Page 20 of Merry Mayhem
He’s cut off by Ruth sliding on stocking feet into the foyer and pointing at the arched doorway above us.
“Hey, Ruth,” Josh says.Clearly, he remembers her. That’s nice.
“Hi!” she says enthusiastically. “Grandpa said to come get you.”
“We’re coming,” I tell her, taking a step forward.
“But, mistletoe!” she says again. She points.
I look up. And roll my eyes. I know Harley, put that there and caught Bruce under it, and Bruce groused about silly traditions, but let himself be kissed and secretly liked it.
And I notice no one pulled the mistletoe down.
Because they’re trying to set me up with this good-looking, laid-back firefighter paramedic they picked up at the hospital where my sister is in a coma.
“We’renotdoing the mistletoe thing,” I tell her.
“Youhaveto,” she informs me. “Just kiss on the cheek.”
“Youhave to,” Josh says softly behind me.
I turn. “You don’t really?—”
But he leans in and presses his lips to my cheek.
Licks of heat ignite from that spot and tickle down my neck, across my nipples, and make more heat twist through my stomach.
Damn, he smells really good.
Like pine and soap and Christmas cookies.
Okay, that last part is probably coming from my grandpa’s kitchen, but it’s why I close my eyesbrieflyand breathe deeply.
Theonlyreason.
“And by the way, I’m here because of Violet,” he says gruffly near my ear before straightening.
I blink up at him. “Uh…what?”
“Comeon!” Ruth says, spinning and heading for the kitchen.
Josh’s looking at me with a hard-to-define expression. “This isn’t a setup between you and me. I’m your sister’s date.”
And isn’t that just exactly what a woman wants to hear while her nipples are tight and tingly from a simple kiss on the cheek?
CHAPTER 6
JOSH
Well,that escalated quickly.
I hadn’t even set foot inside Violet’s grandfather’s house, and I was already second-guessing the plan to pretend to be her boyfriend.
Because of her sister.
This is a little messy.
Violet is cute. Beautiful even. I’m attracted to her in the way that a straight single guy is attracted to a beautiful woman. Objectively, I know that she’s beautiful and that kissing her would be pleasant.
