Never Christmas Without You. Reese Ryan
Although, his aunt and uncle did occasionally toss out some privileged comment about who would dare send their child to public school, and boarding school was really best for children. Alex just ignored their pretentiousness.
His cousins Jason and Mack wouldn’t be in town until tomorrow, so at least tonight’s dinner was a small group. He didn’t have to pretend for too many people.
He was so good at putting on a show. Depending on the situation. In particular with his family. He deliberately wore that air of being unfazed. He was really good at that one. He’d been practicing it for years. And he was exactly who they needed him to be. The loser underdog. He knew some of the relatives disregarded his father’s marriage, and in turn he felt their attitude toward him was dismissive. Which was fine by him because his boutique hotel was already in the black. He was proving them wrong. Just by existing. Just by having tried and not crumbling under the pressure.
After the plates were clear of the dinner, Scotch was passed around, along with the bread pudding. Alex yawned next to him, which caught his grandmother’s attention. “Alex, honey, you look exhausted. Given that you and Justin were traveling from San Diego, then had to contend with the traffic and the ferry, why don’t you two get up to bed? I’m headed in that direction myself. Doctor’s orders and all that. Can you imagine she told me I need to be in bed by nine every night?” Grandma Lucy shook her head.
Alex laughed. “Yeah, just with this gallery opening, I’ve been burning the candle at both ends. I need to do some hard-core relaxing.”
Martin was there with a comeback. “I can help you relax.” And just when Justin was about to stand and knock him flat on his ass, he added, “A lot of sightseeing to do on the island, all very chill. I can make sure you have the best tour of the city.” He flashed Justin a grin. The jerk was doing it on purpose.
With good-nights said, Justin had no option but to follow Alex up the stairs. The staircase wound from the south around to the east in a gentle curve until they reached the top. With every step Alex took, her heels clacked against the granite. It was funny, he’d never imagined himself coming home, and never with Alex. But somehow they both looked like they belonged. Usually Alex was in something casual, but in her classic A-line dress and her stilettos, she looked the part. More than you do. He shoved that errant thought to the back of his head. He didn’t have time for that right now. Right now, he needed to figure out how he was going to sleep in the same room as Alex for several days and keep his hands to himself.
This all should have been easy. But instead, they were facing the dilemma of “hey, where can we sleep?” If he didn’t know better, he would’ve sworn his grandmother did this on purpose.
When they reached the threshold, Alex put her hand on his arm. “Look, before you start saying crazy things and offering to sleep sitting up on the chair or on the hard floor, we’ll just share the bed, okay?”
His dick twitched as if to say Hell yes, I’m so down with that plan. Justin cleared his throat. “I’m not sure that’s the best idea.”
Alex’s brows furrowed. “Why not? We’ve passed out on the couch together a hundred times. This is no different. It’s totally fine. Unless of course you sleep naked?”
Yes, that was one problem. He usually did sleep naked. But he could toss on pajama bottoms. Although, what if he couldn’t resist giving in to that crackle between them? “Why? Do you want me to sleep naked?”
Even under the soft brown of her skin, he saw her cheeks flush. “I—I—You can sleep how you like. I’m sure me sleeping naked would only make you uncomfortable. So I ask you not to do the same.”
She was right. The idea of her sleeping naked made him all kinds of uncomfortable—in his jeans. “Relax, I’m teasing. You’re right. We’ve done this dozens of times. This is no big deal. Get ready for bed, hit the sack. I swear, I am capable of being a perfect gentleman.”
There was something in her eyes that told him she wanted to ask him something, or tell him something, maybe? But as quickly as it appeared it was gone again. As she was headed to the bathroom to brush her teeth, his stomach fisted then loosened and then fisted again. And Heaven help him, his hands twitched a little.
He changed quickly for bed, checking his clothes and tossing on some pajama bottoms. He was always too hot and liked to sleep with the window open, but he knew that Alex was almost always too cold. So the best he could compromise was to sleep with his shirt off, to at least regulate his body temperature a little bit. When she came out of the bathroom, she was humming, but stopped short when she took one look at him. “Where’s your T-shirt?”
“I get too hot, remember?”
Alex opened her mouth to say something, then shut it again. Then tried one more time, but got the same guppy routine.
“Something you want to say, Alex?” Even as the question rolled off his tongue, his dick stirred and he ground his teeth to keep from groaning. He needed to get to the bathroom quickly before she noticed what was happening south of his waistband. “I’m just going to go brush my teeth.”
“Yeah, you do that.”
As Justin locked himself in the bathroom, he breathed a huge sigh of relief. How in the world was he going to make it through the night sleeping next to her? He was terrified his own inappropriate thoughts were going to soon turn into questionable actions. And Alex was too important to him for that.
Alex sank deeper into the warmth. When was the last time she’d slept like this? She was usually on the go so much that it wasn’t uncommon for her to get about five, maybe six, hours of sleep a night. Especially when she was prepping for something like a gallery opening or showing.
She nuzzled farther into the warmth then froze. One of her hands encountered something hard, hot... Oh no. Justin. Her first instinct was to jump back, pretend the breach hadn’t happened. The thing she knew her hand had encountered—abs. Rock-hard abs. And yes, she’d seen him shirtless dozens of times. Never lost its impact, though. He was beautiful. And he knew it.
Last night when they’d gone to bed, she’d picked a spot on the ceiling and focused on that, willing sleep to come. Because if she hadn’t done that, she would’ve stared.
Justin breathed deep and rolled over, slinging an arm across her waist. Oh God. Alex could smell the faint hint of his shower gel from the night before.
Okay, no more torturing herself, out of bed. She was going to be productive today. At the very least, she could hop the ferry to Los Angeles and check on the gallery opening and the delivery of her pieces. Yes, nice and focused. And so much better than ogling Justin.
She hated leaving him alone with his family, but a little space would do her some good. The last thing she wanted was for this little venture to be a stressor on their relationship.
She slid out from under his arm, and was in the bathroom in seconds. She snatched up her shower cap out of her toiletry bag and carefully tucked her straight hair underneath it. In and out of the shower in five minutes, she was dressed even faster. By the time she tiptoed out of the bedroom, Justin was still sleeping.
She skipped down the stairs, figuring she’d grab something quick in the kitchen and hit the first ferry for nine o’clock. But she skidded to a stop when she found Grandma Lucy in the kitchen puttering around.
“Good morning, do you need help getting anything? I can help you.”
Grandma Lucy turned around, put her hand on her hip, cocking it slightly. “Honey, this is my kitchen. Nothing you could help me find that I didn’t put there myself.”
“Oh, I know, ma’am, just thought I’d get something for you so you don’t exert yourself.”
The old lady grinned at her. “Ma’am? A long time since anyone called me that. Just call me Grandma Lucy.”
Alex