“Maybe they can sense you’re lying about who you are.”
I glance over to see she’s smiling. She’s teasing me. “Trust me, it would be worse if they knew.”
“Haven’t you lived there for five years? How are you not considered a local?”
“Xavier says ten years is the official ‘you’re one of us’ requirement.”
She groans. “Ten years? I don’t have ten years to get them on my side.”
“An amazing winter festival might help.” I’m just trying to make her feel better. I doubt anything will help. The look she sends my way suggests she knows I’m full of it.
“Okay,” she says. “What should I know about your family?”
“I never want to be in a room alone with any of them. The more you can talk about yourself, how much you love me, and how determined you are to settle permanently in Yuletide, the better. As far as they’re concerned, my business is doing better than ever. I’ve gotten every permit I’ve ever asked for, and I’m happy every moment of every day.”
“You want me to lie to them.” Her tone is flat. She’s not joking around.
“You’ll be doing them a favor. My parents want to retire. They need to know I’m succeeding as determined by their definition of success.”
She sighs. “Look, I’m not trying to tell you how to live your life, but if you want to have a relationship with your parents, you’re much better off establishing boundaries than lying to them.”
“I’ve established boundaries. I moved to another town and haven’t talked to them for two years. I want them to continue leaving me alone, and this is the way to get it.”
Around us, the mountains rise. I’ve only driven this route a handful of times, but I know it’s just a matter of minutes before we begin our descent and get our first view of Sugar Valley and the ski resort to the North.
My nerves ratchet up and a sense of foreboding and tightness fills me. I do not want to be here.
“Running away and avoiding your family isn’t establishing boundaries. You need to make it clear that if they want to be a part of your life, they need to allow you to live it on your own terms without their input or —”
“I don’t want them in my life.” That came out harsher than I intended. But I’ve worked hard to prove to myself and the world I’m not the spoiled, trouble-making, wild idiot my family thinks I am. I’m not going to let them pull me down again. I’m not going to be their puppet.
“You’re the boss,” Blue says, hands up. “I’ll tell them whatever you want.”
We emerge from the mountains and start down the hill. The town I grew up in spreads out before us, clean and snow-covered. So many people pay good money to come here and all I want to do is escape. “I understand you’re trying to help, Demon, and I appreciate it, but you need to trust me when I say I know how to handle my family to get through this.”
“Okay. I’m doing this for you,” Blue says. “I’ll follow your lead.”
“Thank you.”
“This town is so pretty. I thought Yuletide looked like a Christmas snow globe the first time I saw it, but this place is like a luxury snow globe. Is that a full-service spa?” She points at the building on the edge of town with the Olympic-size outdoor pool.
“Spa and gym.”
“Very nice.” She folds her hands on her lap and I can feel her eyes on me. “So, how are we going to play this? I’m not going to have sex with you or put my tongue in your mouth, but I’m cool with being handsy and small, short kisses.”
The thought of touching her, of putting my hands on that perfect, sexy ass, makes my cock twitch in my jeans. “Let’s keep it as PG as possible. My parents are pretty traditional. Maybe some hand holding, an arm around the shoulders or waist. That should be enough.”
She blows out a breath. “That’s good news. I thought we might have to go hard to sell this and I’ve been psyching myself up for that all night.”
She doesn’t have to sound so relieved, does she? She must not be attracted to me at all. Which is great. I don’t want her to be attracted to me or to like me very much. That’s exactly why I picked her.
Blue spends the rest of the ride out to my parents’ house, which is a mile outside of town, oohing and ahhing over all the restaurants and shops Sugar Valley has to offer.
“I can’t believe I didn’t know all of this was here.”
“Why haven’t you ever driven over here? It’s not far.”
“I’ve been busy in Yuletide,” she says. “And when I get any vacation time, I visit friends in Vegas. I love the snow, but not the cold. I have to go out west to warm up every once in a while.”
