A Wrong Bed Christmas: IgnitedWhere There's Smoke

by Kimberly Van Meter

  Erik said, “That’s okay, man. You don’t have to do that. It’s not your fault. It was a misunderstanding all the way around.”

  “I know, but hell, I’ve got nothing to do today that didn’t include drinking a few beers and being a slug. Besides, I’ve got the training. If her ankle gets worse, I’ll bundle her up and force her to go to the ER.”

  “He has a point,” Erik slowly agreed, nodding. Then he looked to Emma. “How do you feel about that?”

  Alexis hesitated then looked to Erik and Emma, saying, “Well, if Erik agreed to go with Emma... I guess that would solve both problems. Are you okay with that, Em?” As soon as the words left her mouth, Emma started shaking her head, but Alexis wasn’t going to budge on this one. “Em, it’s dangerous on the roads. You know it’s stupid to drive alone and I refuse to let you cancel your plans. Erik will be the perfect gentleman, I can promise. He’s one of the good guys.”

  Emma’s cheeks flared as her gaze darted. “I know Erik is a good guy. I just don’t want him to have to do something he doesn’t want to do.”

  Erik chimed in. “I don’t mind,” he said. “And I agree with Lex. You shouldn’t drive alone in these conditions.”

  “The storm doesn’t seem to be letting up as I’d hoped,” Emma said, biting her lip with indecision. “Are you sure you don’t mind the drive?”

  “Not at all. We can catch up. Tell me what’s new in your life since you were just my bratty little sister’s friend.”

  “Bratty?” Alexis repeated with indignation. “Like you were the epitome of well behaved. Just because Mom and Dad were blind to your antics doesn’t mean everyone was. For your information, I told them that it was you who broke Mom’s ceramic elephant from Africa during that party you held your senior year.”

  “You little snitch. You promised you wouldn’t tell. I paid good hush money for that,” Erik said, grinning. “I should’ve threatened some kind of punishment for reneging on the deal.”

  “Good times,” Alexis said, laughing. “Okay, so is it settled? Erik will go with Emma, and Layton will stay with me?”

  They all shared looks and then nodded, agreeing. Emma heaved a breath and then said, “All right, if that’s the case, we need to get moving. If that storm is determined to dump another load of snow, I want to put some miles on the road before it happens.”

  “I can be ready to roll in fifteen minutes. That work for you?”

  Emma nodded and they both split off to finish getting ready.

  “And just like that, it was you and me,” Layton said.

  “Yeah...you know you don’t actually need to stay,” she said in a conspiratorial whisper. “I appreciate what you did. Emma wouldn’t have agreed without Erik and you volunteering. As soon as they take off, wait about a half hour and then you can take off, too.”

  He shook his head, grinning. “Sorry, no can do. My offer was legit. What kind of guy would I be if I left you to fend for yourself when you’re plainly injured?”

  That surprised her. He really wanted to stay? To be truthful, she’d thought he was just giving her backup. “Seriously?”

  “Yeah, I mean, I know it’s not actually my fault, but I do feel a bit responsible for your laid-up foot. The least I can do to assuage my guilt is to help you out.”

  Alexis didn’t know what to say to that. She paused for the tiniest of moments only because a hot guy was her personal weakness, and the last person she needed to mess around with was her brother’s best friend, but what were the odds that anything would happen between them over a weekend? She could be around a hot guy and keep her hands to herself. She smiled with determination—mostly to prove something to herself—and said, “Okay, but don’t say I didn’t warn you. I wasn’t lying when I said I had a movie marathon in mind.”

  “I like movies.”

  “Chick flicks.”

  “Movies with hot chicks? Sounds good to me.”

  She laughed at his devilish charm. Yeah, he was just the sort of guy who’d turn her head. But not this time.

  Nope.

  Layton Davis...it ain’t gonna happen.

  * * *

  TRUE TO HIS WORD, Erik was ready to go within twenty minutes. With Emma in her SUV waiting, Erik paused to give the obligatory big-brother speech, which Layton didn’t fault him for, but he was tempted to remind Erik that Alexis wasn’t a kid.

  “I know you’re a good guy or else I wouldn’t even think of leaving Alexis with you, but I feel I have to warn you about my sister. She’s...spirited.”

  Layton’s brow rose. “Spirited? Erik...horses are spirited. Be more specific.”

