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“So, you gonna tell me what we’re doing?” Will slid his gaze to her but she couldn’t look at him. Not when he was dressed injeans and the Christmas sweater she’d bought him that featured a reindeer straddling a candy cane and read Pole Dancer. She found him incredibly attractive today in his relaxed state and if he dared whip out the award-winning smile, she was liable to pull over and have him in some very compromising positions. She almost laughed at her thoughts. A few months ago, if someone had told her this would be what was floating through her mind, she would have accused them of having too many of Taylor’s cocktails.
“You’ll see in a minute,” she all but growled. She was stressed that things wouldn’t go according to plan, or she had gone too far or too emotional with this.
He frowned and fidgeted next to her, not happy with not knowing what was going on, but she was in charge now and she bit back a smile at his need to know. “Shame they didn’t teach you to have some patience at that fancy-ass business school,” she drawled.
“I’m just keen to get home and crawl back into bed and give you myotherChristmas present.”
Heat spiraled through her at the promise in his tone. His hand reached across and settled on her thigh, squeezing gently. She swallowed but refused to look at him, determined to get them to their destination with no detours for hanky-panky.
His palm slid higher and squeezed again and her breath hitched. His smug chuckle filled the cabin of the truck, and her brows dipped.
“There’s my favorite scowl,” he purred, which only caused the scowl to deepen. He inched his hand higher, dipping between her legs and the turn off for The Rusty Bucket Inn thankfully came into view.
“We’re here!” she cried, her voice strangled. Although she was relieved, she was slightly disappointed. She was uncomfortableaccepting gifts but something told her she would have welcomed the one he wanted to give her.
He glanced through the windshield. “The Bucket?”
She didn’t answer, just parked up in the lot next to Dean’s truck.
“Rebelle?”
“Let’s go,” she said, getting out of the truck and he followed her.
“I don’t think they’re going to be open today, Belle,” he said, shaking his head.
“They are for a private function,” she teased, smiling up at him.
He cupped her chin and brushed his thumb across her lip. “I love it when you smile, it makes me lose my breath,” he murmured. She struggled to swallow, looking into his eyes, so warm and inviting.
She took his hand. “Come on.” She pushed open the door and immediately started to salivate over the mouthwatering aromas that filled the room. The bar glittered with more twinkly lights, as per Rebelle’s instructions, reflecting off the tinsel that decorated the space. A rather haphazardly decorated Christmas tree sparkled in the corner and mistletoe dangled throughout the room. A couple of the tables had been pushed together to make one long banquet table. And what a banquet it would be, the table was piled high with delicious-looking food and Rebelle’s stomach started growling dramatically.
“Finally!” Beau cheered when he spotted her and Will.
“What are you guys doing here?” Will asked, his smile wide at seeing all his friends gathered together.
“We wanted to give you a special Christmas or some crap like that.” Blake waved his hand dismissively, but Rebelle saw the amused sparkle in his gray eyes.
“It was Rebelle’s idea,” Christy added from her position on Dean’s lap. Rebelle’s cheeks heated with awareness as seven pairs of eyes landed on her.
“It’s our family Christmas,” Taylor said, hugging Will’s side and crushing Rebelle against her too.
Will looked around. “Guys, this is…” he trailed off.
“We’re awesome, we know,” Dean joked, and Christy playfully slapped his arm.
“We wanted to do this. We’re all so close and it just made sense to do it together,” Justine added, stroking her now very pronounced belly.
Rebelle watched Will as his eyes swept around the room before landing on hers. An emotion she couldn’t place flicked across his face briefly before he pulled her to him and kissed her deeply, pouring everything into the kiss. There were cheers and catcalls before Blake spoke up. “Alright you two, this is a family event.”
“Ooh, Daddy Blake stepping in to reprimand.”
“Only one woman in this room calls me Daddy,” Blake grunted, and Dean spat his drink out.
All eyes swerved from Rebelle to Justine who just shrugged with a small smirk on her face.
“Gross…did you bring the dessert?” Taylor asked.
Rebelle cringed before handing the box over. “I’m not very good at this whole baking thing.”
