Page 35 of Holiday Hook Up

“You mean dress up as elves and then escape for peppermint rubdowns the first chance we get?”

“Sure. I’ve got no plans.” He watched her sit up, holding the sheet to cover her front. He didn’t know why all of a sudden he wanted to get his flirt on with Bethany.Curb that urge, dude.He gave himself a mental swat.She is just a friend.

“What about your quest to find your mystery blonde?”

“Mystery blonde?” He sat up, flinging his legs off the bed.

“From the Holiday Hook Up.”

“Right . . . she was some woman all right . . .” His voice trailed off. Truth be told, he’d been having so much fun with Bethany, he’d not only forgotten about Rachel, but he hadn’t thought about the stranger he kissed either. Sure, he’d love to know who the blonde vixen was, but it wasn’t like he’d go knocking on cottage doors up and down Buttermilk Lake. For all he knew, she wasn’t even from this town.

“I’m not going to lie. That woman seriously knocked my Christmas socks off, but maybe I was bitten that night by some holiday kissing bug and acted out with the first gal I saw. It probably wasn’t as big of a deal as I made it out to be the other day when I wanted to confiscate your camera to see if you had taken any photos of her.”

He thought Bethany would laugh at that, but for some reason her familiar smile had disappeared.

She pulled her hair out of her ponytail, bringing it to the side. “Well, if that’s how you feel, maybe it’s better to not know who she is.”

“That’s what I’m thinking.” He sat up, making sure the sheet covered what it needed to. “Besides, what woman throws herself at a guy and then runs for the hills. She was probably only looking for a good time.”

“Probably,” she said rather flatly, and twisted her hair back up.

Why was she so irritated? It wasn’t like the mystery blonde was one of her friends. Or was she? Did Bethany know something he didn’t? “You don’t know who she is, do you?”

“No, of course not.” She turned her body so that her back was to him, reaching for her robe. “It’s hard to keep track whom you’ve kissed these days.”

What was she talking about? It had only been Pauline and the mystery blonde. Two women in two months didn’t make him Don Juan or even a horny Brandon Swift back in the day. Adam stared at her backside. Although, he did attempt his third kiss a little over an hour ago.

Oh crap. Shewasmad at his trying to lay one on her.

Why didn’t she say something when he first came into the room? She hadn’t appeared mad at all. Damn, he should have apologized like he planned. Was it lame to do it now? “Bethany, I’m sorry for what happened on the stage. It was all those little tykes cheering us on that got me going. I don’t know what came over me.”

“Kissing bug,” she offered her answer.

“Yes. Precisely. Hell, if my brother’s wife was on the stage, I probably would have tried to kiss her, too. Can’t control these lips.” He chuckled, feeling relieved for only a second, because when she turned around, she looked even more pissed off than before.

“I’m sorry,” he said again. “You know I didn’t mean anything by it.”

She grabbed her robe, pulling it to her chest. “It’s fine, Adam. We can pretend that our kissing never happened.”

“Almost kissing,” he corrected.

“Yes. Itneverhappened.” Bringing the robe to her shoulders, she nodded for the door. “We should probably get dressed so the next couple can start their massages.”

“Right. Pauline and Evan are probably itching to disrobe.” His attempt to make her laugh didn’t work and he pulled himself off the table. It was now clear she was ticked at him for the kiss—near kiss—and hell, probably wasn’t amused at his walking in on her earlier, either. “I’ll go get dressed and warm up the truck. Take your time.”

He left the room, a clear picture of Bethany’s agitated face now running through his head. “Nice way to wreck a friendship,” he mumbled, and headed for the changing room.

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