The Billionaire’s Naughty List (Cam Show Crush)

14. Elliot

14

ELLIOT

It’s nice to know that even after all the years I’ve lived in the city, I haven’t lost my touch with the fireplace. Flames lick the logs I just added. There’s a soft hiss, a little crackle, and a blooming heat. I put the tools back in their holder, then lift my hands to the fire for a few moments.

Lily has the TV in the den cranked with Christmas tunes. I find her singing along in the kitchen. “Smells amazing in here.”

Like brown sugar glaze, evergreen and gingerbread. Maybe it’s my new rose-colored glasses, but the cabin has never looked better.

She pops a sugar-coated candy in her mouth and smiles across the island. My heart squeezes in my chest.

“I was just thinking the same thing,” she says with a smile.

Tiny snowflakes flutter by the window and while we’re no longer snowed in, it feels cozy.

“Colt said he and the boys are on their way,” I tell her. I offered to pick them up at the airport but I haven’t heard back yet.

My nerves are surprisingly settled because there’s nothing I wouldn’t do for this woman. Like she said yesterday, she’s mine and I’m hers and that’s how it is now. That’s how it’s going to be.

Mostly, I’m eager to learn about the mystery woman he’s seeing.

That’s news to me. He hasn’t dated anyone in years. Says he doesn’t have time to, which is only partly true, especially now that the boys are grown and helping around the ranch.

“Okay,” she murmurs, back to gluing the walls of the gingerbread house together with a thick white paste.

I circle the island and wrap my arms around her middle. “You don’t sound excited. Are you worried?”

“A little.”

“Don’t be.”

“How can I not be? What if he’s mad and you guys fight? I don’t want to cause a rift.”

“If he’s mad, I’ll handle it.” Gently, I take the bag of frosting from her and set it to the side. “Look at me, Lily.”

She turns immediately.

“I can’t promise you that it’ll be smooth sailing, but I can promise we’ll get through it together. Nothing could change my mind about us. Because we’re,” I wave a finger back and forth between us, “an us from now on.”

She slides her hands up my chest and nods. “You’re right. I know all that. I just?—”

I duck my head to meet her eyes. “You what?”

“This feels fast and I don’t want you to ever regret—” she waves her hand at herself.

I grunt a laugh. “Never happen.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“Let’s look at the facts. I’ve never been interested in settling down before. And I’ve been thinking about you every day for the last year, wasting away from my own asinine reluctance. If anything, I’m worried you’ll regret being with me.”

Her brows lift as her jaw drops. “What? Why?”

“I’m older, for starters?—”

“Not that much older,” she contradicts. But we both know the math.

“I’m on the verge of needing reading glasses,” I tease.

“That is old.” She gives my nose a playful tap that makes me grin.

“Thanks. My life is busy and my time isn’t always my own. The tech news probably won’t care about our relationship, but the regular media might. Especially once they learn about…”

She nods and takes a deep breath. “I don’t care about that.”

“I don’t either. We know the truth.”

“That I’m crazy about you? You bet.”

The brown of her eyes is warm, alight with love, and happy crinkles frame them. I hope we can always find ourselves back to this sort of happiness, where the world doesn’t matter as long as we’re together.

“And I’m crazy about you.”

We stare at each other for a long, charged moment. “Okay,” she says again, giving a decisive nod. “That’s settled.”

“That you’re stuck with me? You bet your favorite Miss Claus costume.” I drop a chaste kiss on her lips. I’d love to go farther, but I don’t want to mess up her red lipstick.

She reaches up and wipes my lips with her thumb.

And that’s when I see movement in the corner of my eye. Adrenaline zings through my veins as I turn my head toward the foyer.

Colt stands there, a frown firmly in place.

We obviously didn’t hear anyone arrive over the ruckus rendition of I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus . But the way his gaze pings between me and Lily tells me he saw me kissing Miss Claus.

Lily’s younger brothers pile into the room. “Tree looks great, Lils. Hey El,” Jace says, oblivious as usual.

“We brought that toffee you love,” Ryder adds, glancing around, clearly picking up on the undercurrent.

