Page 9 of Mistletoe Meet Cute
My chest tightens as I follow Luke across the gravel lot, pulling my hat lower. There’re too many people. Too much noise. Too much chaos.
Was that a reindeer?
We walk into a tasting room in an older building, buzzing with laughter and music. The faint smell of cinnamon and mulled wine mixes with fresh pine, and I run my hand over my sleeping daughter’s back, hoping she doesn’t wake up screaming in the middle of all this.
Luke moves like he owns the place because I guess technically, he does, waving at everyone and stopping to chat with every other step he takes, while I keep my head down, hoping to go unnoticed. With every championship I’ve won with the Kings, interest in me has grown. Unwanted interest, but it comes with the job. Somehow, I’ve managed to keep Sophie out of it, and I’d like to keep it that way.
“She should be in the back.” Luke lifts his chin toward a door before weaving past a group of women who coo at Sophie. One lifts her hand like she wants to touch my daughter, but I growl and angle Sophie away.
What the hell is wrong with people?
I follow him through a narrow hall into an industrial kitchen where a tiny blonde with curls falling around her face hums “Jingle Bells” as she plates a charcuterie board. White-blonde curls are pulled into a messy knot on top of her head. A streak of flour is smeared on her cheek, and a gingerbread house apron is tied around her tiny waist. She’s beautiful in a bombshell meets the girl next door kind of way, and is definitely not the kind of distraction I need in my house.
Not now. Not ever.
And when she looks up at me with those eyes... the same eyes that held me captive in a drugstore aisle last week.
Eyes that scream temptation and trouble.
The kind you see coming.
The kind a man like me should avoid.
Perfect pink lips part as recognition flares in those blue eyes.
“You again?” she breathes out in a whispered shock.
Fuck me.
I go still, my jaw locking because hell no. This little spitfire I’ve been picturing as I jerk off for days can’t be my center’s sister.
This can’t beHolly.
She fucking can’t.
“Holly.” My heart sinks and Luke grins, oblivious. “This is Camden. The friend I told you about the other night. The one looking for a nanny.”
“The stalker?” she asks as her brows shoot up. Her gaze flickering between us like this is a cosmic joke.
“Stalker?” Luke looks from her to me sharply. Friend or not, if I’m a threat to his family, I have no doubt he’d try to kick my ass. Emphasis ontry. “Explain.”
Holly wipes her hands on her apron and folds her delicate arms over her chest, pushing up mouthwatering curves. Today’s shirt is pink with the wordsMerry & Brightembroidered onthe front in red-and-white candy-cane striped yarn stretching across her boobs. Ones I’d bet my last penny are perfect fucking handfuls.
Does this woman have a different obnoxious Christmas shirt for every day of the season?
“Relax, big brother. It’s a joke.” She sighs dramatically when it becomes obvious Luke’s not buying it. “We met at Sweet Temptations,” she defends herself—or possibly me. “Then again at the pharmacy.” Blue eyes scream with mischief as she glances my way. “He bought me tampons.”
Okay. So throwing me under the bus. Got it.
And that’s when my center chokes. “Why the hell did you buy her tampons?”
Heat crawls up the back of my neck, but I keep my focus on Holly. It’s hard to look away when she’s glaring at me like a mix between her worst nightmare and her next Christmas-cookie fix come to life.
“I didn’t know she was your sister,” I finally tell him as I realize the only option I have for taking care of Sophie this weekend is slowly slipping away.
“Do you make a habit of buying women tampons?” Holly giggles with a devious smile. “Wait. Don’t answer that. I want to think I’m special.” She bats her long lashes up at me. “Let a girl have her dreams.”
“Not sure I want to know what dreams you have or what kinks he does.” Luke ignores his sister’s middle finger as she throws it up at him and steals a piece of cheese from the plate on the counter. “Well, I guess you two can skip the awkwardgetting to know youshit and dive right in then. Holly, Cam needs help. His sister can’t watch Sophie today and probably can’t this weekend either. Really, he needs someone full-time at least through the end of the season. And you know what our season’slike.” Sophie picks that moment to lift her head and blink up at Luke, who softens and smiles. “That about sum it up?”
