Chapter Thirteen
“I found out what the secret to life is: friends. Best friends.”
Fried Green Tomatoes
Ivy
Jack walked into the family room with my mom, her arm strung through his. She was beaming. Jack, on the other hand, wore the look of a hostage in crisis. What had Mom done to him? I hadn’t even realized she’d left to apparently traumatize my fake boyfriend.
And boy, were we faking it. I couldn’t stop thinking about our very real kiss. Not that my family would let me, even if I could. The razzing was out of control. Even my nieces and nephews were in on the torture, making kissy faces and kissing noises around me.
It was the most public display of affection of my life. Made even more so considering how freaking famous my best friend was.
I only hoped it was enough to quash any of the fake dating rumors Sienna had started. Unfortunately, I knew that . . . dear . . . was going to strike again. Next time, it would probably be more lethal. Yikes.
There was no telling what I might have to do next to save Jack’s career. At this rate, I was going to be walking the red carpet in some uncomfortable evening gown come awards season. Or standing across the altar at a quickie wedding in Vegas that would have to get annulled one day. Oh, gosh.
There was no time to worry about it now. Jack’s wide eyes begged me to save him. I jumped up among the chaos that was family game night.
The older kids campaigned hard to play Exploding Kittens, while Emma pulled out the big guns, using her adorable voice and those big, beautiful eyes to win everyone over to Candy Land.
Believe me, she was going to win. No one around here stood a chance against Emma’s powers.
Except maybe Kaden and Graham, who would no doubt find a way to turn Candy Land into a cutthroat battle for supremacy where Mr. Mint and Lord Licorice were evil overlords willing to sacrifice Princess Frostine.
The ordeal would almost certainly traumatize Emma. And by the end of the night, Kaden and Graham would be wearing the Grinch hats of shame, paying for their crimes against Candy Land. Oh, yes—Mom kept a spare Grinch hat for such occasions.
I reached for Jack, reminding myself that I needed to behave more girlfriend-like so as not to give my family any room to believe Sienna. And I didn’t need any more uncomfortable questions from Paige, wondering why I wasn’t enjoying more of Jack.
She’d taken a moment to steal me away after we’d returned home from ice-skating.
Once she was convinced Jack and I really were a couple after our very public display of affection, she’d thought maybe I needed a little sisterly talk or encouragement to be more myself around Jack.
I’d basically had to tell her that being with Jack was just hard for me because of his fame and it had me doubting myself.
Which wasn’t entirely untrue, but all these fibs were making me feel icky. I so badly wanted to tell her the truth. The truth was, Jack’s kiss had affected me. So much. I wanted to kiss him again. And again. And again.
Hello? I was only human. It didn’t mean I wanted to be anything more than his friend. I just wanted to . . . I didn’t even know how to explain it. Jack’s kiss was indescribable. It had taken me to a place where only he and I existed. And so help me, I really liked it there.
But we couldn’t stay there forever. We lived in the real world, where Jack was Mr. Holiday. In that world, we needed to stay friends. It was the safest option.
Jack immediately took my hand, and my mom loosened her hold on him. He seized the opportunity and wrapped his arms around me.
“Hello, beautiful,” he whispered before his lips skimmed mine.
Oh, jingle hell. I liked it. A lot.
“Hi,” I responded breathily, biting my lip so I didn’t devour him.
What was wrong with me? I couldn’t even blame Jack for this. I’d told him to act more affectionate around my family. He was just following orders. For all I knew, this was grossing him out.
“Are you up for playing some games?” I asked.
Who was I kidding? We were already playing them. I just prayed we didn’t lose—especially each other.
“Sure,” Jack said, as suavely as ever.
“Can you pwease pway Candy Wand with me?” Emma flashed those big peepers at Jack from the couch, holding up her favorite character, Princess Lolly. The world was going to need to watch out for her.
“I would love to,” Jack said charmingly as he took my hand. “As long as your aunt plays with us.”
“Wait, we want Jack to play Exploding Kittens with us,” Kaden complained.
Poppy, Tyler, and Zach jumped in, begging for Jack to play UNO with them.
Jack smiled, pleased with the attention . . . because he didn’t get enough of that in his life.
Admittedly, I was a tad salty. The kiddos used to fight over me.
I mean, hello, I was the aunt who always convinced my siblings to let their kids stay up way past their bedtimes.
And let’s not forget all the awesome presents I’d already shipped here for them.
I just needed to wrap them. I’d thought maybe Jack could help with that and we could say they were from the both of us, but now, I was rethinking that.