A pixie blond steps around Colt, arms full of festively decorated packages.

“Emily?” Lily exclaims, pushing at my chest because I have her pinned to the counter.

Thank fuck we have our clothes on.

“Elliot. A word.” Colt nods toward the hall.

“What are you doing here?” Lily asks, ignoring her father’s demand. She scoots out of my arms and circles the island.

When I give the other woman a second glance, I recognize her as Lily’s childhood friend. They used to ride horses after school and give their brothers a run for their money.

The two of them embrace, fussing over hair and outfits.

“It’s so good to see you,” Emily murmurs.

As I recall, she was perfectly happy with small town and ranch life. Lily, on the other hand, embraced city living.

Colt’s oldest, Maddox, barges in with a cooler. The boys waste no time and start making a dent in Lily’s cookie tower. The boisterous conversation is louder than the Christmas carols now. Out comes the egg nog, and the celebration is on.

But Colt and I need to talk if there’s any hope of a peaceful holiday.

I squeeze Lily’s shoulder as I pass, a gesture that doesn’t go unnoticed by her father. Colt follows me down the hall to the study, a room he calls ‘Elliot’s domain.’ Lily decorated the mantel of the small fireplace with bows of greenery and strands of red and silver beads.

As I’m shutting the door behind him, I hear Lily yell “you what?”

My instincts scream for me to go to her, but I have a feeling I know what she’s surprised about. Emily is Colt’s woman.

Lily’s childhood best friend is Colt’s girlfriend.

He glances at me, then at the gap in the doorway, as if he too is debating if he should race back to the kitchen. But all is calm and quiet.

“It seems we both have some surprising news,” I hedge as I finish closing the door.

He pauses at the center of the rug and grunts, which is an answer of sorts. I’m under no illusion that this will be easy or that I’ll even be able to count him as a friend once we leave this room.

But I’m ready for those eventualities. If he needs me to, I can buy him out of his part of the cabin. I want to hold on to the place where Lily and I found each other.

“You and Emily?” I ask, making sure to keep my surprise in check.

The thick jacket stretches across his shoulders as he crosses his arms over his chest. “Yeah.”

Colt is four years older than I am, so the age gap is even bigger between him and Emily. Now I understand his hesitation to tell Lily. Especially considering they were once close.

“I’d love to hear how that came about. But I’m sure you’ve got more immediate questions.”

This time, he sighs and shoves a hand into his hair. “I don’t know where to start.” Anger and confusion lace each word.

And I get it. In a perfect world, we could have broken the news more gently. Maybe gathered in the den.

But somehow, they made up time, and he saw me kiss his daughter.

“Let’s start with the fact that I adore her. She’s smart and sassy and funny and she doesn’t take shit from anyone, especially me.”

He tips his chin up, staring at me with brown eyes that see so much. “Keep talking.”

“You know she comes to my company Christmas party.”

He nods.

“Last year, she told me she had a crush on me. That she’d never liked anyone else the way she liked me. I shut her down and told her we couldn’t be together like that. That I didn’t look at her like that.”

“You better fucking not have, Rivers.”

The threat sounds so similar to my dad’s that anxiety spikes through me. My spine straightens. “Well, I spent the year thinking of nothing else. How she is everything I’d ever looked for and never found. It’s like my algorithm got tweaked, so I saw her in everything I did, wondering what she was up to. Because she respected my decision. She backed off, and I didn’t see her at all this year. Not once. And I missed her. I’m never living like that again, Colt. You can’t ask me to. I won’t. When I saw Lily arrive here earlier than expected, I followed her. She showed me how much the rejection hurt her, and I regret that so damn much. So now she’s mine, and I’m hers. I’m not apologizing, and I’m not asking for permission.”

The fire crackles as he stares me down. Then he nods, glancing down at the thick area rug as if it holds the answer to some cosmic question. His hands drop to his hips and after several long moments, he nods again and meets my gaze.

“You always were two peas in a pod.” He stretches out a hand. “Welcome to the family, I guess.”