“He told me you kicked your ex’s ass around the block. I’m sorry I missed that.”
I nodded. “You would have loved it. It was pretty awesome. But how, exactly, are you going to win over my parents, Mr. Fuck Boi?”
He pulled me into his arms. “I know you think you’re going to annoy me with that nickname, but I think I likeiteven better than when you call me Geezer. And step one of making them adore me is making Christmas breakfast for your family. Summer was right when she said I’m the kind of man who will make breakfast for you.”
“You overheard that?”
“One of servers did, and she passed it along to me.”
“Why am I just learning about this?”
“Because if I’d told you sooner, I would’ve had to admit that I’ve been having fantasies about serving you breakfast in bed and then eating it off you since the night I met you. Oh, that can be a third gift for me. Let me do that the day after tomorrow.”
I leaned against him. “You really are dedicated to living up to your new nickname.” I sighed. “Fine, breakfast at my parents’ house in the morning. But you know what you have to do to make me want breakfast.”
He swept me into his arms and laid me on the bed. “I’m aware.” He stripped off his suit coat and shirt, then joined me. He nuzzled my neck and whispered in my ear. “Merry Christmas, baby. Naughty Nick is home for the holidays.”
EPILOGUE
ONE YEAR LATER
CARA
Isat between Gabi and Summer at the Claus Towne Bar. In one back corner of the space, there was a six-foot tall, freshly cut evergreen covered in wildly blinking colored lights. In the other back corner, where space had been cleared and a mic had been set up, Nick and Mason stood chatting with Sam, the manager, about the upcoming Christmas-themed trivia event.
“I can’t believe Mason outed Nick’s hidden talent to Sam,” I said to Summer. “The man is supposed to be on vacation with me, not working as the host of Christmas trivia night.”
Summer leaned over to the chair beside her, where she’d insisted I set Snowy, the little white fuzzball who was the light of our life, in her backpack cat carrier. “Mommy’s just cranky because she wants all of Daddy’s attention for herself. But Daddy gives good trivia, so?—”
“Do not say perverted things to my kitten or I’ll separate the two of you,” I admonished her.
“She’s not wrong though,” Gabi said unhelpfully. “And besides being good at it, he loves it.”
I smiled. “Yeah, he does.”
Besides, I couldn’t hold anything against Mason, given the way he’d always supported me and my art. The minute Nick had told him that Buddy and Sue were hosting an official unveiling ofMother Tree, Mason had rearranged his entire holiday schedule to be here. And the debt I owed him for that paled in comparison to what he’d done for me by bringing Nick into my life.
As if he felt me staring at him and thinking sexy thoughts, Nick glanced at me and winked. My stomach still got fluttery when he flirted with me.
Summer drummed her fingers on the table. “You need to either stop glowing like that or help the rest of us find zaddies of our own.”
“Speak for yourself,” Gabi said. “Some of us are interested in younger men.”
I didn’t mention I’d seen her and my brother flirting almost constantly since he’d met us here in Klosston yesterday.
“As for you,” Gabi told Summer, “I think Sam’s about Nick’s age. And he’s cute in a nice, Midwestern kind of way.”
“He is, isn’t he?” Summer narrowed her eyes as she assessed him.
Poor guy didn’t stand a chance. Not that he would want to. I’d caught him checking out Summer when we’d arrived ten minutes earlier.
“And Mason is looking pretty fine himself, these days,” Summer said. “Decisions, decisions.”
“I’m going to pretend I did not hear you thinking about seducing Mason,” Gabi said. “OurMason.”
“Well, he wasourNick before Cara jumped his bones,” Summer said. “And he still is, although he’s off my menu of choices now.”
Nick and Mason shook Sam’s hand, then headed toward us.
