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“No. It seems like the more time I’m with you, the more that I want.”
“That’s dangerous,” she says. Her tone is light and teasing, but there’s a hesitancy there as well.
I glance in the rearview mirror to make sure it’s still just us. “I don’t think it’s dangerous at all.”
“You know what I mean.”
“I know that I want you to come home with me.”
“Rush—” she starts, but I place my index finger to her lips.
“Just tonight. Please, just let me hold you. My family took up all your time and attention today, and I’m feeling neglected.” I give her my best puppy-dog eyes.
“We’re blurring the lines, Rushton. You agreed you would wait.”
“I will wait. But just this one time. I won’t ask again. Think of it as an early Christmas gift.”
“It’s too early for a Christmas gift.”
“Not if it’s your best gift.”
“Just sleeping?”
“A goodnight kiss, but I promise to stop there.”
“We’ve been known to get out of control,” she reminds me.
“I promise, gorgeous, and I always keep my promises. Besides, we said we were going to online shop together.”
“You’re too much.”
“If you really don’t want to, I’ll take you home. I just really want more time with you.”
“A goodnight kiss.”
“Nothing more than a goodnight kiss and you in my arms.”
“This is the last time. We can’t keep doing this.”
“I’d love to tell you that I’m not going to ask again, but I can’t make that promise.”
“At least you’re honest.” She looks down at her hands on her lap. The sun is just starting to set, so I can still make out her features. “After a day with your family, it’s going to be hard to go home alone.”
“Is that a yes?”
“Just to sleep.”
“I promise.”
“Yes.”
I want to kiss her so fucking bad, but if it’s one goodnight kiss I get, it’s not going to be a quick peck in my truck. Instead, I reach over the console, take her hand in mine, and bring it to my lips. I rest our hands on the console, look both ways, and pull out on the road. Not the one that leads to her place but the one that leads to mine.
Thirty minutes later, she’s dressed in one of my T-shirts and is lying in my arms in my bed. I’ve already kissed her goodnight. I took my time but didn’t push. I kissed her soft and slow and pulled her into my chest. Her body relaxes into mine as we both drift off to sleep.
CHAPTER
TWENTY
Crosby
“So, how do y’all handle Christmas?” I ask. I’m sitting in the back seat of Ramsey’s SUV. We’re a mini two-vehicle caravan on our way to Atlanta to do some Christmas shopping. When Alyssa called me earlier this week and asked me to join them, I tried to get out of it, but she wouldn’t take no for an answer.
It wasn’t that I didn’t want to go. Shopping with a group of friends isn’t something I’ve ever done, and it sounded like a good time. My hang-up was that I didn’t really have anyone to buy for. I’ve been tossing around the idea of getting something for Rushton, but we already blur the lines so much these days I can’t determine if it’s a good idea or not. At the end of the day, we’re friends.
That led me to get something for this amazing group of ladies that I’m spending my day with, and of course, I was going to buy for the kids, and I ordered gifts for all my students. Then that led me to leaving out Rushton’s brothers, and that didn’t seem fair if their wives and kids were getting gifts, and then his parents and I started to freak out. I don’t know what’s appropriate. My ex wasn’t close to his family, and he was the kind of guy that was like, babe, let’s forgo gifts and spend time together. Then he’d blow me off. Yeah, I know I dodged a bullet with that one.
“What do you mean?” Ramsey asks, glancing at me in the rearview mirror.
“There are so many of you. How do you do gifts? Does everyone buy for everyone? Do you draw names?”
“We stopped getting gifts for everyone a couple of years ago. It was getting to the point where we were all just exchanging gift cards. Once the twins turned eighteen, we switched to spoiling Blakely and, of course, Aunt Carol and Uncle Raymond. They buy for all of us, even when we tell them not to. We’ve also drawn names in the past, but this year, since we have so many new baby Kincaids, we’re keeping it to just the kids and my aunt and uncle,” she explains.
“There has been the occasional gag gift,” Alyssa chimes in. “None of us ever rule that out.”
“I can only imagine the gag gifts that the guys come up with.”
