Page 12 of The Christmas Mistake

“Swear on it.”

She blinks. “What?”

“Swear that you’ll never mention last night,” I say. “Especially in the office. I know what you’re like, Miss Blabber Mouth.”

“Miss Blabber Mouth?”

“Come on, Chastity. You know as well as I do that you can’t help but gossip all day long. It’s not like being the social media manager is a real job. You spend all your time chit-chatting with everyone instead of doing any real work.”

“Be careful, you’re stepping over the line there. Dick.”

I ignore her insult and continue. “I want you to swear that you’ll never tell a soul about what we did last night, can you do that?”

Chastity growls at me. She actually looks kind of adorable when she’s pissed off.

No, Nicholas. Remember how annoying she is.

She flicks her hair back. “How about we pinky promise it?”

“What?”

“Let’s do a pinky promise never to mention it again,” she says. “That’s what I want to do.”

I snort. “What are we, five years old?”

“Do it, Nicholas. Or I’ll live up to your stupid little nickname and blabber about this to the entire office.”

I exhale and shake my head. “Fine. Have it your way.”

Chastity offers out her pinky, still showing me her grumpy face. I wrap my pinky around hers.

“Promise never to talk about last night,” she says.

“I promise.”

“There,” she says. “All done.”

“Yep,” I reply. “All done.”

Chastity falls back on her bed and stares me down. “Now leave my fucking house.”

4

ONE YEAR LATER

NICHOLAS

“He was wide open! Jesus Christ!”

Aidan grabs me by the shoulder roughly, nearly spilling my beer.

“Did you see that, Nicholas? Did you see that?”

“Yes, I saw.”

“Holy shit. The receiver was wide open and yet the stupid motherfucking quarterback didn’t even consider throwing to him. What an idiot.”

“This is why we never win,” I say to my friend before heading to the fridge for two more beers. Alcohol is the only thing that can drown our sporting sorrow.