Read Online Christmas at Purgatory (Thalia Extra #1) by Jennifer Bene - Free Book Online Page A

I’m not interrupting, I come bearing liquor.” James had a
glass of whisky for Maggie and a glass of wine for her. A blush
rushed up Thalia’s cheeks as she hoped he hadn’t heard her comment
over the Christmas music in the living room. She knew he’d been
working while they were cooking, and she could only cross her
fingers that he’d been too engrossed in that to listen
closely.

“Thank you.” Thalia grabbed the wine and leaned up to kiss him.
Maggie grabbed the other glass and with his hands free James took
the opportunity to wrap his arms around Thalia’s waist. She tasted
the scotch on his lips, on his tongue, as he intensified the kiss.
She moaned into his mouth and then Maggie cleared her throat.

“We’re not done yet, James. Can ye keep it in yer trousers for a
bit?” Maggie rolled her eyes, shaking her head as she started
separating the dishes again.

“Of course, I can. At least until after we eat.” He grinned at her
before he returned his sea green eyes to Thalia. His hand slid down
and he squeezed her ass through the dress. “I love you,
baby.”

Pure joy. That’s what she felt every time he said those words. The
stupid smile on her face probably expressed it well enough, but she
pressed another kiss to his lips before she responded. “I love you
too. Now I really should finish helping Maggie.” James nodded, his
eyes roaming over her one more time before he backed out with a
slightly dramatic sigh and returned to his laptop in the living
room.

Maggie lowered her voice, turning to make sure James had left. “So,
not ready for the parents yet?”

Thalia shrugged and whispered back, “I don’t know, Maggie. I was
still trying to figure out if I was ready for that, and then his
parents ended up going to Morocco for the holidays and it kind of
sorted itself out.” She sighed, “At least he wants me to
meet them? I mean, he wants me to meet everyone. His friends, his
co-workers, his sister, his parents.”

“That’s a good thing, right?” Maggie was leaning back against the
counter, all of the serving dishes covered for their dinner. Thalia
took a drink of her wine.

“It’s a very good thing. I mean, I love it. I love him! I love that
he wants me to be a part of his life, that I don’t embarrass him,
that I’m what he wants, and he’s what I want, and we have each
other.” She bit her lip, stacking the food for the Dormitory
together and avoiding eye contact. Somehow Maggie always knew what
she was thinking.

“Is there a ‘but’ in there somewhere?” Maggie prodded.

“But what if his family doesn’t approve of me?” Thalia tipped up
her wine and finished it, lowering her voice even further. “Family
is important. It’s big , how do I know they’ll like me? And
what happens if they don’t? I don’t want to be some issue between
them.”

“We like you.”

“You and Kalen are different, and you know everything, and his
family can’t know everything.” Thalia grabbed for her wine
glass again, but it was empty. She looked over at Maggie’s whisky
in confusion. “You haven’t touched your drink.”

“Oh! Yeah, I’m just hot. Ye can have it, it looks like ye need it.”
Maggie laughed and handed the glass over and Thalia took a burning
sip of it. “I know James’ parents, and his sister Katherine.
They’re nice people, Thalia, I’m sure they will love ye.”

“You’re right. Of course, you’re right. It’s stupid. I’m being
stupid.” Thalia finished the whisky with a cough, because she
needed to relax. Everything was perfect right now. She was
surrounded by a real Christmas, and friends, and the love of her
fucking life was sitting in the living room while she was whining
about the one day, the some day , when she’d have to meet his
parents. She was freaking out over a maybe, over a possibility,
when what she needed to do was pour herself another glass of wine
and continue gossiping with Maggie like they had been most of the
day. There had to be