“Exact revenge for what?” he asked incredulously. “I never did anything to you.”
“Maybe not, but Billy did, and you were his best friend.”
“Besides, if you’d been nicer to her, it might not have taken you two this long to get reconnected,” Adam added. “You guys were little shits to her, you know that? I remember the time you sabotaged her science project. She definitely deserves revenge for that.”
My eyes widened. “You were in on that too? My volcano oozed green goo instead of exploding lava. The teacher wanted to have me tested for color blindness.”
The tops of his cheeks turned adorably red. “You know what? Maybe I should just go lock myself in the pantry until this is done.”
“Sorry, baby, but I can’t allow that,” his mother sang. “Your brothers have all been through this. We call it the Demming Walk of Fire, and your turn has finally come.”
Before I could ask her what she meant by that, she dragged me into the kitchen and almost immediately tugged me into a big hug. “I think my boy is falling in love with you. We couldn’t be any more thrilled. You know, I used to have a feeling it would be you. I think it always has been, even when you were too young for him to act on it.”
I didn’t know how to react to all that, but I hugged her back and smiled when we broke apart, responding to the only thing I thought she really cared about knowing. “I’m falling in love with him, too.”
There. It’s out. Now all I had to do was tell him and then let him know that I’d said it to his mother first. Oh, brother. There’s a conversation I’m not looking forward to.
Suddenly, I understood a lot better why he’d put off telling me for so long. But I’d learned my lesson. If we wanted this to work, we had to be honest with each other. Even about the hard stuff that it was so much easier to lie about.
Chapter 23
CARTER
Dad pretended to dust off his hands after switching on the lights we’d wrapped around the tree. We’d dimmed the rest of the lights in the living area, and it was instantly awash with the flickering colors of Christmas.
“I think we did a good job,” he said, turning his head to give me a meaningful look. “Now if only you’d be honest with that girl in there and tell her how you feel about her, maybe tomorrow will be less tense than today.”
“It wasn’t tense,” I argued. I thought we’d both done a terrific job of keeping up appearances.
He arched a brow at me, a loud snort coming from him as he rolled his eyes. “Son, I’ve been to criminal trials more amicable than you two were when we got here this morning.”
“You used to be a cop. I’m pretty sure you’ve been to every kind of trial.” My ears strained to hear something from the kitchen where Mom and Rylee were still getting the drinks. When I didn’t hear anything, I lowered my voice anyway and glanced at my dad. “She knows how I feel about her. It’s not that.”
“What is it, then?” He studied me for a long moment before he laughed. “What did you do, Carter?”
“What makes you think I did anything?”
“You’re a man. If it’s not something we did, it’s something we didn’t do. Those are the only two options, so which is it?”
“Hot chocolate and cookies!” Mom saved me when she walked back into the room carrying a tray and a mug. She looked at Dad. “Did you know Rylee has a heated balcony? We can sit outside, take in the view, and not freeze to death.”
“I didn’t even know balconies could be heated,” Dad said. “Lead the way. Can we bring anything else out?”
“Rylee’s got it.” She gave my dad an exaggerated look before jerking her head in the direction of the nearest balcony. “Let’s go, honey.”
He frowned at her but didn’t ask any questions. Opening the door instead, he followed her out.
Rylee walked in a moment later with three more mugs of steaming liquid, but she shook her head when I moved to take one from her. “I’m balancing these very precariously. Just close the door, will you?”
“Sure. Will you tell me what you and my mother were talking about in there?”
Her eyes went everywhere except to mine, eventually landing on the tree. “You guys did an awesome job. Couldn’t you find the star? It should be in there somewhere.”
I bent over and swiped it from the ottoman behind me. “It’s right here. We thought you might like to do the honors.”
She went completely still, her eyes suddenly misty. “Let me just take these outside. Then we’ll come finish it up.”
My mom was surprisingly calm when Rylee walked out. Then she leaned in the doorway with Dad’s arm around her shoulder while they watched her climb onto the ottoman to fix the star. Her own eyes seemed slightly wet when Rylee passed her, and she pulled her into yet another hug before letting her go.
Rylee whispered something that I couldn’t hear, but that made my mom smile like I hadn’t seen in a long time. Both women glanced at me, and Dad chuckled but went back to his seat.
They left the loveseat for us, and Rylee sank down next to me without any argument. She snuggled into my side a little deeper than she might’ve before, wrapping her fingers around her mug before focusing on my mom.
“Well, you promised me some stories. I think Carter’s had enough of a stay of execution. What do you think?”
Mom laughed. “I think it’s time you got to know your brother and my son for the way they really were back then. Are you ready?”
“So ready.” She even leaned forward a bit. “I feel like I’ve been ready for this moment my whole life. Let me have it, Mrs. D. They have a high school reunion coming up again at some point. I might just need to take the stage there.”
“I think I can help with that,” Mom said. Her eyes twinkled in the light of the heaters on the balcony, and she rested her hand casually on my dad’s before she got going.
