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“I’m so happy to be spending it with you and I’m excited—and nervous—to spend it with your family. I just didn’t expect to feel so conflicted about not spending it with my own family.”
“Well, you should definitely give them a call. Wish them a Happy Thanksgiving.”
I nodded. “I will, I will. The cranberries are almost done and the potatoes will need mashing here soon…”
“Char, are you avoiding your parents?”
I tore my eyes away from the stove, where they had been proving a watched pot can boil sometimes, and met Hayden’s gaze.
“Not consciously, at least until today, but I think I am. I just like our little bubble, you know? And talking to them is going to force a conversation about the future, which forces a conversation about our future, and I just wasn’t ready.”
Hayden stepped forward, turning my body away from the stove and into his. His eyes were inches from mine. “I’ve liked the bubble too, but ignoring the outside world won’t stop it from crashing the party. And personally, I’d like to take on the outside world with you. We can figure out the rest as it comes.”
I closed my eyes, putting my forehead on his chest, breathing in a smell that was just entirely Hayden—woody, clean, and safe. “I’d like that too,” I mumbled into the grey fabric of his T-shirt.
Hayden laughed, gripping my chin and tilting it up so my mouth was no longer smooshed against his body. “What was that now?”
“I’d like that too,” I said softly, not able to look away from the magnetic powers of his gaze.
He lowered his mouth to mine for a soft kiss, lifting away after a moment. My mouth tried to chase his, but he held me firmly in place.
He reached around and smacked my ass, causing me to yelp, breaking the serious atmosphere that had settled over the kitchen. As usual, Hayden knew just what I needed.
“All right then. Let’s get this food finished, watch Santa cross into Herald Square, and get ourselves over to Preston’s before Hunter eats all the good hors d’oeuvres.”
Acouple of hours later, Preston was guiding Hayden and me into a massive club room on the top floor of his apartment building.
As I handed Hayden our dinner contributions to take off my coat, I said to Preston, “You know, when you said you were hosting Thanksgiving at your place, this is not at all what I had in mind.”
Preston snorted. “Can you imagine fitting four Brandt brothers, plus you, Dad, and Margaret into my studio downstairs? Duncan ponied up the money to rent this space for the day, I think out of guilt since he’s not able to make it back to the States until next week. I had to trade political favors to steal the space away from the chief of staff for the Speaker of the House. Welcome to a very DC Thanksgiving, Charlotte.”
I laughed as Preston took my coat from me and directed Hayden where to take our dishes in the full kitchen the space boasted to the right of the door. Standing alone in the middle of the room, I took in the huge windows, offering a view of a sun-drenched Capitol and Congress’s office buildings. Shouts coming from my left, where a large screen TV was surrounded by brown leather couches and armchairs, quickly distracted me from the view. I could see the back of two male heads, sporting brown hair similar in color to Hayden’s, seated and watching a football game. Looking at the screen, it seemed someone had just scored a touchdown.
Hayden appeared at my side and steered me toward the couches and his brothers.
“Hey, dickheads, can we keep the shouting to a minimum, at least until a real football team plays?”
A face almost identical to Hayden’s on the surface turned around to face us. “Spencer’s being a sore loser because I’m playing him in fantasy this week, and Hendricks has already scored two touchdowns in the first quarter.”
“Maybe I wouldn’t be a sore loser if you weren’t a gloating asshole about it. Ever think about that?” the youngest Brandt brother countered, pulling his eyes away from the screen to face us as well.
“Charlotte, these animals are my brothers, Spencer and Hunter. I’d apologize for them, but you’ve seen me watch football, so you get it.”
I smiled at them, hoping my nerves didn’t show. “I learned early on that suggesting players should get extra points for how good they looked in their football pants was a good way to almost see Hayden’s head explode. I’m happy to share my point value system with you, if you’re interested.”
Hayden rolled his eyes as his brothers laughed.
Hunter extended his hand over the back of the couch to shake mine, his button-down shirt sleeves rolled up to reveal colorful full-sleeve tattoos on both arms. Upon closer inspection, he shared facial features with Hayden, but there was a tiredness around his eyes that Hayden didn’t have.
“Charlotte, good to meet you. Hayden has been annoyingly mum on the details, so thanks for hanging out with Preston so we could at least know a few things about you.”
“You’re such a fucking gossip, Hunt. Hi, Charlotte, I’m Spencer. I don’t gossip with my brothers, so I know nothing about you. Want to play twenty questions later?”
“Psh, you don’t gossip? Then, please tell me how his entire grade knew that Hayden had made it to second base under the bleachers with Natalie Menendez moments after it happened?” Preston asked, coming up to join our little group.
“Okay, okay. I don’t gossip about my brothers anymore,” the baby of the family relented, as the others laughed, clearly unashamed of his past crimes.
“Natalie, under the bleachers, hmm,” I teased, looking over at Hayden.
