Chapter Sixteen
Kira had been inching closer to him all morning, and by afternoon she had her legs draped over his and her face pressed against his shoulder as they started their second holiday movie of the day. Apparently, Kira had not only fixed her heat problem, she’d also bought a new router and now had working Wi-Fi in her living room. She was right. She didn’t need his help.
Kira wasn’t using him. She wasn’t Nicole.
And unlike all of the women he’d dated this year, he actually liked spending time with her. If anything, him staying here wasn’t some selfless act of imagined heroism, it was selfish. He wanted more of Kira, and with her currently pressed against him he thought maybe he could have her. Just for a little while, he could have her.
Luckily, he was back in his own clothes. That robe hadn’t provided much protection between him and Kira’s warm body in his lap. Jeans were slightly safer.
Although not by much.
He was trying very hard to focus on the convoluted premise of the movie, but Kira’s body was incredibly distracting. And now that he’d stopped worrying about replacing one bad habit with another, all he could think about was other ways they could be spending their time together.
Other less nice ways.
He shifted a little and Kira rearranged her legs. They were long and lovely, and he wanted to peel off her leggings and kiss them from ankle to…
She giggled next to him and he marveled at the soft sound, like she was showing him a completely different side of herself. ‘This part is so absurd,’ she said, gesturing to the laptop that was balanced precariously on a throw pillow on the coffee table. ‘I mean, her best friend can’t even tell that’s not her! As a twin, I can tell you, it’s not actually that easy to switch places with someone even if you share one hundred per cent of their DNA. And she just swapped places with a princess. There’s no way.’
‘I think she’s a duchess.’
‘Whatever.’
‘So, she’s just acting with herself right now?’
‘Yep. By the third movie, she’s playing three characters.’
‘There’s a third one?’
Kira laughed. ‘Yep.’
Bennett groaned and she elbowed him in the side. ‘Hush, or I’ll throw you out in the snow.’
He chuckled and moved so that his arm was draped around her shoulder. ‘I thought you didn’t even like Christmas,’ he said.
She peered up at him. ‘What makes you say that?’
‘Well, you have zero decorations in here. You don’t even have a Christmas tree and you own a Christmas-tree farm. And you cringe every time you hear a Christmas song.’
‘Christmas music is objectively terrible.’ She crinkled her nose at the thought, and God, she was cute when she wasn’t trying to scare him away.
‘And yet you love these objectively terrible movies.’
‘Hey! This movie is a cinematic masterpiece.’
His laugh rumbled through them and Kira nuzzled in closer. Her body was so warm and right. He hadn’t felt like this in so long, like he clicked with someone, like he could actually imagine wanting to be with them.
‘Why do you love them so much?’
She sighed. ‘Watching crappy Christmas movies was one of the few holiday traditions I liked. Me and Chloe, every year we watch the worst ones and eat our weight in Christmas cookies and do our best to avoid my mother’s over-planned events.’
‘Sounds fun.’
‘It was. Except the year we tried to make it a drinking game.’
‘Less fun?’
‘Well, less fun because they said the word “mistletoe” so many times I almost got alcohol poisoning, and Chloe nearly ran bare-ass naked through my mother’s famous Christmas Eve party, but luckily she passed out in the hallway before she made it downstairs.’
‘Wow.’
‘Yeah. Poor Elaine, our housekeeper, had quite a shock in the morning.’
‘I bet.’
‘Don’t worry I gave her an extra good Christmas gift that year.’
‘What did you get her?’
Kira huffed a disbelieving laugh. ‘Cash.’
‘Oh, right.’
‘I’m guessing your Christmases were a bit different.’
‘Uh … yeah. I mean there was no household staff and no big parties, and definitely no naked drinking games, but we had fun.’
‘Did you wear matching pajamas and sing around the Christmas tree?’
