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Gabe quirked a brow. “HEA?”
Frankie rolled her eyes. “Happily ever after. Don’t you know anything?”
Reece returned with his arms loaded with snacks and passed around bags of popcorn. The lights dimmed and the dancers took to the stage.
Gabe kept his eyes fixed on the stage. A light brush of his thumb on the side of my finger sent a shiver through my wrist.
He leaned in to whisper in my ear. “I want you to stay with me tonight, Little Swan.”
Little Swan.Those words in his velvet voice made my heart pound.
“I never ask women to stay over. It’s against my rules.” He traced his thumb around his full lips but kept his eyes on the stage. “But I’m here watching ballet with your family because I’m so desperate to touch you again. It’s fair to say the rules don’t apply anymore.”
Gabe’s warm hand wrapped around mine and he held my hand lightly on my knee. My heart pounded. Beautiful music wrapped around us and I didn’t dare move a muscle. We’d spent a night learning each other’s bodies and yet holding hands like this, still and quiet in the darkness, felt like one of the most intimate moments we’d shared. Did he feel the same as me right now? Was his heart beating out of his chest and every nerve in his body on fire just from the touch of hands? What was this madness?
I couldn’t go with him tonight. My family was too nosy and there would be too many questions to answer. Besides, it was Christmas Eve. I couldn’t wake up in a different place on Christmas morning. I’d moved back home to support Mum. I needed to be in the house in case anything happened.
I pulled my hand away. “Not tonight.”
Disappointment shadowed his face. “When?”
I glanced over my shoulder at Mum. Tears misted her eyes as she watched Elliot’s impressive leaps.
“I can’t stay over. I have responsibilities.”
He frowned. “Then I’ll stay at yours.”
“No. You won’t.”
“Stop muttering,” Frankie said, angling her champagne flute at me. “This is the best bit.”
My lips thinned with irritation. “What do you care?” I hissed. “I thought you didn’t understand it.”
She raised a wry eyebrow. “It’s a swan and a pampered playboy falling in love, isn’t it? This is the part where the swan is having to do some shifts at a strip club, because she—”
“Shut up.” I glared at Frankie in warning, and she smiled back sweetly.
Gabe raised a wry eyebrow. “What?”
“Ignore her.” I patted his knee. “The only way to get along with my family is to immediately disregard everything they say.”
After the show, we waited for Elliot in the noisy bar.
“What are you doing for Christmas, Gabe?” Mum asked.
Gabe bent to Mum’s wheelchair to be heard over the chaos. “Nothing much. My Mother’s gone to Dubai, but I didn’t fancy it. They’ll do a nice dinner at the Beaufort.”
Mum’s face dropped. “You’re having dinner alone?”
He shrugged. “It’s fine. I do it every year. Christmas isn’t a big thing to me.”
Mum’s mouth dropped open. “No. You’re not spending it alone. You’ll come to us. We’d love to have you.”
Alarm went through me. No way did I want to extend this awkwardness with Gabe and my family. “Mum, Gabe doesn’t want that. Imagine what Christmas dinner is like at the Beaufort compared to what Reece is going to put together.”
Reece threw me a narrow, glinting glance. “I’ve been planning the menu for weeks.”
Frankie patted his shoulder. “Ignore her. Nobody does brandy butter like yours.” Frankie whispered behind her hand at Gabe. “If you come to ours, can I take your place at the Beaufort?”
