Page 157 of Holidating
“Bellamy drove me. We’ll have to pick up the car in the morning.”
“Okay,” she agrees quickly. “No problem. I could call the taxi service…”
“No,” he barks. “I’ll ask your dad. He won’t mind.”
“Okay,” she says again. She takes Cam’s handsome face in two hands and studies it. “Your nose looks okay. It’s just the eye.”
“I’m sorry,” he whispers, looking into her eyes. “I know I don’t deserve you.”
Her heart softens, and she gives his chin a stroke with her thumb. All she ever wanted was for him to look at her just like he’s doing now. Thoroughly, and tenderly. “It’s okay, Cam. You’ll look like Rocky for a few days, but everything is going to be fine.”
He gives her a tiny smile, with more humility than she’s seen on his face in… well, ever. “I love you.”
“I love you, too,” she says. And right this second, she really means it.
CHAPTER 11
SOUNDTRACK: AULD LANG SYNE, AND ROSSI FAMILY SQUABBLING
Damien is seated at his uncles’ dining table, nursing a glass of wine, trying to unwind. It’s New Year’s Eve, and he’s well fed. Everything is fine.
Mostly.
But even under the best of circumstances, a Rossi family gathering is not the most relaxing place in the world. The twins Benito and Zara, who are three years younger than Damien, are bickering over the definition of rock music. Or something. While his brother Alec is trying to convince his uncle Otto to invest in a new brewery business idea.
“I don’t want any part of your get-rich-quick scheme,” his uncle grumbles. “Talk to me when you have a real plan.”
“There’s more lasagna,” his mother says, offering Damien the serving spoon. “And more sausages.”
“Mom, I’m stuffed,” he says. Did she not see all the food he just ate?
“I still worry about you,” she says.
“He eats plenty, Ma,” Benito says, sitting down beside him. “Relax.”
“I’ll go get the dessert,” she says, and Damien groans. He hasn’t left room for dessert.
“The holidays make people crazy,” Zara stage whispers, grabbing the lasagna pan to clear it from the table.
“She’s like this all the time,” Benito points out.
Then he offers to refill Damien’s wine glass, but Damien shakes him off. “No more for me, thanks.”
Benito tops up his own glass and sits down. “You doing okay?”
“Sure,” he says, irritated at the intrusion. He has a big, nosy family and they have been asking after his welfare since he got home from his second deployment, battered and sad.
And, yeah, things were bad for a little while there. But they’re better now.
Mostly.
“Look,” Benito says in a low voice. “I heard about your little adventure the other night.”
Damien’s stomach tightens. “Who told you?”
“I did,” Zara says, reemerging from the kitchen.
“Thanks,” he says tightly. “Real helpful.” The twins have always been close, though. Except when they’re not. He shouldn’t be too surprised that Zara spilled the beans.
