Page 40 of Unwrapped

“It’s the least we can do for making you help out like that.”

“Never again. That was pure torture.”

“Oh really?” She picks up the discarded top. “What about this lipstick stain on the collar.”

“I have no idea. Must’ve been that old bag who grabbed my ass and asked me to special deliver my package…”

“Huh. That’s weird because it matches the stain on your neck.”

My face heats. “It was the only way to shut her up.”

“Who?”

“Fur baby,” I mutter with a grin.

“Speak. Now.”

I roll my eyes. “There’s nothing to tell. What can I say? Women love a man in uniform or in this case…costume. She was all hot for Bad Santa. I indulged her dirty fantasy. That’s it.”

“It’s her, isn’t it? The woman staying at the Maple Mill Inn?”

“Maybe.”

“I know it is. I saw how you were looking at her when she was with Federico.”

“Oh yeah? How was I looking at her?”

“Like you wanted to rip her from his arms.”

“I did that?”

“Uh-huh.”

“I can’t stand her.”

“Tell that to someone who might believe it.”

“She’s…too much. Overdressed. Overkill…over-styled.”

“And you can’t take your eyes off her.”

“…or my hands.”

“Are you going to ask her out?”

“Hell, no. I’m going to avoid her like the plague. I didn’t come home for Christmas for some bad romance.”

“What did you come for?”

“The fuck if I know. I knew it was a bad idea. But Rog, he’s the only family in my life. He might not be blood…but he’s all I’ve ever had.”

11

ROGER

“I FEEL BAD ABOUT THIS…”

“Don’t. Sally and I saw it with our own eyes. Everyone in town knows the woman’s staying with her. It spread in under two minutes that she followed the Barrington boy behind the dumpsters in the alley. I was with Sally when she got the text. We were counting soup cans at the food pantry and opened the backdoor just in time to see Dare in his Santa suit back her up against the alley wall.”

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