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Brady ducked the blows. “You have problems, you know that, right?”
Elliott threw another punch.
Brady locked his fingers around Elliott’s fist and stopped the hit. “You’ve been drinking, haven’t you? Someone spiced the eggnog, and you got into it. When you drink, your impulse control goes to negative twenty.”
With a jerk, Elliott wrenched his hand free. “You treat my sister with respect!”
“Technically, she kissed me. So I was respecting her. It would have been rude to walk away.” Something he’d done before.Will I ever forget that moment when I left her alone under the mistletoe?“Not gonna hurt her again,” he swore. “If your sister wants to be with me, it’s happening. By the way, you’ll only get so many free swings before I lose my patience.”
Elliott looked down at his feet. His broad shoulders sagged. “I did get into the eggnog.”
“I know you did, buddy.”
“I was also the one who spiked it.”
“I know that, too.”
Elliott peeked up at him. “Get me a ride home?”
Brady threw an arm around Elliott’s shoulders. Brady was sure he could find a volunteer to drive the guy home. “Someone will love taking your green ass home.” He’d take care of Elliott, then Brady could take Noelle home.
Home.Strange, but when he thought of his home…
He always thought of Noelle.
***
Snowflakes tickled her nose. Noelle blew out a slow breath and tilted back her head. The snowfall wasn’t heavy. Just light flakes that scattered across the sky. Her body had cooled quickly outside, but every time she thought of Brady…
I am so not over him.
Not over the crush that had started when she was a teen or the far more adult craving that she’d fought for so long. Now, this Christmas, it seemed everything had changed. Brady wanted her, too. So what was she going to do about that?
Not stand out in the cold and shiver her ass off all night, that was for sure, she was—
“Noelle.” Hard. Rough.
Her head turned to the right. About ten feet away, standing slightly in the shadows, she saw a man in a Santa suit. Tall, with broad shoulders, and his black gloved hands at his sides.
She smiled. Brady had put the hat and beard back on. “I thought you were getting rid of the costume.”
He shook his head. His left hand lifted. He crooked his index finger, indicating that she should come toward him.
The snow fell a little harder as she took a step in his direction. “I didn’t hear you come out. Did you finish talking to Elliott?”
Again, he crooked his finger.
Someone was being mysterious. She took a few more steps toward him. The light behind her flickered. She’d gone out the back door of the center, moving onto the patio area behind the main building. No one else was outside, just her and Brady, but she suddenly felt a strange tension fill her body. “We should go inside,” Noelle blurted.
His hand fell to his side.
“We need to go home,” she added quickly. “Everyone will be clearing out soon, and we don’t want to be the last ones here.”
“Come…with me.” Rough. Grating. Like her name had been.
She didn’t step forward anymore. The white beard covered so much of his face, and he’d positioned himself so that he was mostly in the shadows.
I can’t see his eyes.Brady’s very distinct eyes. “Your voice sounds funny. Hope you’re not catching a cold.” Because Brady’s voice never grated. It rumbled. It rasped. Sometimes, it thundered. But it didn’t grate.
