by Moon, Mia
Nice and Naughty
The Reverse Harem Diaries #5
Mia Moon
Copyright © 2018 by Mia Moon
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Epilogue
One For All-Excerpt
Where to Find Mia
Chapter 1
“I can’t believe this, Abbie!” I groaned into my phone. “You three could have told me you weren’t doing Christmas with me, like, any time before today. It’s not like Christmas is ever a surprise.”
My sister’s apologetic laugh did nothing to soothe me. “I know, I know, and I wanted to tell you sooner than Christmas Eve. As of last week, even, it still looked like we’d all be heading to the cabin today. But you know how Liz can be. She kept going back and forth on what she and Dan wanted to do. Because of the baby.”
“Yes, exactly! A newborn baby I would very much like to see. I didn’t even bother to send out the gifts I got for everyone. I would have mailed them have if I’d known I wouldn’t see you.”
“You can still go to the cabin without us,” Abbie offered.
“What? Alone? It won’t be any fun that way. We all go together, Abs. Every year. It’s our only real family tradition.”
“I’m sorry, Hope. I think we all want new family traditions. You know, with our new families.”
I didn’t even try to argue with that. How could I? My three sisters each had a perfect husband and precious little ones to love and dote on for the holiday.
I, on the other hand, only had a sparsely furnished single apartment in a new city where I hardly knew anyone. Did I feel left out? Yeah. A little.
Okay, a lot.
“I didn’t even bother to decorate,” I grumbled as I looked around my cozy home. It was a pretty little apartment with walls of windows and bright, high ceilings. I’d been lucky to get the call when it became available, and even luckier I got a stipend from work to be able to afford it. I’d loved it from the moment I’d stepped onto the original hardwood floors for the first time.
Now, it looked bleak and lonely. The same way I felt. Empty.
I walked over to my wall of big windows, crossing an arm over my belly, protecting myself from the gnawing feeling inside. I didn’t like feeling lonely, and I hated the awful, evil jealousy that sometimes clawed its way into my chest when I spoke to my sisters. Sometimes, it was pretty tough to be the oldest and the only one who hadn’t settled down in any meaningful way. It was so hard to find anyone who understood my dedication to my work. I was a good person, a hard worker, with so much love to offer.
Didn’t I deserve that kind of love in return?
“It doesn’t look like I could get out of here on my own this afternoon anyway,” I finally admitted to my sister.
“Why not?” Abbie asked. In the background, I heard my nephew, Charlie, and my brother-in-law, Mark. Charlie’s bright little laugh made that terrible jealousy surge through my heart again.
“We’re apparently in the middle of some kind of freak snowstorm, like Snowmaggedon,” I said. “It started so light and pretty this morning, but my boss ended up sending us home from work early when it started coming down. We didn’t even get to finish the holiday celebration we had set up for all the residents. I was going to ask you and Mark to swing off the highway and pick me up since he’s got that big beast of a truck. It can stay on the road in the snow, right?”
“Oh my god, Hope! If you have to ask that question, you should not even consider getting on the road. And, for the love of all things holy, please don’t take that little Fiat car of yours anywhere again until next summer.” Her teasing laugh filtered through the phone, and I wished I could join in, but it felt more like she’d just hammered the final nail in my holiday coffin.
I sighed a sad, resigned groan. I wasn’t going anywhere, no matter how much that thought killed the last of my Christmas cheer. “Got it. No driving.”
“Good. Now, did you get our present?”
I glanced over at the box on my coffee table. The return label included each of my sisters’ names, but only Abbie’s address. “Yep, it’s right here.”
“Yay!” Abbie cheered into the phone. “I can’t wait for you to open it.”
“Should I open it now?” I asked.
“No, no!” she cried. I could almost see her waving her hands to shoo the idea away. “It’s a Christmas present, Hope. Santa will see if you open it early.” She delivered the last part like she might also be giving a warning to her delightfully rambunctious little boy. Sure enough, I heard a giggle followed by footsteps pounding away from her.
“I hope you love it,” she added. “We wanted to do something extra special for our angelically sweet sister. You’re always, always taking care of everyone else before yourself.”
Her words twisted into a bit of a tease and I narrowed my eyes though I couldn’t see her. “Is there an Abbie Surprise in this box?” I asked taking a wary step back.
“I didn’t say a word,” Abbie said with a naughty giggle. “You really should take care of yourself, H.”
I rolled my eyes and finally let out an almost entirely genuine laugh. “Okay, Abs. I get it. It’s a big old Santa sack of sex toys. I guess I’m supposed to say thanks, but I’m not sure what it says about me that my baby sister feels it’s her duty to supply me with dildos.”
Abbie cackled into the phone. “It’s not a duty, it’s a privilege.”
“Somehow not helping,” I teased back. My mood was all but shot. Still, I couldn’t take it out on my favorite sister.
