The Kiss Before Midnight by Sophie Pembroke

Author:Sophie Pembroke [Pembroke, Sophie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Goodreads: 23509471
Publisher: HarperImpulse
Published: 2013-12-31T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 10

Jake was beginning to suspect that there wasn’t a single Terry’s Chocolate Orange left in the whole of Merseyside.

It had sounded like a simple request when Philippa had whispered it to him on his way out the door that morning. Pick up five chocolate oranges on his way home. How hard could that be?

Seven supermarkets and three corner shops later, Jake had his answer. Very.

Wham! blared out of the speakers of the last disappointing shop, singing about last Christmas, and Jake slammed the door behind him to get away from it. He’d finally escaped the ever present reminder of what he’d done last December, in the form of Molly Mackenzie and her robin pyjamas. He didn’t need George Michael reminding him that he was an awful person.

Okay. Christmas was just going to have to be Christmas without chocolate oranges. He was almost certain that the Mackenzie family would get over it. One day.

Either way, he’d stalled long enough. He’d dragged his meeting out so long his clients had felt obliged to offer him five cups of tea, then he’d swung by the office to see if he could clear up some issues with a colleague, only to discover he wasn’t in. It was Christmas Eve, his secretary had told Jake, with faint censure in her eyes. He was home with his family.

The where you should be went unspoken.

So, he was on his way back to the closest thing he had, anyway. With Toblerones instead of oranges, because they had the Christmassy packets with snow on the peaks. Best he could do.

The Mackenzie driveway was already full when he arrived, as was the street immediately outside, so Jake found himself parking around the corner in a hidden alley. As he approached the front door it opened before he even had a chance to knock.

“Jakey!” A woman with a bright purple streak in her dark hair launched herself into his arms without warning. “It’s been forever!”

It had been, by Jake’s estimation, almost exactly a year. The only time they ever tended to see each other was Christmas Eve. “Hello, Lara,” he said, disentangling himself from Molly’s best friend. “How’s the mulled wine?”

“Scrummy.” She flashed him a grin. “As is Molly today, in that little kilt of hers…”

Jake suppressed a groan. Of course Molly had told Lara. And so of course she was going to use it to make his life hell.

Fantastic.

“Who else is here?” he asked, making his way through towards the kitchen.

“Everybody!” Lara said, voice vibrating with glee and festive cheer.

“Great.” Just what he needed today.

Christmas Eve at the Mackenzies’ tended to be quite the event – another reason he usually showed up later, if he could. Last year, Molly and Lara had joined him and Tim in the pub after hours of mulled wine with various relatives and friends.

It had been a late start, last Christmas Day.

Still, last Christmas was the last time he’d been able to look at Molly without her knowing how he felt about her. Without

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