Page 18 of Bossing My Holiday
I smirk and step into her, our bodies touching ever so subtly. She smells amazing and feels even better. I want to drag my hands up into her hair, cup the back of her head, and kiss her crazy. So she never has another worry in her pretty head. So all she can think about and feel is me.
“I think we both know you are, though. I’m glad. But I’m going to have to try like hell not to be jealous when you’re his and not mine or ours.”
Before she can respond, I pull away and leave her here in the kitchen. Paris can’t come soon enough. And when it does, I have no idea how I’ll be able to stop myself.
6
WAVERLY
All day I’ve been a bundle of nerves. I told Tristan yes, but with one caveat. I didn’t want double. Only what I owed. Reluctantly, he agreed, but I could tell he wasn’t happy about it. On top of that, I had no idea how to pack for this trip. What does one wear when they’re meeting their fake boyfriend’s family? Not to mention, his family are billionaires, and old billionaires at that. They’re very proper and traditional and need him to get married for some aristocratic reason I don’t understand but makes total sense in their world.
I told Tristan I was in when I brought him his coffee Thursday morning. My moment with Braxton in the kitchen almost made me second-guess myself, though. The man had my pulse racing and nipples hard and my breath panting, and all he was doing was touching my face. Forget working for him, how am I supposed to be in Paris with him if I turn into a little office slut for him from a concerned touch?
Tristan was all business when I told him yes. He simply gave me a nod and told me a car would pick me up Saturday evening to take me to the airport. That was it. Good thing I have a passport I got in college. I had plans to go to Cancun withfriends for spring break senior year, and then I discovered what was going on with Nana, and that was that.
Then there’s the not-so-small fact that I’ve never been on an airplane before.
I haven’t gotten much of a chance to talk to Tristan or even Braxton about it either. We’ve been working non-stop trying to get this acquisition where it needs to be before the office closes for the holiday. Jennie invited me home with her for Christmas, but I told her that I couldn’t because Tristan was paying me extra to work over the holiday. It wasn’t a full lie, but it didn’t sit well with me either.
This whole thing has had me in knots, and by the time I get to the airport and through security—I forgot I still have my vibrator in my purse and my anti-asshole spray that thankfully wasn’t confiscated because it’s under three ounces—after being yelled at by everyone because I didn’t know about all of the security protocols or that I had to remove every electronic device I own and put it in a bin and answer random questions, all I want to do is go back home and crawl under the covers for a week.
The massive press of bodies, all the kids crying, and the parents looking like they’re about to make a run for it and jump on a flight to the Bahamas instead of Cincinnati or wherever they’re going underscored by Michael Bublé telling everyone to have a Holly Jolly Christmas despite their misery, isn’t helping to settle me down.
If anything, it’s throwing my nerves into hyperdrive panic mode because this is the start of what will easily be a week of hell. A week of hell with my bosses. And first I have to get on an airplane, and I’ve never been afraid to fly, but now that I’m actually about to get on a plane, I think I am.
I freeze in the middle of the walkway, the gate just up ahead, and I can’t do it. How can I pretend to be Tristan’s girlfriend? That’s insanity! It’ll never work.
I turn and start for the exit when a hand grabs my arm and twirls me in place.
“You’re late.”
I roll my eyes. “I’m not late.” I tap my watch. “We board in fifteen minutes. It’s not my fault security was like the seventh ring of hell. Who knew you had to take your shoes off and empty all electronics from your bags? I also had to spill out my water bottle. What sense does that make? And explain to me why I can’t have anything in my pockets? And I forgot to remove the vibrator, and I swear the guy scanning it was laughing at me.”
“Everyone who’s flown for the last twenty-something years knows all of this.”
I give Tristan a look that indicates that I’m not one of those people, and he sighs. “You were about to bolt, weren’t you?”
I bite my lip and look down. “Can you blame me? There is no way this will work.”
“If you’re going to come with me and pretend to be my girlfriend, you’re going to have to start looking at me. Maybe even smile or pretend not to hate me as much as you do.”
I swallow and force my gaze up to his, taking in the different shades of blue in his eyes. “Who said I was coming with you?”
He smirks tauntingly, his head dipping ever so slightly. “Are you saying no? You’re at the airport.”
“Relax,” Braxton says, wrapping an arm around me, and that is not helping me relax. If anything, it’s making my heart beat faster. “It’ll work, Waverly. His mom knows all about you.”
My eyes shoot open wide at Tristan. “You told her about our arrangement?!”
Now it’s Tristan’s turn to roll his eyes. “Why would I have told her about that? She’s one of the reasons we’re doing this.” He sighs in frustration. “Evidently, I’ve mentioned you to her a few times over the years because when I gave her your name, she was more than a little delighted it was you. Incidentally, Itold her we’ve been seeing each other casually for a little over four months, with things turning more serious this last month.”
“Oh, Jesus. I can’t do this.” I break out of Braxton’s hold and start to pace, but with how crowded it is, there isn’t much room for me to move. “Four months?! And she’sdelightedit’s me?!”
Braxton and Tristan exchange looks, and I’m too worked up to know what they mean. Typically I can guess. I’ve worked with them enough to know their nonverbal language with each other.
“Yep, so you better start smiling and being that doting girlfriend I was promised.”
“Waverly, it’s really going to be fine.” Braxton grabs my shoulders again and stops my pacing. “They’re not as scary as you’re making them out to be. They took me in when I had no one, and here I am, coming to what I now consider my second home for the holidays. His mother is great. His father and grandmother can be a little intense, but between Tris and me, we’ll run interference as much as we can. They’ll love you.”
