“I forgot what it was.”
“Does your boss-slash-boyfriend treat you as well as I used to?”
“Yes. Better.”
“How so?”
“It’s none of your business.” I started to head back inside, but he grabbed my elbow, his grip tight enough to make my skin prickle, and spun me around.
“I disagree.” He lowered his voice. “We have a holiday engagement pact, and we spoke about this four months ago, remember?”
He didn’t wait for me to give him an answer.
“If neither one of us is married by thirty, we’ll marry each other,” he said. “You were single just a few months ago, and I overheard your Aunt May talking about you being engaged…”
Knots coiled in my stomach. “Brandon…”
“You even told me youhatedthis guy last time we spoke, and every time before that, all you ever said about him was how terrible of a boss he was to you.”
“He is a terrible boss.”
“But he’s good enough for you to want to be with for the rest of your life?” He scoffed. “Come on, Jenna. Let me in on the game. This is a game to him, isn’t it?”
“No.” I set down my glass. “It happened unexpectedly. I fell in love with him, and that’s all there is to it.”
“So, it has nothing to do with him getting his inheritance via a consummation clause?”
How the hell do you know that?I swallowed. “No.”
“Say it a bit more convincingly for me, and I’ll consider letting it go.”
“It’s none of your business.”
“It is if he’s the reason why I can’t have you now.” His eyes were cold. “You know I used to be one hell of a journalist, Jenna. You should know better than to try and pull one over on me…”
“No one is pulling anything on you, Brandon. Your opinion is irrelevant.” I pushed him away and returned inside the house.
In the living room, my smallest cousins were using Nicholas as a ladder to reach the secret elf hiding atop the ceiling fan.
“Nicholas?” I whispered to him. “Nicholas?”
“Hold on,” he said, waiting for the last toddler to get off his back. “What’s going on?”
“We need to talk in private,” I said. “Now.”
“It’s time for Fact or Fiction, everyone!” My stepmom announced. “Christmas Eve Edition!”
“Me and Nicholas will be right back to play,” I said. “Save us a round.”
“I will do no such thing.” She scoffed. “Sit your ass down at the dining table and play round one with everyone else.”
Nicholas smiled and clasped my hand, pulling me to the dining table with him.
“What did we need to talk about?” he whispered as my other family members took their places.
“It’s about?—”
“Cousin Jenna and her boyfriend are cheating!” Elizabeth, my seven-year-old cousin who never let anything get by her, squealed. “They’re not supposed to be talking!”
