Christmas in His Bed

“We’re driving tonight, so you’re on your own,” Dean said between bites.

“Driving?” Tatum asked, trying not to think about Spencer’s hand moving slowly up the inside of her thigh.

“The whole town gets officially lit up tonight,” Jared said, reaching for more bread. “Some of us have been volunteered to drive the judges through town.”

“You volunteered?” Lucy’s surprise was evident.

“Well, maybe we were told to. After that snake-in-his-drawer thing, the captain wasn’t too happy, so...” Dean let the sentence hang there.

“You put a snake in your boss’s desk?” Tatum asked, spoon halfway to her mouth.

“It was a grass snake.” Jared shrugged.

“But he didn’t think it was funny,” Dean said.

“So they’re driving tonight,” Spencer finished.

“You didn’t have anything to do with this, did you?” Tatum asked, arching a brow at Spencer.

He shook his head. “I tend to find ways to stay on the boss’s good side, not his shit list.”

They all laughed.

“Dean’s a regular,” Jared agreed.

Dean shrugged, his hazel gaze finding hers. “Guilty is as guilty does. And speaking of guilty, you have a chance to think over my little proposition?” He smiled.

Spencer’s hand tightened on her thigh.

Lucy almost choked on her stew before sounding off. “First, yuck, she’s my best friend and you’re my brother. And, two, even if she did decide she wanted to take you up on your offer, do you really think she’d do so with an audience?”

Dean shrugged. “I’m all about full disclosure.”

“How about we keep a little less disclosed,” Spencer said, tearing into his bread and glaring at his cousin.

“Anyway...” Lucy glanced back and forth between them. “I’ll be out in the cold, handing out maps for the light tour. I think I’d rather be driving around judges—at least you have heat.”

Tatum shivered. “I couldn’t do it.” If she was this cold now, she could only imagine how frigid it would be when the sun went down. “I can bring you emergency hot chocolate?”

Lucy laughed. “That’s okay. We set up in front of the fire station and they keep the hot chocolate and coffee coming. You can join me if you want? Didn’t want you to be all alone tonight.”

Tatum didn’t miss the small smile on Lucy’s face. Or the way Spencer’s hand squeezed her thigh ever so slightly. “Oh, I have plenty to keep me busy. I haven’t even started unpacking. Or cleaning out my bedroom. It seems strange for a divorced woman to be sleeping in a room with pom-poms.”

Dean chuckled.

“Why not move into the master bedroom?” Lucy asked.

It made sense. It was her house now. But she wrinkled her nose at the thought. “I know I’m not ready to go through my mom’s stuff. One thing at a time. Besides, I refuse to kick Spencer out until after the holidays. I’m not that heartless.”

There was a slight silence, Dean and Jared exchanged an odd look, and Lucy was grinning. She didn’t risk a look at Spencer.

Lucy nodded. “You’ve got time to make this place your own.”

Her own. But did she really want to stay in Greyson? One of the reasons Gretchen, her college roommate, had invited her to San Diego for Christmas was to talk about an employment opportunity. Gretchen’s family owned a finance and investment firm and, according to Gretchen, there was the perfect opening for Tatum.

Now was the time for trying new things, pushing her comfort boundaries and not passing up once-in-a-lifetime career opportunities. Even for great friends and amazing sex.

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