Mistletoe Mishap

by Siri Caldwell

  “Seems to me it’s more challenging for you the way the score is right now.”

  “You might be right,” Kendra said, stroking the fine hairs on Viv’s forearm in the dark. “But I wouldn’t want to deprive you of a challenge.”

  “I don’t feel deprived.”

  “You’re enjoying this.”

  Viv twined her leg around Kendra’s. “Of course not. I don’t enjoy winning at your expense.”

  “Oh, you totally do. You totally, totally, totally—”

  Viv kissed her, which did a good job of shutting her up.

  She was pretty sure Viv was smiling.

  Chapter 8

  ———

  Day 8

  ———

  KENDRA 2 : VIV 3

  “Don’t want to be late,” Kendra said, barging into their bedroom with Viv’s morning coffee. “Oh good. You’re up.”

  “What shoes are you wearing?” Viv asked, barefoot in jeans as she pulled her rattiest sweatshirt on over her head. They were driving out to a Christmas tree farm this morning with Kendra’s brother and his kids to saw down a couple trees, and tree sap might be involved.

  “My field boots.”

  “Do you think it’ll be muddy?” Viv sipped the coffee Kendra handed her and opened a dresser drawer to pick out a pair of warm socks. “My hiking boots hurt my feet. I’d rather wear my sneakers.”

  “Then wear your sneakers,” Kendra said, relieving her of the socks to take her hand and stroke her knuckles. “It’s not exactly wilderness out there.”

  “It’s the same place we went last year, though, right? That place was in the mountains. It was steep.”

  “I’ll save you if you slide down the mountain in shoes with no tread.”

  “In that case, I might have to slip on purpose.” Viv pulled her in, her gaze lowered to Kendra’s lips, her voice turning sultry and morning-rough. “I understand pine needles on the ground can be quite hazardous.”

  Kendra found her mouth, and Viv’s coffee mug barely made it safely to the top of the dresser as she met her kiss. Kendra crowded into Viv’s space, unwilling to let her go, and Viv melted into her, tasting of coffee and peppermint and home.

  “Someone should post a warning by the trees,” Viv murmured when she came up for air. “Wouldn’t be America without a safety warning.”

  She sought Kendra’s mouth again, and Kendra curled a hand around Viv’s neck and threaded her fingers through her bed head, wanting her to feel how precious she was to her.

  She was very tempted to pull Viv back into the bed she’d just gotten out of, but she also didn’t want to have to lie to her brother about why they were late.

  “Shoes,” Kendra said, finally ending their kiss.

  Viv picked up the socks that Kendra had apparently dropped on the floor. “You’d really try to catch me if I slipped?”

  “Yup. We’d probably both end up on the ground, hurt, though.”

  Viv sat on the bed to pull on her socks and flashed a mischievous smile. “Or winning day eight.”

  “Only one of us is winning day eight,” Kendra said. “I’m going to get you back for last night.”

  “Doubtful.”

  “You’ll see.”

  —

  It took over two hours of traipsing up and down the rows of Fraser firs before they found a tree Kendra’s nieces could agree on. Every tree they saw was too short, according to Zima, or too tall, according to their father, or had a weird gap between its branches, according to Jill.

  Deciding on Kendra’s and Viv’s Christmas tree was easy in comparison‌—‌Viv picked it out, and Kendra said fine with me, and Zima and Jill gave Kendra puzzled looks, like didn’t she care, and that was it.

  Well, not completely it. They still had to return to the farm’s entrance to borrow a bow saw. Also, while Harlan, Kendra’s brother, talked to one of Santa’s helpers about the saw, Viv quietly asked another employee for a measuring pole.

  “All the ten-footers are taken,” the guy apologized. “The fifteen-foot pole can be awkward, but you’re welcome to try it.”

  “No problem,” Viv said. “We’ll take it.”

  “We will?” Kendra lifted one from the ground and set it back down. It was steel with slashes of orange paint marking the number of feet, and awkward was right. Planting it upright next to their tree without bashing anyone in the head with it might be a challenge.

  “We will,” Viv said. “Their tree needs to fit inside their house.”

