She stares at me for a beat, bites her lower lip, inhales deeply enough to make her chest rise in ways that my dick notices, and then steps inside to join me. “Why do you think that?”
I let the door shut and walk back to my living room, letting her follow. “You’re right. They all look at me like I’m the arrogant asshole who doesn’t give them credit.”
“You’re also the newest player on the team.”
“Rookies are newer.”
“You’re the newestexperiencedplayer on the team. You have a history. They know it.”
The question dangles in the air.Want to talk about what happened in Nottingshire?
No.
No, I don’t.
Doesn’t mean I don’t need to, but needing to and wanting to are not the same here.
I sit on one end of the couch and stare at the board games on my coffee table.
She takes a seat at the other end, deposits the tiara on my end table, and then makes a noise. “Monopoly? Of course you have Monopoly.”
“Presents,” I say.
“For who?”
“My niece.”
She stares at me. “You told me you were an only child.”
“I’ve mentioned my sister.”
She stares harder. “You sounded like you were joking.”
Once again, I’m smiling.
This is fun.
She’s not wrong. I can tell you the truth and make you question it, and I use it to my advantage when I don’t want to let people close.
“Her birthday?” Goldie asks.
“My family celebrates the holidays on February third.”
Her entire face goes on a journey ofhe did not just say that, and then she cracks up.
“Laugh all you want. It’s what we do.”
“No, no, it’s—myfamily celebrates all of the holidays on Thanksgiving. That’s when we do Christmas gifts.Did. When we did Christmas gifts.”
I stare at her.
She stares back, but she’s still smiling like this is the best surprise ever.
“Why Thanksgiving?” I ask.
“Before my parents got divorced, they’d always take us to high-end all-inclusive resorts for the entirety of winter break, and they hated taking presents on the plane, so they made up a story about how Santa brought thebestkids presents for Thanksgiving instead. Why February third for you?”
“Why not February third?”
