Chapter 5
Lucy
Up to me?
What is he, insane? I wasn’t the one who said that we were together. Now I’m the one who is supposed to decide what to do about it?
Thankfully, whoever was doing the announcements waited for the cheering to die down, said a couple of words about the kiss, and for the most part started talking about something else, and so only the people who are closest to us heard Samuel’s declaration.
“We should probably go somewhere and talk about this,” Samuel says, and he tightens his arm around my shoulder.
I do not mind being tucked against him. It feels perfect. My shoulder fits underneath him, and our sides are pressed together, and my arm automatically goes around his waist, and I don’t care if I stay like this for the rest of my life.
“Okay,” I say, knowing that I need to put an end to this. But I’m okay if we don’t do it in public. Although there is no way I’m going to walk around with everyone thinking that we’re a couple. I’m just not. And I know he doesn’t want to do it either.
However, I need to thank him for what he did with that creepy dude. He was icky, and I appreciated having Samuel beside me, defending me. I didn’t feel the slightest bit unsafe as long as he was with me.
We slip through the doorway as Allison says, “I have to go, but tell me about it later.” Then she gives me a big smile and hurries off.
I have no idea where she’s going. She told me she didn’t know anyone here except her two brothers and her parents.
Her mother can be slightly draconian, so maybe that’s who she’s running toward.
Regardless, we end up going down the hall and around the turn, where Samuel opens a door and allows me to walk in first.
He flips on a light switch, and the light shows a beautifully decorated room. It looks like a sitting room or a library? There are lots of bookshelves with books, but there is also a cozy fireplace and two recliners, as well as a loveseat and a Christmas tree in the corner.
Unsurprisingly, it’s tastefully decorated, just as I would expect it to be, since everything in the mansion has been extraordinary.
“So, I need to apologize. That got way out of hand.” That’s how he starts off as he runs a hand through his hair, closing the door behind us after I walk in, and I feel the coldness where his body had been pressed against mine, and somehow I miss that like it was normal, instead of abnormal.
“No. I need to apologize. I... I guess I’m not very good at mistletoe kisses, since I’ve spent my life avoiding them.”
“You have?” he says, slowly and softly.
I nod. “I always know where the mistletoe is, and I avoid it religiously. I don’t want to kiss someone I barely know or, worse yet, a complete stranger.”
“We’re not exactly strangers.”
“No. I didn’t mind kissing you.”
Well. I did not mean to say that. That was TMI for sure. “I mean, you’re not a stranger. You’re right. And if I have to kiss someone, I’d rather kiss someone that I kind of know, rather than someone I absolutely do not know, like that icky dude that was looking at me weirdly.” I shiver.
He sees me shivering, and concern enters his eyes, his brows coming down, and he takes two steps, closing the distance between us. His hand comes up like he’s going to put it on my shoulder, then it drops back to his side.
“I told him we were together. I did it because... I just didn’t like what he was saying and the way he was looking. Even though he’s a business associate of mine, Bernie.”
“Yeah. Thank you. But I know you don’t want everyone and their mother to think that you and I are together.” I’m sure of this.
But he lifts a shoulder. It’s broad and strong, and I know just how hard it is, because I was touching it not that long ago. “It’s not a big deal. We can keep the farce up for a bit and then break up, if that’s what you want to do.”
He seems a little insecure, which is not a look I have ever seen on him before. It’s not like I’ve spent a whole lot of time with him, but he just doesn’t seem like the kind of man who doesn’t know exactly what he wants.
“No. Don’t do that for my sake. I wouldn’t want to have to lie to my friends and family, and that would just be awkward all the way around. Plus, in case you have someone, I wouldn’t want them to think that there actually was something between us.”
“I don’t have anyone.” He sounds disappointed or maybe...hurt. Like he thinks I don’t want him.
But that’s impossible. He’s a billionaire, surely he has scores of women throwing themselves at his feet. Right?