“Yes, I hooked up with the guy at the bar. It was nice,” she said as placidly as possible.
“I think it was more than nice. You look positively sexed-up, you one-night vixen,” Lori teased.
The sexual acrobatics she and Soren had engaged in last night flashed through her mind. Her sister would want details, and there was no way she was about to allow this line of questioning to continue.
“Enough about me. What about you? All those messages about…” she trailed off, praying Lori wouldn’t catch her purposely changing gears.
“The strippers?” Lori answered with a pinched expression.
“Yeah, it was awful to hear you so upset.”
Lori stared up at the sky. “I was upset, really upset, and I know Tom didn’t want to have a pair of exotic dancers sent to the room. I just want our big day to mirror Mom and Dad’s wedding, which I know didn’t include scantily dressed bimbos.”
Bridget chuckled. “Yeah, I don’t see Grandma Dasher or Mom onboard with that.”
Lori’s expression softened. “They can’t be here physically, but I feel like they are here. And I want this wedding to be for them, too. I have so much going through my head. My emotions are a little amped up. I’m sorry I left you all those messages.”
She rubbed her sister’s arm. It was an emotional time. The last time they’d stepped foot in the town of Kringle, they’d been girls accompanied by their parents and grandmother. Now, it was just the two of them.
Bridget swallowed past the lump in her throat. “That makes sense. And I get it. I feel close to them here, too. And I know they’d want this time to be special for you and Tom.”
Lori glanced at Soren and Tom. “But now that Scooter is here, Tom thinks that he’ll see how great it is having us all together, but I’m still not sure of his intentions.”
Bridget squeezed her sister’s hand. “That’s what I’m here for. I’ll take care of Scooter. Don’t give the guy a second thought.”
Lori leaned in, and the sisters embraced.
“Thank you, Birdie.”
“And you can forget about having to deal with any more strippers, little sis,” she added.
“Did somebody say strippers?”
Bridget looked up as Soren flashed a smug grin.
“I was disappointed I wasn’t able to make it up yesterday for the entertainment,” the jackass replied, his cat-like eyes glittering with mischief as the men joined them.
Tom ran a frustrated hand through his hair. “Scooter, I told you, Lori and I don’t want that for our wedding. What were you thinking? Two strippers? Where’d you even find two strippers around here? This place is mostly locals and retirees.”
Soren’s expression grew somber. “I should apologize.”
“I appreciate that,” Lori replied as mischief continued twinkling in the asshat’s eyes.
“It was supposed to be four. Two for me and two for Tom—for old times’ sake,” he added.
Hello, gag reflex! This man was abominable!
Tom shared a stunned look with Lori, then pinned Soren with his gaze. “What the hell are you talking about, Scooter? I’ve never been with a stripper, let alone two.”
Soren nodded. “That’s why I sent them. Think of all the things you and I still have to do.”
“Jesus, Scooter! Luckily, Lori and I saw them come in. What do you think my family would have thought?”
“Russ would have been good with it,” Soren replied with an aloof shrug.
“Scooter!” Tom exclaimed.
“And how’d you know they weren’t staying here?” Soren pressed, gesturing to the mountain house.
“There are only five guest rooms in this place. It’s just family staying here,” Lori replied as Soren bristled at her explanation.
“Is there a problem, Scooter?” Tom asked.
Good! Tom was on Team Wedding and didn’t appear to be swayed by Soren’s antics. Still, counting today, there were four days until the Christmas Eve nuptials, and she had to stay vigilant. Anything could happen. And with this slippery best man, anything was possible.
Soren’s expression grew pensive. “Of course not. You’re my best friend. You’ve been my best friend for sixteen years. I’ll always want what’s best for you.”
She shared a quick glance with her sister and tossed her a little wink that said, don’t you worry. Birdie is on to this guy.
A slice of silence stretched between the men as they stood face-to-face. Were they having some silent BFF conversation? Was Soren a certified hypnotherapist on top of being a certified douche canoe? She was about to snap her fingers when a woman’s cheerful voice cut through the silence.
