All four of my sisters, plus my mother, gazed at Cole and his tux, which clearly cost more than all of our ugly Christmas sweaters combined, including the one I’d ordered from Etsy with eight reindeer snouts hand-embroidered across the front. I wondered how many of them were as tempted as I was to run a hand down the wide expanse of Cole’s snow-white dress shirt and feel the ridges of muscle underneath. I swallowed the drool pooling in my mouth.
“He’s so young,” Mom said. “He has to be Ciara’s age.”
I winced. “That’s right.”
But Mom never stopped until the horse was pulverized. “So that would make you?—”
“Perfect for me.” He gazed down at me, his habitual smirk gone and his expression soft. “I missed you.”
I brushed off his soft, meaningless words. “Why are you here?” It was only when I put my hands on my hips and felt the rough denim of my jeans that I felt underdressed even though he was the jerk who’d shown up uninvited and in formalwear to an ugly sweater party. “And how?”
“Finley knew the address, and I authorized a significant end-of-year bonus before I left.”
Ugh, I’d been too focused on my troubles to think about Finley or any of our other employees before security had escorted me out. I was momentarily glad Cole was still around to take care of them, even if he was a forked-tongued snake.
“Can we talk?” he asked. “Privately?”
“Why should she talk to you?” Denise, the tallest of us, stepped between Cole and me. She lifted her chin to glare at him.
“Because I need to apologize.” He shoved his hands into his pockets.
“Yeah, you do,” Trish said. My usually sweet sister stood shoulder to shoulder with Denise.
Megan’s arm came around my waist. “Want me to call Marv to see him out to his fancy car?”
Cole could snap my kind-hearted brother-in-law to pieces if he wanted. “No. Jesus, it’s Christmas. This will take only a minute. Come on.” I tipped my head toward the living room. “Let’s go out back.”
I led him through the entryway, past my drunk uncles in the den, and to the slider that led out to the back patio. In the daytime, you could see Mom’s carefully tended rosebushes and the succulents that nestled in pots. Tonight, the white camellia blooms were barely visible under the crescent moon.
I crossed my arms. “Make it quick. You’re intruding on my family’s celebration.”
“I’m sorry to barge in like this. Are you cold?” He flicked the button of his jacket and shrugged out of it.
“I’m fine. I’m wearing a sweater.” It was a lie. The sweater was thin and didn’t hold in my body’s heat.
“Take it.” He extended the jacket to me. “You’re always cold.”
“Dammit.” Careful not to touch his hand, I took the jacket from him and stuffed my arms into it. It smelled like him, and it was warm from his body. I crossed it over my chest.
He shoved his hands into his pockets, and his exposed white shirt glowed in the faint moonlight. “I quit.”
“What?”
“The day after they fired you, I called Anita and Ned, and I quit. Apex is without a CEO. I believe Stan stepped in as interim since he has the longest tenure. I texted you and called?—”
“I blocked your number. I didn’t want to be…” But I couldn’t admit I wasn’t strong enough to withstand the temptation to talk to him. “Why?”
“What they did to you wasn’t fair.”
“You quit out of guilt?”
“I swear, I didn’t know they’d set you up to fail. Or that they’d fire you. No one told me anything ahead of time. I quit because I couldn’t work for a company that treated someone who’d been there as long as you the way they did. Plus, being CEO wouldn’t be fun without you.”
My chest heated. “Oh, I was just a little fun for you?” Though I was relieved I wouldn’t have to deal with a repeat of the L-word in this conversation.
“No. I mean, I only enjoyed working there because of you. The company is garbage. At least, the board is. I didn’t want to be there, not without you. So, I quit.”
My steel wall was only half the thickness it had been. The rest was a molten puddle. “Good for you. I still don’t understand why you showed up here.”
