Page 21 of Hooked

We start walking again, and she’s tucked under my arm. I wait for her nervous chatter to fill the awkward silence I created.

But she doesn’t say anything until we reach the front stairs of Danny’s house. She slides out from under my arm, moving up a step so she can be face-to-face with me.

“It sounds like you’ve been through a lot,” she begins. “But you choose to help people anyway, even though you didn’t have that for yourself.”

I want to shove past her. Past the earnest admiration in her voice. Who have I helped? The Coast Guard is a job, and humiliating bullies is its own satisfaction.

She moves slightly closer and touches my shoulder again, the fire of it searing through me.

“You deserve that care too, Vinny.”

I can’t do this. Not here, not with her. Either I’m going to kiss her or tell her to mind her own goddamn business and stick with her silly party planning. I’m not sure which is the worse idea.

Gently, I move her hand off my shoulder. Don’t want to hurt her. I slip around her and open the door.

The silence of the front hall welcomes me. Sia follows, shutting and locking the door behind her. I don’t have time for whatever emotional reaction she’s fermenting right now. She heads up the stairs and relief floods me.

“You know,” she says.

Shit.

I turn to face her.

“If you ever do get invited to an ugly sweater contest, you should wear that. You’ll definitely win first prize.”

What the hell?

She’s smiling wickedly.

“Goodnight, Vinny.”

Damn.

9

Sia

I’m singing to myself as I make some tea. It’s one of my favorite Christmas songs—Merry Christmas Darlingby the Carpenters. The melancholy of the song speaks to me: wanting to spend Christmas with the ones you love the most, but not always having that option.

When I get to the part about logs on the fire filling me with desire, I hear Vinny’s heavy footsteps on the stairs and stop singing.

The rated-R dream I had about him last night floods back. He may be a closed off loner with a difficult past. But he’s still sexy as hell, even in the ugliest sweater I’ve ever seen, taking down that creep like it was nothing.

I wrap my satin robe around me more tightly.

“Morning,” he says. His hair sticks up every which way, and there’s an edge of sleep to his voice.

Oh my god. My body thrums with desire and I want nothing more than to throw myself at this man right now and straddle his lap while I drag my tongue over his lips.

Except he can barely tolerate me.

I need to rein in my libido if I don’t want to embarrass myself.

“Do you want some tea?”

He yawns, shaking his head. “I’ll make some coffee in a bit, thanks.”

I should eat something, but now I’m distracted. Vinny flips through the paper my uncle left on the table.

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