A Villain for Christmas (The Holyoake Christmas Series, Book 2)

Clem as Pivotal Character

Extricating herself out of his grasp proved itself insufficient, so eventually Billie had to put some distance between their bodies and move to another room, where he couldn't stare at her - or stretch and kiss her nape; or tickle her ear with his finger; or say something in Italian, flirty if not plain suggestive, judging by the rumble and the lifted eyebrow. Billie settled with the script and her notes in the dining room. Less than two hours later she felt the familiar tingling sensation on the side of her neck. She looked up and met Dair's eyes.

"I'm b-bored." He smirked. "W-wanna play?"

Billie glared at him. "I am working. Shouldn't you be doing the same?"

"N-no Internet."

He shook his phone in the air.

"I can read the script to you," Billie offered.

He took a few slow steps towards her.

"You, mio cuore," he murmured, "are d-distracting." He bent over, and he was so tall that he reached across Nana Holyoake's massive rosewood table. Supporting himself on his elbows, he covered her hands with his. "I c-can't work near you. And I f-finished my b-book."

"So, am I just an equivalent of you scrolling on your phone?" Billie asked sardonically.

He flipped her hands palms up and rubbed them with his thumbs.

"W-will you have dinner with me?"

Billie gave him a confused look. "In what sense?" she asked. "I might have to, actually. If the storm doesn't let up."

"I m-mean after," he said. "When we leave here. And after w-we visit Alessandro."

"Visit whom?"

"Alessandro. We were supposed to go tonight, but– Uffa!" He pointed at the window.

"'We' were supposed to go?" Billie repeated. "I don't know him." And then she had a suspicion. "It was Phee who went to school with him. He must have mistaken her for me, when he invited me. Did you only mention my surname?"

It was Dair's turn to give her a confused look.

"He didn't invite you. I am."

Billie asked herself if it was something Italian - or simply modern, and consequently strange to her hermit-like self - to invite random people to dinners that one was attending. Thanks to him, she had imposed on his family; which was a double offence, since said family were the Holyoakes; and no one in Fleckney would dare to intrude on them! And now it looked like he was planning to drag her to a dinner with his mate!

He tugged at her hands, and placed a little kiss on each Mount of Venus on her palms. The whiskers of his moustache pleasantly scraped at her skin.

"He's a g-good cook," Dair added - as if that was supposed to tip the scales for her.

"If it's about your stammering, then maybe we could simply meet before you go to his place," Billie grumbled.

His lips travelled onto the Lower Mars of her right hand.

"Sei così sciocca..." He treated her other hand to the same caress. "I w-want him to meet you. And h-he knows exactly who you are."

Billie didn't get a chance to ask who exactly it was Alexander Fergusson thought she was.

"Uncle Fredo!" one of the twins called from the sitting room. "Come watch a cartoon with us."

"Bene! C-coming!" he shouted and met Billie's eyes. "Andiamo?"