Accidentally Under Your Tree (Grand Ridge Christmas #1)

4.William

Six nights before Christmas

Fifty-Five minutes before the bar

I had excused myself to the bathroom fifteen minutes ago. The water I'd splashed dripped from my chin. In the mirror, a face displaying a disturbing combination of horror and disbelief stared back at me. My eyes were too wide, and I couldn't convince my mouth to close.

My blood pressure ratcheted up to the extreme. So much so that just the back door closing startled me.

"This is unbelievable," I kept hissing at my reflection, as if repeating it would make it less true.

I jumped again at a tap on the bathroom door.

"Bill, you good?" Rose asked, her voice muffled by the wooden barrier between us.

I sucked a deep breath in through my nose, scrunching my eyes shut. There was no avoiding this. I had to tell her.

" Fuck ," I mouthed.

Opening the door, I pulled her in the room with me.

"You need to come out of the bathroom. It's been a weird amount of time," she said, pressing her back to the floral-patterned wallpaper across from the sink.

I scratched at my eyebrow, then ran my hand down my face. Was there a combination of words that could make this less terrible?

I groaned. "You're gonna kill me."

"Why?"

"It's not safe to tell you, because you're gonna kill me."

Rose snorted and rolled her eyes. A behavior so much like Lizzy, I couldn't believe I didn't notice it last night. But the message in the gesture differed between the two of them. Rose's eye roll said, You're being annoying , while Lizzy's said, I haven't decided if you're worth my time.

Which was my catnip and downfall.

Rose was going to kill me.

"Stop being dramatic and just tell me,” she said.

The lip of the counter pressed into my hip. I scraped my palm across my lips, shaking my head.

She considered me out of the corner of her eye. "Okay, you're actually scaring me at this point."

"I'm sorry," I mumbled into my hand. Sighing, I repeated, "I'm really sorry."

I needed to just say it. "I met Lizzy last night."

"Lizzy?"

"Anne."

"My sister?"

"Mm-hmm."

"Where?"

"At the hotel bar."

Rose opened and closed her mouth a few times.

When she finally spoke, there was a threatening edge to her voice. "What do you mean, you met her?"

My shoulders hunched, my eyes cast down to the tile floors. "It's as bad as it could be."

In the heavy silence, I forced myself to look at her face. Her cheeks were pink and there was an angry line between her eyebrows.

After a few breaths, she shook her head. "Anne?"

I nodded. "Lizzy."

"I didn't know she had it in her."

"Oh, she had it in her."

Rose lifted the flat of her hand and swung. It smacked against my upper arm. The slap was louder than the sting of contact, but I flinched away.

"Don't be a shithead!" she hiss-whispered, as I whispered back, "Not like that, I didn't mean it like that!"

"How the hell did you mean it?!"

" I wasn't the ' it —'"

"—Ew," she interrupted.

"—I meant that…you know…we were both… interested ."

"Ew."

"Sorry."

"I'm going to kill you."

"I know."

After Rose and I shoveled piping hot Shepherd's Pie into our faces, she declared, "We're heading out."

Kelly and Jim shared confused expressions.

"I thought you wanted to stay in," Kelly said. "Relax."

Rose shot me the briefest glare, then forced a smile. "I thought so too. But uh… I really want to show Bill around."

"Okay." Kelly shrugged.

Hustling out the garage door connected to the kitchen felt disrespectful, not just to Kelly and Jim, but to the Shepherd's pie. It was a shame that my taste buds weren't working. Maybe tomorrow I could have leftovers and actually enjoy them. If Rose and Lizzy didn't ship me off in the dark of night like some fugitive.

But necessity justified the quick departure. Rose and I needed to find Lizzy. If I were her, I'd feel used…and gross.

I felt like a shit.

"Text her," Rose directed, sliding into the driver's seat of our rental.

"And say what?" I lifted my hips to pull my phone out of my back pocket.

"I don't know…"

While Rose executed a three-point turn as if we'd stolen the car, I glared at my phone and settled on, Please let me explain .

When there wasn't a response, I sent additional texts attempting to explain. It wasn't surprising that they all went unanswered.

