Snowed In (Fitzpatrick Christmas, #2)

by Catherine Walsh

Everyone else seemed to know their place in the world but me. Like they’d all been let in on some big secret. And no matter how many things I did right, everything always felt wrong.

“Let’s say pretend.” “You’re serious about this.” “It makes sense.” “Not really,” I say, even if everything he just described feels like it was plucked directly from my own private fanfiction.

“If I start crying, just remember that’s manly now,” Christian says, following me blindly. “Toxic masculinity is dead.”

“We’re pretty good at this.” “You think?” “Yeah.” The word is muffled by a yawn. “I think we should do it every year.”

“Go out with me,” he demands. “Or what?” “Or you’ll break my heart, Megan O’Sullivan.”

I would trust Christian Fitzpatrick with my life, and lying here before him, I realize with complete certainty that I trust him with my heart too. Wherever that may lead me.

“I’ve been searching for something my whole life, and nothing’s ever clicked. And I think it’s because I was looking for you.”

“There isn’t anyone else in this world who could convince me into a fake relationship,” I tell him. “And no one else who could turn it into a real one.”

“What’s Christmas without your family annoying you?” “A really good one?”