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And let’s not forget that she’s the sexiest thing on two legs. I can’t say the petite type has ever turned my head before. I usually go for curvier women, but something about Jordan has every nerve ending in my body standing up to take notice.
“Oh, look what I found,” she says as she hustles over to a grocery bag sitting in front of the fireplace. She whips out two stockings. “They have our names on them!”
I blink at the oversized socks. Sure enough, Jordan and Nick are embroidered in red. They’re both red with green at the top. Hers has a reindeer on the front, and mine has a Santa.
They’re ridiculous.
And kind of cute.
“You hate it,” she says. Her expression falls, and she stares down at my stocking. “I think they’ll look so cute on the mantel.”
“I don’t hate it,” I reply. I don’t want to be a jerk anymore today. If this ridiculous shite makes her happy, then I should let her have it.
It’s no skin off my nose.
But if she wants to blare Mariah Carey every day, we’re going to have a conversation.
“I’ll start dinner after I finish decorating the tree,” she says.
“Actually, why don’t you take the night off?”
She glances at me in surprise.
“At the store the other day, your cousin asked you to have drinks. You should go do that.”
“I’m working,” Jordan replies.
“And I’m giving you the night off.”
She laughs. “You just said yesterday that I work for Nina. Not you. So, you can’t give me the night off.”
“Take it anyway,” I reply and reach out to brush my finger over a loose curl by her ear. “Liam’s in town, and he’s coming by tonight for pizza and football. You probably don’t want to hang out for that.”
She wrinkles her nose, and I want to kiss it.
But I don’t.
“Yeah, no. That doesn’t sound like fun to me. If you’re sure?”
“I’m sure.”
“Well, okay. But if you need anything, I won’t be far. Sid lives in one of the condos less than a mile from here.”
“I won’t need anything,” I reply. “Have fun.”
But not too much fun.
Not that it’s any of my business. I’ve kissed her once. It’s not like I have a claim to her. The fact that the thought of another man putting his hands on her makes me homicidal is purely my problem.
She grins and reaches for her phone, tapping the screen, then turns back to the tree. “I can’t leave without finishing these ornaments. It would drive me nuts to leave it half done.”
Her phone lights up, catching her attention.
“Looks like I’m on with Sidney in a couple of hours. I feel like I’m playing hooky.”
“You’re not,” I reply. “Have fun.”
She grins, and it’s a shot to my heart. This woman has cast some kind of spell on me. “Thanks.”
“I’ll see you later.”
I walk out of the room before I do something monumentally stupid like strip her bare and take her right there on the living room floor in front of the fireplace.
She didn’t turn me away yesterday. But she was confused, and I won’t make another move unless she makes it crystal clear that it’s what she wants.
It’ll be good to have her out of the house for a few hours. It’ll be great to see Liam and unwind.
“It should have been me,” Liam says before taking a massive bite of his pizza.
“Pretty sure your wife would be damn pissed if you took a bullet,” I reply.
Liam was the head of security at the royal Montana estate. Until Ellie came and spent time here early last summer, and the two fell hard and fast for each other. Now, Liam’s a prince, and Randall took over Liam’s old job.
“It hasn’t been easy,” Liam admits.
“What hasn’t?”
“Adjusting. Going from what we do to having other duties. I work closely with law enforcement in London now, and there are jobs I can do, but it’s not quite the same.”
“Do you regret it?”
“Not for a second,” he says and snatches up another slice. “Ellie’s the best thing that ever happened to me. I don’t know what I’d do without her. I’d be a miserable pain in the ass, that’s for sure.”
“Sometimes, you still are.”
He laughs. “Yeah, well. I don’t regret her. I just miss the job at times. And the way it all went down last month left a bad taste in my mouth.”
“My shoulder isn’t super happy about it either,” I reply. “But it’s healing, and we’ll be back to normal soon enough.”
“Yeah, I’m sure you’re perfectly content being here with a babysitter, rather than where you’re supposed to be.”
“Fuck, no. I want to get back to work. But I can’t change any of it.”
“Good point.” He looks up at the screen. We have the game on but muted so we can talk. “Is the job still what you want?”
