“No?”
She shakes her head. “No. It’shypnotizedby dick. Like it’s that good. So literally the opposite.”
“Oh.” Mom laughs at herself. “Well, I shouldn’t have said that, then.”
Jules cackles. “No.”
“It’s good that you weren’t so dickmatized by Nate that you couldn’t leave him.”
“Mom!” Cassie waves her hands.
“What? Still no?”
“Very much no,” Jules says. “Nobody wants to think about Nate’s penis.”
“I do,” Mara says. She shrugs when we all stare at her. “What? If he wasn’t good enough to Cassie, then we should talk about that. You girls need to stand up for your own pleasure.”
Cassie buries her face in her hands. “Make it stop.”
Tabitha gestures at my mom. “Cookie decorating, Carmie?”
“Yes, of course. Rory, hurry up with the drinks.”
“I was trying to when you took this in a weird direction!”
Just then, the guys all come back,and that sends everyone into another wave of hysterical laughter that nobody is willing to explain.
Garrett’s gaze immediately finds me, and the wild giggle dies on my tongue. His eyebrows lift in a silent question.Having fun?
Yes.The answer is immediate and unreservedly true. I smile and nod.
The corners of his mouth curve up, and all the breath rushes out of me. I stare at him, the noise of the kitchen fading away.
I don’t know why a simple smile has tilted my world on its axis, but here we are.
It’s like I’m seeing Garrett through fresh eyes.
Jules nudges me, and I drag my attention to the glasses she’s set out. I manage to pour a round of drinks, and then we all raise our glasses to sister in-jokes.
My heart is pounding as I take a sip of my nog. It’s delicious. The wild warmth spreading through my limbs isn’t from the rum, though. That’s all Garrett.
Chapter 19
Garrett
I’mveryaware of Rory beingveryaware of me, and it’s killing me that I can’t drag her away to talk about whatever is going on in her busy, pretty little head. I probably pushed too far by telling her that she’s precious to me, but fuck it, it’s true. And if there’s a chance in hell that the truth gets us somewhere better, then that would be fucking amazing.
But Christmas Eve isn’t the time for private conversations. It’s not even time for uninterrupted group conversations. The sisters all talk over each other, both generations, and none of them seem bothered. They understand each other’s half-sentences and find everything hilarious.
It’s nice to see Rory laugh this much.
I’ve missed that.
After eggnog, Carmen tries to decorate cookies with the young monsters, but that makes a massive mess.
“I bet Uncle Dante could find you some lights to decorate a tree with outside, hmm?” she finally says. When your family owns a Christmas tree farm, there’s never an end to the decorating possibilities. “Do you boys want to go outside with your dad and Garrett?”
I’m not sure why I’m being volunteered for this, other than the fact that I’m tall, and a guy, but I don’t mind. Whatever the Minellis need today, I’m their dude.