  “Hell, this is the most awkward conversation ever. Look, she has a thing for falling for the wrong guy and I don’t want to see her hurt. She’s been through enough. Her last boyfriend... Let’s just say I wasn’t a fan. So, yeah, what I’m trying to say is...don’t mess with her and for God’s sake, don’t let her mess with you. Keep things friendly, but not too friendly.”

  “C’mon, man, like you would have to ask. I’m not here to hook up with your sister. I’m just helping out.”

  The look of relief pinged Layton’s conscience. The fact was, Alexis was hot. She was a grade-A hot piece of ass if he were being honest, but he meant what he’d said. He wasn’t here to mess around with the woman.

  Erik clapped him on the shoulder and climbed into the car. “Help yourself to whatever’s in the fridge. I’ll call you when we get there.”

  “Drive safe,” Layton said, waving.

  The snow started to drift lazily from the sky, dissolving into tiny wet spots on his face almost instantly. He glanced at the sky. Hopefully, they made good time before the storm really started up again. Layton turned on his heel and returned to the house, where Alexis was already up and hopping around the kitchen.

  “What are you doing?”

  “Nothing. What are you doing?”

  “Preventing you from overdoing it. What happened to the movie marathon?”

  “There’s plenty of time for that. I want to make some kettle corn. Want some?”

  Kettle corn. How did she know it was his weakness? “You know how to make it?”

  “I sure hope so, otherwise I’m about to make a huge mess for nothing.”

  He chuckled. “Okay, wiseass, as much as I would love to scarf down some kettle corn, you are getting off that foot. I told you I didn’t think it was broken, but it’s certainly sprained and you need to elevate it with some ice.”

  Alexis scowled, but he didn’t give her a chance to argue and simply scooped her into his arms, shocking her into stunned silence as he carried her to the living room. He deposited her on the sofa and then put a pillow under her foot. “You sit here while I get the ice.”

  “Is now the appropriate time to admit that Emma was right and that I don’t sit still well?”

  “I already had that figured out.”

  “Story of my life. I’ve never been able to just sit around. Once I had the chicken pox and I drove my mother crazy because I couldn’t stop itching and squirming, which then made it worse. My mom says it was the longest two weeks of her life.”

  Alexis’s story was telling. He held no illusions that Alexis would be an easy patient, but there was something about her that drew him, in spite of all the reasons he ought to keep his distance. Maybe it was the memory of those dream kisses or maybe it was the memory of that near-perfect ass. Ha! Neither memory was safe enough to entertain for longer than a heartbeat.

  He returned with an icepack wrapped in a towel and gently draped it on Alexis’s ankle. “That ought to help, but you really have to keep off your foot if you want it to heal.”

  “Yeah, yeah,” she grumbled. “Are you sure you want to hang around? There’s nothing exciting about watching paint dry.”

  “Depends on the
company.”

  Alexis met his gaze and cocked her head to the side with a sweet, beguiling grin that he didn’t trust in the least but found extremely compelling. “Is that so? And are you saying that you would enjoy my company? The woman who nearly turned you from a rooster to a hen with one kick?”

  “In spite of that...yeah.”

  Were they flirting? It felt like flirting. And he liked it.

  Hell, he’d always been a sucker for the girl who was just out of reach; she didn’t need to make it ten times more difficult by being sexy, too.

  Erik’s advice rang in his head like a gong and he pulled back even though there was something captivating about Alexis—and he wasn’t just talking about the sweet rack she was sporting.

  “You’re going to get me into trouble,” he said with a chuckle as he rose from his haunches. “You know your brother has it in his head that you’re this fragile thing who might break if handled too roughly.” He waited a heartbeat, then asked with a sly grin, “What do you think about that?”

  She met his grin with a saucy one of her own. “I think I’m a big girl and I don’t need my brother to run interference for me.”

  “That may be true, but I’m not the kind of guy who would go behind a buddy’s back to get at his sister. You know what I mean?”

  “That’s admirable,” she admitted with grudging respect.

  “And why does it feel the opposite when you say it like that?”

  She laughed and the sound tickled his bones like fingertips dancing down his vertebrae. “I told you, you don’t have to stay. I’ll be fine.”

  “I gave your brother my word. I’m not going anywhere.”

  There was the slightest, most minute, almost indiscernible hitch in her breath, and that sexy little sound almost caused an immediate erection to tent his jeans. Ah hell, this was going to be the hardest test of his life. For crying out loud, they’d only just met, but there was electricity bouncing between them that was hard to ignore, and if she didn’t stop looking at him as if he were the choicest cut of beef, he was going to have a helluva time keeping to his word.

