Page 24 of Five Days of Christmas Spice

“Good night, Noel. Thanks for…” Words fail me for a moment, and then I decide just to say it. “The orgasms.”

He chuckles. “Goodnight, Holly. I’ll see you tomorrow. Sweet dreams, gorgeous girl.” He presses a soft kiss to my lips before leaving me to my thoughts.

7 NOEL

DECEMBER 25TH, FIRST DAY OF KINKMAS

“You got laid last night. That’s what you’re telling us?”

I can tell by the high-top tables behind him that Evan is in Sinful Bites. He waggles his eyebrows as he sips his coffee, and his brown eyes, so much like mine, have that mischievous glint I know so well.

“Knock it off, Evan.” Theo, my middle brother, levels a stare at Evan.

Theo resembles our mother: brown sandy hair and light grey eyes. He’s at our parents’ house, hanging out in the garage. I see our Dad’s hockey sticks behind him.

“What?” Evan leans back in his desk chair.

“You’re being obnoxious,” Hunter says.

Hunter, the youngest Brennon brother, sits with arms crossed over his muscled chest. I have no idea where he is. It’s a white wall behind him. His beard is full, and he looks like he needs coffee.

Hunter comes and goes as he pleases, and I’m touched he showed up to this meeting.

Even though I want to mute them and leave this Zoom meeting, Evan insisted we have one this Christmas morning.

I’m totally blaming the lack of sleep I got last night and the lack of coffee I got this morning on Holly.

Theo and Hunter are younger than me. Theo by two years, Hunter by three, but Theo is so serious you’d think he was the older brother, not Evan.

“Noel, if you found a way to make your Christmas happy by meeting this woman, I think that’s a good thing. You don’t have to sleep with her,” Theo says. Theo’s tone is his usual seriousness.

“Thanks, Theo,” I say.

“Yeah, but the man’s not dead,” Evan says.

His quick mouth and quick temper often get him in trouble. Theo sits back in his chair, Hunter leans forward, and Evan goes off-screen for a moment.

“I have things to do. Check in with you guys later,” I say.

“Hey, I’m an ass. Sorry.” Evan comes back in the frame, holding up a potted lavender tree. “Look, I put this in the entranceway. I know Claire loved them.”

She loved our garden and, for Christmas, would give everyone a plant of some kind. The first year Sinful Bites was open, Claire decorated with lavender trees. Evan freaked out, saying that their smell would compete with the food. Claire shrugged and moved her trees to the entranceway.

“The man does have a heart,” Theo mumbles.

“It’s fine. I know I’ve been a widow for three years now.” A lump rises in my throat because it’s three years to the day.

“Isn’t this the usual bowl of cheer? If Noel is shacking up with one of his guests or plans on it, I’m for it. Merry Christmas, boys. See you in the New Year.” Hunter waves before he logs off.

“I have things to do. Merry Christmas,” I say.

“Merry Christmas,” my brothers echo back.

I stride across the room and glance out the window. From my private loft slash office space, it’s a white blanket of fresh snow covering the fields across.

I wanted to come to Vixen’s Paradise not only to see Rosa and Axel and to check on the place but also because this is a place that my wife hadn’t been. Grief made me buy up all the properties and follow in Evan’s footsteps, opening a luxury hotel serving kinky tastes. The properties were mostly abandoned or on the way to being left destitute. Some the banks owned, and some people were looking to sell, so it was good timing on my part.

All except for Winterhaven Farms, the property next to us. Half the time, the owner hasn’t returned my calls. When I first bought this property, Evan dealt with a lot of the administration stuff because I was still in my cloud of grief.

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