“You set me up,” he said under his breath.
“Only a little,” she teased.
For the first time in a while, I envied my sister for her easy nature. She was able to put people at ease while I usually faded into the background. I wished I could tease Braxton just as easily.
I tamped down the thought, inwardly scolding myself. Braxton was just a nice man. I would probably look silly trying to flirt, wink, or tease.
I glanced at Braxton, wishing things were different.
Chapter Nine: The Mistletoe Offensive
Braxton
I had expected questions, explanations, and contingency plans. What I had not expected were sticks.
I stood at the lobby desk with my laptop open, reviewing the renovation schematics that Dex and I had drafted the night before. William stood beside me with a pencil tucked behindhis ear, pointing out the places where the floor joists were still questionable. Dex nodded, using his stylus to mark them on the sketches. We were coming up with a plan to replace and manage the project in a cost effective manner for the Bennet family.
It was peaceful and easy. I liked William’s simplistic calm and thoughtful solutions. He had experience in carpentry and home repairs. Dex and I brought practical architectural skills and youth that were willing to learn from William’s experience.. My coffee sat cooling beside my laptop as we discussed the best way to go about the repairs necessary to keep the SnowDrop Inn in good shape.
Then the reception room door opened.
A bridesmaid marched out holding a wooden spoon with mistletoe taped to the end. She lifted it high like a parade baton. Others spilled out behind her, waving spoons and paintbrush handles, all of them topped with mistletoe. Modern Christmas music thumped from a speaker they carried. Someone jingled a set of bells every time she moved her arms, which was often. Glitter drifted through the air as though they had walked through a festive explosion.
I watched them cross the hallway with a quiet concern. They were getting closer.
William looked at them, then looked at me. “Having raised five girls, this doesn’t bode well.”
“I agree,” I slowly said.
Dex shut my laptop firmly. “I think it’s time to retreat.”
The first bridesmaid spotted a cameraman and charged toward him with the mistletoe held like a knight’s lance.
“I claim a kiss in the name of Mistletoe tradition!” she shouted.
The cameraman stepped backward until he hit the wall. The boom mic dipped to the side bouncing off the bridesmaid’s shoulder.
Another bridesmaid spotted me as I slipped my laptop under my arm. “Mr. Architect!”
“Mr. Hale,” I reminded her, backing up a step as she and a few other girls came forward into the lobby with determined looks on their faces. I looked back forDex and William for support but William had completely disappeared and Dex gave me a slightly guilty look as he was about to go into the office behind the desk.
“Tut tut tut! Dex! I see you,” one of the bridesmaid’s, a dyed blonde who had slightly frizzy hair said as she lifted up a green plastic margarita glass. “Come back out here!”
“I heard you were both rich,” a brunette bridesmaid mentioned as she stood in my personal space.
“Define rich,” I muttered.
“Millionaire rich,” she murmured, touching my sleeve.
I sidestepped but she came with me and I was now out of room with the lobby desk and people milling about.
“No. I’m not a millionaire,” I corrected her. It was true. It was family money, not just mine. Just because the Hales owned property, stocks, and all sorts of things, didn’t mean it was all mine.
A lot of girls had been disappointed to learn that. I had been more than disappointed to know they were just looking at me as a guy who came from the right family and had generational wealth.
She pouted as though I had personally insulted her. “That’s not what the internet says.”
“The internet gets things wrong,” I told her.
