Page 25 of The Lie That Stole Christmas

“Your eyes are darkening.Another tell.And since you’re not aroused, I assume someone has got you frazzled.”

His control snapped.He grabbed her waist and spun her toward the wall, his growing erection pressing against her leg.“Do you want to rethink that evaluation?”

Her lips parted, a tiny sound slipping between the inviting plumpness, but no words.

For a second, neither of them moved.The air between them shifted, tight with something more familiar than simple tension.

Ashley’s throat bobbed as her gaze dropped to where he held her before snapping back up to his eyes.“I stand corrected.”

A slow, satisfied smile tugged at the corner of his mouth.“You always hated being wrong.”

She shook her head, her bangs subtly moving.“I hate whenyouprove me wrong.”

He loosened his grip, enough to let her go if she wanted, but not enough to step away.Not yet.

“That wasn’t what you meant, though,” he said, his voice a rough whisper.

Her breath hitched, and he felt it.Saw it.God, he knew her tells just as well as she knew his.

“No,” she admitted.“It wasn’t.”

Silence stretched again, filling the slight space between them with an unbreakable air.

His hand fell from her waist, but the heat of her lingered on his skin.

“I wasn’t talking about that.”Her eyes lowered to where his cock throbbed beneath his pants.“Though it’s nice to see some part of you doesn’t hate me.”

“I don’t hate you.”

She waved her hand as if she could bat her admission away.As if the fact that she thought he hated her didn’t affect him in the slightest.

“I meant that you’re not fine.You never are when you do that.So what is it?”

For a moment, he considered telling her everything.Going back to the last time they saw each other up until now.All the secrets that hid in the walls of this house, including his.

He exhaled, running a hand over his face.“I was just taking a break.Not used to so many people in the house anymore.”The lie came out effortlessly, but that didn’t mean Ashley was convinced.The way her eyebrow disappeared completely beneath her bangs told him she didn’t believe a word that came out of his mouth.

“Still lying, I see.”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“Just that instead of facing adversity head-on, you’d rather lie instead of dealing with what’s actually in front of you.”

His jaw tightened, a slight tick keeping cadence with the sudden quickening of his heartbeat.“You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Don’t I?”She folded her arms over her chest, eyes narrowing.“You’ve always done this.Deflect, downplay, pretend everything’s fine when it’s clearly not.”

“Oh that’s rich coming from you.”

“Excuse me?”

“Because you walked in here like we didn’t… like none of it mattered.”

Her hand flung up, her finger angrily pointing at him.“That’s not fair, and you know it!”

“No?”He stepped toward her, not touching her this time, but close enough to hear the jagged inhale of her breath, feel the heat of her exhale.“Because it feels pretty damn fair from where I’m standing.

Ashley’s chin lifted, those gray eyes betraying her before her words admitted the truth.“You think this is easy for me?”