On Sale for Christmas Read Online Free PDF

I? Gifts were something sweethearts exchanged. They came with expectations. They meant something. He clearly wanted this to mean something and things started falling together in my mind. The waiting to have sex. The date for cocoa where people could see us being all cozy. The nostalgic pitch from Gus. And now the present.
    I hadn't wanted to listen, but Ben had told me again and again that he'd been crushing on me for years. Now that we were fooling around together he must have thought we had a shot. He wanted a relationship. Which made me a horrible person for leading him on. "Okay, listen," I said, taking a deep breath. "We're not doing this. I mean, you're a really nice guy, but—"
    "Becca—"
    "You're sweet," I said, sliding the pretty silver box back across the table at him. "And you're sexy. Really sexy. Like, panty-melting sexy. But this is just a hookup, ok?"
    Ben frowned, sliding the box back to me. "Becca—"
    "This isn't a thing . It's a fling," I said, in a panic, recoiling from the box. "After winter break, I'm going back to the city. I don't want a long distance relationship. This is fun, but this can't be more than fun. I'm not into the whole small-town romance thing. So we're not exchanging meaningful gifts. You can't give me something romantic and expect—"
    "Becca, just open the fucking box."
    He looked so grumpy, I was afraid he might cause a scene if I didn't open his present.
    "Fine." I yanked open the velvet ribbon without care, shredding the silver paper, and snapping the tissue paper aside. Uh oh. What I saw inside was definitely not romantic. Leather mini dress. Black thigh highs. Platform lucite shoes. I squinted, then slapped the lid shut. Yeah, so not the kind of gift I wanted anybody else seeing!
    These were clothes that a call girl might wear—clothes he picked out for me. Clothes he might want me to model for him, and that thought kicked up my pulse all over again. I stared at the box, then sheepishly back up at Ben. "Um…for our reindeer game?"
    Ben still had his arms folded over himself in annoyance. "Right."
    Oops . I bit my lip, making an apologetic face before glancing back at the slutty clothes in the box. "Where did you even get these?"
    "Internet. Express shipping. Pretty sure the dress will be a decent fit but the shoes were a shot in the dark."
    "You wanted to meet here so that our moms wouldn't be looking over our shoulders when you gave this to me?"
    "Right again," he said, stiffly.
    He was still annoyed.
    There was nothing for it but to apologize.
    But before I could, Gus slid two steaming mugs of frothy cream onto the table, each ornamented with a candy-cane stir stick. Ben started to take out his wallet, but Gus stopped him. "You're money's no good here, Ben."
    "What about mine?" I asked, though I wasn't exactly flush with cash.
    Gus only gave me a feral grin, then walked away.
    When we were alone again, with the awkward steam of our two frothy mugs, I said, "I'm sorry, Ben. About before. My panic-induced rant was pretty bitchy and presumptuous."
    "It's fine," he said, sipping from a cup that left a little foam on his lip that I wanted to lick clean. "Message received. You're drawing boundaries. But I'd really love to know what you've got against small-town romances."
    I gave a playful smirk. "I don't like anything small ."
    His lip quirked up at the corner in half-amusement. "Size queen?"
    "Sort of," I mused, remembering that what I'd felt of him had been thick and enticing beneath his pants. What I'd seen him stroke looked like more than enough to satisfy. But then I turned serious. "If I'm gonna make it in acting, I have to have big expectations, big ideas, and big dreams. Small towns don't really fit into that equation."
    "Okay," he said, thoughtfully. "But why panic?"
    "My mom married young, divorced and ended up stranded in this town. That's not gonna be me."
    "Slow down, Slick. You just jumped from romance to marriage and divorce…"
    For some reason, this made me blush.