me there, but I’m good on my own. Besides, Branson asked me to go to a dinner with him tonight. I have somewhere to go.”
Hunter has a glazed-over expression as he stares at me. I know what he’s about to say.
“I know,” I start, not letting him say it first. “He’s out of my league. And I have to thank you. You’re a genius. Him thinking we’re together is making him see me as more than an assistant.”
His jaw tightens as he looks down at the snow. “How does that make you feel?”
“Good, I suppose.”
“It doesn’t bother you that he only wants you because someone else does?
He wastes no time in closing the gap between us and places a hand on my waist, pulling me into him.
“Katie,” he says. It stops my feigned indifference and has me staring up into his stone-cold, serious expression. “If you’d listened correctly, you would have heard that I said you’re out of his league. He never stood a chance.”
I have to catch my breath from the gasp that escapes my lips. “You did say that, didn’t you?”
He smiles that deliriously gorgeous grin, leans just a touch closer, and whispers into my ear, “I want you with me this Christmas.”
A genuine rush of elation courses through my body. “You do?” I ask wistfully, trying to maintain my composure. “I shouldn’t impose. Where would I sleep?”
The sides of his eyes crinkle with an air of mischief while he pushes a stray hair off my face. “We can think of something.”
I smash my lips together while I widen my eyes.
He gives a hearty laugh. “I’m kidding. Well, kind of.” He rests his forehead against mine, the warmth of him enveloping me. “Come home with me, Katie. Spend Christmas with me.”
I close my eyes and breathe him in.
Uptown, the man who I thought was the one I wanted is waiting for me to spend the evening with him, embarking on shenanigans that I once dreamed of partaking in.
In front of me is a man who wants to bring me home to his family, and that’s something I never thought I’d ever want to do.
And yet, as I look up at Hunter—the roguish man with a devilish expression and a carefree personality—and fall into his caramel eyes, which open into his soul and bear a goodness he keeps hidden beneath the surface, I know there’s nothing else I want this Christmas.
“Yes,” I say and feel my smile down to my toes.
“Let’s get you home, kid.”
Chapter Nine
I’m nervous, sitting here with Hunter, driving to his parents’ house. I’m a stranger, popping in on a family. And this isn’t any family dinner. It’s Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Tomorrow, I’ll sit around the tree and watch everyone open gifts as the outsider, awkwardly peering at them. My tummy rattles with nerves.
“Are you hungry?” Hunter asks from the driver’s side.
“Just a little jittery, I guess.”
His brows rise as he rubs his chin. “You should be. My mother is a heinous bitch who hates every woman I bring home. And my grandmother thinks girls who wear red lace thongs are floozies.”
I press my fingers to my temples, in complete distress of this news. “You can’t be serious.”
He pulls them away from my face and laughs. “I’m kidding. My mother will love you, and my grandmother will have no idea what kind of underwear you have on.”
I slap him on the arm, my palm ricocheting off the hardness. He pretends to rub his injured bicep as I scold him, “Don’t mess with an apprehensive woman like that.” I want to laugh at how proud he seems to be at his joke, and then it hits me. “Wait. How do you know what kind of panties I’m wearing?”
His laugh morphs into a smirk. “I might have sneaked a peek when you were on the ladder, hanging snowflakes.”
I hit him on the arm again. “Perv!” This time, I do let out a laugh.
“The little red fabric was trying to say hello. Trust me, if you were putting on a show, especially in that room, I would have said something.”
“Keeping an eye out for me?”
“Like a hawk.” The honesty in his voice has my insides flipping for a different reason. He clears his throat and then adds, “Anyway, they’re gonna think you’re adorable.”
“You probably say that to all the girls you bring home.”
He leans forward to adjust the radio to play a station of holiday hits. “I haven’t brought a woman home since college.”
“I find that hard