Can you stand one more little snippet from DON'T MESS WITH THE MISTLETOE, lol?
She was nervous. It was in the way she twined her fingers together and then unclasped them a few times. No old robe tonight, just the same clothes she'd worked in. The monkey slippers were on her feet, though, and he grinned down at them.
"My sister, Abra, had a pair of slips like yours when she was in high school. Hers were purple cats, though. She claimed they were the most comfortable things she'd ever worn."
Julia nodded, still not making eye contact. Michael decided it was time to find out why.
"Are you mad at me?"
Her head snapped up and finally – finally – she looked at him. Those delicate, platinum brows tugged together, a thin, deep line forming between her eyes.
"Mad? No. No, not at all." Her head shook with the declaration.
Michael stayed still, his body resting against the jam. He nodded. "Okay, if not mad, then…what? You haven't looked at me for days. Whenever I have to speak to you, you acknowledge I do without ever saying a word back or looking at my face. Makes me feel I did something to hurt or insult you."
Years of being a silent observer to the behaviors of his sisters taught him many things. Most importantly, when they said the word fine they were anything but, and if they gnawed on any body part – especially one on their faces – it meant they were upset about something.
Julia fit into the lip-chewing category.
A hot burst of lust exploded in his midsection when she pulled a corner in tight, and bit down.
How was it possible to be jealous of teeth?
"I'm…sorry." Her gaze dropped to the floor as she shook her head.
"There's no need to apologize. Just talk to me, Julia. What's going on? Is the schedule too much for you? Do you need some time off? Or is your asshole ex still bothering you?"
"No, it's none of those." Her body folded in on itself with a sigh and she moved to sit at the table. Michael joined her.
"Talk to me."
She stared down at her hands for a few beats. Then, "Did you ever feel like despite everything you were doing, you were never making a dent in anything?"
"Every single second of the past week." He snorted.
Her head shot up, that delicate quirk in her brow showing itself again.
"Don't look surprised," he said. "It's not a secret I'm drowning here. I had to stoop way below my comfort level today and ask my sisters for help. Believe me, that's no easy thing to do, especially with Abra. She'll never let me live it down."
His joking tone finally had her relaxing. Her torso slid backward in the chair and she unwrapped her fingers from one another.
"I truthfully do not know how my mother does everything she does, every day, and still manages to remain upright when she turns the open sign to closed every evening."
A grin split the mouth she'd been gnawing moments before. "Your mother is amazing," she said. "And the kindest person I've ever met."
"Truth. So tell me, why are you feeling like you're on the down escalator when you're trying to go up?"
Julia blinked a few times. "That's a fairly accurate analogy."
"Wish I could take the credit but I read it in one of Abra's books. It stuck with me because I feel that way more than I'd like to admit."
She studied him, her gaze drifting across his face, down to his mouth, then shoulders. He had the insane notion to sit up straighter, like he was back in school and being graded on good posture.
The breath she let loose was as pregnant as his sisters.
"Remember when I told you about Jeff and…everything?"
He nodded.
"Everything he did had a short-term and a long-term consequence. Short term, he stole from me and left me with no available savings. Long term, I now have legal fees for lawyers I needed to hire to get me out of the financial mess he put me in. Unraveling every account he opened in my name, then drew funds from, has made my credit score plummet. I need to pay back a portion of what he took. There are legal ramifications if I don't. My lawyer is trying to get all the penalties waved since I was the victim of identity theft, but that takes time. And money for court fees. Money I don't have."
She folded her arms across her chest. "I don't know if you know this but your mother is letting me live here for free. If she didn't I'd be in a shelter somewhere with Blake because I can't afford housing."
"What about your parents? Wouldn't they take you in?"
The thin, harsh line her beautiful mouth pulled into told him the answer.
"My parents want nothing to do with me or Blake. They blame me for bringing Jeff into their lives and question my judgment about people. In truth they weren't big fans of my husband, Tony, either. But at least he was honest. The worst thing he ever did was die, in their opinion, and leave me nothing but medical bills. Which I paid off, in full. I sold our house, paid off the mortgage and then used the remainder for the hospital and care bills, leaving me with nothing. I was just starting to get back on my financial feet again when I met Jeff."
"And we know how that ended."
He wasn't surprised his mother had given her a place to stay, free of charge, or a job. Which had him asking, "Is waitressing something you've done before?"
Enjoy! Peg
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