Dropping The Ball - A New Year’s Billionaire Romance - Weston Parker Page 0,64
if I have one made with my family on it, and you can rest assured in the knowledge that Conroe will look like it’s trying to keep a print shop running when we’re all there next Christmas?”
“You should come see us when you’re home again,” Adam said to me, his dark eyes crinkling at the corners. “Drag your brother with you. We haven’t seen that boy in far too long. He used to drop in every so often when he was in town, but I hear he’s too busy now to stay for very long.”
I nodded. “Nashville seems to be keeping him in its grip most of the time. We’re both going home at the beginning of February for my parents’ anniversary party, though. We’ll definitely come say hi.”
“It would be lovely to see him. I have such fond memories of him with Carter.” Denise smiled softly before a mischievous twinkle came into her eye and she looked at me. “Why don’t you and I go make some more hot chocolate? The guys can finish decorating the tree, and when they’re done, let me tell you some stories about what those boys used to get up to.”
“I’d love that,” I said, immediately getting to my feet. “I have some cookies for us, too. We can snack while you tell me all about it.”
Carter groaned again, grabbing my hand before I walked away. “Will you please at least consider locking her in the pantry before she can let you in on all my most embarrassing moments?”
I smiled down at him sweetly before shaking my head. “No way. I might even be able to add a few of my own memories about the two of you. We should get Billy on speaker for this, then I can exact revenge on both of you at the same time.”
“Exact revenge for what?” he asked incredulously. “I never did anything to you.”
“Maybe not, but Billy did, and you were his best friend.”
“Besides, if you’d been nicer to her, it might not have taken you two this long to get reconnected,” Adam added. “You guys were little shits to her, you know that? I remember the time you sabotaged her science project. She definitely deserves revenge for that.”
My eyes widened. “You were in on that too? My volcano oozed green goo instead of exploding lava. The teacher wanted to have me tested for color blindness.”
The tops of his cheeks turned adorably red. “You know what? Maybe I should just go lock myself in the pantry until this is done.”
“Sorry, baby, but I can’t allow that,” his mother sang. “Your brothers have all been through this. We call it the Demming Walk of Fire, and your turn has finally come.”
Before I could ask her what she meant by that, she dragged me into the kitchen and almost immediately tugged me into a big hug. “I think my boy is falling in love with you. We couldn’t be any more thrilled. You know, I used to have a feeling it would be you. I think it always has been, even when you were too young for him to act on it.”
I didn’t know how to react to all that, but I hugged her back and smiled when we broke apart, responding to the only thing I thought she really cared about knowing. “I’m falling in love with him, too.”
There. It’s out. Now all I had to do was tell him and then let him know that I’d said it to his mother first. Oh, brother. There’s a conversation I’m not looking forward to.
Suddenly, I understood a lot better why he’d put off telling me for so long. But I’d learned my lesson. If we wanted this to work, we had to be honest with each other. Even about the hard stuff that it was so much easier to lie about.
Chapter 23
CARTER
Dad pretended to dust off his hands after switching on the lights we’d wrapped around the tree. We’d dimmed the rest of the lights in the living area, and it was instantly awash with the flickering colors of Christmas.
“I think we did a good job,” he said, turning his head to give me a meaningful look. “Now if only you’d be honest with that girl in there and tell her how you feel about her, maybe tomorrow will be less tense than today.”
“It wasn’t tense,” I argued. I thought we’d both done a terrific job of keeping up appearances.