"Has she responded to you?" I asked.

Rose turned from her parent's street onto the main road into town. The glow of streetlights a mile away was bright against the dark winter sky. "I haven't texted."

She was sensitive about her sister, so much so that I didn't know the full story of what happened between them. The few times that I'd asked a probing question, Rose had tossed a flippant remark and blown me off. It wasn't the only subject she didn't want to talk about. It was clear that it hurt her more than she was letting on.

I hesitated before asking, "Do you have her number?"

Biting her thumbnail, she scowled at the road. "Of course. You know, in case of an emergency with Mom or Dad.”

The click of the blinker banged through the car like a gavel. She took a right to head away from town.

"Where are we going?" I asked.

"She'll be a Shay's."

A few minutes later we parked in the driveway of a simple farmhouse that even in the dark, I could see improvements—newer siding, fresh front porch, updated windows. Details that I noticed subconsciously because of the work Rose and I did.

Lights floated out of the first-floor windows, but I didn't see any movement. We both sat still. Rose's tension mixed with mine.

I shoved my hand through my hair. "You okay?"

She sucked in a breath and held it before blowing it out in a whoosh. "I…I just need to talk to her."

The hinges creaked as Rose pushed the car door open. She was halfway up the walk before I'd even gotten out of my seat. Now that her decision was made, there was no slowing her down. She'd have this talk done and under control. She wouldn't stop pushing and pulling until the situation succumbed to her will.

It was her way.

Her tenacity was truly a beautiful thing, but it could make for certain challenges. Seeing the parts of her personality that fit into place with Lizzy completed a picture I'd only seen half of.

Rose banged four times on the big wooden front door as I bounded up the porch steps. The drone of a grinder went quiet and then heavy steps neared.

Her face went slack and stricken. "Oh, shit."

"What?" I demanded, wondering how anything could get worse.

The door swung open and a tall man in a baseball cap, safety glasses, and a dirty T-shirt stood on the other side.

His eyes widened, and he fell back on his heels as if pushed. "Rosie," he breathed.

Rose's face had gone suspiciously blank, and her voice came out flat. "What are you doing here?"

The smell of sawdust and power tools wafted out with the heat. I peered around him, but instead of seeing signs of Lizzy, there were only a tarp and clip lights hanging around the fireplace.

He lounged against the doorframe. "Workin'. What are you doing here?"

"Looking for Shay and Anne. Are they here?"

"Been a while since you came looking for them." He lifted the neck of his shirt to wipe sweat from his brow. I didn't miss the way Rose's eyes dropped to the skin that showed under the lifted hem. I didn't think he missed it either.

"Sure." A blush warmed her cheeks. "Are they here?"

He shook his head. Extending his hand to me, he said, "Hey man, I'm Lawrence. You must be…Bill?"

I took his hand. "Yeah…"

"Jim told me you were here for the holidays."

"Lawrence works for my dad," she explained. "So, they're not here."

"No."

"'Kay." She turned on her heels and started back toward the car.

He and I shared an awkward wave goodbye. I jogged with my hands in the pockets of my leather coat to the car. Rose had both hands on the steering wheel, her seat belt already buckled, by the time I closed my door.

"So that's the ex-boyfriend?" I asked.

"Yup." She nodded at the now vacant front porch.

We were in a terrible fake relationship .

Lizzy

Six nights before Christmas

Twelve minutes after Shay's front porch.

"Rosie!" I heard Ben greeting my sister as if my head were underwater. Blood rushed in my ears. My arms and legs grew cold and sluggish as my lungs filled with hot air and my cheeks burned.

There was a back door. It was in sight. I could dash for it.

I wasn't ready to tell Rose. Not here. Not among all these people to see us, and whisper about us around town. She'd hate that.

I'd hate that.

"Hey Benji," she chirped back, her voice close to the booth. I expected her to go to the bar or to an empty table, but she slid into the seat next to me. "Can you bring a fresh round for Anne and Shay, and whatever light beer you have on tap for us?"

I'd already stopped breathing the second Rose's hip bumped mine, demanding more space without saying a word. Making room for her was second nature—a behavior I'd done since in utero. But all my bodily functions failed, my heart stopped, and my brain sputtered to a halt when a hand gripped the corner of our backrest by Rose's shoulder.

