Page 43 of The Mistletoe Mix-up

“Didn’t you know that’s my kink?” She cackled, but Sam heard her footsteps retreating. “Declan is pulling in the drive anyway.”

Holly Winters might be a little wacky, but he was glad she was on his side.

Chapter Thirteen

Wren pulled out of the station that night, making her way to Main Street like she always did on the way home. Duke sat up behind her in the back seat, staring out the window with his tongue lolling out of his mouth. Christmas greenery stretched across the street and along the streetlamps, which sported strings of multicolored Christmas lights wrapped around them. A brightly lit sign that read Happy Holidays was the last piece of décor she saw before turning onto her street.

Wren parked in her driveway, noting the strange car in front of her house, and hoped that Pete hadn’t come over with one of his idiotic roommates. She let Duke out of the back, and he followed her up the sidewalk as Wren thought about how she would get out of her hook-up plans with Sam. While last night was amazing, her goals didn’t involve a situationship with her ex-boyfriend.

She should have just told him something came up when he texted her a few hours ago to confirm their date, but she’d been so taken aback by his message, she couldn’t find it in her to cancel.

Counting down the hours. Can’t wait to see you.

Now, Wren was stuck getting dressed and heading over there. Maybe this was a conversation for the two of them to have in person anyway. Although, after spending her downtime today remembering every detail of his naked, glorious body, being face-to-face with him wasn’t the best idea for her willpower.

As she unlocked the front door, the Govee lights she’d had installed when she moved in flashed along the trim of the roof above her head in several different colors. It was all the Christmas she’d had time for, setting them up for every holiday season. The red and green gave her enough light to make out her shadow on the floor as Wren pushed open the door, letting Duke rush in first as she reached for the light switch.

Someone screamed just before she made contact with the switch, and as it illuminated the living room, Wren gasped in horror when she caught a brief glimpse of a naked woman straddling her brother while Duke stuck his nose in Pete’s face!

“Fucking shit!” Pete hollered, dislodging the woman and crashing to the floor, his naked limbs thrashing. The woman was huddled on the corner of the couch, backing away from Duke’s curious approach.

Wren ducked out the door with a curse and closed it, hollering through the wood, “What the hell, Pete? Don’t you have your own place to take people?”

“I didn’t think you would be home this early!” Pete yelled back.

“It doesn’t matter! I told you that was a brand-new couch! If I don’t want you getting Cheetos on it, I sure as shit don’t want your bodily fluids on it either!”

The woman inside squealed again, and Pete said, “Can you please get Duke out of here? He’s scaring her.”

“Absolutely not! I’ll be back in one hour, and at that time, I want my dog fed and in his crate and you and your guest gone!”

“Wren!”

She ignored her brother’s shouting, her face flushed as she retreated to her car and climbed inside. Was there any way to erase the image of her brother getting reverse-cowgirled on her couch? Wren winced.

“So gross,” she muttered.

Pulling out of her driveway and heading back toward town, Wren realized she was heading for Sam’s, but he wasn’t going to be home for another hour.

Using her hands-free, she sent a voice text to Sam. “Still working?”

His response was nearly immediate, and she pressed the button to play it. “I was just heading home. My last client canceled on me.”

“Do you mind if I come by now?”

“Not at all. Everything okay?”

Wren shuddered, speaking slowly. “I walked in on my brother having sex on my couch, so no.”

“Yikes! Which one?”

“Pete, not that it matters. I didn’t have time to shower, and I’m still in my uniform.”

“You could show up in a garbage bag, smelling like hot dog water, and I’d still want you.”

Wren’s stomach flipped like a flapjack, and despite her best intentions, smiled. “I can’t figure out if that is sweet or disturbing.”

“Go with sweet. I’ll see you in a few.”