Page 88 of Bad Boy Bachelor Christmas
“Shh!”
People snickered, me included.
“All right, folks,” I said softly. “As soon as she and I come around the corner, that’s your cue. Sit tight. And keep quiet. Everything echoes in this damn house.”
I set off toward the front door and reached it just in time to open it for Winter, who stood on the front step bundled up for the cold and looking cute as hell. She wore a red lip and Christmas-wreath earrings. Once she removed her jacket, she revealed a white turtleneck and red, high-waisted pants she must have bought in town before the meeting. She looked like a festive dessert, and I’d have eaten her up if people weren’t lying in wait in my living room.
“How did the meeting with the client go?” I asked, taking her jacket and hanging it up.
“So good!” She spoke excitedly, the cadence of her voice rising and falling for dramatic effect, as she followed me down the hall toward the kitchen. I didn’t even have to work to distract her. She was too caught up in the excitement of the day to notice anything was up.
Until we came to the end of the hall and the whole house shook as people leapt forward and screamedhappy birthday.
Winter yelped and grabbed hold of my arm before descending into a fit of hysterical laughter. “What is this?”
I kissed the top of her head. “Happy birthday, baby.”
“You planned me a surprise party?”
Cami had already reached us. “Weplanned you a surprise party.”
Winter laughed. “Yes, of course, team effort all around, I’m sure. You guys, this so nice!”
“Good thing you didn’t jump his bones right when you got home,” Justin said before giving her a birthday hug.
Cami swatted him. “Why do you say the things you do?”
“It was a joke.”
“You’rea joke,” Cami said.
“And you’re my punchline,” he teased, attempting to wrap an arm around her waist.
Cami squirmed her way free with an eye roll, but there was a sliver of a smile curling the corner of her lip, too.
Winter said her hellos to everyone at the party, and once the niceties were over with and the music started to play, I poured her a glass of wine from the bar, and we found ourselves standing at the back window gazing out at the snow-covered fields of trees.
“Nobody has ever thrown me a surprise party before,” she said.
“I hope you like it. If you’d rather it just be us I can kick them all out. They’re a bunch of hooligans, anyway.”
She smiled over her shoulder at Justin and Cami, who were teaching people a lively drinking game of some sort at the kitchen island. Marge was there, laughing her butt off as the first round went underway and people threw back shots of what appeared to be Fireball.
“It’s going to get messy,” I said.
“I like the hooligans.” She shimmied closer to rest her head on my shoulder. “Besides, I won’t be seeing them for a while. After Christmas I’ll be in Portland working to save money for my last semester. This is a perfect goodbye-for-now.”
“You can come work with me until the spring semester starts.”
She tipped her head back and smiled at me. “Oh yeah?”
I cupped her chin. “Definitely. I’ll pay you well, and the benefits are… above average.”
“Sell me on it, Mr. Waylon.”
“Well, accommodations would be covered.”
“Mhm. Go on.”