It only made sense that Will, of the beautiful hands and philandering bullshit, would be with her, but I was not ready.

"Breathe, Anne," she commanded. A thud sounded under the table, and Shay winced. "Fix your face, Shay. We aren't killing him tonight."

I didn't know what to make of Rose's calm, commanding demeanor. Her sitting next to me, talking to me…it was something I'd wanted for so long that I'd stopped acknowledging the ache of her distance. Now that she was here, I was even more confused. It didn't make sense that she'd know about me and Will.

Cheating boyfriends rarely admitted to their girlfriends, right?

How could she know when I still hadn't told her?

"Night's still young," Shay hissed, glaring at Will. I couldn't bring myself to look at him. Instead, I focused on the gleaming grain of the tabletop.

"Everyone, calm down—" Rose started.

As I said, "I have to tell you—"

"—No, you don't," she interrupted. "Bill already did. It's okay."

Shay crossed her arms on the table. "What exactly did he tell you?"

"He told me about last night."

Tears stung my eyes. I blinked down at my lap, willing them to go away.

Mimicking her body language, Rose leaned on the tabletop too. "I really need you to bring your over protectiveness down a notch, okay?"

Balancing all four drinks in his hands, Ben stopped next to where Will stood. He pretended not to notice the weird tension in our group. I was sure he did, though. That was why everyone came to Benji's, because he and his waitstaff acted as if they were oblivious to local drama.

He distributed the drinks before he and Rose hugged. "Good to see ya."

"You too. The bar looks great," she offered.

"Thank you. It's a work in progress, but it keeps getting a little better every year." Turning his attention, he held out his hand. "You're Bill."

"Sometimes he goes by Will ." Shay said his name like a dirty word, dripping venom, drawing it out into two syllables.

Ben's eyebrow twitched before he pretended as if she hadn't spoken. "I've watched some of your videos. You two are cute together."

The knife in my gut twisted. I would have known who Will was if I paid attention to my sister's Internet presence. But a para-social relationship was salt in the wound. I'd learned years ago that it was better for my mental state to not seek her out. Not to google her or scroll through her social media profiles. It hurt too much.

That really backfired.

I couldn't keep track of time or follow the conversation over the buzzing in my ears, but it didn’t seem like Ben stuck around for long.

When he walked away, Rose put a hand on my wrist. I forced myself to meet her eyes.

"Bill and I aren't actually dating," she whispered.

Wrinkles crossed Shay's forehead. But Rose’s shoulders remained confidently set. Against my better judgement, my eyes landed on Will's face and found his mossy green gaze fixed on me with concern and apology fitted into their softened corners. My heart ached, forcing me to look away.

Rose continued in a lowered voice. She explained about an agent shopping their YouTube channel to streaming services, and her and Will's attempt to appear more desirable by giving their audience the relationship they'd always wanted to see.

"It officially started this morning," she explained. Will winced at her emphasis on the word 'officially'.

"It's not real." She turned in her seat, giving me all her attention. "Everything is okay."

"How long are you two going to do this?" Shay asked.

"I don't know." Rose looked up at Will, but I still hadn't processed the information well enough to venture a second look in his direction. "We were thinking either a week or two before or after Valentine's."

Shay leaned in closer. "That doesn't make any sense. If a streaming service picks up your show because you're pretending to be in this cute little relationship—"

"Not because of the relationship. Because of the hype. A breakup is also hypey."

"Unless the breakup makes your audience turn on you."

"They won't do that."

Shay raised a skeptical brow.

"You can't tell anyone, Shay."

"Anyone? Or just Lawrence?"

Rose's lips pressed into a tight line. " Anyone ."

"Lizzy." Will's voice broke through the noise of the bar and the ringing in my ears.

Like a moth to a flame, my eyes found his. His lips set in a stern line. His focus pinned me to the booth. I could practically feel the weight of his body on mine. The clean scent of his soap mixing with the sharp smell of our sweat. On my upper thigh, my skin tingled at the bruises his fingers had left.

