Chapter 44

CHAPTER44

Christmas Eve

“You still haven’t thanked me yet,” the bastard that barged into the room a few minutes ago said with a satisfied sigh as he shifted to get more comfortable on Cayley’s bed.

“I also haven’t stuffed your body in a crawlspace and left you there to rot,” Bryce pointed out, running his fingertips over the small box, needing the comforting touch that had been helping him get through the past week. As he paced her bedroom, he wondered if he’d ever been this nervous before.

“True,” Sean murmured as he reached over and plucked the stuffed snowman that Bryce won for Cayley at the Christmas fair that she’d dragged him to the other night off the nightstand.

“Why are you here?” Cayley asked from the bathroom, drawing Bryce’s attention to the closed bathroom door where the small woman that he was hoping to spend the rest of his life with was getting dressed for a party that he really didn’t want to fucking go to.

He’d never thought this day would come and now that it had…

He was terrified that he was going to fuck this up.

“Because you need me,” Sean said, tossing the snowman on the bed with a bored sigh.

“I really don’t, though,” Cayley assured him, making Bryce chuckle even though he’d be lying if he said that he wasn’t tempted, really fucking tempted, to stay home tonight but that wasn’t an option. Not tonight. Tonight, he was going to tell Cayley that he was in love with her.

Over the past week, he’d been tempted to tell her that he loved her, but he wanted to do this right. So, instead, he’d made plans to make this night absolutely perfect and, in the meantime, he’d showed her how he felt about her. He’d held her, kissed her, made love to her every chance that he got, went sledding with her, made Christmas cookies so that she could go nuts decorating them with frosting, sugar, and a shitload of sprinkles, watched shitty Christmas movies, and let her drag him to every fucking item on her list just so that he could see her smile.

God, she was fucking everything to him, and tonight, Bryce was going to make sure that she knew that. He was going to take her to this party, make sure that she had a wonderful time, and then he was going to bring her home, make love to her and tell her that he was in love with her, and then Bryce was going to-

“What do you think?”

-forget how to breathe, Bryce thought as he took in the incredibly beautiful woman standing in front of him.

She was…breathtaking.

There was no other way to describe her, Bryce thought, swallowing hard as he ran his eyes over her, taking in everything from the dark curls that looked like they were made from silk piled on top of her head to the red dress that showed off every soft curve of her body to perfection and-

“God, you’re beautiful,” Bryce whispered reverently, watching as Cayley’s beautiful pink lips pulled up into a shy smile.

“Thank you,” Cayley said as she crossed the small room. “And you look incredibly handsome,” she murmured softly as she reached up to cup his face and pull him down for a kiss that made it difficult to remember that he had a plan.

“Thank you,” Bryce murmured, brushing his lips against hers one last time before he forced himself to step away. Clearing his throat, Bryce picked up the white rose corsage with red and green ribbon off the bed and placed it on her wrist. “Are you ready?”

Smiling, Cayley opened her mouth and-

“What is the meaning of this?” came the outraged demand that had both of them sighing heavily as they glanced back at the bed to find Sean glaring at them. “I go out of my way to pretty myself up so that I can take you to the party, only to be discarded like a piece of trash?” Sean demanded, gesturing wildly towards them.

When Cayley opened her mouth, Sean cut her off by holding his hand up and closing his eyes as he slowly exhaled. “It’s fine. I’ll be waiting in the car,” the little bastard that was hellbent on annoying the shit out of him said as he dropped his hand away and stormed off in a huff.

“You really should have beaten him when you were children,” Cayley said with a sad shake of her head.

“It’s one of my biggest regrets,” Bryce said, praying like hell that this didn’t end up being another one.

* * *

Strawberry Manor Hotel

“You should probably know that,”Jess said, slowly exhaling before continuing, “I’m planning on killing him.”

“Understandable,” Cayley murmured as she followed her cousin’s murderous glare to find Sean, who really seemed to enjoy pissing off her cousin, watching them before his gaze locked on her cousin and-

“I’m ready to go to jail.”

-winked, setting off her cousin and forcing Cayley to grab hold of Jess’s hand before she could follow through with any of the fantasies that she’d no doubt been entertaining over the years, and pulled her back.

“You promised his father that you wouldn’t kill him,” Cayley reminded her cousin.

“I was six. I didn’t know better,” Jess said, her glare never leaving the bastard that really needed to stop going out of his way to piss her off as she pushed Cayley’s hands away.

“True,” Cayley mumbled absently as she glanced around the large ballroom that Strawberry Manor had decorated and took in the Christmas trees placed along the walls, beautiful white Christmas lights hanging from every surface in the dimly lit room, tables covered with every Christmas treat known to man, and fake snow dusting the floors and felt her lips pull up into a smile when she spotted Bryce standing across the room.

God, she loved that cranky man, Cayley thought, watching as the man that she loved more than anything shifted his glare away from his brothers, who’d been tormenting him all night, to her and-

Had Cayley swallowing hard when that glare disappeared and was replaced by that smile that she loved. She never thought that she could love someone this much, never thought it was even possible. Every day that she woke up in his arms, she fell a little more in love with him.

She loved the way that Bryce looked at her, the way that he held her, the way that he touched her, and-

“Took you long enough,” Jess said, drawing her attention to find her cousin watching her curiously.

“What are you talking about?” Cayley asked as she thought about the look on Bryce’s face this morning when she opened her eyes.

His expression softened the way that it always did when he looked at her, but this morning, there had been something almost vulnerable in his expression, something that had her heart racing as he caressed her cheek with his fingertips. His gaze never left hers as he dropped his hand away and moved over her, settling between her legs and with a slow roll of his hips, he filled her.

Bryce whispered her name as he leaned down and brushed his lips against hers. He took his time making love to her, kissing, and touching her, making her feel cherished. Every time he touched her, he made her feel like she was the most important thing in the world to him. It was an addicting feeling, Cayley thought as she once again found herself watching him.

“To accept what we all knew,” Jess said as Cayley stood there, unable to take her eyes off Bryce.

“And that is?” Cayley asked as she found herself wondering what Jason and Trevor told her was true.

“That you were in love with Bryce,” Jess said, sounding thoughtful. “I think Kevin figured it out, too, which explains why he made sure that Bryce was there when he popped the question.”

“What are you talking about?” Cayley asked as she glanced back at her cousin to once again find Jess glaring at Sean.

“Do you think I could fit his body in my trunk?” Jess asked, worrying her bottom lip between her teeth as she considered the large bastard watching her.

“Probably,” Cayley said even as she had to wonder why Sean was so determined to piss her cousin off. She should probably be concerned about that, but right now, something else had her attention. “Kevin proposed to me at the bar because that’s where we first met,” she pointed out.

“But that doesn’t explain why he was watching Bryce as he pulled that ring out of his pocket,” Jess said, making her frown because she honestly couldn’t remember anything other than feeling sick to her stomach the moment she saw that ring. It should have been the clue that she needed to let her know that she was making a mistake, but she’d told herself that it was just excitement, but now, she knew that it had been the beginning of the end.

“Bryce looked…destroyed. I’ve never seen anything like it,” Jess said, making Cayley swallow hard as she glanced back at the man in question to find him watching her. “I thought that he was finally going to say something. Then again, I thought that you were going to say no.”

“I made a mistake,” Cayley said, realizing that she was making another one right now.