Chapter 12

Rob

“Thanks for the invite,” I say, walking in and shaking Mason’s hand. He invited me to Christmas dinner. The past few weeks have been utterly painful after losing my mysterious woman to the morning light, and I don’t have any reason to celebrate.

“Thanks for coming. Let’s introduce you to my fiancée.” We walk into the dining room where there’s a small party gathered at the table. Mason loses my attention instantly when my eyes land on the bright-eyed blonde sitting next to James. A blush steals over her face. Despite coming in from the cold, my cock is hard as fuck. It’s her. My anger is gone and full of twenty other emotions. She’s James’s baby sister. I can’t fucking believe it. That means she was the one who was shot at. That hits me brutally. All that matters is that she’s here and we have another chance to get our fucking forever. I’m not stopping until we do.

“Rob, this is James’s sister, Rebecca.”

I stretch out my hand and take it, bringing it to my lips. I’ve missed her so much. She smiles at me involuntarily. Good, because tonight she’s coming home with me. And no one is going to stop me. I sit down, letting the last three weeks of frustration and pain fall away, but in its place, anger starts to build. She does her best to act normal, and so do I. Dinner goes by without either of us making a scene, but it’s coming because I’m not leaving here without her. From the look on my face, I’m sure she’s well aware of it too.

After dinner, we gather around the tree with pie and coffee. I make sure to sit on the sofa next to Rebecca, James takes the large chair because his ass is stuffed and grumbling that he can’t even breathe while he reaches for some pie. She’s wearing a sexy white Christmas dress with red around the edges and a pair of candy cane striped leggings. She looks absolutely adorable. I lean over and whisper so only she can hear, “We need to talk and don’t think of pulling any bullshit with me.”

“I’m not.”

Then we’re interrupted when James loudly asks, “So Mason, since you’re not taking the deal with Grable. Are they going under?” I’m sure his ass did that on purpose. 

“I’m not quite sure. I’ve cut all contact with them, but with the scandal going around, they might sell it to you at a fair price if you’re interested.” That company is how Mason met his soon to be wife. He was going to buy it, but then they were mean to Winter, so he said fuck them and left with Winter.

“Hey, I hear he’s fired his daughter and taking over until he can sell the company,” I interject, trying to stop myself from pulling Rebecca on my lap.

“Sounds good to me. She’s killing the brand,” James remarks, biting into the apple pie that Winter made. “Winter, this is fabulous.” The only pie I want now is Rebecca’s all over my fucking face.

“Thank you,” Winter says softly, blushing from the compliment. 

“Are you interested in it, James?” Mason ask him.

“I’m not sure yet. I’m going out of the country next month for about two months and won’t be back until the middle of March. If the business is still hanging on, I’ll check it out. And I’m good at ignoring women like Ms. Grable.” James ignores all women. Sometimes I wonder if that’s the way I came off until I met Rebecca.

“Are you all available for New Year’s Day?” Mrs. Hunt blurts out. I feel like it’s coming out of left field, but I can feel Rebecca tense up next to me. I turn to look at her and see her hands messing with the hem of her sweater. 

“We don’t have any plans.”

“Goodie. Mason and Winter are getting married here at the house, so we expect you to be here.” I laugh when Mason scowls at his mother. She put him on the spot, but it doesn’t stop her, she continues, “What? Mason, it’s only a week away. You need to invite people before it’s too late.”

“Don’t worry. I wouldn’t miss it for the world, Mrs. Hunt,” James adds. 

“Same here, Mrs. H,” I say, and I’m answering for both Rebecca and I. There’s no way I’m letting her out of my sight until she has my ring on her finger and my baby in her belly. 

“We’d love to have you all there,” Winter adds.

Mrs. H taps her boyfriend’s knee then stands and addresses us, “Great, now if you’ll excuse us ladies. We have to talk dresses.” She leads Winter and Rebecca out of the room, but not before I touch Rebecca’s fingers. She gasps, letting me know nothing’s changed.

“Wow, your mom is one tough woman,” James says, blowing out a harsh breath.

“That she is. That she is,” Mason chuckles to himself. “Does anyone want something harder?”

“I could use it and so can Rob,” James remarks. I cock my brow, wondering if he knows more than he’s letting on.

“Harry?” Mason asks, waving his whiskey decanter at him.

“Sure.”

We all take a tumbler. I down mine, and that’s when James sets his on the table, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees. He looks me straight in the eye and states, “Bro, do me a favor. Stop looking at my sister like that. You were just losing your shit over someone else.” He has no idea, but he’s about to learn. I hate what this is going to do to our friendship, but I love that woman, and nothing is going to stop me from making things work for us.

I shake my head, setting my glass on the coffee table. “Not going to happen, sorry James.”

James slides his hand up onto his thighs and sits straight before adding, “Look, I think you would make a great guy for my sister, but it's too late already.” A terrible thought crosses my head. Has she gotten a new boyfriend? I hope the fuck not. He doesn’t hesitate for long as if he can see the questions in my head. “She met a guy and got herself knocked up.” James was spitting nails when he mentioned that someone took advantage of his little sister.

I look in the direction where she exited. I have a feeling that there’s no one else. My woman is carrying my baby. Mentally I’m fucking grinning from ear to ear, but I have to clear all other possibilities. “She's pregnant. Where's this guy?” I challenge.

“I don't fucking know. All I know is she left him without a goodbye and hasn't talked to him since.” That's all I needed to know.

I smirk because it’s all I can do from jumping up and down like a fucking fool. “Now just so you know, James, I'm the one she walked away from. She’s the one I told you about. The one who fucking broke my heart. And that's not happening again. She's mine.”

“What? You fucked my little sister,” he roars, thrusting his hands through his hair.

“Calm down. I had no idea she was your sister. You’ve kept her fucking hidden since I met you. She didn’t say shit about you or even give me her last name. Excuse me, but she and I have a lot to talk about.”

James starts to say something before he stammers out, “This, this, this is bullshit.” He pours himself another drink.

I stand up and turn to Mason and say, “Thanks for a great evening and bringing my woman back to me.” I turn to my friend and business guru and add, “James, I promise to take care of her. I swear if I’d known she was your sister, I would have come to you about it, but none of that matters now because she’s mine. And I’ll never give her a reason to cry.”

I get up, reaching out my hand for him to shake. I want this to go smoothly, but he’s got every damn right to be pissed at the situation.

“As much as I want to be pissed, it’s better you than the little bastard she was working with,” he scoffs, taking my hand and shaking it with a smirk of his own, knowing damn well what that did to me.

“You thought they hooked up?” Instant jealousy hits me just thinking about him touching her.

He sits back down with his glass and a chuckle, “No, but I saw who she was working with when she first got into work.” He takes a sip, then becomes very serious and says, “I’m not sure how to process this, but if you do anything to hurt her, I will bury you. That you can take to the bank.”

“Understood.”

I get up and put on my coat and go looking for her jacket that she wore the night I met her. In walks Rebecca, followed by the other ladies. “You’re leaving,” she exclaims, sounding upset.

“Yes, and you’re coming with me.” I hold up her coat, and she moves to let me slip it on her. She looks over to her brother, wondering if he’s going to say anything.

“Goodnight,” he mutters over his glass.

We step out into the cold, and I put her in the truck, hitting the heated seats right away. “Sorry, it’s so cold. I can’t wait a minute longer to get you alone. Don’t say shit. I’m not going to argue with you in the car.”

“I wasn’t going to argue, Rob,” she admits. The sound of my name coming from her lips etches onto my soul. I fucking missed her saying it. I itch to close the distance and take her in a kiss to remind her of us, but then we’ll never make it back to my condo.