"I'm sorry," he said.

"If you did nothing wrong, why are you apologizing?" Shay challenged.

For just a moment, he looked at her, and I missed the pressure of his eyes. I was such a fool for wanting his attention, but I did. This was messier than meeting a man in a bar. This was messier than a one-night stand. This would only get messier by me wanting him.

"I made her feel fucking terrible." His eyes found me once more, tugging me toward him all over again. "I'm sorry."

The tight string bound around my chest loosened. A little consolation prize that at least I hadn't read him wrong.

I jerked my head toward Shay. "Can he sit with you?"

She heaved a tremendous sigh, then scooted further into her booth.

"Thanks," he mumbled.

He assessed my smeared mascara and pink nose. A muscle flexed in his jaw, and I could read his regret in the set of his brows.

Jerking his chin toward the drink in front of me, he said, “That’s not a vodka cranberry.”

“Last night might have ruined them for me.”

I smirked down at the table. “Maybe I’ll only drink them during power outages.”

The corners of his mouth twitched up.

It took a few moments for me to notice Shay and Rose glancing between us, followed by Shay pursing her lips.

Messy , a little voice in my head urged. Even as I relaxed my guard a further.

"So, how did you find us, anyway?" Shay asked.

If I hadn't been sitting so close to Rose, I might have missed the way she tensed. Her voice remained deceptively calm. "We went to your house first."

Shay's lip curled, and I imagined she was fed up with all of us. "You saw Lawrence?"

"Yes, I saw him." Rose looked down at her white, sparkly painted nails. "Don't worry, he's still in one piece."

Just under her breath, Shay mumbled, "I doubt it."

Will sent me a questioning look that flipped my stomach upside down. He took my shrug for an answer.

In unison, the four of us lifted our beverages and swallowed long drinks.

Will

Five nights before Christmas

Being a gentleman was the damned worst. My entire body was sore from sleeping on the floor—but it'd be too weird to share a bed with Rose. So, I'd made a pathetic nest on the carpet with as many extra blankets and pillows as we could sneak into the spare bedroom without her parents noticing.

I stretched my arm across my chest and my shoulder cracked while Rose drooled on a pillow that looked like a cloud. Stepping into the hallway, I resisted shaking her awake out of vengefulness.

I followed the smell of coffee to the kitchen. Only to find Lizzy.

Her hair was in a bun on top of her head, and she wore a burgundy robe tied around her waist. Fluffy slippers covered her feet. Her ankles were bare. So bare…

I didn't think I'd ever been more aware of another person's ankles. I felt like an olden times pervert, lusting over the smooth skin peaking between her slippers and pajama pants.

"Good morning." She swiped a hand over the wild strands of her hair curling around her shoulders.

I cleared my throat, but my voice still sounded scraped with gravel with my reply. "Good morning."

With a mug covered in cat faces, she gestured over her shoulder. "There's coffee," she said, at the same time I said, "I smelled coffee."

My smile was a mirror of hers—small, embarrassed, careful.

The night before, I'd finished my beer while trying not to notice the adorable pink that filled Lizzy's cheeks every time I looked at her. Shay and Rose did most of the talking—something about a decorating competition. The conversation didn't capture my attention long enough to retain any details.

Her gaze cast down to her slipper covered toes, and my heart ached. This was not how I wanted to know her. If this were a different morning, I'd have woken up next to her. Or I'd find her in the kitchen and pull her against my chest, breathe in the floral scent of her hair. The same smell I'd been craving since I had her underneath me in a hotel bed.

The memory washed over me like electric sparks on my skin. I closed my eyes to it, but there was no blocking out the remembered taste of her on my tongue or the way her thighs twitched over my shoulders.

"Are you okay?" The floor creaked as she took a step closer.

Stuffing my hand in the pocket of my basketball shorts, I adjusted the very sudden and very unwelcome semi.

When I opened my eyes, she was still a few feet away. Her brown gaze concerned, and her soft, pink lips parted. She must have interpreted the path my thoughts had wandered down because her eyes flicked down to my shorts.

Her mouth pulled into a silent, "Oh."