My parents were a shining example of everlasting love. Despite how hardened I’d become since moving here and regardless of how closed-off I’d been accused of being, I’d always longed for a relationship like theirs. Like the one all my brothers had now.
We’d all been assholes back in the day, all been notorious the way only five brothers in a smallish place could be, but then we’d grown up. Or my brothers had anyway.
There was a time when I’d thought that they’d all found love and I’d forever be the one who remained the bachelor. The Peter Pan of the family. The one who never grew all the way up.
But that was before Rylee made her sudden appearance back in my life and made me feel all the things I thought I never would. More importantly, all the things I never should’ve felt for my best friend’s little sister.
“Did Billy ever tell you about the goat?” Mom asked, and I bolted upright and swiped my fingers across my lips in an attempt to get her to shut it.
Of all the stories to start with.
Mom flatly ignored me, all her attention on Rylee when she got into the story. “Your brother was interested in some girl from that high school with the goat as their mascot. You know the one across town?”
Rylee rubbed her palms together. “Yep. I remember it.”
“Well, the boys decided it would be a great idea to steal the mascot. The girl was a cheerleader, so they figured she’d come looking for it.”
“She didn’t,” my dad added helpfully. “Her father did. He was some big-shot college swimming coach, and he found them lying on top of each other in our front yard.”
“The goat had come off the rope we had him on and we chased him at the same time,” I said, though I’d given up trying to hold onto my dignity for the evening. “We were so focused on it that we didn’t look at one another. Crashing happens. You don’t have to say it like we were intentionally on top of one another.”
Rylee roared with laughter next to me. “What happened with the girl?”
“Her father told her Billy batted for the wrong team, and she ended up trying to befriend him.” Mom chuckled. “Poor guy couldn�
��t catch a break back then.”
“I think he’s more than making up for it now.” My brother and I talked often enough that I knew some about his life in Nashville. I never flat out asked him, but from what I’d picked up, he wasn’t doing badly with the ladies. “What else have you got for me?”
“He shaved for the first time at our house,” my dad offered next. “I caught both these idiots trying to use my razor. It was blunt, and they hadn’t used much shaving cream, so they both looked like they’d been attacked by birds with all the bumps on their faces after.”
“I remember that,” she said, laughing as she propped her elbows on her knees and put her chin in the heels of her joined hands. “Billy almost cried when he dived into the pool the next day.”
“That’s why kids should let their parents know what they’re doing.” Mom chuckled again, leaning over to rest her head on Dad’s shoulder. “They think we only want to meddle. It’s too late when they realize we can actually help.”
“What happened to letting us make our own mistakes?” I asked, realizing my mistake when Dad’s bushy eyebrows wagged at me.
“Oh, I don’t know what happens then. How about you refusing to touch a razor again?”
“To be fair, he didn’t need it.” Mom sighed, her cheeks flushed under the heater but her eyes happy. “His facial hair only really started coming after he turned twenty.”
“Thanks, Mom.” I scrubbed my five o’clock shadow with my palm to prove my point. “I think it’s trying to make up for lost time.”
“Better late than never,” she retorted before bringing her gaze back to Rylee’s. “Billy ever tell you what happened at their junior prom?”
“No, but I remember he had a black eye the next day. He never told us what happened.” She was enthralled by these stories, but I supposed I would’ve been too.
Billy and I had kept mostly away from her. He thought she was annoying. I thought she was pretty. It seemed like the best thing to do for all involved to keep our distance, regardless of how often she tried to hang out with us.
“He didn’t run into the door. I can tell you that much.” Mom grinned. “Carter and Billy tried to fight a garden gnome.”
“What?” She laughed. “I’m assuming it didn’t fight back?”
Mom shook her head. “Nope. Some kid had spiked the punch and they claimed they didn’t know. They got drunk and fought each other, then tried to convince us it was the gnome.”
“How did he hide all this from me?” Rylee was gasping for breath from how hard she was laughing, trying to imagine it all. “I’d have paid good money to see that.”
“It was a very pathetic fight,” Dad said, motioning to me. “It was before Carter made it his life’s goal to look like a hefty kitchen appliance.”
“I’m not built like a fridge,” I objected, but my parents scoffed at me. “I said it one time. One time. I didn’t even mean it literally. I just meant that I had to be bigger.”
“You certainly got bigger though, didn’t you?” Mom asked. “I should’ve invested in a gym, but we’re proud of you, honey.”
With that, Dad finished off the last of his hot chocolate and patted Mom’s leg. “We’re very proud of everything you’ve achieved, but we should be turning in soon. We had an early start and tomorrow’s a big day.”
“Don’t you want to have some dinner before you go to bed?” Rylee asked, sitting up and putting some distance between us.
Mom shook her head. “I feel like we only just had that big lunch on our way home. I’m stuffed. Besides, I know where the kitchen is. If we get hungry, we’ll help ourselves to something later.”
Rylee opened her mouth to protest, but my dad spoke first. “We don’t really have big dinners anymore unless it’s a special occasion or the kids are home. We’re fine, really.”
