Page 211 of Boss of the Year

Nathan looked troubled. “That would take a very long time.”

“Matthew, please?” The quiet voice of Nina, Matthew’s wife, cut through the chaos.

Lucas recognized her as a member of the de Vries clan. She was about ten years younger than him, but their families had known each other for years. Matthew, however, looked at his wife—really looked at her, like she was the only person in the room who mattered—and Lucas saw something shift in his expression.

“You’re lucky it’s Christmas, asshole,” Matthew said finally, but he stepped back.

Lucas met those green eyes that were unnervingly like Marie’s, but didn’t flinch. “You’re lucky your family’s here too.” He might have been more experienced with business battles, but ten years of Krav Maga ensured he was no slouch in a fight.

Marie sighed. “So much for good first impressions.”

After the excitement died down and Lucas had been supplied with coffee and an ice pack, the family settled back into their Christmas morning. Lucas found himself sitting at the far end of a large sofa with Marie while they watched the rest of the mayhem.

There was a moment of silence as Lea opened a gift from her children: a small, framed photo of her late husband, Mike. The frame had been decorated with glued macaroni.

The children grew quiet as they watched their mother examine the gift with watery eyes.

“He should be here,” Matthew told her quietly as he took the frame and put it up on the mantle. “Great gift, you three. Now your dad is with us today too.”

The boys nodded, though all three seemed more subdued until their uncle located new gifts and quickly turned their attention to something besides their father.

As the gift-opening resumed, Lucas found himself studying the family dynamics with the same analytical attention he’d once brought to corporate acquisitions. The Zolas were loud, certainly, and fiercely loyal to each other, and he could see why Marie had sometimes felt swallowed up by them.

But he could also see a different side of her with them. This Marie was a little more outspoken, then would sit back and listen while the others almost forgot she was there. It was an interesting mix—the quiet observer and the confident woman she’d become. He could spend the rest of his life learning all the different facets of her personality.

God, if only she’d let him.

He couldn’t understand how she’d ever felt overshadowed by her sisters. To him, she was easily the most captivating woman in the room—hell, the most captivating woman he’d ever seen, especially now. At nearly four months pregnant, she was starting to show, but it somehow made her even more beautiful. Her breasts strained against her clothes in a way that distracted him, no matter how many times he told himself not to stare. They were more sensitive too, as he’d learned just last night when she’d all but begged him for an orgasm to help her fall asleep.

She knew what it did to him when she begged too.

He’d had to keep his hand over her mouth the whole time to stay quiet in her brother’s house. That had only made her come more quickly too.

Yes, they were learninglotsof new things about each other every day.

Marie caught him staring and raised a slender brow in question. Instead of looking away, Lucas surprised them both by taking her chin and pressing a kiss to those gorgeous lips—the top always fuller than the bottom—and kissing her in a way that probably wasn’t suited for family.

He didn’t give a shit.

“Ew!” shouted one of the boys. “He’s sucking her face!”

“Ooooh,” called the older one, Tommy. “Dang, Auntie Marie’s getting it.”

“Don’t say ‘getting it,’” Lea chided him.

Eventually, Lucas stopped and touched his forehead to Marie’s.

“I love you,” he murmured, enjoying the way her cheeks had turned a pretty shade of cranberry. Then he shrugged at her family. “Sometimes I love her so much, I forget where I am.”

Marie blushed like a tomato, but instead of pulling away, she kissed him again, longer this time, her hands fisting in his sweater.

“Oh my God! Keep it PG, please!” shouted Lea.

“Don’t listen to her, Mimi,” Joni called out. “It’s giving Shmexy Noel. I like it.”

When they separated again, Lucas turned to the family and cleared his throat. Making out with their sister probably hadn’t endeared him to Marie’s siblings, and under normal circumstances, he wouldn’t have cared. But she did. Which meant he needed to do his damnedest to get her brother to stop scowling at him like he planned to take a baseball bat to his knees the first chance he got.

“I owe all of you an apology,” he found himself saying