Blame It On The Mistletoe

'Parrot?” she said with a chuckle. He clearly didn't get it. “Never mind.'

He waved a hand, dismissing her last comment and jumped right back in the conversation. “Your parents want me to tag along for Christmas? Why?'

The knot in her stomach grew until she felt nauseous. There was no way to avoid this. Either he went with her or she spent Christmas alone. Her shoulders slumped seconds before she buried her face in her hands and bravely mumbled out why.

He laughed. “Sorry, darling, but I didn't catch a word of that.'

'Oh for Pete's sake,” Macy growled, lifting her head and pushing her hair out of her face. “They actually want to meet the man I've been living with for the past two years. The man who will some day marry me and give them a house full of grandbabies. The same man who has always been too busy to meet them.'

'Okay,” Sean said. “So, they want to meet your boyfriend.” He narrowed his eyes at her and leaned his head to one side. “You've been living with someone for two years? How did I not know this?” he shook his head, a funny look falling over his face before he leaned back. “It doesn't matter. What does this have to do with me though?'

Macy felt sick. Her stomach clenched the same instant her throat grew tight. She swallowed and weakly said, “I may have told them it was you.'

Sean stared at her for long minutes, watching the pink tint on her cheeks deepen to a rosy red. When she glanced at him out of the corner of her eye, what she'd said finally dawned on him. She told her parents he was her boyfriend? As much as he tried, he couldn't help it. He laughed. He laughed until his eyes watered and his stomach ached. When she stood and started for the door, he jumped to his feet and grabbed her before she left. “Not so fast,” he said, grinning. “I want to hear this. Every sordid detail.'

'Don't look so pleased about it,” she said. “You're in just as much trouble here as I am.'

'How so?'

She grinned. “You're the insensitive jerk who doesn't have the common decency to meet his girlfriends family.'

'Ouch. Is that what they think?'

'Of course. Why else would a man who supposedly loves me refuse to meet my family?'

She had him there. “Okay. So you've been lying to them for years and I'm the bad guy.” He grinned. “You're too devious to be working for me, Macy Carter.'

Macy snorted a laugh. “I learned it by watching you.'

She shoved past him and walked back down the hall. She called the next patient and shoved the folder at him before he could say another word. When she showed Katie Burns and her Pomeranian, Peaches, to the exam room, she shot Sean a glare and walked back to her desk. “You have patients to see. Don't leave them waiting.'

Sean continued to smile at her, watching her for long minutes while she tried to ignore him. Her cheeks were still pink and no matter how clipped her words came out he knew she was embarrassed. That permanent shade of red staining her cheeks told him that. Of course, the added color caused her skin to glow and if possible, made her more attractive than she already was. She was like a ray of sunshine most days with her long golden hair, bright blue eyes, and a smile that softened the hardest of hearts. She was always happy and greeted every person who walked through the door as if she'd known them all her life. She was petite, sassy and had an infectious laugh.

So why have you never asked her out? That one's easy. His “no dating employees” rule is why. Oh, that and the fact he was at least nine years older than her.

She cleared her throat, nodding her head to the door of the exam room. He smiled and leaned close to her and whispered, “As soon as the last patient is gone, we'll have a little talk about this affair we seem to be having.'

Her gasp caused his laughter to return. He winked at her before walking to the exam room. The look on her face before he shut the door was one he'd never forget. Embarrassment still burned on her cheeks but something in her eyes told him their working relationship was about to change.

Chapter 2

Stupid, stupid, stupid! Macy thought. There was no way this was going to work. Why did she even consider it? Why did she say yes? They were all going to know. She wasn't an actress. She flunked drama for a reason, damnit!

'Stop biting your nails. Everything is going to be fine.'

Macy turned her head, glaring at Sean. He smiled at her before turning his attention back to the road. This was his fault. Her family was going to find out she was a lonely, miserable little liar, and it was going to be his entire fault. This whole farce was his idea. Show up for Christmas with said boyfriend-namely him-at her side and show her family the loving relationship they had. Her perfectly concocted lie would never be found out and every thing would turn out fine.

When she finally broke down and spilled her sad little story to him about how worried her family was that she was living alone so far from home, and that she had no close personal friends, or how easy the lie about having a boyfriend came up, he just sat there smiling at her with laughter dancing in his eyes. His only question had been, “Why him?” Now he knew exactly how sad her personal life was. He was the only guy she knew at the time. Of course, she didn't tell him how much she'd actually told her family about him. They knew as much about Sean as she did. She talked to her mother every week and without fail, her mother asked about him. What was she suppose to say? “He's fine,” and change the subject. He was supposed to be her boyfriend after all. Of course she'd talk about him.

'Take the next exit,” she said.

Sean merged off Interstate 40 and Macy held her stomach as the butterflies she'd been dealing with all day swam in erratic patterns. When they left Charleston that morning at dawn, she'd been so sick to her stomach she wasn't sure she'd be able to keep her breakfast down. Of course, every mile they traveled threatened to do the same. The closer to Ashville they got, the queasier her stomach grew. She wasn't sure exactly what made her more nervous. The thoughts of lying to her family to their faces, trying to convince her family that she and Sean were actually a couple, or if it was the fact that Sean, the man she'd been half in love with since first laying eyes on him, was going to pretend to be in love with her. How exactly would they accomplish that? Would they cuddle by the fireplace? Hold hands? Kiss?

Oh God! There was no way she could kiss him. Okay, so yeah, she could. Had dreamed about it for years actually, but fantasizing about someone and actually acting on it are two very different things. He wasn't interested in her. At least, he'd never let on that he was. Not that the prospect of him being interested was in anyway a burden. Far from it. Which was exactly the problem. How would she survive if he acted all lovey-dovey toward her for an entire week and then just… stopped.

The narrow roads wound their way up the mountain and Macy pointed the way until they turned off the main road and began their final climb. When her parent's house came into view, she inhaled deeply to keep her stomachs contents in place.

They pulled into the drive and Sean put the car in park. He turned to her and said, “You grew up in a log cabin?'

She grinned. “We lived on the side of a mountain. What else would our house look like?'

Macy opened her car door; climbing out and breathing in the fresh, clean mountain air, she tried to calm her nerves. She turned, watching Sean when he got out of the car and shut his door before he looked at her over the roof of the car. He smiled and shook his head. “This place looks like it should be on a damn greeting card.'

'Yeah. It does,” she said, looking at the house. It hadn't changed since she'd been gone. The two-story log house looked as warm and inviting as it always had, especially now. Wreathes hung on every window, red ribbons and bows graced the railing on the wrap-around porch and twinkling lights blinked from every available surface she could see. Her father always went all out at Christmas. It was his favorite time of year. Hers too. Something about Christmas always made her feel safe and loved. Maybe because it was the only time her entire family was together. Since they were all grown and living on their own, Christmas was the one time a year she got to be a kid again. Here, she was just Macy. The daughter of Rose and Gerald Carter and baby sister to her five older brothers. The only thing she ever had to worry about when she was here was if her clothes would still fit after her mother