“I’ll miss you so much,” she said, going totally serious. I loved that about Abbie. We were the farthest apart in age, but she understood me the best of any of them. “Maybe you can come to see us for New Year’s? We’d love that—Charlie, especially.”
“Maybe,” I said. “I’ll have to find out what the shelter is like then. I don’t know what to expect, and I wouldn’t want to leave anyone in a lurch.”
“See? Angelic, that’s you,” Abbie said. “Love you.”
“Love you, too.”
I jabbed my screen to end the call and tossed my phone aside with a frustrated huff. That conversation with my sister sealed it: I was in for the worst Christmas of my life.
I wasn’t trying to be melodramatic about it. But I’d been looking forward to seeing my family after the two months I’d spent alone in my new city. I’d moved when I’d been hired to help open a new shelter for abused women and children. I’d been working nonstop since I’d first driven into town—not to mention all the time at the last shelter before that. A little reprieve—and a solid reminder that happy, loving relationships still existed—was exactly what I needed.
I nibbled my lip as I peered over at the tiny stack of presents on my kitchen counter. A riot of ribbons and bows, and inside, carefully selected toys for my nieces and nephews.
All that pretty wrapping for nothing. I guessed I’d put them in the mail as soon as I could leave the apartment again. I should have gotten a tree or at least a few strings of lights to hang in the windows. Had I really been so busy that I couldn’t have
done that?
Well, yeah. But I’d also been planning to spend tonight putting out the old but beloved boxes of family decorations at the cabin. I loved seeing my little nieces and nephews light up when they got to play with the same toys and ornaments my sisters and I had played with as little girls.
I took a deep cleansing breath. It wasn’t like me to wallow in self-pity. I might be lonely, but I didn’t have to be bitter about it.
“I’ll have to start my own tradition,” I said aloud with a reassuring nod of my head to the empty apartment. I put my fingers to my lip, tapping as I surveyed the surrounding space. I knew I had a pack of printer paper somewhere, and there were scissors in my kitchen junk drawer. If all I made were little paper snowflakes, at least I’d have done something festive.
Maybe I’d have enough time to rush to the store before the roads got too bad. I‘d grab a bag of cranberries and some old-fashioned popcorn and string those together.
I’d buy a bottle of wine, too.
I was heading to my desk to get my purse when three heavy knocks sounded on my door. For some reason, my heart took off like a rocket. It hammered so hard it pounded the inside of my chest with drum beats as I crossed to peek through the peephole.
I drew in a surprised breath when all I could see was the familiar dark blue and badging of a local police uniform. I saw so many of those uniforms at the shelter, I recognized it right away. I clutched my chest—had something happened to one of our residents?
My stomach sank. This was turning into a banner holiday. Merry Christmas to me.
I ripped the door open and sucked in another shocked breath.
Holy hell. Something filled my doorway to overflowing. That something was one solid hunk of muscular man.
“Hello, officer.” I cleared my throat.
The gorgeous cop set a hand on the outside of my doorjamb. The other hand clutched a thin winter coat, which brushed the floor where it hung near his foot. The muscles in his forearms flexed. I had a thing for forearms.
I could see the bob of his throat when he swallowed. “I know you,” he said, looking almost as surprised as I felt.
I quickly took in his appearance—the blond hair that was slightly shaggy on top, close-trimmed around the sides. Blue eyes glittered under thick brows. The perfect, pouty lips. Had I ever seen him before? I’d remember him, wouldn’t I? He was impossibly gorgeous.
A grin spread those naughty lips out across his face, lighting him up and revealing dimples I wanted to kiss. Lord have mercy. I had to force my hand from clapping itself over my mouth. Where the hell had that thought come from?
“You work down at the new Safe Haven shelter, don’t you? I do a volunteer night there once a week. You’re usually going out as I come in. Little silver two-door car, right?”
I quirked a look at him and crossed my arms. “Should it concern me that a man I’ve never met seems to know so much about me?”
“Nah,” he said, that grin spreading even wider. “It’s my job to be observant. I do my best to catch it all.” He peered back over his shoulder, but he was so strapping I couldn’t see anything around him. “My buddy and I are going around the building checking on the few residents who’ve stuck around for the holidays.”
“Like, a public service?” I asked, confused.
“Kinda,” he said. “We both just got off from work. Figured we’d see how everyone is braving it in all this snow before we head home.” He pointed up to the ceiling.
“Oh!” Realization set in. “You live here!”
He lifted his brows and chuckled. “Uh, yeah. Wish I could say we were going door to door in random apartment buildings doing a safety check because that’s actually a pretty good idea. But no. We’re on the top floor.”
“The penthouse?” My voice squeaked. I’d seen the pictures and the price listing when I’d looked at this building. The penthouse wasn’t available, and I could never have afforded it, but a girl could dream, right?
“Yep,” he said. His grin twitched up a little at one side. “I’m Ethan Wright.” He shifted his right hand from the doorjamb, offering it for me to shake.
“Hope Covington,” I said, slipping my hand into his.
Fucking. Fireworks.
