Heating Up the Holidays 3-Story Bundle (Play with Me, Snowfall, and After Midnight) by Lisa Renée Jones

touch me again. I jerk back. “Don’t.”
    “Is there a problem?”
    Damion’s voice ripples down my spine a moment before his hand rests possessively on my lower back, and I squeeze my eyes shut, willing my now-racing heart to slow. “What are you doing?” I whisper, turning my gaze on him.
    “Who the hell are you?” Kent bites out.
    Damion’s eyes shift sharply toward Kent. “The CEO of the casino you’re standing in. And, as I said, is there a problem?”
    “You,” Kent bites out. “You’re the problem.”
    My head is spinning and I stare at the floor, trying to make sure I don’t end up flat on my face.
    “Kali,” Damion commands softly, gently flexing his fingers where they still rest on my back, willing me to look at him.
    I turn to him, and my eyes land on my hand, which now rests on his chest. Some part of my mind knows that we are touching each other in public and that means trouble, but I can’t seem to move away from him. He is strong and—illogically, considering the short time I’ve known him—right in ways no one ever has been.
    He takes my hand, lacing his fingers with mine. “Let’s get out of here.”
    “No. Not yet. I need a minute.” My eyes lift to his, and I see true worry in them. I see that this man does not consider me a conquest. He has let me in as I have him, and it matters. “Just a minute.”
    He reaches up and brushes the hair from my eyes. “You’re sure?”
    No
. “Yes.”
    “You’re not sure.”
    “She’s fucking sure,” Kent growls, and I sense the defensiveness, the jealousy, he has no right to feel. He doesn’t own me any more than my father does.
    Damion’s head snaps up, and he levels my ex with a lethal stare. “Don’t test me. You won’t like the results, Kent.”
    Kent’s shock at the use of his name flashes in his eyes, and I see the uncertainty that follows. “What is this to you, man?”
    “Do the math,” Damion says, and then refocuses on me, his voice softening. “You still need a minute?”
    I nod.
    He brushes his knuckle over my cheek, and I shiver with the touch. He notices. I see it in his eyes and I don’t care. Somehow, just by being him, he makes it okay for me to need him. Inhaling, I steel myself for more Kent and turn to face him, aware of Damion backing away.
    “You’re fucking him?” Kent demands. “Are you fucking him?”
    Emotion explodes inside me. “Don’t even start on who’s fucking who, Kent,” I hiss, pointing a finger at him, shaking inside and out. “Don’t even go there.”
    He shrinks back as if I’ve hit him, stares at me as if I’m some creature he’s never seen. Cursing under his breath, he runs a hand over the back of his neck. “This isn’t what I meant to happen. I only … I wanted to tell you I’m sorry. If I could take it back—”
    “Stop, Kent. This changes nothing.”
    “I still love you.”
    “Go back to Texas. Just … go.”
    “The holidays are less than three weeks away. We need to be together. We’ll get our families together.
We can
be a family again.”
    “Oh, please. You were the catalyst that destroyed what family I had left. This is my home now. This is where I’ll spend Thanksgiving.”
    “Your father—”
    “Is a bastard.”
    “He’s never gotten over losing your mother. He uses Elizabeth—”
    “Damn you, don’t say her name. Don’t. This conversation is over.” I turn to leave.
    His hand comes down on my arm, and somehow Damion is there, his body shielding mine, his warmth easing the icy chill that is everything to do with Kent and my old life. “Let her go,” Damion orders, his voice a cool command laced with a threat.
    I squeeze my eyes shut for several beats, waiting for what will happen next. Kent lets go of me, and in the same instant Damion pulls me close, his arm is around my shoulders, and we are walking toward the elevators. For a dozen or more steps there is only him and me, and nothing else matters. Kent is gone. This nightmare walk down