Page 65 of The Holiday Heartbreaker

“They’re a whole thing,” Elsie said, waving her hand.

“As if the two of us aren’t,” Hunter said.

Brody didn’t have any inclination to think about what manner of whole thing his siblings were with their significant others. He was happy for their healing. But he did not need to know the details.

“All right,” he said. “Enough chitchat. I’m ready to win some money.”

“Very bold,” Charity said.

The funny thing was, Charity typically took them all to the cleaners. He was certain it was because she looked so sweet. It was just hard to believe that when it came to poker she was a vicious, sharp-toothed animal.

His brothers and Elsie sat down at the table, and Charity a moment later, with the freshly baked cookies.

Beer and cookies might seem a strange combination, but it had become nostalgic for him. That was the thing. Their childhood had really sucked. Like, just really sucked. And one of the things that was so great about being adults was they had built something different. Something better.

Poker nights and cookies and beer. Gus’s really terrible frozen pizza and dinners in his cluttered house, back before Alaina had moved in. They still had dinner there, but they didn’t have frozen pizza or clutter.

Alaina was opposed to both.

But they were the building blocks of the better part of his life.

And it occurred to him then that he would add sex with Elizabeth Colfax as one of the good building blocks.

One of those nice things that he had gotten later almost as an apology gift from God.

“All right, five card stud, aces wild,” Charity declared, suddenly looking serious as she dragged the stack of cards toward herself. She shuffled like a pro and then started to flick them around the table.

“She counts cards,” Lachlan grumbled, as he swept his hand forward and slid the cards back toward him.

“Well, you’re the one that invites her.” Hunter said that, but they all knew Charity was just a fixture.

Even if Lachlan didn’t invite her, she would show up. And they would invite her if he didn’t.

They weren’t the warmest family. It wasn’t like welcoming people into their dysfunctional fold was normal for them. But Charity had sort of cheerfully wiggled in under the fence and become inevitable.

Play started, and they’d done their first round of bids when Hunter looked at him across the table.

“What did you end up doing this week with the guests?” Hunter asked.

“Not really anything. I was more facilitator.”

“Yeah,” he nodded. “That seems like something you’d be more into.”

“What does that mean?”

Hunter gave him a strange look. “I don’t know. Don’t think too deeply about it, bro.”

“He doesn’t think too deeply about anything,” Lachlan said.

“No. I want to know what that means.”

“You aren’t really a people person. Unless the people are women you want to sleep with.”

Brody frowned. “That isn’t true.”

“He’s been very friendly to Elizabeth,” Elsie pointed out.

“My point stands,” Hunter said.

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