All the Romance You Need This Christmas: 5-Book Festive Collection. Romy Sommer

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      ‘What? No! Not a chance.’

      Dory’s frustration level rose. ‘Why not? If you guys are serious, he’ll have to find out eventually.’

      ‘But not now. Not here,’ Tyler said, firmly.

      ‘You have to tell him, Tyler. Or I will.’

      Tyler stilled, staring at her. ‘And why do you suddenly care about what my brother does and doesn’t deserve to know?’

      Heat hit her face as she blushed. Staring down at her navy-polished nails, Dory said, ‘It’s the decent thing to do.’

      ‘But that’s not why you want me to do it, is it?’ Tyler’s voice sounded tight, like he was holding something in. ‘So, what? You’ve fallen for him over a snowy walk in the forest and some Christmas ornaments and you want to get out of our deal? You’re really going to risk your trip home for one night with my brother? Are you sure? Because I can tell you, Cheryl says he wasn’t all that much to write home about.’

      Dory didn’t believe that for a moment, but that wasn’t the point. She needed to keep her focus here, and not get distracted by thoughts of Lucas in bed. ‘He already knows, Tyler. That we’re not really dating, I mean. He could tell it wasn’t me in the photos.’

      ‘So what did you tell him?’

      ‘That you’d asked me to come and cover for you this week. That you hadn’t told me who the woman in the photos was.’

      Tyler raised an eyebrow. ‘Very clever. Not quite a lie, but not quite the truth either.’ He tutted. ‘Keeping secrets already. Doesn’t bode well for the two of you, does it?’

      Weariness settled over Dory. She just wanted this to be over, already. ‘Look, he has a right to know the truth. We don’t have to tell your parents, and I’m happy to play the dutiful girlfriend for the next couple of days. But after that, after I get back from my trip home, I want to be free to date anyone I like – including your brother, potentially. So he has to know the truth.’

      But Tyler just shook his head. ‘Not a chance. I’ll tell him when I’m good and ready, and I can promise you now, that won’t be this weekend.’

      ‘Then I’ll tell him.’

      ‘No, you won’t.’ He looked so smug, so sure, that Dory’s jaw ached from clenching it, biting back the names she wanted to call him. ‘Because if you do, I guarantee you he’ll forget all about your little flirtation and punch me out in the middle of my parent’s party. Which, I think we can both agree, will not constitute you holding up your half of the bargain. Which means you won’t get this.’ He reached into the bedside-table drawer and pulled out her plane ticket home, bow stuck on the envelope. ‘So, just in case, I’ll hang on to it, I think. Until we’re on our way out of here, the day after tomorrow.’

      Dory’s heart clenched as she watched him tuck the ticket in his pocket. ‘He deserves to know, Tyler.’

      ‘Maybe. But not today. Not if you want your trip home. Or a job when you get back again.’

      She wasn’t sure she even wanted the job, after this. ‘Why are you doing this?’

      Tyler’s shoulders sagged, and he gave her a tired smile. ‘Believe it or not, I’m not trying to make you miserable. I’m just trying to save my family from imploding.’

      ‘I think you might have lost your shot at that when you started sleeping with your brother’s ex-wife.’ Tyler shrugged, as if to say ‘what can you do?’ Watching him, Dory felt compelled to ask the question that had been in her mind since she answered the phone that morning. ‘Are you in love with her?’

      God, he looked so tired. ‘Of course I am. I always have been.’

      ‘Even when she was married to Lucas?’

      ‘Long before,’ Tyler admitted, and Dory couldn’t help but feel a little bit sorry for him. ‘And I’m sorry, Dory. But I can’t let you ruin this for me.’

      ***

      Lucas tweaked his bow tie in one last attempt to get the damn thing to lie straight. He looked like a waiter, but he supposed chauffeur wasn’t all that far off. It fitted how he felt at these events, anyway. Out of place, and only there to perform a service – to prove to all and sundry that the Alexander family were still as close a unit as ever.

      Even if it was a complete lie.

      The rap on his door surprised him and he knocked the tie wonky again. Swearing under his breath he tugged on the bow and pulled it out, leaving the tie dangling around his collar. He’d fix it later.

      Yanking the door open, he expected to see his mother, come to check he was leaving for the station.

      His breath caught in his chest. Not his mother. Not anything like.

      ‘You look incredible.’ Lucas let his gaze trail down from the pink of her cheeks, over the line of her collarbones, the curves of her breasts, waist and hips, all the way down the silky fall of her dress to the high heels on her feet. God, he wanted to see her legs. Wanted to see every last inch of her.

      ‘You’re looking pretty… great yourself.’ At Dory’s breathy words, he pulled his attention back up to her lips, red and plump and made for kissing.

      ‘Is everything okay?’ he asked, trying to keep his mind on her conversation, rather than what he wanted to do to her body.

      ‘I needed to…’ She bit her lip, and an irrational hope rose up in Lucas as to exactly what Dory might need. ‘Can I come in?’

      Lucas stepped aside, and she slipped past, into his room. Just where he wanted her…

      The mistletoe lay half-forgotten on the table under the window and, as he shut the door behind him, Lucas saw Dory pick it up, twisting the stems between her fingers. ‘Had plans for this, did you?’

      With a shrug, Lucas moved towards her, his bigger hands covering hers completely. ‘Hopes. Not plans.’

      She looked up at him. ‘So what were you hoping?’

      ‘That I’d get to do this again.’ Sliding one arm around her waist, Lucas pulled Dory to him, bending his head to meet her lips with his. She tasted every bit as sweet as she had earlier, and the dress let him feel every curve of her body, close against his. He wondered if she could feel how hard he was for her, through the fabric of his suit. Wondered, if he angled his leg so, if he could feel the heat of her…

      ‘Oh God,’ Dory moaned against his mouth as he slid his knee between her thighs, using his free hand to hitch up her skirt. ‘This wasn’t… I didn’t…’

      ‘Want me to stop?’ Lucas murmured, in between placing kisses along her throat.

      ‘God no!’ Her arms wrapped around him, emphasising her words, and he had to kiss her again, deep and desperate. When she finally broke away, he was breathless, mindless, aware of only one thing.

      ‘I really, really want to make love to you,’ he whispered, mouth against her ear.

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