The Christmas Proposal - Miley Maine Page 0,1
of times over the years and frequently keep in touch.
“I don’t know, you do tend to do some crazy things,” my brother said, laughing to himself.
“Well, what about Grayson?”
“He’s coming to visit us and his childhood home. He’ll be here for Thanksgiving.”
“What?” I stood up immediately. Grayson? In our house? Again? My cheeks were growing red just thinking about it. The last time I had seen him he was seventeen, but now he was thirty, as old as my brother. Would he still be as handsome? Or perhaps more? Would he still be kind, sweet?
And would he finally see me as a woman?
Apparently my childhood crush on him had never gone away, because the thought sent blood rushing to my face. Sebastian started laughing, of course. “Don’t tell me your crush is back.”
“No! Of course not!” I stammered. “I was eleven then; things are different now. I’m much more mature.”
“Uh huh, and you’re hoping he’ll see that?”
“Stop!” I stood, lunging to slam the door in my brother’s face, but he caught it with his foot and stepped inside.
“It sounds to me like you’re protesting just a little too much.”
“You know that’s not what I mean.” I hung my head, hoping that staring at my shoes would conceal my ever-deepening blush. Why did Sebastian have to know me so well?
He just ruffled my hair. “Come on, you know I have to tease. What kind of brother would I be if I didn’t?”
“The good kind,” I muttered under my breath.
“What was that?”
“Nothing!” I looked up at him with a shining smile and winked.
He laughed. “Okay. Besides, can you imagine? You and Grayson together? That would be way too strange. You’ve known him since you were a little kid!”
“Right.” I let out a laugh like his, but it felt faker than anything. I wanted to imagine it, needed to, if only because I was so heartbroken at the moment and needed the distraction. I wished suddenly that Ethan and I were still together so that Grayson wouldn’t bring about all these strange feelings. Oh, who was I kidding? I would be feeling them whether or not I was with Ethan. Things had certainly fallen apart enough already to allow something else to start growing in the cracks between the two of us.
“Well, he’ll be coming in tomorrow, a little before our early dinner.”
“It’ll be good to see him again,” I said.
He grinned. “I bet. What has it been for you? About ten years?”
“Thirteen,” I said, without even thinking and pretending like I couldn’t see Sebastian’s smile widen. It was easy math and I’d just been thinking about it. I had spent more than half my life not seeing Grayson. What would it be like for the two of us to meet again?
“That’s a while,” Sebastian said, scratching his head. “I forgot it’s been that long, but then again, you didn’t see him at all after he moved.”
“I was always a little jealous,” I admitted begrudgingly, “that you got to see him and I didn’t. I wanted to be better friends with him, too.”
“Well, now’s your chance,” Sebastian said, a large smile on his face. “Let him cheer you up. He should be pretty good at that.”
“I hope so,” I said, flopping back down on my bed. “I really could use some holiday cheer.”
“Am I not enough for you?” Sebastian said in half-shock, dramatically pressing his hand to chest before bending down to pick the book I had been reading off my bed. “What is this? Dragons Before Midnight?”
“Give it back!” I said, sitting up and trying to snatch the book from his hands. I had been reading dragon-shifter romance recently, and I knew Sebastian would find it really weird, especially since the spot I had left off on had been right before a sex scene.
“No, I wanna know what this is,” he insisted, taking another few steps back. “Let’s see…”
“Don’t you dare read that,” I threatened, still trying to grab the book from his hands, but he wasn’t letting me have it back.
“Why? What’s so interesting about it?”
“Nothing!” I insisted, finally catching hold of the book and yanking it to my chest. “You just wouldn’t like it, that’s all.”
Sebastian got a mischievous little grin on his face. “Oh? And why is that? Is it...explicit?”
My face warmed instantly, giving me away. “I knew it!” he shouted, pointing a finger at me. “What, is it dragons having sex? Are you into lizards?”
“No!” I insisted. “It’s about dragon-shifters. They’re like werewolves, but they can change between