It wasn’t very Christmassy of me.
Jack, though, had me changing my tune when he said, “I have an idea. Let’s play all three together.”
I blinked.
Wait.
Had Jack just proposed combining UNO, Candy Land, and Exploding Kittens into one game?
Since when did he even know how to play any of those games, much less a mixed-up version of all three?
Maybe he’d picked it up on the set of that movie, the one where he played the single dad.
Or maybe he was just full of himself and thought he could do anything.
Which wasn’t out of the realm of possibility.
Somehow, he had this unnatural ability to do just that—anything.
“I think that’s a precious idea,” Mom rang in, beaming with pride.
“Yes, so precious,” I teased Jack.
He kissed my cheek. “Watch and learn, Ivy. Watch and learn.”
And I did. I watched and learned as Jack had all the kids haul the games over to one of the card tables my dad had set up earlier.
Jack clapped his hands together. His captive audience of my nieces and nephews locked in.
“Here’s what we’re going to do.” His voice had the kind of confidence that made me wonder —had he secretly been plotting this game combo for years? Had Jack been keeping this part of himself from me? If so, why?
“We’re using the Candy Land board and cards. But every time you move, you must play an UNO card to decide your fate.”
I blinked.
What in the world?
“We are also shuffling the Exploding Kittens cards into the Candy Land deck. If you draw one, Lord Licorice claims your soul and you are banished to the Molasses Swamp—unless you can defuse it using another card.”
Jack paused for effect, letting the kids absorb his instructions. Or maybe letting me soak in his genius. It was a toss-up. Regardless, the kids and I were so here for it.
“If you draw a reverse card, you move backward. Skip? You lose your turn. Exploding Kitten card? You’re banished to the swamp unless you can play a legal UNO card or bribe Princess Frostine with a dramatic plea for mercy.”
I couldn’t help but giggle. Seriously, how had Jack come up with this?
He was being freaking adorable, and I wasn’t sure what to do with it.
Especially with the way my insides fluttered.
They shouldn’t have been doing that. Jack was too good at the fake-boyfriend thing.
Only . . . this didn’t seem like he was acting but more like he had unlocked a part of himself that he’d kept hidden.
Was this the real Jack?
Would this version of him stick around after this whole fiasco?
How would I ever get over this—him—at this rate? It only made me want to kiss him more.
And looking around the room, it was clear I wasn’t the only one in awe of him.
All the other adults seemed equally mesmerized, watching as he pulled off the rare feat of getting all the kiddos to agree on—and more amazingly, be enthusiastic about—the same thing.
When had Jack turned into a child whisperer?
Before I could process it, Paige and Kira flanked me, each nudging me with a hip.
“You should have brought Jack home with you sooner,” Kira whispered.
Paige—not as subtle. “Go give that man some loving. You don’t need to be shy. You are worthy to be his girlfriend.”
I knew she was trying to be a supportive big sister after our little chat, but the last thing I needed was that kind of pep talk.
Jack, of course, heard and took a break from explaining the rules of his masterpiece. And he did exactly what I’d told him to do—play the part of an affectionate boyfriend. He flashed me a come kiss me grin while gesturing with his finger for me to join him. That dang sexy finger.
When I hesitated because I knew I was probably going to enjoy what came next and that wasn’t a good thing, Paige pushed me.
“I’m going,” I whined. Sheesh.
I tiptoed over to my fake boyfriend, feeling every eye on me.
It was like no one in this family had ever brought home a date.
I caught a glimpse of my mom leaning into my dad, smiling from ear to ear like this was some momentous occasion in our family’s life.
Like everyone was saying, Our Ivy has grown up and met the man for her.
It made the guilt ten times worse. My family was genuinely happy for us. I could never, ever tell them the truth. For that, I hated myself. But I had to push the self-loathing aside and sell this relationship.
As soon as I reached Jack, he did just that by pulling me onto his lap. “Join us, darlin’.”
I settled into him, trying to relax like this wasn’t something new for us. Like I wasn’t fully aware of every single place where our bodies touched. Holy Santa, Jack’s hard body was a work of art. This was unfair. Deeply unfair.
“Aren’t they the cutest?” Mom squealed while snapping some pictures of us with her phone.
That didn’t help.
“Ivy is the cutest.” Jack nuzzled my neck, tickling me with his painted-on scruff, raising my skin and my pulse.
That really didn’t help.
Someone needed to save me from this mess I’d gotten myself into.
If I wasn’t careful, I was going to fall for Jack.