Page 3 of Theirs for the Holidays

My mom greets me there, and she sweeps her eyes over my outfit as soon as I’ve taken off my coat. She doesn’t say anything, but the twist to her lips is more than enough for me to get that she doesn’t approve.

Fantastic.

“Hi, Mom,” I say, trying to force some cheer into my voice.

“Violet,” she replies, smiling thinly. “You’re on time.”

“You didn’t tell me a time,” I point out.

“And yet you made it. Hang up your coat, everyone’s in the living room.”

She bustles away before I can say anything else, and I just sigh, turning to put my coat in the closet.

I take my time with it, needing a moment to myself before I have to go in there and see my sister cozied up with my ex and pretend to be happy for her. I inhale deeply and let it out slow, closing my eyes for just a second.

It’ll be fine, I try to convince myself. It won’t be as bad as I’m imagining.

With a resolute nod, I shut the hall closet and turn to head for the living room, but as I turn the corner, I slam right into a tall, muscled body.

2

VIOLET

I stumble back,almost losing my balance from the force of the collision. Before I go down, a hand reaches out to catch me, setting me back upright. I look up to see who I ran into and my eyes wide as I recognize Lennox, one of Andrew’s older brothers. My heart stutters in my chest at the sight of him.

He’s so tall now that I have to crane my neck to look up at him, and there’s a scar that cuts across his eyebrow down to his cheek. He’s still stupidly handsome with those piercing blue eyes and his neat brown hair, and he fills out the slacks and sweater he’s wearing nicely with his lean, muscled build.

One of his hands grips my arm tightly, and my eyes are drawn down to where the other one is shuddering just a bit.

I know he was injured during his time in the army, stationed overseas. He was honorably discharged several years ago, but I didn’t expect to see him back here.

His hand is warm where it grips at me, and I have to swallow hard at the flash of heat it sends through my body. My heart pounds, and I flick my tongue out to lick my lips, stepping back to put some distance between us.

Lennox lets me go and pushes his hands into his pockets. “Violet,” he says, inclining his head.

“Hi,” I reply, trying to sound normal despite the awkwardness of the moment. “Sorry, I wasn’t watching where I was going.”

“You’re alright.”

“I, um, wasn’t expecting to see you tonight. I didn’t know you were in town. You and the others haven’t been back in ages.”

He shrugs a shoulder. “My father asked me to come for the holidays.”

“Oh.” That’s new. “Because Andrew’s getting married before Christmas?”

Lennox nods.

That just makes it worse, honestly. Everything about this situation is awkward, and the embarrassment of it all fills me. If it wasn’t bad enough that Andrew dumped me, now I’m stuck having to see him, having to think about beingfamilywith him because he went and chose my twin sister.

Isabelle is older than me by a few minutes, which she already never let me forget when we were kids. Now she’s marrying the man I thought I would be marrying, and there’s no way everyone involved in this wedding won’t know that.

Lennox’s eyes are on me, and I wonder if he’s thinking about it. Wondering what’s wrong with me that his little brother dumped me and took up with my twin.

“Well, that’s nice,” I say, forcing cheer. “I’m sure he’s happy to have you here to support him.”

Those bright blue eyes narrow slightly. He opens his mouth to say something else, but before he can, my mother’s impatient voice cuts across the conversation.

“Violet, what is taking you so long? It’s rude to keep people waiting.”