by Christi Snow
Mac led them to the back of the house into a huge kitchen that opened to a living area. The rest of the men who’d been with Emily in Vegas stood in clusters over by the fireplace. A huge Christmas tree twinkled near a table laden with food. Everyone was eating and chatting in the very laidback atmosphere that spoke of close friends.
It was a surprisingly fun and relaxing evening. Emily fit right in with this group of men. Tonight she had him, too, but he wondered if she ever felt like the odd man out with the two couples.
But that’s why she’d joined him on his piano bench at the jazz club...she’d wanted to give the two couples some space. He knew the two of them weren’t going to be together forever, but he liked that he’d gotten to come here with her tonight to give her balance.
She laughed and smiled at a story Ryder and Stig were telling, and that sound lit him up inside. He liked it. He liked her. Warmth filled his chest. Fuck, it was becoming very possible that he more than liked her.
She slipped her hand through his and happiness glittered in her eyes when she looked at him. She was having fun and enjoying him being here with her, too. She had so much to offer someone. It hurt him to think about her being alone for the rest of her life. It hurt him more to think that he might not ever be with her like this again.
He cupped Emily’s elbow and whispered, “I’ll be back in a little bit. I need to go find a restroom.”
He slipped out into the hall to gather his thoughts and to calm his heart as it tried to gallop out of his chest.
I don’t want to let her go.
It was a startling revelation, but not a bad one. He just hadn’t seen it coming and didn’t know what to do with it. He’d agreed to let Emily go eventually, but he didn’t want to do that. Could he convince her to stay? Would he survive it if he couldn’t?
A couple of minutes later, Mac found him still frozen in the hall. He frowned at Brady. “Why do you have that look on your face?”
Brady tried to clear his expression and replace it with something besides blind panic. But whatever he did made Mac seem more alarmed. Mac glanced around and dragged Brady down the hall and through a set of ornate double doors leading into a magnificent library.
Once they were inside and Mac had shut the doors firmly behind them again, he crossed his arms over his chest. “Start talking.”
Brady shook his head, not knowing what to say. This was all supposed to be temporary. They’d both agreed. The paperwork was in process. It was just supposed to be fun. When had that changed for him?
He sank into a chair. Sometime between watching her pick out the perfect gift for his niece and realizing that she lived in misery here in her mausoleum of a house as some sort of twisted penance he’d fallen for her. He gazed up at Mac in shock. “I think...I think I’m falling in love with her.”
Mac pursed his lips, but he didn’t look surprised by the admission.
“That doesn’t surprise you,” Brady said.
“No, it doesn’t. There’s a reason that Emily has been married four times. It’s so easy to fall for her. I’m gay, and I see it. That same thing all you straight guys see and fall in love with is what makes her my best friend. She’s incredible.” Mac began to pace unhappily.
“But, Brady...” Mac stopped and stared at Brady. “She’s been so hurt. She’s not an easy person to love. She doesn’t let others in. Even with you... I can see you’re close, but I don’t think she’s ever going to let you all the way in.”
Mac shook his head. “I hate to warn you off, because I love her. She’s the best thing that ever happened in my life. I want her to be happy, but Emily doesn’t work like that. For some reason, she’s messed up. She doesn’t think she’s allowed to be happy. Something about growing up the way she did... Just be careful with your heart, because I don’t think she’s going to want to keep it.” Mac left the room, leaving Brady there alone.
His heart broke at the idea that he didn’t even have a chance.
A spotlight in the center of the room caught his eye. He approached the display. It was a book that had been turned into a piece of art.
You Determine Your Fate.
Do Epic Shit.
The words spoke to him. That was it. While he couldn’t control Emily, he could control his actions. He’d show her just how much he loved her. He would prove to her that the two of them could be amazing together.
Christmas was supposed to be the season of miracles. He wasn’t giving up. But Emily was skittish. He’d need to build up to this idea slowly, so she didn’t bolt completely.
He had one week to convince Emily to stay as his wife. Fate had brought them together. He would make for damn sure that he controlled it so that it didn’t tear them apart.
Chapter Thirteen
The next morning at five a.m., they drove west out of Denver headed for the compound. Brady’s nieces and nephews would only wait so long to dig into the presents, so Brady had promised they’d be there by eight.
This was not a time of day that Emily normally would be awake. She sipped her coffee, trying to get the caffeine to infuse her bloodstream faster. An hour into the drive, she didn’t feel anymore awake than she had when they left the house.
But the late night probably had something to do with it. They’d gotten home from Mac’s around midnight. Brady had been strangely intent and focused as he very slowly made love to her. They didn’t fall asleep until after one a.m.
That quiet intensity had followed through this morning. She couldn’t get a read off him and wondered if he now regretted inviting her to join his family for the holidays. Considering they’d only known one another for a few weeks, doing all these holiday traditions together felt intimate...more so than anything else they’d done together, including sex.
Outside the windshield, the snow flurries began to fall more intensely. “Do you have much experience driving on the snow?” she asked.