Under my fingernails, the stubble on my neck rustled with my nervous scratching. "Sorry."

She covered her mouth with her free hand, clearly hiding a smile.

"Is this funny?"

She lifted one shoulder. "Boners are funny," she whispered.

I snorted, and she pressed her finger to her lips to shush me. We contained our laughter from growing too loud. The shame and betrayal I'd seen in her eyes the night before was gone. Replaced by a secret that only we shared. A silliness that did nothing to quell my growing… problem .

"You're not helping the situation," I groaned, forcing myself to not close the distance between us.

"I'm not even doing anything."

"You don't have to."

"Should I go back to my room?"

Self-preservation would say, yes . What good could come from this? Was there a reality where Lizzy and I could have more than a hidden fling some day?

But the golden morning sunlight cast her in shades I didn't want to turn away from, so I shook my head.

Her teeth pressed into her lower lip. "Why don't you take a seat at the counter while you…take care of that."

"Take care of it?"

"I don't know… tend to it?"

"At the kitchen counter?"

She struggled to control the smile dominating her face and lost. "You know what I mean."

Placing the island between us, I sat on the stool and tapped my fingers on the quartz countertop. "Don't mind me, I'm tending ."

She giggled, her cheeks turning bright pink. "Stop it. How do you like your coffee? I'll grab it for you."

"Lots of cream, little sugar."

She opened the refrigerator door. I watched her move around the kitchen. She stretched up onto her toes to grab a mug, revealing more of her slutty ankles. It didn't take long before she set a full, steaming cup in front of me.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome."

I held her gaze as I lifted the liquid to my mouth, taking a sip as she took a drink of hers. The delicate muscles of her neck flexed.

What I wouldn't give to scrape my teeth up the tender skin of her throat—

"Good morning," Jim—her dad —greeted us.

Somehow, I didn't sputter my coffee in my surprise, instead I swallowed way too much, and it burned the entire way down. I blinked back the tears filling my eyes.

On the plus side, my erection had practically deflated.

"Morning," Lizzy chirped, her shoulders rigid. "How'd you sleep?"

"Fine. Thanks for brewing coffee, sweetheart."

"Sure thing!"

"Mornin', Will."

I nodded my head once. "Jim," I groaned, my throat still burning.

"I see you met Lizzy."

"At the bar," she explained, then a little too quickly she added, " last night."

"Is that where you two ran off to?" He directed the question to me.

"Yup." I coughed once into my fist. "Nice place."

"It is. That Ben is a smart young man. You all doin' the Christmas Tree Decorating Contest today?"

Lizzy shifted her weight to one hip and raised an eyebrow at her dad. "You think Mom and Rose would sit this out?"

"Them? No. But you do some years."

"I'll tag along."

"Wait…" I scowled into the middle distance, the inkling of a memory tickling the back of my mind. "Would there be a vision board for this? Something to do with… What is that ballet?"

They exchanged a vexed glance before answering in unison, "Swan Lake."

Jim shook his head. "There are so many feathers in my basement."

"And other design elements," Rose said through a yawn. She padded barefoot to kiss her dad on the cheek. "Morning, Anne."

Lizzy blinked, her mug paused on the way to her lips. "Good morning."

"What about your young man? No kiss to start his day?" Jim asked. He might have been joking but judging by Rose's deer-in-the-headlights expression, she had experienced the same jolt of terror that I had.

"It-it's okay," I stammered. "We already did, in the bedroom."

She tilted her head saying without saying, What the fuck?

"Not like that ," I rambled on.

Jim's eyebrows shot up.

"You know, not like that ."

"Yes, son, I believe I know."

"Yeah, you know."

"Oh my God," Rose groaned, her palm pressed to her forehead.

"Why did you emphasize 'you' like that?" Lizzy asked.

And lord help me, there was the sweetest affection set in her warm eyes. It was the lifeline I needed to close my mouth—to stop digging deeper into the humiliating hole I was about six-feet deep in.

"If I kiss you, will you stop talking?" Rose had already rounded the kitchen island. Placing her hands on both sides of my face, she turned my head toward her and away from Lizzy.

Then her tightly closed mouth was on mine.

And it was…not good.