  “We don’t need a measuring pole for that,” Kendra protested, just to be contrary, even though Viv was right to insist. “I’ll stand next to the tree, and the girls can decide who’s taller, me or the tree. Right, girls?”

  Zima, the younger one, was enthusiastic, but Jill wrinkled her forehead and looked back and forth between Kendra and Viv, like maybe Viv would tell her if Aunt Kendra was joking. “What if it’s a lot taller than you?”

  “Well, that was only step one, obviously,” Kendra explained. “Step two is, you imagine me standing in your living room, and imagine your ceiling, and there you go.”

  Viv made a face. “That sounds accurate.”

  “It’ll be fun,” Kendra said.

  “I’ll certainly be measuring our tree with the pole,” Viv said.

  “I want to measure with Aunt Viv,” Jill said.

  “Me too!” said Zima.

  “Dad,” Jill said. “How high is our ceiling?”

  “Eight feet,” Harlan said.

  Traitors.

  Kendra sighed and nodded to Harlan. He picked up one end, and together the two of them carried the pole up the hill, Viv alongside them with the bow saw and the girls running ahead.

  Claiming the first tree took quite a bit more walking, several minutes of arguing between Jill and Zima over who got to use the saw, and a little adult help when it turned out the sawing was more challenging than they’d thought.

  The second tree was quicker. Viv sawed, and Kendra held the tree stable. Kendra might have also surreptitiously ogled her while Viv lay on her side under the lowest branches going at the trunk, grunting with effort. That part had certainly gotten her into the Christmas spirit.

  Viv would tell her that dragging their fragrant firs to the parking lot and tying them to the roofs of their vehicles was what was supposed to get her into the Christmas spirit.

  And maybe it was both those things.

  —

  That night, after Viv had seen God or whatever those gasps had been about that turned Kendra on like crazy, Kendra had slumped between her legs and contemplated her strategy while Viv caught her breath.

  She’d learned her lesson the day before, and this time, she’d made sure Viv came first. So now what? Idea number one: she could repeat the previous night’s disaster and let Viv touch her but try to not let it go too far. She wasn’t good at resisting her, though, so…‌no. Idea number two: distract her. But with what? Um…‌drawing a blank on that one. Idea number three: avoid her. Which had to be against the rules, even though they’d never discussed it. No, she had to give Viv a chance. Although…‌sleeping wasn’t really avoiding, was it? Sleeping might happen naturally. They were in bed, after all. That’s what beds were for.

  Kendra slowly, carefully, moved away and settled on her own pillow. Cutting their tree and securing it in the stand and decorating it had been exhausting. Definitely. Truly, utterly, thoroughly exhausting. Viv might believe that, right?

  Kendra sank deeper into her pillow.

  “Kendra?” Viv reached over in the dark and found her shoulder. “Ready?”

  Kendra kept her eyes closed and didn’t respond.

  “Kendra?” The sheets rustled and the mattress dipped as Viv moved. Kendra could sense her looming over her, likely propped on one elbow. “You asleep?”

  Kendra tried not to laugh. She couldn’t believe she was cheating.

  She couldn’t believe she was getting away with it.

  “You’d better not be faking,” V
iv whispered.

  Kendra slowed her breathing and made her face relax.

  Viv flopped onto her side of the bed and the mattress bounced again. “Sleep well, my little faking faker. Rest up for what’s coming tomorrow, because you’re going to need it.”

  Wait. Did that mean Viv believed her? Or didn’t believe her? The faking faker thing might just be her being annoyed at being thwarted. Or it might mean Viv knew she was awake. Kendra took a slow breath, afraid to breathe at all.

  “And when I say tomorrow, I mean today. So congratulations. You’ve slept past midnight and tied the score.”

  Really? Already? Kendra’s eyes flew open to check the time.

  “Ah ha!” Viv cried. “I knew it.”

  Kendra hid her face in her pillow and groaned. “It’s not midnight, is it? You lied.”

  “It’s only eleven.”

  “Crap.”

  “Plenty of time for me to even the score.”

