his neck and he thought he heard anawwor two coming from the direction of his female relatives. She pulled until he moved closer and their heads were brushing together. Her teeth grazed his earlobe and he had to bite the inside of his cheek to keep from moaning. He was sure from a safe distance this looked like a couple’s embrace, but he could feel the menace coming off in waves from the woman in his arms, and still his cock throbbed from the closeness.
“This is all your fault, Gael Montez,” she hissed. “We have to come clean. We can’t keep pretending until I leave tomorrow.” There was a little panic in her voice, but there was also a breathlessness there that he thought had more to do with how close they were standing than their conundrum.
He cursed the frisson of pure lust—yes, lust; he was done fooling himself that it was anything else—and gripped her hips, eliciting an extremely satisfying surprised gasp out of her. “I’m not the one who drove out here when there was a storm warning for the afternoon, Perla. And you can’t take it back. A deal’s a deal. You know we can’t tell my mother we were lying.”
“Get a room, you two!” Gabi, that instigator, yelled from the couch where she was playing with the dogs.
“Keys, sweetheart,” he teased and this time her teeth did a lot more than graze his ear.
“So testy,” he said, pulling away from her before she pulled a Mike Tyson.
“I’ll go get your stuff.” He winked at her as she sent him a dirty look, which made his dick impossibly harder. If he could, he’d put her over his shoulder and carry her to the nearest bedroom until he had her screaming his name.
“Did Brigida clean the cottage this morning, Gaelito? I don’t want Perla staying over there if it’s not clean.” And he needed to get himself together; his mother and grandmother were in the room.
“Cottage?” Perla asked cautiously, and Gael almost grinned as he heard his sister’s explanation.
“Yeah, you two will have your own little love nest.”
Nightmare. She was in a nightmare. And the kicker was that if this wasn’t a hellscape of her own making, this would’ve been the stuff of her wildest fantasies. Snowed in with the man she’d been in love with for as long as she could remember, in a picturesque little beach cottage while his family—whom she adored—made cooing noises at what a cute couple they made.
Yeah, it would’ve been her literal dream if it wasn’t a real-life horror show. And the snow was still falling in heavy sheets, covering the entire property in fluffy white powder. She was looking out the window at the “cottage” she’d be staying in, which was just a few yards away from the main house. After Perla recovered from the initial shock of being stranded with Gael and his family, Gabi explained the cottage was Gael’s private space. Speaking of Gael—that coward—he’d run off somewhere as soon as she’d caved and agreed to stay until the snow passed. Probably to figure out how to torture her some more.
And damn it all, the cottage was darling. From where she stood, she could see the two picture windows on either side of the door and the small stone fireplace.
“It’s pretty cozy in there. Are you sure you’re up for it?” Perla jumped when she heard Gabi’s friendly voice behind her, and even though she was strung as tightly as she’d ever been, hearing her old friend did help her frazzled nerves.
“This is a really bad idea, Gabi,” Perla whispered, looking around the kitchen like a caged animal, expecting Abuela or Veronica to find them and uncover the lie.
“Well, no. It’s not a good idea at all.” Perla’s stomach flipped at Gabi’s typically unfiltered honesty. “But it’s too late to take it back now. Mami had a really rough couple of years, Perla. Like really bad.” Gabi’s voice broke on the last few words, and now that Perla was looking closely, she could see the drawn expression on her face. Veronica’s health crisis had taken its toll on the whole family. “She’s so happy to have you here. Last year we spent the holidays with her in the ICU.”
Perla’s heart lurched as she saw the pain on her old friend’s face. Veronica’s health was not Perla’s responsibility, that was true, but she couldn’t bring herself to resent Gabi or Gael for trying to keep their mom happy. She didn’t have a mother who meant the world to her, who had protected her or whom she felt protective toward. But she knew that was what Veronica was to her children, and no matter how annoyed she was at Gael, she would not mess up the Montez’s Nochebuena.
“All right,” she said without anger. “But you need to talk to your brother. There will be no funny business. I get my own bed.”
Gabi’s face paled slightly at the mention of the bed. “Please tell me there’s more than one bed, Gabriela.”
“There’s a pull-out couch,” Gael’s sister hedged. “The cottage’s more like a suite than an apartment,” Gabi explained, and Perla wanted to scream. But before she could list her many concerns with the plan, Veronica and Gael walked in. At least he had the decency of looking somewhat worried.
