Page 27 of Eight Days of Christmas
Leo ground his teeth and spun back around, jogging down the stairs. “It’s the week of your wedding. I’m not gonna ruin it.”
“All I’m saying is, spending the entire week with her is gonna eat at you. I know you. You’re gonna hold it all in and then blow up. And that might ruin our week—or worse, our wedding. So why not get it all out now?”
“I’m not gonna blow up. I told you, I’m fine.”
Dad entered the foyer dressed in his best jeans and a flannel. His dark brown hair had more gray than brown these days. Holding a bottle of wine in each hand, he glanced back and forth between his sons with a raised and quizzical brow.
“Hey, Dad.” Leo squeezed his shoulder. “It’s good to see you. How was work?”
Dad gave him a hesitant smile. “It was fine. No drama. So, can’t complain. But what’s going on here?”
“Nothing.” Leo perched on the bottom stair and stuffed his feet into his snow boots.
“Not nothing. Dad, tell Leo he needs to have it out with Izzy once and for all. Tell him it’s not healthy keeping it all bottled up.” Landon yanked his jacket off the coat rack.
Leo laced his boots. In a way, he’d already had it out with Izzy.
Heat filled his cheeks. “We sort of talked. We were stuck together all night.”
Landon eyed him skeptically.
“There. Then it’s settled,” Dad muttered, still contemplating over the wine choice.
Leo shook his head. “Since when did you start calling her Izzy?”
Landon ignored him.
Dad ignored both of them, brushing past the hazardous topic as he always did. Just like he did with anything too stressful or confrontational. He’d been doing it since Mom passed. “I’m sure Leo will do what he thinks is right. Now, which wine do you think? Red or white?”
Leo sighed. “Whichever is fine, Dad. C’mon, we don’t want to be late.” He plucked his jacket off the rack and went out the door, an odd anxiousness tight in his chest. He needed to get out of this house.
“Hey, man? Leo?” Landon hobbled down the steps in unlaced snow boots, but Leo started walking. “Hold up. Hey? Did something happen between you and Izzy?”
Leo jerked to an abrupt stop, and Landon smacked into his back. Leo turned on him. “What do you mean?”
“You said you two were stuck together…in a car…all night long…” Landon waggled his brows.
Leo ground his jaw.
“Damn. I knew it.” Landon’s eyes widened and he shoved a fist into Leo’s shoulder. “How was it?”
Even if things had progressed further the night before between him and Isabella, the last person he would discuss it with would be Landon. Izzy was about to be his sister-in-law. Something about that seemed wrong.
Dad passed them, his chosen bottle of wine in his grip. “C’mon boys. Thought we didn’t want to be late?”
Leo’s shoulders sagged in relief, and he stomped up the Whitley’s front steps behind Dad. Landon sidled up next to Leo on the porch. “So?”
Nostrils flaring, Leo pressed his lips in a hard line. Talking to anyone about Isabella meant thinking about Isabella. Her smile, her delicious kisses, her scent on him. It would be great if he could go five minutes without thinking about her.
The Whitley’s front door swung open. Isabella stood there smiling, wet hair, yoga pants hugging her curves, a cropped sweatshirt revealing one bare shoulder, and a sliver of skin at her waist.
“Hi, guys,” she said, opening the door wider so they could enter. She tucked her dark hair behind her ear, her face still flush from her shower. And, well, damn it, she looked good.
“Hey, Izzy.” Landon pressed a quick peck to her cheek and slid into the house, toeing off his boots.
“I brought wine!” Dad announced, holding up both bottles because of course he couldn’t decide. He also gave Isabella a soft peck on the cheek before striding inside.
Leo stood there for a moment in the cold, freezing off his bits while he contemplated. He definitely wasn’t going to kiss her, that was for damn sure. But then she grabbed him by the front of his jacket.
