She was surprised and a little touched that he dragged her chair right next to his and pulled her legs onto his lap. Some men weren’t into being close after sex.
She was learning a lot about Drew.
He looked around her studio. “You’ve made a lot of progress. Or maybe you already had all this stuff here before.”
“We had some. But we’ve been working hard the past few weeks. With Christmas coming, we’re going to be faced with some downtime. I wanted to get ahead, because we’ll be pushing full steam after the holidays.”
“What? You’re giving your people time off for the holidays? No playing Scrooge and forcing them to work in an office with no coal to heat their frozen little fingers that are stiff and sore from all that sewing?”
“Funny. Yes, they get the holidays off. I’m not that driven.”
“Yes, you are. If you had your way you’d work straight through Christmas and New Year’s. Except your mother would drive up here and have the Secret Service drag you by the hair and make you come home with her.”
She laughed at that. “You’re probably right. I might have been allowed to skip Thanksgiving with the family, but no way in hell will I be permitted to skip Christmas, too.”
“I can see that about your mom.”
“I’m sure yours is the same.”
“Actually, not so much. My parents are going on a cruise for the holidays.”
She stared at him. “Really? Where to?”
“Some Mediterranean thing or the Greek Isles or something like that. They’ve been talking about it for months. I can’t believe she convinced my dad to go.”
She crossed her arms. “Your father isn’t one for cruises?”
“It’s hard to get my dad to leave Oklahoma. But Mom has been after him to slow down and take a vacation for years. This is the year for them, and he’s the one who suggested it, surprisingly. Mom jumped all over it before he changed his mind.”
Carolina smiled. “That’s sweet. So what are you going to do for Christmas?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know. I’ll hang around here, I guess. No reason to go home since no one else will be there.”
She knew she shouldn’t say anything, but it tugged at her that Drew would be spending Christmas alone. “Come home with me.”
He arched a brow. “What?”
“You heard me. Gray would love to see you, and so would my parents. Come and spend Christmas with us at the ranch.”
“Seriously. You do realize you just invited me to spend the holidays with you.”
“Yes. Well, with Gray and with the entire family. Not just with me.”
He smiled at the qualifier. “Okay.”
She wasn’t sure what can of worms she’d just opened, but the idea of Drew spending Christmas alone didn’t sit well with her.
And now he was going to spend the holidays with her. And her family.
That should be interesting.
FOURTEEN
DREW HADN’T BEEN TO GRAY’S FAMILY’S RANCH IN Oklahoma since over a year ago, in the summer, when Gray had invited him to come for a family barbecue. It had been the first time he’d seen Carolina in a long time.
She’d given him an icy chill and he’d known then she still harbored resentment over what had happened between them in college.
Now, though, it looked like things were beginning to thaw between them.
He hoped so. He liked spending time with her. She was smart and ambitious. And beautiful and sexy and different from any woman he’d been with before.
Now that he was going to be spending time with her—and with Gray—he was going to have to walk a fine line, because Gray didn’t know what had gone down between Drew and Carolina all those years ago in college. Gray didn’t know how much Drew had hurt Carolina.
And Gray sure as hell didn’t know what was going on between Carolina and him now.
He probably should have had a conversation with Carolina before he arrived at the ranch, discussed how much, if anything, to tell Gray about the two of them. Big brothers had a tendency to be overprotective toward their little sisters. And Gray of all people knew about Drew’s reputation with women. But he had to know Drew would never hurt Carolina.
Or, at least, wouldn’t hurt her again like he had before.
He dragged his fingers through his hair as he sat in the back of the car Carolina had arranged to bring him from the airport to the ranch.
The Preston Ranch name greeted him as they reached the gates. Drew took note of the black SUV parked there. They stopped and he had to give the Secret Service agent his ID before they were allowed to pass through.
Gray was outside waiting for him when the car pulled in front of the huge house.
He grinned when he got out. “I’m so glad you’re here.”
Drew smiled and gave his best friend a quick hug. “Yeah, well, it’s your sister’s fault. She didn’t want me to be alone for the holidays. You know how women are about that stuff.”