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Savannah grimaced. “Mark is going to be there.”
Becca frowned. “Wait,what? His son? The one who hit on you a few months ago?”
Savannah nodded. “Steve didn’t want to come along because of the holidays, but he doesn’ttotallytrust me, I guess. And Mark offered.”
“Oh, I’m sure he did,” Becca said with an eye roll. “The two of you at a B&B in North Carolina…justthe two of you? At Christmas? And him with the upper hand because he knows how much you want his dad to approve this project?” She shook her head. “Gross. That all just feels super creepy.”
It really did.
“I can handle Mark.” Savannah had told Mark in no uncertain terms that if he ever touched her ass again, she would be skipping HR and his father, and going straight to the cops.
Steve might have raised a creepy, entitled prick, but she knew he wouldnotbe okay with Mark treating her the way he had when they’d gone to see a property together in May.
Becca nodded. "I know. But…"
Savannah studied her friend. "What are you thinking and not saying?"
"Just that…” Becca sighed. “I think you would have refused this trip if it was at any other time of year.”
Savannah frowned. “What do you mean?”
“I mean, you normally wouldn’t even pitch a property with reindeer and crazy light displays to Steve. And youdefinitelywouldn’t agree to a trip with Mark again. But it’s Christmas and this is a great excuse for why you can’t go to New York for Christmas. It’s also going to be pretty easy to extend the trip—something can come up with the deal, or you’re just having such a great time, or the weather is a problem—so you can’t make it back here either.”
Becca gave her a don’t-bother-lying-to-me look.
Trudy and Rory just lifted their drinks, not saying anything.
Savannah studied her best friend. Sometimes it was tough having someone who knew her so well. Those had been exactly some of her thoughts.
The big meeting with the family that owned the farm and B&B was supposed to take place on the twenty-third, but they insisted she stay over at least one night so she could see the entire light show, the crowds, and how that all worked.
She was supposed to fly back to New Orleans on the twenty-fourth. But she would admit, to herself andmaybeBecca, that the thought had crossed her mind that she could easily extend her trip through the actual holiday and have a good excuse not to be here in Autre, surrounded by Landrys, who would very much try to include her as part of the family but would inadvertently make it even more obvious that she wasn't with her own.
And then of course there was Theo Taggart. The adopted add-on Landry.
Okay, Theo was an even bigger part of her not wanting to be here than she would admit even to Becca.
She’d spent some great Christmases in Autre. The Landrys weren’t the problem.
Theo was.
And how much she still wanted him was.
And the fact that he was always fucking around so she couldn’t forget about him or get over him.
She wasn't sure how she had missed the fact before spending the night with him. It had been two months—okay, nine weeks and two days—since then, and she swore that she had run into him more in that time than she had in all the time she'd been coming to Autre before October.
Maybe he really had always been around. He tended to be quiet and just sit back and watch and listen, but now she was soawareof him. The minute he walked in the door, her entire body seemed to go on alert.
Like right now.
She groaned.
Theo ambled from the front door of Ellie's through the bar to the back table where all the Landry’s and their significant others and friends were seated. She didn't even have to look. Shefelthim.
Then, of course, everyone had to greet him enthusiastically. It was like he was Mr. Fucking America.
She didn’t remember that part from before October either, but it had probably been true. Theo was very well liked.
