“Headed home, ma’am. Won’t be able to make it.” He turned on the charm, held her gaze, nodded just a bit—a trick he’d learned on the road to make a rejection not feel so personal.
Kenzie pulled open the heavy wooden door. “Thanks for stopping by, Mom. Talk soon.”
Her mother sailed across the threshold, pausing only briefly to kiss Kenzie’s cheek.
The door pushed closed, and Kenzie leaned against it, her breaths measured.
“Are you o—”
She held up a finger. “Give me a second.”
He waited.
“What’re you doing?” he finally asked.
“Trying to figure out how to get out of going to my mother’s for Christmas.” Head raised, she pasted on a smile he knew wasn’t honest. “Okay, what’s up?”
He shoved his hands in the pockets of his jeans. “I believe I may have a solution to your problem.”
“You found out I was switched at birth?” she asked, totally serious.
“No, I have a proposition for Christmas.”
“After the argument I had with my mother just now, I really hope you’re not screwing with me.”
“I thought you might enjoy spending some time with my family at Christmas. Come visit the ranch.” There it was. All laid out for her like a picnic.
She stilled. “I thought we agreed to keep things light. Meeting your family for a major holiday isn’t light.”
A shrug, they could spend the holidays together and still keep things light, if that was what she wanted. “It’ll give the reporters something to print.”
She pressed her hands against her waist. “That’s not it. What’re you angling at here, Tucker.”
He sighed. She could read him like a pro. “It seems our mothers had the same idea. Mine wants me to invite you to the ranch for Christmas. Dad’s being persistent about it, and I figured I had to at least ask.”
“Your family wants me to come and do an appearance,” she hedged. “It’s not that you want me to come.”
He gritted his teeth. He wanted her to come. He wanted her to be in his house. He wouldn’t kick her out of his bed, either. That was the damn problem. “My family wants to meet you, and I want you to come.”
“Why?”
“What do you mean, why?”
“Why doyouwant me to come?” She spoke slowly, as though talking to a toddler.
“Because I’m inviting you?” Wasn’t that enough? He wouldn’t invite her, no matter how manipulative his mother was being, if he didn’t, deep down, want her there with him.
And he wasn’t going to dive any further into that line of thought. His goal was to get out of Los Angeles, not fall for the ringleader.
“Tucker.”
He scrubbed a hand over his cheek. She wasn’t going to make this easy.
“Yeah,” he replied.
“Is it too much for you to admit that you’re asking a friend for a favor with your family?”
When she put it like that… “No.”
