Ha!
“At their places!”
“You’re the one who insists they come here.” Her lips curved when I grunted. “The truth hurts, Grinch.”
“I’m not green.”
“That’s the only argument you have?”
“My heart doesn’t grow.”
“So you know the story.”
I sniffed. “I overheard Finn reading it to Jake one year.”
“Your heart grows.”
“Nah.”
“Grew for me. And other parts of you triple in size when I’m around.”
I chortled. “You’re not wrong, babe.”
“Anyway, not long untilDie Hardstarts.”
“Itisa Christmas movie.”
“If you say so,” she sang, then glanced over her shoulder when the puzzle they were working on triggered an argument between Kat and Shay. All while Kat intermittently conspired with Troy.The true nightmare before Christmas.“Star told me Kat’s been on edge since she and Conor began looking into her family history.”
“Is that the project we’re not allowed to talk about?”
“Yup.”
“So why are we talking about it?”
She clucked her tongue. “Man, you really did wake up on the wrong side of the bed this morning.”
“I think you’ll find I woke up on the right side of the bed because you were on my side and I was insideyou. Plus, our apartment was empty.”
Color burnished her cheeks and she hastened to change the direction of our conversation: “Are you sure Victoria’s okay? It doesn’t feel right, her not being here.”
I patted her arm. “She’s fine. She said she’d be with us tomorrow.”
Finn, with his gaze locked on the screen, casually commented, “If you need some space, I’ll cover for you.”
Because that was our cue, I rumbled, “Yeah. I’ll just grab some snacks. Thanks, bro,” and slid out from the sofa and slunk over to the kitchen and then into my bedroom.
I didn’t have long because she was my radar and that meant she’d find me out. She always did. Even when I flipped back on myself and used goddamn skills that had cost multiple governments millions of dollars in training—Inessa knew where I was.Without Conor’s help.
For one night only, I wouldn’t begrudge that skill and would be grateful for it.
Pulling open the bottom drawer in my dresser in our walk-in closet, I retrieved the box and I hustled into our bedroom.
“In the future, don’t make plans on Christmas Eve because they turn you into a gnarly fucker,” I chided myself as I shifted ass around the bedroom, well aware that time ticked down.
I made it—barely.
When soft footsteps padded through this section of the apartment, I flicked off the switch and let darkness and the city’s ghostly lights illuminate the space.