“They’re here!”
Bridget glanced up to see a line of adults, all dressed to hit the slopes, stream out of the mountain house.
“Birdie, it’s so nice to meet you in person after exchanging all those emails with you these past few weeks. I’m Grace, Tom’s mother. This is my husband, Scott, and my father-in-law.”
“Call me Judge,” the man said with a watchful nod.
“We adore Lori and are so happy to have you here, Birdie,” Scott said with a welcoming grin.
Relief washed over her as she embraced Tom’s parents and his grandfather. These were the people who mattered—and they loved her sister.
“Look what the cat dragged in!”
“More like the snowcat with all this fresh powder,” Soren answered, kicking up a little snow as a woman who looked like a younger version of Grace emerged from the mountain house along with another woman.
“Birdie, this is my daughter, Denise, and her wife, Nancy,” Grace said, introducing the pair.
“Scooter hasn’t given you any trouble, has he? You’ve got to watch this one,” Denise teased, clapping Soren on the shoulder.
Bridget caught the man’s eye. “Nothing I can’t handle.”
A sly smirk pulled at the corners of his mouth. Damn that sexy expression!
“Lori, you didn’t mention that your sister was as gorgeous as you are.”
Bridget looked past the wall of Abbotts to see a man in an electric green ski jacket. Sporting a comb-over, he and Mr. Smarmy Salsa were on the same page when it came to grooming and cringe-worthy pickup lines.
“Behave, Uncle Russell,” Tom said, shaking his head.
The man joined the group and gave her the once-over, not once, not twice, but three times before opening his arms for a hug.
Reluctantly, she indulged the man.
What would a wedding be without a creepy uncle?
“This place is wonderful. We rode the gondola up to the Kringle Chapel once the power came back,” Nancy remarked.
Bridget frowned, and not only because Uncle Russ brushed his hand a little low during their brief embrace.
“The power went out?” she questioned.
Grace nodded. “Dan says when they get big storms, it’s common for the mountain house to lose power temporarily, and that includes the gondola.”
Bridget glanced past the ski lift and observed the enclosed gondola, sitting vacant. That gondola was the only way to the chapel, and she made a mental note to check with Dan to make sure it was good to go for the wedding.
“Oh, Birdie, the chapel still looks like it did when Mom and Dad got married here,” Lori said as Tom wrapped his arm around her shoulders.
“We do wish your parents could be with us,” Tom’s grandfather offered.
Soren crossed his arms. “Where are they?”
“They passed away when Birdie and I were teenagers,” Lori answered.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t know that,” Soren replied, his voice losing its cocky edge.
Bridget put on her brave face. “We went to live with our grandma Dasher in Texas after our parents passed away.”
“Is she coming to the wedding?” he asked.
Her throat went dry. “No, she died of breast cancer two years after we lost our parents.”
“Birdie was eighteen and became
my legal guardian, and it’s been the two of us ever since,” Lori said, holding her gaze.
Grace pressed her hand to her heart. “Now, you’ve got us. And with Lori marrying Tom, Birdie, you’ll be part of the Abbott family, too. And since you’re family, I have to tell you that we were so sorry to hear about your breakup and that you lost your job on the same day, dear.”
Bridget turned to her sister.
“I hope you don’t mind that I told them. It’s so awful and unfair, Birdie,” Lori offered.
“Dumped and sacked all in one day?” Soren said—because, of course, he’d be interested in her humiliation.
Grace and Denise shared a sympathetic look. “Oh, Scooter, it’s even worse than it sounds,” Grace said as Denise nodded.
“Lori told us that you actually walked in on your boyfriend with another woman right after you lost your job. Those are two challenging life events to endure at the same time. We’re all here for you, aren’t we, Scooter?” Denise added.
Bridget stood there, frozen with mortification. This must be what it’s like to have your life dissected in front of an audience on one of those midday self-help TV talk shows.
