That Holiday Feeling (Virgin River #8)(80)

“They have to act like husbands and fathers?”

“As opposed to regular guys,” he clarified with a nod. “We’ve been on a couple of fishing trips together and I’m telling you, these guys are the best. They are my brothers. But when my sisters and the kids are around…”

“Husbands and fathers,” she said helpfully again.

“But I’m not,” he said. “I’m bored out of my mind. The only reprieve I get is a brandy and cigar with my dad and a conversation about veterinary medicine. Come on, don’t you feel sorry for me? It’s murder.”

“So, you’re not looking forward to seeing all your old buds?” she asked.

“That? Sure, that’ll be great. We used to study together several nights a week. And then after graduation, we went off in all directions. This was a great idea Jerry had, but I can think of things I’d rather do.” He lifted one eyebrow and grinned lasciviously.

She laughed at him. “Still, I’m not ready. Not till after your Club Med vacation.”

“It’s not Club Med, I told you. Are you waiting for me to say I love you, because if you’re waiting for that, I—”

She put a finger to his lips and shushed him. “Don’t go out on a limb here, Nathaniel.”

“I’ll call the travel agent in the morning and get you a ticket,” he said. “Come with me.”

She laughed, actually pleased by the offer. “My goodness, you’ll go to a lot of trouble and expense for sex.”

“For you,” he clarified. “Not just for sex, for you.”

“I am kind of impressed, but no thank you.”

“Why not?”

“Ordinarily, if it were another time of year, I would, but not this time. Plus, I don’t get to be with the whole family that often. The boys have it worked out that they do either Thanksgiving or Christmas with our side, the other holiday with their wives’ side. So it’s been a couple of years since we’ve all done Christmas together and I love that. My mom and I knock ourselves out to make it great.”

He kissed her deeply. He pressed her down into the sofa with his body and held her hands at her sides, entwining his fingers with hers. “How about if I decide not to go on that vacation?”

“That you’ve paid for? To see your old best friends from school? Don’t be ridiculous.”

“Then come with me.”

“No.”

“Then I won’t go,” he said.

“You have to go. This is important, Nathaniel. You should get away, broaden your horizons. You’ve probably forgotten how much you miss your friends, how much you’d like to see a hundred tiny bikinis on perfect women. You have to go. I’m kind of interested in what you’ll be like when you come back.”

He thought about this for a few seconds. “Okay, then,” he whispered. “A compromise.”

“Hmm?”

“I’ll go to the stupid beach without you, my virtuous girlfriend, you’ll have Christmas with your family, and tonight you come to my bed.”

She laughed. “No. Not till you’ve passed your time with the bikinis. And the women vets you used to date. Are they pretty?”

“Tina and Cindy? Oh, yeah, very pretty, but like I said, we were better as study partners. Honey, I’ve completely lost interest in bikinis. Unless you want to put one on for me just for fun.”

“I don’t know that that will ever happen.”

“Annie, I’m not interested in bikinis. Not now. I’m only interested in you. Hey! This doesn’t have anything to do with skinny Susanna, does it? Because I’m not all weirded out by Ed, who’s really much stranger than Susanna.”

She shook her head. “The only thing about Susanna that I still have to get over is that she was beautiful, feminine, small—except for her apparently exceptional boobs—and fancy, while I’m flat-footed and can cut the head off a chicken. But I’m working on that.”

“They weren’t real,” he said. “She bought herself a pair for her twenty-first birthday. I’d much rather touch smaller real ones.”

She kissed him, a short one on the lips. “Well, Nathaniel, if this works out, I like your chances.” Then she grinned at him.

He was quiet for a moment and his eyes were serious, burning into hers. “You know, if I hadn’t already paid for the whole damn thing, I’d cancel that trip. It’s not what I want right now.”

“Hey, I want you to go, and you’ll have a good time. I’m not really worried about the bikinis. Not that much.”

He pressed himself against her, proof that he was still all turned on. “It turns out three weeks is enough time for me,” he said. “I’d rather just not go.”

She put a hand against his cheek and smiled at him. “Even a grand gesture like that wouldn’t get you lucky tonight.”

He shook his head. “I don’t want to be away from you for ten days. I barely found you. What if stupid Ed comes around and somehow proves to you that he’s worth another chance?”

“Can’t happen,” she said. “I hardly remember what he looks like. I’ll be right here when you get back.”

“What if I get so lonely and distraught I make love to some big-breasted nymphomaniac while I’m down there and come back to you all innocent, lying about it, just to teach you a terrible lesson?”