  “The score was even. Now you’re going to be ahead again.”

  “Probably.”

  Kendra sighed. Crap. At least losing at Viv’s hands would feel good. If she could stop thinking about the score, what Viv was about to do to her would feel really, really, really good.

  Chapter 9

  ———

  Day 9

  ———

  KENDRA 3 : VIV 4

  Kendra knocked on Viv’s open office door‌—‌Rudolph was still there, a red nose in the dark‌—‌and entered without waiting for an answer. “Ready to go?”

  “Already shut down my computer.” Viv extracted her handbag from her desk drawer and plopped it on top of her desk and then stuffed some work into her briefcase to take home.

  Kendra was wearing her wool coat. She’d already had to brave the evening chill to walk from her own building to Viv’s, and she’d have to do it again to get to their reserved parking spot in the faculty lot to drive home, but now that she was indoors the coat was hanging open, unzipped over her professorial turtleneck and jacket. She dropped her messenger bag on the floor and pushed the heavy fabric of the coat out of the way to wrap her arms around Viv from behind.

  “I’ve been thinking about our lyrics,” Kendra said into Viv’s neck, pressing into her body heat.

  “Yeah?”

  She nuzzled into her hair. “Nine suggestive whispers.”

  Viv squirmed in her arms and turned around. She put her hands on Kendra’s chest and tried to push her away while simultaneously caressing Kendra’s breasts in a manner that did not mean go away. “Eight dirty looks.”

  That was Viv, the queen of mixed messages.

  Kendra pulled her closer. “Seven braless outings.”

  “You are out of your mind.”

  “Too many syllables,” Kendra said.

  “What?”

  “‘You are out of your mind’ is too many syllables for the song.”

  “It wasn’t for the song.”

  Footsteps sounded in the hall, and Kendra remembered she hadn’t pulled the door all the way shut when she’d come in. Viv escaped her hold. The footsteps came closer. Kendra reached out and smoothed Viv’s hair into place, careful to maintain some space between their bodies while she listened for the person to stop and unlock one of the many doors along the way.

  “Think they’ll notice your light’s on?” Kendra murmured.

  Viv eyed the partly open door and nodded mutely. There was nothing like a row of dark, shut offices to make the one occupied one irresistible to anyone who passed.

  Kendra glanced down at herself. Her coat was slipping off and the jacket underneath it was off-center and bunched in ways she never would have managed on her own. She tugged the incriminating evidence back into place and instantly regretted it, because those wrinkles had been a victory.

  She must have made a sound because Viv shook her head sharply, a silent warning that time was up.

  A tall, lanky, bearded guy stuck his head in the doorway, clasping the molding and swinging from one long arm like a big kid in a playground. “Doctor Ortiz! You’re coming tomorrow, right? To our Christmas Eve party?”

  Had to be one of Viv’s postdocs. They were the only ones who stuck around during winter break, too paranoid about their careers to leave the lab for a few days.

  Viv patted the back of her hair nervously even though Kendra had done a decent job fixing it. “I…‌uh…” She sounded like she was trying to catch her breath.

  “Did Antoine remember to send you an invite?” The guy leaned farther into the office. “He’s hosting ’cause he has the biggest place. Five housemates, can you believe that shit?”

  Kendra tried very hard to read the titles on Viv’s bookshelf to avoid making eye contact with Viv, because she was not at all sure it wouldn’t be obvious that all she could think about was jumping the young man’s professor.

  “I received the invitation,” Viv said. “Wouldn’t miss it.”

  “You need the address?”

  “It was in the invitation, I believe. Should I bring anything?”

  “Your party attitude. And your distinguished colleague here.”

  Kendra looked over, surprised, and he winked.

  “My…” Viv cleared her throat. “Jonah, have you met—”

  “No worries, Doctor Ortiz. We all know Doctor Davis.”

  They did? Kendra was sure she’d never set eyes on this man in her life, but she supposed she did stop by Viv’s lab most evenings for their drive home, and students did gossip among themselves.

  “Good,” Viv said, sounding a bit surprised herself. “So we’ll see you at the party.”