“Yep, we sure are,” Soren answered, mock sincerity dripping from his reply.
Bridget glanced up at the steep mountainside. If there were ever a time for an avalanche to sweep her off the face of the earth, this was it.
She plastered on a grin. “Well, we can’t dwell on that. We’ve got a wedding coming up, and you should be hitting the slopes. It’s a perfect day to ski.”
“That’s what you’ve got on the schedule for us,” Scott remarked as Soren rolled his eyes.
“You’ll have to count me out,” the judge said, glancing between her and Soren before waving to Dan as he emerged from the mountain house. “I’m not much for skiing these days, and I ran into an old colleague of mine in the village. So, Dan is going to drive me down to play some poker with him and the other old-timers at the Kringle Acres Retirement Community.”
“Enjoy yourselves. We’ll get settled and then start on baking the cookies for the spaghetti dinner. We can meet up at Kringle Acres,” she said, opting to go all cruise director in hopes that everyone would forget that she was an unemployed loser who’d walked in on her boyfriend screwing another woman.
“We?” Soren repeated, confusion written all over his face.
She grinned up at him, playing to the audience. “Absolutely! We’ve got maid of honor and best man duties,” she said to the group. “Scooter will be my right-hand man over the next few days, helping to make sure everything runs smoothly.”
“And there’s one more thing,” Dan said, all-rosy cheeked as he joined the group.
“And what’s that?” she asked, feeling pleased as punch to be able to drop this zinger on the wedding Grinch.
Dan gestured to the mountain house. “The best man will also be your roommate.”
7
Soren
“Roommates?” he and Bridget exclaimed in unison.
This petite bull of a bridesmaid thought she had him cornered, but now, they’d both been thrown for a loop. Sure, he was going to have to play the part of the wedding assistant, but he’d figure out a way to lose her and get some alone time with Tom. Time to convince his best friend that this wedding was a mistake. And pretending to be Birdie’s little helper would make everyone—including Tom—think that he was one hundred percent supportive of this hasty union until he could convince Tom that he wasn’t ready to get married.
He had to be smart. He had to make Tom think that calling off the wedding was his idea.
But he figured he’d at least have his own room to plot and plan. Someplace to escape his nemesis’s perfect curves and cinnamon vanilla scent.
Helping Bridget glue pinecones onto chandeliers or whatever the hell kind of bullshit went into a mountain wedding was one thing. Spending twenty-four seven with her could…
It could damn well push him over the edge.
Those mahogany eyes lured him in and made him forget everything.
He’d broken every rule he’d made for himself last night. He couldn’t help it. With her in his arms, he wasn’t the aloof womanizer. He wasn’t the ruthless businessman. He was different. Her kiss-swollen lips and rich brown eyes had given him a glimpse of life’s true, vibrant palette with its bright, shining splendor and endless possibilities. He’d been living a black-and-white existence, but with her, anything seemed possible.
Sweet Kris Kringle! What the hell was wrong with him? He could not entertain this quasi-poetic and utterly sappy nonsense.
The chance of Soren Christopher Traeger Rudolph becoming a benevolent, doting boyfriend was about as likely as Cole and Carly capturing a Christmas fairy.
If anything, he was more of an Ebenezer Scrooge, and there was no way Bridget, or some aberration, could make him change his ways.
Hell no!
It wasn’t real. She’d played the part of the vixen while he’d pretended to be…whole, complete. Two things he could never be. He wasn’t built that way.
Last night was a mistake. He’d given in to that little voice inside of him that yearned for more. He wasn’t capable of giving a woman his heart—if he even had one. Thanks to a miserable childhood void of warmth and kindness, the only connection he was capable of was the one forged with the Abbotts.
And it didn’t matter if Bridget “Birdie” Dasher was the most alluring and disarming woman on the planet. He wasn’t about to lose them. They were the closest thing to family he’d ever known.
This was war. And thanks to a career spent callously dismantling companies, he’d allow that side of him to take the Dasher sisters down and put the brakes on Tom’s wedding.