He chuckled low. “Don’t worry. I have tons of experience. Luke never comes with me to the compound, and I come out every chance I get during the winter. Besides, our rental SUV has studded tires and four-wheel drive. This baby won’t be sliding. We’ll be fine.”
She hummed her acknowledgement and went back to sipping her coffee.
“I had fun with your friends last night,” Brady said. “They seem like nice guys.”
“Thanks. I think they liked you, too. It was a bit weird just because they all know that we got married. It made it seem more real, you know?”
And she kind of liked that. More than kind of liked it.
“Yeah.” His deep voice rumbled, but she couldn’t read his expression in the low light from the dash.
“What are you going to tell your family about us?” They hadn’t discussed this. Was she his girlfriend? Just a friend he invited along? Would they think it was weird that she was so much older than him? Why hadn’t she thought this through more?
He stared at the road and didn’t answer for a long moment.
Her stomach sank. “I shouldn’t have come, should I? It’s not too late. You can take me back to Denver. It will be fine. Just tell them you overslept or got caught up in the snow. I don’t wan—”
Brady set his warm hand high on her thigh. “Emily, relax. It’s okay. I wasn’t hesitating because I don’t want you there. Hell, that’s part of my dilemma. I do want you there, and I don’t want to lie to them. They love me. They’d understand, especially after they get to know you.” He was silent for a moment, his throat clicking as he swallowed. “I want to introduce you as my wife.”
She hissed in a gasp of surprise. His wife. She wanted this to be real. For him to dangle it like it could be was beyond cruel. “No! You can’t do that. No, no, no. Brady, this isn’t what we agreed. They’d hate me, because I’m ruining your life. Why would you want to do that? We’re just waiting for the annulment and then no one ever has to know.”
“Was last night so awful with your friends?” He sounded hurt, which is the last thing she wanted, but she
had to protect herself, too.
What they were doing was already so dangerous for her heart. To make it feel more real... No, she couldn’t stand the idea of having that and then getting it yanked away.
“I had a great time with you last night. You fit right in. But Brady, this is your family. I’m thirteen years older than you. You have your whole life ahead of you. They’ll never understand what we were thinking. Hell, we don’t even know what we were thinking.” No mom wanted her little boy with a failed marriage in his past.
“I think I know.”
“You know what?” she asked slowly.
“I know what I was thinking when I married you. I was thinking that there would never be another woman as incredible as you, and I should grab onto you and hold you before I lost the chance.”
“Brady...” Her voice sounded breathless, but it was no more breathless than she felt. He couldn’t really believe that, could he? They couldn’t do this. This couldn’t be real. Her world spun.
He had his whole life ahead of him. She was on the other side of thirty. They didn’t work. But a tiny voice in one corner of her heart said they could work...if she’d allow it to happen.
He grabbed her hand. “I know we had an agreement. I’m not backing out on that”
Her heart plummeted. What was up with that? She couldn’t have him. She knew that. For a moment, though, her heart had leapt at the idea of waking up every day with Brady in her bed. The notion of being able to see those dimples of his every morning over breakfast.
“Let’s just enjoy the week and see what happens,” he said.
What did he mean by that? Did he think they could actually make this marriage work? They’d already agreed...it wouldn’t work. To hope for more was just asking for heartbreak. No thank you. Been there, done that, not doing it again.
She already knew what would happen. Eventually, he’d grow tired of her, just like every other man she’d ever been involved with. She was fun and fine for the short term. Never for the forever term.
“Okay?” he asked. “Give me one more week just like we promised. We’re good together, Em.”
She hummed, not really answering because her throat was too thick with unshed tears from unfulfilled and crushed dreams. She couldn’t let her heart hope like that again.
He glanced over at her, but she turned toward the car window and closed her eyes, feigning exhaustion. That wasn’t too far from the truth, but her spinning brain would never let her fall asleep.
TWO ALMOST COMPLETELY silent hours later, they arrived at the compound. Emily had continued to feign sleep until the curvy road demanded that she open her eyes or get a bad case of car sickness. Snowfall on the road required Brady to pay attention to his driving and not conversation, so she was safe from more discussion.
They turned off the highway at a large, wrought-iron gate that had been left open. The narrow, gravel road had been cleared of snow at some point today, although it had begun to pile up on it again. The road curved and every once in a while, lights shone from a cabin in among the trees.
“Do all these cabins belong to your family?” she asked.
“Yes.” He waved a hand to the right of the car. “Daniel, and Michael, his brother, have that cabin there. Mine is just down this drive.”
They turned off onto a smaller road and followed it another eighth of a mile before the stopped in front of a large, two-story log cabin with a covered porch along the entire front of it. The porch light had been left on, and Christmas tree lights twinkled through the window.
Emily blew out a breath of relief. While she wasn’t really ready to meet his family with this weird tension between them, she had to get out of the close confines of the car.
Someone had plowed all the roads and drives within the compound as well as cleared all the paths up to the cabin. But the snow was at least a foot deep where it hadn’t been cleared. It looked just like a magical winter wonderland Christmas card.
She got out of the car and stretched her legs, while Brady opened the back of the SUV. They each grabbed a couple of bags. Then she followed him up to the surprisingly large cabin. She glanced down the length of the large covered porch with two, cozy rocking chairs on it. “You’re the only one that lives here?”