  “Excellent! See you tomorrow.” He swung again from the doorframe, this time in reverse, and left as abruptly as he’d arrived.

  Viv shrugged into her coat. “I don’t know what makes him think I have a party attitude.”

  Kendra picked up her own bag off the floor. “I don’t know what makes you think you don’t.”

  “I thought you’d lived with me long enough to notice I’m awful at—”

  “You know how to be fun,” Kendra said. “Maybe not drunken karaoke-singing fun, but—”

  “Tell me that is not what we’re going to be doing at this party.”

  “Guess we’ll find out.”

  “Promise me you will not sing about seven braless outings.”

  “Hmm.” Kendra smiled. Viv knew she’d never do it because she’d never embarrass her, but she couldn’t resist. “What do I get if I promise?”

  “You get to live.”

  “No, really. I think I should get something. I should get… Ooh! I know. I should get a bonus attempt. Tonight. You on the bed, me—”

  “You do not get a bonus attempt. That is not in the rules.” Viv jingled her keys in Kendra’s direction, shooing her out the door so she could follow her out and lock up.

  “Then I at least get to go first tonight. I get the first attempt.”

  “So you can pretend you’re winning for five minutes before I get my turn to blow your mind?”

  Kendra swallowed hard. “You’ll be nonfunctional for longer than five minutes.”

  Viv shoved her keys into her coat pocket. “We’ll have to see about that, won’t we?”

  Chapter 10

  ———

  Day 10

  ———

  KENDRA 3 : VIV 4 (12:01 A.M.)

  KENDRA 4 : VIV 4 (NOW)

  Kendra sat on their living room sofa, shoes off, feet up, reading Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology on her tablet while she waited for Viv to finish getting dressed. She’d found an interesting paper written by someone she’d met at a conference in Prague. She’d kind of rather stay home reading than drag her body off the sofa and stay out late. Not because she was getting old, but because she enjoyed reading, and because there was never enough time in the day to keep up with what was being published in her field.

  When she heard Viv come down the stairs from the bedroom and looked up from her journal, though,
the party became more interesting. Viv was wearing a boat-neck sheath dress that ended just below her knees, showing off her killer calves and her beloved, adorable, but defiantly unfashionable ankle boots. Watching Viv in that outfit versus getting to the end of this scientific paper? Easy answer.

  The journal fell to her lap. “You look nice.” Understatement.

  Viv smoothed her hands over her hips and fussed unnecessarily with her hemline, tugging at it as if it wasn’t already straight, turning to show off how the skirt hugged her ass, looking over her shoulder to watch Kendra’s reaction. Like she didn’t know Kendra would never look away.

  “Really,” Kendra said.

  Viv remembered herself‌—‌or pretended to‌—‌and huffed. “My eyes are up here.” She extended two fingers in a V shape and pointed to herself.

  “Are they,” Kendra said in the bored, uninterested tone of voice she reserved for pointless faculty meetings. She let her gaze roam deliberately up and down Viv’s body. “I don’t care.”

  “So confident.” Viv’s voice softened. Her eyes darkened, and her lips parted like she was thinking about kissing her. “But you’re not going to win.”

  “You sure about that?” Kendra swung her legs off the sofa, slipped on her shoes, retrieved her bag from the floor, and stalked over to Viv.

  “One attempt per day,” Viv reminded her. “You already had your chance.”

  She’d won it, too, getting Viv hot and bothered in the morning right before Viv needed to rush out the door to check on her lab and see what her favorite cells and viruses were up to today. Excellent timing, if she did say so herself.

  Viv turned to the closet by the front door for their coats and handed over Kendra’s. Instead of putting it on, Kendra threw the coat over her arm so she could take advantage of Viv’s back being turned and hover. And run her fingers under Viv’s neckline to make sure her bra straps were tucked securely underneath. Or maybe other reasons.

  “Enjoy the score being tied while you can,” Viv said, relaxing into her touch. Apparently she thought she’d have time to win her own point tonight.

  Guess that meant they’d be leaving the party early, if Viv had her way. Kendra would just have to distract her.