Page 39 of Last Chance Seduction
I stood too close to her, and we both knew it, but instead of moving back, I brushed her hair back from her face and then cupped her cheek.
“Hey,” I repeated.
She blinked up at me, mouth parting.“Hey.”
And when I leaned down and captured her lips with my own, she didn’t push me away.Instead she put her hand on my chest, and just let it rest there as I explored her mouth, and her taste.
It wasn’t until I realized that probably every single neighbor in the cul-de-sac was watching me make out with my neighbor, that I pulled away.
“Hey.”
“I think we’ve got that down.”She frowned at me.“What was that?”
“I have no fucking clue.But I want to do it again.”
“So do I.And I think that should scare me.”
“Does it?”
“Not as much as it should.”
A wide smile spread over my face before I leaned down and kissed her again.
ChapterNine
Mercy
How did one go through life wondering exactly what we come to next?Of course, I had no idea what the heck I was doing.In one moment, I was trying to understand exactly how I was going to pull off a fake relationship with someone, the next, I’m running my hands up and down Lexington’s back as if we had been doing that for our entire lives.
Now it was nearly Christmas day, and I was trying to get ready for the holiday season.The holidays had crept up on me when I hadn’t been looking.I’d been so focused on my projects, getting my house together, and whatever the hell was happening next door, I hadn’t let myself think about what the holidays would mean to me—let alone what I’d be doing on my own.Even though I had gone to a Christmas party, it still hadn’t clicked until just now.
Because I would be spending Christmas day alone.Not for the first time, not technically.Because Emily had died before Christmas, but I had been in such a haze, a zombie, walking through life, that it hadn’t truly hit me that I would be alone.
We’d had our own traditions.We would open up all of our gifts but one on Christmas Eve because that’s what my mother had done as a child.My father had been aghast at the thought but had eagerly joined in at the look of pure bliss on my mother’s face for their first Christmas Eve.So when Emily and I had been born, they had added to the tradition.
Eggnog and cookies next to the fireplace.Stockings over the couch so they didn’t catch fire like that one time we had actually put them on the fireplace mantle.
We would make nachos and guacamole and random food for Christmas Eve, anything that was super easy to make so we would have more time as a family of four.And then, on Christmas morning, we’d have one large gift each.But it wasn’t the sole purpose of the day.
No, we would have a large breakfast, filled with French toast, omelets, fruit, homemade whipped cream.Anything you could imagine for breakfast.Going on walks, covered under blankets, and watching movies by the fire as the Christmas lights on the tree sparkled.
Maybe it wasn’t the fantastical Christmas that some people had, but it was our tradition.
And then Mom and Dad had died, and Emily and I had tried our best to keep up with it.We had done the exact same things we had always done, just the two of us.
When Justin and I had been together, we had followed both sets of traditions, always making sure Emily was part of it.She had a serious boyfriend at the beginning of my relationship with Justin but had been single by the time I had gotten engaged.But no matter what, my twin and I had been together.
The first Christmas after the wedding we had been in a hospital room, the sounds of the machines beeping through my mind.Emily had contracted pneumonia, and had been on bedrest, hooked up to IVs and dozens of wires.But she had been alert and smiling as we opened up a single gift.Notebooks for each other.We hadn’t even talked to one another about it, but we had bought nearly identical notebooks.
Maybe it was the idea of the twin bond.Perhaps we were following Hamilton’s very existence and writing like we were running out of time.
The doorbell rang before I could let myself wallow too far into my thoughts, and I walked past Mr.Darcy so I could answer.
Brooklyn and Mrs.Montgomery stood there, bright smiles on their faces, and I couldn’t help but feel the pang of what I’d lost.I wasn’t this person.The one who let those angry memories wrap around me so I couldn’t breathe.And yet in that moment, I couldn’t do anything but stand there and hope to hell I could keep a straight face.
To hope to hell I wouldn’t crumble in a heap at their feet.
Eliza Montgomery smiled at me again, before leaning forward, and hugged me tightly.Without thinking twice, I wrapped my arms around her and hugged her with every ounce of my soul.In that moment, I wasn’t Mercy.The orphan.The woman with no family.