Bridget cleared her throat. “I don’t think I heard you correctly, Dan. It sounded like you said that Soren and I will be sharing a room.”
That’s what he’d heard, too, and also could use some clarification. He took in the crowd, watching their exchange, and forced himself not to react. He had to play it cool.
“That’s exactly what I said, Birdie. There are five guest rooms in the mountain house. Tom and Lori are sharing room one. Denise, Nancy, and the children are in room two. Grace and Scott have room three, and the judge and Russell are in room four. That leaves room five which—”
“Which was going to be for Garrett and me,” Bridget replied in a tight whisper.
Irritation pricked through his body at her response. “Is that his name? Garrett?” he asked a little more forcefully than he’d intended. Why did it bother him that some asshat cheated on her? What was it to him? But that didn’t stop the drive to want to kick the guy’s ass.
“Yes, I guess everyone knows why he’s not here. I’d forgotten about the room situation. Everything’s changed so fast,” she said, trailing off, her gaze awash with bewilderment.
No shit, life had changed fast! Since meeting her, his entire life had turned upside down.
She caught his eye, and the woman looked as disoriented as he felt. But, damn, if he didn’t want to kiss her until her eyes gleamed with unbridled passion like it did last night.
Enough! He could not let his mind go there.
Russ shuffled forward. “Scooter could room with the judge. I’d be happy to take one for the team and bunk in room five with Birdie—on the sleeper sofa, of course,” Russ offered with a casual wave of his hand, but the guy’s eyes were trained well south of Bridget’s face.
He stared hard at the man. He’d always liked Uncle Russ. The guy was clueless and got shot down by women left and right, but he was harmless. Except now, the thought of Bridget sharing a room with him made him want to kick his ass—after he finished kicking the ass of her ex-boyfriend.
Jesus! He’d known Bridget for a day and already had two asses to kick, and he didn’t even like the woman!
“No, I’ll bunk with Birdie,” he said in his best do-not-fuck-with-me voice.
“You will?” Bridget asked with that adorable c
rinkle to her forehead.
He had to stop noticing everything about her. It didn’t help that he’d spent the better part of an hour watching her sleep last night. And then, did it again in the car before, like a total sleep-deprived sucker, he’d fallen asleep with her in his arms.
He schooled his features. “It’s like you said. The best man and maid of honor duties start now, right? It’ll be easier to get things done if we’re in the same room.”
She narrowed her gaze, sizing him up. “True.”
He glanced around the group to find all eyes still trained on them.
“It’s settled. Bridget and I will take room five,” he said, hoping he looked decisive and not like a sap who’d spent twenty minutes cataloging the adorable smattering of freckles on her nose.
Dan clapped his hands. “It looks as if everything is coming together.”
That was an understatement.
He did his best to appear like someone not plotting to ruin a wedding. “Dan’s right. Let’s get this day started. Have fun on the slopes. Birdie and I will take it from here.”
“Are you sure you’re okay with this arrangement, Birdie?” Lori asked with a brow crease that matched Bridget’s.
The women did some weird eye thing before the hint of a playful grin pulled at the corner of his vixen’s lips.
“We’ll be fine. Like two chestnuts roasting over an open fire,” she replied, quoting Dan in quite a precarious tone.
“Marvelous! We’ll see you both for the spaghetti dinner at Kringle Acres in the village,” Grace said, patting his cheek before hugging Bridget goodbye.
Denise and Nancy broke off from the group to gather the kids as a glum Russell trailed behind his family toward the ski lift. But Tom stopped, said something to Lori, then jogged back to where he and Bridget still stood.
Holy hell! Was it that easy? Could it be that just seeing each other in person had miraculously broken the Dasher spell and brought Tom back to his old self?
“I’m glad you’re here, Scooter,” Tom said.
He nodded as his pulse kicked up. “I’m always here for you.”
Tom’s features grew pensive. “Good, because I need you to do something for me.”
Not Your Average Vixen: A Christmas Romance Page 10