“Yeah.” Brady unlocked the door and waved her inside. “My parents have their cabin on the other side of the compound, but I like being back here. There’s a bit more privacy than some of the other cabins have. There’s a caretaker for the entire compound who also has a cabin. He does things like turning on lights and the heat when we’re on our way, plowing the drives, and watching over the property when we’re not here.”
This place was beautiful. Dark, worn-looking, chocolate leather furniture graced the living room. The black granite and cherry kitchen lay on the other side of the open space with cathedral ceiling.
“Does he also put up trees?” She gestured to the huge, ten-foot tree that dominated the front of the large living room. Covered in expensive ornaments, it looked like a custom tree done by one of those high dollar decorators. It almost eclipsed the rest of the gorgeous, but very male-looking décor of the cabin...almost.
“Um, no.” He frowned as he approached the tree in confusion. “He doesn’t. My mom must have done it, but that’s weird. She’s never decorated before when I’ve come for Christmas.”
A sinking feeling settled into Emily’s stomach. “What did you tell her about me?” She’d planned to talk him out of outing her as his wife before they met anyone, but it could already be too late.
“Actually, the last week has been nuts, and I haven’t talked to her since I talked you into coming, so she doesn’t even know about you.”
“Oh, okay.” Why did that feel like a letdown? That’s what she wanted...for him to treat their relationship like it was no big deal.
“I need to call my mom and let her know we’re here and will be over after we freshen up. Maybe she’ll explain the tree.”
Emily nodded. “Sounds good. Are the bedrooms upstairs or downstairs? I’ll go get settled in and freshen up while you make the call.”
“The master is up the stairs and to the right all the way at the end of the hall. Leave your big suitcase here, and I’ll bring it up in a moment.”
“Okay, thanks.”
The staircase was a work of art itself. The handrail was a carved spiral, and each step featured a raw front edge with a highly polished open tread mixed with wrought iron supports.
It looked like upstairs had several rooms, but Emily bee-lined straight to the master, needing a few minutes to gather her wits before Brady followed her up. The door to the master bedroom was closed. She opened it, flipping on the light as she did so.
“Merry Christmas, Baby,” came a sultry, feminine voice from the bed.
Anya.
Naked. Blonde. Gorgeous. Statuesque. Perky breasts. Perfect flat stomach.
In Brady’s bed.
Yeah, Merry Christmas, Emily. You got screwed, again.
Chapter Fourteen
Emily stumbled back into Brady’s hard chest, and he reached around her waist to steady her.
Anya unfolded from the bed in all her naked glory as she stepped onto the dark wood floor, a scowl on her face as she focused in on Emily. Then her gaze switched to Brady’s hand holding Emily around the waist.
Anya cocked her hip and placed a slender hand on top of it, completely secure in her nakedness. “Who the fuck are you?”
“She’s my wife,” Brady said in a harsh tone. “So maybe you can explain to both of us how you ended up here. Uninvited.”
Anya’s eyes widened in surprise at the word “wife” and then turned calculating as her eyebrows went up in faux shock. “Your mother invited me. She thought my arrival—you know, since we’ve been together for years—would be perfect for the holidays.”
Emily tried not to let the impact of those words show. She doubted she did a very good job since her stomach churned, and her skin heated from the embarra
ssment and humiliation. She didn’t have much of a history with Brady, not one to compare with the years he had with this stunning beauty still standing there, completely confident in her own exquisiteness.
Brady’s arm tightened around Emily’s stomach as he growled in displeasure. “We were never together like that, Anya, and you know it. Besides, what little relationship I did have with you is over. I broke it off.”
Emily pulled out of his hold. “I’ll leave you two alone to sort this out.” She slipped by him and out the door as he called after her.
“Emily.”
“Let her go,” Anya said cattily.
Emily picked up her pace to a jog so she wouldn’t hear any more. Back downstairs, she grabbed her jacket and flew outside. She stumbled to a halt on the porch. There was nowhere to go. It was Christmas day, the snow fell even harder now, and she stood in the middle of his family compound.
Alone.
BRADY’S PULSE THUNDERED in his ears. He wanted to chase after Emily, but he couldn’t do that until he dealt with Anya. “Get dressed,” he growled.
She must have seen the fury in his face, because she hurriedly grabbed some clothes from the suitcase she’d set in the corner of the room. At least she hadn’t had the gall to unpack.
He turned his back and clenched his jaw as he tried to work his stress out by stretching and flexing his fists.
“I’m dressed,” Anya said.
Brady turned back around, not caring what she wore or how she looked. He just wanted her out. “How did you get here?”
“Like I told you, I came with your mom and dad on the family jet.”
Brady fought the urge to scream. Why would his father have gone along with this? He’d known that Brady was through with Anya. “And how did you convince them of that? What lies did you tell them?”
Her back bowed up in anger and hurt. “I didn’t lie to them, not really. I told them that you were getting cold feet, but that you would realize once you got here that our breakup had been a mistake. I thought this would be a good surprise.”