Page 73 of Mistletoe Mischief

“Try me.”

“I took a group out to the waterfall at Lake Pine, and one of them got spooked by a rabbit. Knocked me into the pool.”

“That sounds so unbelievable, it must be true,” he said, grinning as he ran a hand over his silver buzz cut. “Let’s get you and your lady friend into a room before one of the other guests sees you.”

“Oh, we’re not going to stay,” Pike said.

“I’m not his lady,” Ryler said at the same time.

“I just need a place to dry my clothes and for you to take a look at me,” Pike said.

Doc ignored him, addressing Ryler. “Since Pike here has forgotten his manners, hi, I’m Doc Patten.”

“Ryler.”

“She’s one of the people from the group I was showing around the area,” Pike muttered.

Doc gave her a once-over, eyes wide. “Not the one who knocked him out, right?”

“No, that would be my cousin.”

“Is your cousin a big gun?” Doc asked.

“No, she’s tall and thin.”

“Whewy, Pike, you better start working out some more if you’re getting laid out by tiny women.”

“Thanks, Doc,” Pike grumbled.

Doc put a set of keys in his hand. “Head on up to room fourteen. It’s the only one available, I’m afraid, because we got a full house for the holiday. Family reunion.” Doc held out his hand to Ryler, who had Pike’s wet clothes in her arms. “If you want to hand me that stack of clothes, I’ll go wash and dry them while you get him settled. I’ll be up to check on you in a bit.”

“Thank you,” she said, passing them over to him.

“Thanks, Doc,” Pike said, leading the way up the stairs.

“Let me have the keys since I have two hands.”

Pike gave her the keys, too cold and tired to argue. He’d wedged his feet back into his boots and the soaking wet footwear was like encasing his feet in blocks of ice. As he climbed the stairs, his feet squished inside the shoes and he gritted his teeth.

Ryler unlocked the door and pushed it open. Pike rushed inside, kicking off the shoes and crawling onto the king-size bed. His feet were pale and shriveled from the moisture in his shoes, and he pushed down the blankets to get under them.

“Do you want me to wait out here?” Ryler asked.

“No, you can come in,” he said, pulling the comforter over him and burrowing down. “I’m decent. I’m just trying to get warm.”

Ryler walked in and took a seat in a chair by the window. “You know, I’ve seen several shows and movies where they say the fastest way to get warm is another person’s naked body heat.”

“Are you offering to strip down and warm me up, Kitten?”

Ryler blushed. “No, I was just sharing information.”

“I knew that already. I also would have been better off stripping off my wet clothes immediately and running naked back to the car, but I didn’t want to make things awkward.”

“Why would it have been awkward seeing you naked?” Ryler shrugged. “It’s not the first time I’ve seen a naked man, you know.”

“It was the first time you’d have seen me naked, and I definitely didn’t want to experience that in front of two other men and your cousin.”

“I get that. I probably wouldn’t have stripped either if the roles were reversed. Then again, your lips did look awfully blue there for a while, so it depends how cold I was.”