It was all I could do to keep from gasping out loud at the heat that raced through my arm and straight to my core. My mouth went dry, and I couldn’t get another word out.
“Pleasure to meet you, Hope,” Ethan said. That grin twitched again.
The sound of my name dripped from his tongue like honey mixed with chili peppers. Sweet and hot and a little dangerous. If I could have, I would have begged him to say it again. And, I honestly might have tried, if a second head hadn’t popped around Ethan’s right shoulder.
“Hi, Hope!”
I stepped back in surprise as Ethan scooted a little to the left, making room for the new arrival to lean in and shake my hand.
I’d hardly recovered from touching Ethan, but I couldn’t be rude, so I automatically shook the outstretched hand. Another series of fireworks lit off deep in my belly. At least I’d expected these.
A Christmas miracle, indeed.
“Pax, hey?” I asked. I swallowed hard, trying to find some amount of moisture in my mouth so my words wouldn’t keep coming out like I was talking through cotton.
“That’s me,” he said with a big, friendly grin. A grin that slid off his face as he peered into my apartment. “Can I come in?” he asked.
Chapter 2
I glanced around, wondering what was intriguing enough to make him want to cross my quiet little threshold, but shrugged. “Sure, if you want to.”
Pax squeezed through the door, almost as tall and muscular as Ethan, but a bit lankier.
"You two know each other?" Ethan asked, his head tilting as he watched his friend.
"We've met down at the mailboxes, and in the parking lot,” I offered, turning with curiosity as Pax politely invaded my apartment space. It felt like some of that bleakness and loneliness crept out of the room. It moved past Pax and escaped through the open door where I could feel Ethan's gaze lingering on me.
“And that time at the diner,” he replied.
This was true. It had been my second weekend here and I was eating alone at the local diner counter one Sunday morning. Pax had come in, slid next to me, and noted that he’d seen me around the building. We’d enjoyed a good conversation; at the time I was so overwhelmed from the move and my new job to even consider that he’d be boyfriend material.
Pax ran a hand over the back of his neck as he turned in a slow circle. Then he swung his deep, dark eyes back to me. “Where are all your decorations?”
“Dude, she might not celebrate anything,” Ethan said. He still leaned against the doorjamb, not crossing over into my personal space.
“I celebrate,” I said, though my apartment didn’t have evidence of that, which almost made me feel like a liar. At the very least, pathetic. I explained in a rush. “I had plans to celebrate elsewhere, and there were going to be decorations there.”
“Oh,” Pax said, nodding his head at the explanation. His brows dropped low. “What happened to your plans? Boyfriend?”
I almost choked on the self-deprecating laugh that bubbled up. “Hardly. Ditched by my sisters.”
“On Christmas Eve?” Pax asked, his brows going high before they dropped even lower. “That sucks.” He reached up to scratch his collarbone and looked over my head at Ethan.
“You’re a fireman? You never mentioned that,” I said, seeing the badge embroidered into the left chest of his thick zip-up fleece.
“Oh, yeah, must’ve slipped my mind,” he said, absentmindedly glancing down at the patch before he let out a sigh. “This really sucks, Hope. You’re gonna spend the holiday by yourself with no decorations or anything?”
I sighed. I didn’t relish the thought of venting the whole of my sad holiday story to these two blindingly hot guys. But something about the gentle smiles they both offered made m
e shrug again. “I guess so. I don't have any other options now with all this snow, do I?"
Pax looked at Ethan again.
Ethan cleared his throat from the doorway. “Well. Yeah, you do. You can come hang out with us. Pax and Ty and me. It’s only the three of us. We all had to work today, so we’re staying here to celebrate.”
“Oh, I couldn’t do that,” I said. My heart thumped hard in my chest. An image of my sister came to mind. I could picture her scowl. And her smacking me in the back of the head and calling me a moron.
What single woman in her right mind would say no to spending the holiday with a sexy cop, a steamy fireman, and a—“What’s the third guy, then, a doctor?” I heard myself ask with a giddy laugh I couldn’t prevent.
Ethan snorted in amusement, but it was Pax who answered me. “Nah,” he said with a smirk. “Ty’s a surgeon.” He rolled his eyes on that last word. “But if you want to yank his chain, call him a doctor to his face. He takes those extra years of training way too seriously.”
As I watched the guys laugh at the inside joke they’d just shared with me, I felt a warm, cozy spot bloom in my chest. It expanded to push out the jealousy and loneliness I’d felt since I’d hung up with Abbie.
Or maybe the bloom was lust. At this point, I didn’t much care.
“Come on, Hope,” Ethan said, still occupying all that space in my front doorway with his thick shoulders and narrow waist. “We’d love it if you’d join us.”
I nibbled my lip as I glanced back and forth between the two of them. I didn’t usually accept charity.
“You'd be doing us a favor,” Ethan added. “Christmas without family is hard enough. Christmas with friends makes it better. Isn’t love thy neighbor in the spirit of the holidays?”