Page 17 of Blame It On the Lattes

“And here I was, foolishly thinking you just did that because you’re such a good guy.”

“I am. But I also want to win.” He winked, and it immediately sent jolts of electricity through my body in a way I hadn’t felt in years.

“I can’t believe what I’m hearing. If Cassidy knew what you were doing....” I pointed my finger at him and tsked. “And so close to Christmas!”

He leaned forward on the island and held my gaze.

“Would a peppermint mocha be enough to change your mind this morning?”

“Now you’re bringing lattes into the mix?” I leaned back and folded my arms over my chest. “Sam. Sam. Sam.”

“Alright. Alright. You drive a hard bargain.” He picked up the towel that was sitting on the counter and tossed it over his shoulder. “How about a gingerbread latte? Final offer.”

My stomach growled loudly before I could answer, which made Sam’s eyes light up. He spun around and grabbed a plate before quickly piling it with bacon and pancakes.

“I’ll even add in breakfast,” he teased with a flirty smirk.

I tipped my head back and sighed heavily as if all of this was too much of a burden.

“Fine. But when Cassidy unfriends me because I succumbed to her brother’s crazy competition, I’m going to blame it on the lattes.”

“Hey, I only offered one. You can’t blame it on all of them.”

“If you want me to keep your dirty little secrets, there will be unlimited lattes in my future.” I waggled my brows, but when he licked his lips, I knew I was in trouble.

Nine

Sam

Avery moans when sheenjoys what she’s eating, which basically meant that my dick now identified as an all-you-can-eat buffet. I tried desperately to ignore the sounds and not focus on how she looked with her eyes closed and lips slightly parted as she devoured dinner, but it was hard. Literally hard.

After dinner, I cleaned up while Avery and Kennedy decided on which movie to watch. We had decided that we were going to watch one Christmas movie every night from now until Christmas, which left us with a lot of movies to choose from. I initially voted forDie Hardbut then retracted when I remembered that Kennedy didn’t need to go around telling anyone, “Yippee-ki-yay mother fucker” and that it was a bit violent. We’d settled onMiracle On 34thStreet,and I was surprised to hear that Avery had never seen it.

We settled in on the couch with Kennedy cuddled under a mountain of blankets between us as we watched the movie. I’d made popcorn and didn’t tell Avery that I had purchased twelve of those movie theater-sized candy boxes until they were scattered around the ottoman with the other snacks. She pretended to be mad, but her smile gave her away as she reached for the Hot Tamales and popped a handful into her mouth.

She didn’t moan with them the way she did with the fried chicken and mashed potatoes, but I was impressed that she also didn’t seem bothered by how spicy they were. Maybe I was a wimp because I could only handle a few at a time without my eyes tearing up and my mouth catching on fire. I didn’t want to allow myself to think about all the things Avery’s mouth could handle because that was a deep, slippery slope I had no place being on.

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