All the Romance You Need This Christmas: 5-Book Festive Collection. Romy Sommer
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Cheryl left. Least of all his actual family, mostly because they simply weren’t prepared to listen.
Dory listened. Dory not only showed interest in what he had to say but… she seemed to care about it, too. On less than twelve hours’ acquaintance. A hell of a better record than his parents or brother had in this matter.
But she was Tyler’s. So a good listener was all she could ever be to him, however well they’d bonded over cake.
Still… at least he should return the favour.
Clearing his throat, Lucas speared a few cake crumbs and some icing with his fork. ‘So, what about you? What would you really be doing for Christmas if you weren’t here? And not the story you told my mother at dinner. Where would you want to be?’
‘Ideally?’ Dory asked. ‘I’d be at home in Liverpool, drinking mulled wine and eating mince pies. Playing board games with my family. Watching Doctor Who on Christmas Day. Opening our stockings. That sort of thing.’
‘Sounds nice.’ His Christmases had never been like that, even as a child. There were always guests – usually people his parents were trying to impress – and itchy, formal outfits to be worn. ‘And instead, you’re here.’
‘Instead, I’m here,’ Dory agreed.
‘You must really love my brother,’ Lucas joked, but Dory didn’t laugh. In fact, she looked positively uncomfortable. ‘Still, you survived your first Alexander family dinner. Think you can make it through the next few days without losing your mind?’
The face she pulled suggested that Dory wasn’t entirely sure she could. ‘I’m just focusing on getting to go home for two whole weeks after this.’
He wasn’t surprised that she’d rather be with her own family, whatever Felicia’s assumptions. ‘Think Tyler will be able to cope without you for that long?’
‘He’ll have to,’ Dory said, face stubborn. ‘That was the deal.’
‘Deal?’
The colour faded from Dory’s cheeks, as if she’d said something she hadn’t meant to. ‘Um, yeah. Well, I mean, he promised that if I came and spent Christmas with his family, he’d give me a couple of weeks off to visit mine over New Year. Not that I didn’t want to be with him for Christmas, or anything. Or here. Um…’
‘I get it, Dory,’ Lucas said, deciding the only decent thing was to put her out of her misery. ‘It’s okay to want to be with your own family for the holidays. Especially when the other option is my family.’
She gave him a faint smile, but nothing like the way she’d beamed at him when he’d placed the chocolate cake on the table. She looked… scared, almost. Lucas couldn’t shake the feeling that he’d missed something, somewhere. Something important. His mind flicked back over every conversation he’d had with Dory, through cake and cutlery and Christmas music until it reached… the phone call. His call to Tyler’s office.
He frowned at the memory. ‘You know, I was thinking. You never said anything about you and Tyler when I called that day.’
‘Oh. Well. It wasn’t really… I mean, I didn’t know I would be coming for Christmas until later. Until your mother demanded that Tyler bring the woman in the photos home to meet them. You know?’
She was talking too fast, too sure, and her fingers kept twirling the fork around and around. He was definitely missing something here.
‘But you knew it was you in the photos,’ he pressed. ‘And you didn’t say anything.’
‘Well, yeah, sure. But it was kind of a delicate situation, right? I mean, I hadn’t even seen them until you called. And Tyler didn’t want people to know about us, I guess.’
Dory knows the score. That was what Tyler had said. But Lucas was starting to suspect that ‘score’ wasn’t what he’d imagined it to be.
‘That makes sense,’ he said, because it did. Even if he was almost certain it wasn’t the whole truth. ‘But I’m kind of surprised. I’d have thought, given everything… Well, I’d have expected him to be a little more protective of you this weekend. Or at least more attentive.’
‘You mean, protect me from your mother?’ Her hands finally stopped moving, dropping the fork to the wood of the table. ‘Well, you know Tyler,’ she said, with a small smile. ‘He probably doesn’t even realise what she’s doing.’
‘Maybe not,’ Lucas conceded.
‘Is she like this with every woman you guys bring home?’ Dory asked.
Lucas thought back to his conversation with Tyler in the car. ‘Not every woman,’ he admitted.
‘Just me, then,’ Dory said. ‘It’s the accent, isn’t it?’
‘I like the accent.’
That earned him a real, wide smile. ‘You do? Good.’
For a long moment, they just looked at each other, and Lucas wondered how he’d got here, sitting in the kitchen with his brother’s girlfriend, desperately trying to think of something more to say, anything to keep her there with him. To stop her going to bed with Tyler.
But he couldn’t. He had to let her go. Whatever his suspicions and hopes, he had to let Dory go for tonight.
‘I’d better go to bed,’ she said. Was that reluctance he heard in her voice? Or was that just wishful thinking? ‘Tyler will be wondering where I am.’
He nodded. ‘Good night, then. You’d better rest up for more family fun tomorrow.’
‘Can’t wait!’ Dory pushed her chair back and padded to the door, giving him an excellent view of her faded pyjama bottoms curving over her ass. ‘Night, Lucas. Sleep tight.’
He nodded, but he knew he wouldn’t. Not least because, before he could think about sleep, he had some photos to look at. And some suspicions to resolve.
Tyler still hadn’t made it back to their room by the time Dory, full of cake and apprehension, finally fell into bed. She spared a brief thought for where he might have disappeared to, but mostly she was just grateful for the solitude. She needed to think.
She shouldn’t have got so chatty with Lucas. But he’d started sharing about his life, and why he’d pulled away from the Alexander family, and it just seemed natural to let him see a bit of her life too. Even if it wasn’t an entirely truthful picture.
But Lucas wasn’t stupid. The questions he’d been asking… he had suspicions, she was sure. And she was a lousy liar. If he pressed her any further, she’d cave, she knew she would.
And would that be such a bad thing? Dory tried to mentally shush the devil on her shoulder, but she was a persuasive little creature. In her head, she sounded just like her little sister Molly…
If Lucas found out the truth – that she and Tyler weren’t really dating – what would it change? He already knew she was his assistant. What was one more little secret between friends? Especially since Lucas seemed more of a friend to her in this hostile environment than her fake boyfriend did. If Lucas was in on the whole masquerade, he could help her, maybe. Somehow.
She sighed and turned on to her side, burrowing deeper into the duvet. She was making excuses for herself. The truth was, if Lucas knew she wasn’t really dating Tyler, maybe he’d stop holding himself back.
Dory might not have the best track record with men, but she knew enough to know when a guy was interested. She’d seen Lucas’s eyes linger on the neckline of her camisole top – and seen him yank his gaze away again. She’d felt the connection in the moments of silence, known when he said