Page 3 of The Bad Boy's Secret Santa

Addison’s gaze bounces between Grandma and me.

“I’m retiring after this season,” Grandma explains, holding a clipboard out to Addison. Oops, already forgot the most important step.Focus Piper.“Piper’s going to take over.”

“Retiring?” Addison looks as though she just swallowed sour milk.

“I’m not moving away,” Grandma says, calming an internal fear I hadn’t even considered. “Or selling the four-plex.” She’s the only family I have left in Alpine Valley. My parents moved to Rhode Island two summers ago, after my younger sister left for college abroad. It’s been just the two of us ever since.

“Oh, good.” Addison’s relief seems a little excessive, but I’m not here to question her emotions. I’m here to help her through this process and prove I’m capable of handling the event next year. She asks, “How does this whole thing work, anyway?”

“You draw a number from this bucket,” I explain, holding it out to her.

“A number?”

“Yeah. There’re gift bags on the back table with numbers. You won’t know your name until you pull it out of the bag.”

With the clipboard in one hand, Addison reaches into the bucket and blindly chooses a wooden token. She shows it to Grandma and me.Seventeen.

“Oh, seventeen. A good number indeed,” Grandma says, taking the chip from Addison. She catches my gaze and nods toward the clipboard, directing me to encourage Addison along. I hand over a pen and wonder if Addison is as confused as I was by the random assortment of questions. I can’t imagine how knowing my favorite Christmas present will aid in next year’s event. But I trust Grandma Wilma has a plan she’ll reveal to me later.

“Do you really need to know if I’ve been arrested?” Addison asks, circlingnothree times with the red pen.

“Can’t be too careful,” Grandma says.

Addison shrugs, and continues filling out the questions. “What’s my favorite Christmas cookie? Do we get cookies?”

“Piper, you got this one?” Grandma asks.

I lean over the table, pointing at the top question. “We’ll use the answers next year. To help us—or I guess helpme—better plan the event. To give us more ideas and things like that.” I’m totally winging it, since that’s all the information Grandma gave me ahead of time. “I know it seems silly, but go ahead and fill it out. There’s nothing top secret in there, promise!”

Addison makes quick work of the questions, and hands over the clipboard when finished. “There.”

I give the survey a quick scan. Satisfied that it’s filled out in its entirety, I turn to Grandma to ask if the bags on the back table are in order, only to find a green and white striped gift bag in front of me. The glittery number seventeen dangles from its handle.Guess I’ll learn that step later.I offer it up to Addison.

My friend starts to dig in, but I cover my hand with hers before she can get a hold of anything inside. “I recommend waiting until you’re alone.”

“Why?”

“Rule number one,” Grandma chimes in. “You can’t tell anyone whose name you drew. Including us.”

“But don’t you need to know since?—”

A door slams, and all three of us snap our attention toward the culprit. A tall, dark-haired man in a snow-dusted jacket struts into the room like he owns the damn place.

WTF…The Asshat.

My heart pounds violently in my chest, the mixture of emotions too extreme to separate. Eli Winchester sports an all-too-familiar smug grin as he says, “Sorry about that, ladies.”

“Can we help you?” I practically growl the words, like some feral animal ready to attack. Considering the last time I saw him, he promised we’d run away together—liar!—I don’t evenattempt to dial it back. The Asshat skipped town without so much as a goodbye elevenyearsago.

“I believe you can,” he says, his words directed at me. Any hint of shock in those dark brown eyes quickly dissipates. The smooth, bad boy twinkle dances in his gaze, taunting me. There was a time when that twinkle could convince me to make some very bad decisions.Don’t even pretend you regret anything.I feel a blush creep up my neck.

“You need to leave,” I spit the words at him like daggers.

“Piper,” Grandma’s gentle tone has a warning edge to it. It’s enough to widen my gaze beyond Eli, and I notice that not only has Addison left, but three other Alpine Valley residents have entered the room in her place. This wouldnotbe an ideal time or place to cause a scene.

“Why don’t you take a short break,” Grandma insists, making a shooing motion with both hands to urge me away.

“Right, okay.”

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