Page 152
The room quiets slightly, and I can feel Bastian watching my every micro-expression.
“That first Christmas Nikko and I stayed here.”
Finn frowns. “Which one?”
“My parents were on a cruise, and Nina spent her first Christmas with Pete. Nikko and I didn’t have anywhere to be, so Bastian invited us up.”
“That was the first year I ran the Christmas Festival in town.” Finn’s face goes pink. “I was a wreck that year.”
“You were not.”
“I definitely was. I was twenty-seven. It was my first big job, and I was afraid I would screw it up and then have to move to a different town.”
“You were so competent.”
He blinks at me.
“What?”
“I watched you all week that Christmas. You were running around town like you’d been doing it for twenty years. You had checklists, handled vendor meltdowns like a pro, and…I don’t know. It did something to my head.”
Finn is looking at me like I can’t possibly have said what I said.
“Also,” I add, “you were wearing these jeans that hugged your ass like a supportive best friend.”
“Oh my god.”
“So it could be your competence or your ass. Honestly, it’s been so long I can’t be certain.”
Kay lets out a delighted screech. Stone is laughing. Nikko has finally put his phone down.
Bastian points at me from across the room. “Just so we’re clear, the ass-kicking is not entirely off the table.”
“Because he noticed your little brother’s ass twelve years ago?” Finn asks him mildly.
“Because he noticed you at all.”
“He’s a competent man with a nice ass, Bastian. It’s not a crime,” I say.
Bastian opens his mouth, but he has no comeback.
Finn leans forward slightly. “Also, why are you assuming Fox was the one who made a move?”
The room goes very quiet.
Bastian glares at his brother, then stands and grabs Taylen’s hand, pulling him off the arm of the chair.
“We’re going upstairs. We need a break.”
Taylen doesn’t argue. He follows Bastian with the satisfied smile of a man who is quite happy to be led anywhere.
They disappear up the stairs.
Stone is still laughing, and Nikko’s attention is back on his phone.
I lean over and press my mouth against Finn’s ear.
“If it’s okay for him to go make out with Taylen in his old bedroom,” I say quietly, “surely it’s okay for us to do the same.”
