Page 111 of Filthy Fae

9

Holden

“Don’t you look like a million bucks,” Amber said when she descended the stairs to join me in the living room.

I couldn’t think of a single thing to say for a minute. My words were all caught up in a swell of emotion filling my chest. Finally, I got something out. “You look better than any amount of money.”

I took her in from head to toe and back again. I kept right on looking, brushing my fingers across her baby-soft cheek, my eyes pooling with love and appreciation as I took in her updo, her tasteful makeup, and her fitted red dress. “Is there anything you can’t do?” I asked at last.

She smiled and seemed to swell up a size like I’d said just the right thing for once. “There’s nothing I won’t at least try,” she said, wiggling her eyebrows at me.

My cock throbbed against my chinos at that, and I felt a smile tugging at my lips. I ran my hand over the bottom half of my face like I could wipe away the thoughts in my head. Despite her teasing comments, this wasn’t the time for dirty talk. “I mean it, Amber,” I said. “You look like a real classy lady. Even my mother will approve.”

I’d been trying to get a point across, and it must have worked, because no one could think a single sexy thought when talking about my mother. She was all comfort and warmth and homeliness.

“Eh, don’t give me credit for knowing how to dress like a classy lady,” Amber said with a shrug. And then she just had to add, “We both know I’m not one.”

“I’m being serious,” I said, snagging her hand and sliding my free hand behind her neck. I couldn’t believe she’d just said that, and I had to make sure those thoughts didn’t come from our current relationship. I pulled her close, and my eyes pinned hers. “Loving three men doesn’t make you any less classy than loving one or none at all. That’s all you, Am. It comes from within.”

“It comes from my mother’s stylists spending years and thousands of dollars trying to wrangle me into campaign appropriate dresses,” she whispered, squirming under the intensity of my gaze.

“That’s got nothing to do with it,” I said. “You’re beautiful inside and out, Amber. I’m just about the luckiest man alive right now.”

“Well, at least one of the three,” she teased.

“My brothers aren’t here, so I’m the luckiest,” I said. “And you can argue all night, but it will never change my mind, so I think you could skip all that and just say thank you.”

“Thank you,” she said, squeezing my hand.

“I would kiss you, but I don’t want to mess up your lipstick.”

“Now who’s the luckiest person alive? No other man in the world would be so considerate,” she said, standing on tiptoes to plant a kiss on my cheek. She dropped back down and smiled up at me, then used her thumb to rub lipstick from the spot she’d kissed. If I could get away with it, I’d wear her lipstick mark on my cheek all the time, something to mark me as hers like a brand on cattle. I could feel myself blushing a little. Sometimes her touch was still like the very first time. It made me feel young and clumsy and foolish, but in the best possible way.

We headed out, leaving the lodge dark except for the string of white lights twinkling along the borders of the roof and porch railing, sparkling across the snow like golden fairy dust.

I opened Amber’s door and helped her up, admiring the way her dress fit her just right, emphasizing her little curves and her long, slender legs. She looked every inch a lady as she climbed up into the truck. And I meant to kiss every inch of that lady later on tonight. I’d been promised a night with her, and I meant to take advantage of every second of it.

At church, everyone greeted us. They stared a little, but that wasn’t unusual. It was a small town, and we didn’t get to church as much as we should. Then there was the fact that I’d brought along the foreigner. People from New York were seen that way around here. Sure, we had lots of tourists, but not many who had the gumption to stick it out and stay. Add to that Amber’s status as our stepsister, and the fact that she was drop dead gorgeous, of course she was bound to turn some heads. But most people had satisfied their curiosity last year, and they were only admiring her.

Ma rushed over to greet us in the atrium, Cody strolling behind her. Right away I could tell how uncomfortable he was, though he had fixed a bored gaze somewhere above the door. Funny how after all these years apart, I still knew him like the brother he was and would always be. I’d grown up with him, and no amount of cheating women would ever change that.

“Ohhh,” Amber muttered. “That’s why Waylon didn’t come.”

Only then did I notice the hush that had fallen as people stared openly or pretended not to look. Amber had been one step ahead of me, but now I saw why Cody looked so tense. He was getting a lot more attention than Amber and I. We were old news, after all. Cody had just shown up after disappearing four years ago with Waylon’s fiancé. People were dying to see how Waylon was going to react, how our reunion had gone. Besides that one night down at the bar, we hadn’t been in public with Cody. By now, everyone would have heard that Waylon didn’t show up with his three Westling brothers.

They were in for some disappointing news.

“Where are your brothers?” Ma asked, looking behind us. “They’d better be parking the truck.”

“Merry Christmas,” I said, leaning in to give her a kiss. I muttered in her ear as I leaned down. “They’re not here.”

“What? Not come to church on Christmas Eve? I raised them better. I’ve half a mind to go get them myself.”

“Let’s go find our seats,” Cody said stiffly.

“Merry Christmas,” Amber said, giving him a quick hug. He tensed, his calloused hands falling on the curve of her waist instead of wrapping around her. But even though it couldn’t have lasted more than a second, I saw his jaw tense and his eyes drop closed for just a second as he inhaled before she pulled away.

Amber embraced our mother next, and Ma went on making clucking chicken noises about how Sawyer and Waylon hadn’t shown up. Even she didn’t have an unkind word for Amber, though. And I couldn’t really blame my brother for finding her attractive. Hell, every man in the place was probably wishing she’d had her arms around his neck instead of Cody’s. I was even a little jealous, and I knew she’d have more than her arms around my neck by the time the night was through.