He sat back, his smile revealing that he was both playing with those cheesy words and completely serious. “You know, we could skip Winter Wonderland and stay here, let me make love to you all day, show you just how much I adore you.” he said.
Chloe’s breath caught in her throat. He adored her! And no man had ever said they wanted to “make love” to her before. It was all achingly romantic, and she was almost swayed. Yet, she really did want to go to Winter Wonderland.
“Come back,” she said, tugging on his shirt. He complied, nestling in next to her. She rolled onto her side to face him, her turn to take him in. As she revelled in the sculpted features of his face, she mentally pinched herself; he was just so beautiful. She kissed him, his lips moving against hers instantly as the tip of her tongue sought out his. The taste of him was incredible, almost sweet, and she found herself lost in the sensation of not just his mouth, but the feel of his body pressed against her, his hand splayed on the small of her back pulling her close to him and the scent of his spicy cologne making her heady.
Chloe had never wanted anyone more.
“How about this?” she murmured against his lips. “How about we mess up this perfectly made bed and then go to Winter Wonderland?”
He grinned at her from an inch away. “You really do love Christmas, don’t you?”
Not as much as I love you.
The thought startled her so much, she nearly said it aloud. “Yes,” she said instead, her lips resting against his. “It is my second favourite thing in the world.”
“And the first?” His eyes were alive with mischief.
Chloe pulled him closer and answered the question with another kiss.
Chapter 25
Lucy
“Excellent meal, Steph, Jackie—thank you. Menfolk, we’re on clean up,” Nate declared. He stood and stretched his arms out with a grunt. When there was no movement around the table, he looked at Bob, Joe, Will, and Bradley in turn, his eyebrows raised.
There was a beat before every male at the table stood and started clearing plates and platters. Will winked at Lucy as he took her plate and she rewarded him with a smile. He was the cutest waiter she’d ever had. With that thought, she realised that she was more than a little tipsy and memories of that morning came flooding back. She reached for her water glass.
As she watched the bustling “menfolk”, as Nate had called them, she tried to imagine her father on clean-up duty. She hiccupped a little laugh and clapped her hand over her mouth.
“So, Lucy,” said Briony, picking up her wine glass and settling in next to Lucy, “you and Will, huh?” All eyes were on Lucy and hers flew to the doorway to the kitchen, where she heard the clatter of cleaning up and men’s voices. She looked around the table. The twins, Steph and Jackie, sat opposite her and she was flanked by the cousins, Bridget staring at her wide-eyed and Briony clearly waiting for a response.
She was in the hot seat.
“Uh, yes, I suppose you could say that we’re something of an item.” Bridget giggled and Lucy felt ridiculous. Why was she talking like a character from Downton Abbey?
“Sorry, I shouldn’t have laughed,” said Bridget. “I think the two of you are sweet together.” Bridget’s cheeks flushed and Lucy felt that solidarity with her again.
Of all the women around the table, Lucy and Bridget were the most alike, and it would have been the same if Jules were there. As Lucy saw it, the women in Jules’s family—Bridget excepted—would never know what it was like to be socially awkward or feel unattractive and gawky. With their lean figures, long glossy waves of flaxen hair, and extremely pretty faces, it was like they’d stepped out of a GAP ad, every one of them.
In contrast, she felt like the great pretender. Yes, she’d been told she was pretty, beautiful even, but she’d never really believed it. It certainly wasn’t what she saw when she looked in the mirror. She saw a pale, freckled, and gangly woman with bright red hair, whose eyes were too large and too far apart, whose nose was unremarkable, and whose mouth was too wide. She had only ever been complimented by men when they wanted to sleep with her. She’d even let herself believe them a few times.
“I think you’re good for Will,” added Briony.
“Really? Why, what do you mean?”
“I haven’t seen him this happy since Tif—”
Lucy caught the quick look Steph gave Briony as she cut her off. “Since a long time ago.”
“Are you going to marry Will?” asked Bridget.
Lucy had timed her next sip of water poorly and spat most of it out onto the table, coughing and spluttering. She barely registered Briony chastising her sister with a sharp hiss of, “Bridget!”
Was she really supposed to answer Bridget’s question? She hadn’t been serious, surely? Lucy chanced a glance at her. Seeing that Bridget was now bright red, Lucy desperately wanted to save her from further humiliation.
“Oh, you were just teasing, right Bridget?” Bridget gawped at her in surprise, eventually catching on and nodding her response. “I mean, I’ve only just met Will. And this isn’t one of those silly holiday movies—you know, boy meets girl, they both want the same Christmas tree, they argue over it, all cross with each other, then fall madly in love.”
“No, instead it’s your best friend’s brother, and you’re super into each other, and you’re hands down the nicest woman he’s ever shown interest in.” Briony was definitely her mother’s daughter. Lucy looked across the table at Jackie, who nodded in agreement.
Lucy was not used to this kind of honesty. In her family, they talked around things. No one ever came right out