They kissed us both goodnight, carried their mugs inside, and left us cuddled up alone. I half expected Rylee to jump up too, but she didn’t. She brought her head down on my shoulder and looked up at me instead.
“I really like your parents,” she said. “I didn’t even realize how much I’d missed them until they got here. They’re awesome. I wish I’d known them better back in the day.”
“So do I.” I kissed the top of her head, letting my arm wrap around her shoulders. “They like you too, Ry. They always have, but I think they love you a little bit now. I can’t remember the last time I saw them with someone the way they were today.”
I was pretty sure it’d been with Justin’s wife the first time he brought her home, but I didn’t say so. Neither of us knew where we stood right now. Adding something like that to the equation wouldn’t help.
“I’m really sorry.” I hadn’t been planning to apologize again, but with her so close to me and the sweet smell of her shampoo wafting up to me, it just happened. When she moved as if to stand up, I tightened my grip on her. “Please stop running from me. I don’t know what you want me to say, but I really am sorry. I shouldn’t have lied, but I was stupid and not used to talking, so I did.”
“How am I supposed to trust you now?” she asked after a beat, sitting up but not pulling away from me. “It’s not that I can’t get past you not telling me. That’s as much on me as it is on you. I just don’t know what else you could be hiding.”
“I just gave you free rein with my parents. That has to be a start.” There was plenty they didn’t know about me, but they knew all the important and really embarrassing stuff. “Bart is here every Sunday. What they don’t know about me, he does. Want me to call him? He could come fill in all the blanks for you.”
“You really mean that, don’t you?” She searched my eyes, her voice soft. “You’d actually summon him here on Christmas Eve to get me to believe you?”
“I’d do whatever it takes,” I replied honestly, bringing my hand up to run my fingertips across her cheek. “I’m not a liar, Ry. I didn’t even really mean to lie to you. It happened, and I’m not proud of it or justifying it, but I also can’t take it back.”
“Would you?” she asked.
I shook my head. “I can’t say I would. It brought us here, didn’t it? I’d never take back anything that ended with you in my arms like this.”
She gave me an odd smile. “Great minds think alike then, I suppose. Or what’s the other thing? Fools never differ?”
“We could be great, Rylee Naples, but I’d be a fool with you any day of the week.” My hand traveled into her hair, my eyes darting down to her lips.
She smiled before she brought them to mine, kissing me so hard and with so much passion that I knew I was back in the game. I still didn’t deserve someone like her, but I let myself believe I did for just this one kiss.
One more time, I promised myself.
Soon enough, she’d realize we didn’t live in the same world. That I lived in the shadows that protected hers, and not in the cool way like a demon hunter might. When that day came, I’d have to let her go.
Thank God that day isn’t today.
Chapter 24
RYLEE
Carter kissed me like he meant it, bringing our mouths together over and over again with his hands gentle but firm on my face and at the nape of my neck. Christmas carols were playing elsewhere in the building and drifted up at us from the streets.
It was a movie moment if I’d ever had one, but it was also so much more than that. Under the delicious pressure of his mouth, I felt like he was stripping me down to my core before slowly building me back up again.
All my worries and even the lie were left behind for now. The doubts weren’t part of the me I felt like when he kissed me like this. Like I was everything to him.
I wrapped my arms around his shoulders, playing with the soft strands of hair at the back of his head. My nails brushed against his scalp, and he moaned into my mouth.
The kiss was leisurely and lazy until that moment, but that sound acted like a starter pistol going off. One of his hands moved to my hip and squeezed while the othe
r twisted into my hair. He leaned into me, half in front of me to push me into the loveseat with his chest.
My nipples puckered in my bra, sensitive little nubs that were begging for his attention. I held him closer, my hips moving as I tried to seek out any kind of friction. Even the seam of my jeans would do at this point.
“Did we have to make up now that my parents are here?” he murmured between kisses. “I feel like we’re about to get busted.”
I chuckled against his lips. “I know. It feels like we’re doing something naughty.”
“I’d like to do something naughty.” He pulled away just far enough that I could see him wagging his brows before he brought his nose to mine and ran it along the length. “Unless you’d like to keep talking.”
I balled my hands into fists on his chest, bunching up the material of his shirt in my palms. “Do you have anything else you need to tell me?”
“Nope.” He kissed the tip of my nose. “Except that I’m in desperate need of a cold shower right now.”
“How about we make it a hot shower, and I’ll take it with you?”
I didn’t want this distance between us any longer. A week had been more than enough for me. We still had some ways to go before everything would be fine again, but we didn’t have to figure it all out today. I was ready to move past it.
Pretty ready. Almost ready. Ready enough.
Carter’s grip on me tightened, and he nodded before shifting away from me. “I could definitely go for a hot shower if you’re in it with me.”
He took a few big gulps of air, raked his fingers through his hair, and then stood up before offering me a hand. “We’re going to have to be quiet on the stairs. They usually sleep with their door open.”
Heat rushed to my cheeks. “You don’t think they’ve already seen us, do you?”
Dropping The Ball: A New Year’s Billionaire Romance Page 16