Everyone froze and turned their attention to Charli. “Okay, I think that’s the end of our first annual Mistletoe Madness games. And it truly was madness.” She laughed. “Did anyone actually finish decorating their cookies?”
“We did!” Across the room, Kat and Symon waved their arms in the air triumphantly. “While you guys were busy decorating each other, we nailed this.”
Sure enough, to everyone’s surprise, Symon and Kat had a plate of decorated cookies in front of them, as well as a completed gingerbread house.
“Congratulations,” Charli declared. “I think the prize might be that the winners get to help the losers clean up. This place is a disaster.”
Considering they’d been mostly responsible for the mess, Asher moved to find a garbage bag, but before he could slip away, Noa kissed him on the cheek and said, “Maybe we could take some of that icing back with us for later?”
The craziness of the room fell away and the only thing Asher could focus on was the image of Noa wearing only icing as he licked every bit of the sweetness off her body. He groaned and, very reluctantly, forced himself to move away from her before he forgot completely that he was surrounded by his family.
Asher watched after her for a moment when she winked and turned to start helping with the cleaning effort. When he was finally able to pull himself together enough to look away, he turned and his eyes locked on Chase and Craig, who stood shoulder to shoulder, both watching the interaction with raised eyebrows and questions on their lips.
Questions Asher didn’t want to hear, because he wasn’t ready to even think about the answers.
* * *
“That was fun.” Noa meant it. She’d been a bit apprehensive about spending Christmas Eve with Asher’s family, but everyone had been so warm and welcoming, it hadn’t taken her long to get over any awkwardness and have a really good time.
“My family can be a lot.” Asher pulled the truck up to the cabin and put it in park. “But it was fun to have you there. We would have won the games, too, if you hadn’t gone rogue.”
“That was the point.” She laughed. “We couldn’t win.”
“Why not?” He looked at her in genuine confusion.
“Asher. I’m not part of your family. Every year, you’ll talk about and remember who won the first Mistletoe Madness games. How would it be if it was some random woman you brought home after she jumped in your truck?” The thought had occurred to her when they were in the kitchen assembling the gingerbread house.
As nice as the Carlsons were, she wasn’t part of their family. She didn’t belong there, and she didn’t want their new family tradition to be forever marred with her claiming the very first win. Which was why she’d incited the sugar and icing fight.
The look on Asher’s face when she squirted the icing on his nose had been an added bonus.
“Besides,” she added. “How would your future girlfriend or wife feel knowing that you’d already won with someone else?”
The smile fell from his face, and she felt a shift in her chest as her words settled around them in the cab of the truck.
“Noa. That’s…” He shook his head slowly and blew out a breath. “Let’s go inside.”
It was ridiculous, and she had no business feeling any kind of feelings for Asher. Not when they’d both made it so clear to each other that neither of them wanted anything more than a little distraction and the fun they’d been having. Still…she was feeling something. And it was definitely more than just some distracted fun.
She tried to shake her feelings, and by the time Asher had a fire going in the fireplace and poured them each a glass of wine, Noa had mostly convinced herself it was just the heightened emotion of the holiday season and everything that had happened over the last few days that had her feelings all mixed up.
Mostly.
“Come sit.” Asher noticed her standing in the doorway to the bedroom. “I have to admit that while I’m not a big Christmas tree person, I think this one might be my favorite one.”
It was just the opening she needed. As much as she’d enjoyed herself with his family, she couldn’t help but feel out of place, and the feelings that had been gradually creeping in had left her feeling unsettled and more than a little unsure of what was happening or whether she should go ahead and give Asher the gift she’d worked on for him.
“One second.” She held up a finger and disappeared into the bedroom. She took the gift that she’d wrapped carefully in some old newspaper to the couch. “I was going to give you this tomorrow morning, but I think it’s better if you open it now.”
“You got me a gift?” He put his glass of wine down and took the present gently from her hands. “You didn’t have to?—”
“I know I didn’t have to,” she said. “Iwantedto. It’s not a big deal. It’s just?—”
He stopped her with a kiss. “Thank you.”
“Open it.”
She picked up her glass of wine and sat back on the couch, suddenly unsure whether he’d like it.