  “Tell me about this guy who did you wrong,” he said, moving to sit beside her on the sofa. Act like a friend. Not a hungry wolf ready to pounce. “According to Erik, he was a douche.”

  “He said that?”

  “Well, not in so many words, but I got the impression he hadn’t thought much of him.”

  She shrugged as if it was no big deal, but beneath that negligent shrug was the faint show of heartache that surprised him. Alexis gave off the vibe that if anyone was doing the heartbreaking, it was her and not the other way around.

  “What can I say? I’m a terrible judge of character,” she said.

  “I don’t believe that.”

  “No? Well, I can’t deny that I’ve been drawn to the worst sort of guy. My track record isn’t the best.”

  “We all have unfortunate hookups in our past,” he said. “It’s called live and learn.”

  Alexis laughed and adjusted the ice pack. “Yeah, well, until I get through with my master’s degree there will only be one kind of learning going on.”

  “Sounds like a solid plan.”

  And it was. So why did he want to make her break it?

  4

  CIRCUMSTANCE WAS A funny thing. Alexis stared at her ankle, amazed at how much could change in the blink of an eye. Last night she was lobbing objects at Layton’s head and today, she was noticing how nicely his cropped, dark hair set off the masculine cut of his jaw. Maybe she wouldn’t mind if Layton played nursemaid after all. Even if she had the very best intentions to keep her hands to herself, she could certainly enjoy the view.

  And the view was quite spectacular. Muscled chest and arms, solid abs narrowing to a trim waist and hips... Yes, indeed, Layton had the goods.

  “Okay, so tell me the real reason you volunteered to stay behind,” Alexis said, putting Layton on the spot, trying to make things interesting.

  “What makes you think I wasn’t being completely altruistic in my offer?”

  “Were you?”

  Layton paused, then that little glint in his wondrously dark eyes gave him away. “Okay, full disclosure...you’re a beautiful woman and I happen to have a weakness for women like you, but even with that said... I promised your brother that I wouldn’t do or say anything inappropriate.”

  “Such a gentleman,” she murmured as her heart rate did a little jump at his admission. Was it terrible that she was already imagining him naked beneath her? Good grief, her hormones were out of control.

  “I wouldn’t go that far,” he said ruefully. “I’d be a liar if I didn’t admit that keeping my thoughts on the straight and narrow has already proven to be a challenge.”

  She smiled, enjoying that she wasn’t the only one thinking about inappropriate things. “Seems we have more than my brother in common,” she returned.

  “Careful, those kinds of comments are dangerous.”

  “To whom? Because I’m an adult and don’t need a chaperone.”

  He laughed. “I promised your brother.”

  “That was your mistake.”

  “Hot damn, Erik warned me about you and it seems he was right on the money.”

  “Did he? And what exactly did he warn you about?”

  “Just that you have a taste for trouble and that I ought to steer clear.”

  She pouted. “That’s not flattering at all. Makes me sound like a kid.”

  “You are definitely no kid,” he said, his gaze feasting on her ample breasts. If there was one asset she knew she owned, it was her impressive cup size. He cleared his throat as if he realized that he was staring and actually made a concentrated effort to look elsewhere. “But I’ve gotta hold on to a shred of integrity, you know?”

  “So noble.”

  He smirked. “Well, I respect the hell out of your brother. He’s a good man. I’m not about to start looking at his sister like a piece of meat.”

  “Is that one of the lesser-known ‘Bro Code’ rules?” she teased.

  “Call it what you want, it’s just how I operate.”

  “You’re playing into that firefighter-hero stereotype pretty hard,” she said with a mischievous smile, enjoying their banter. “I wonder if there’s a bad boy lurking underneath that polished exterior.”

  He chuckled, the sound tickling her senses. “You have no idea.”

  Was she completely wicked that she suddenly had a desperate hunger to find out just how bad Layton could be? Probably. Particularly when she’d made a pact with herself to keep on the straight and narrow until she had her master’s. It was a good plan at the time. Now? Seemed stupid as hell.

  “What would you say if I told you I was attracted to you?”

  He held his easy smile, but something in his gaze changed and her body tingled with awareness. “Then I’d say that you’d better keep that on lockdown because things could get awkward.”

  She could call his bluff. Alexis knew when a guy was into her. Layton was throwing off signals that a person would have to be blind not to see, but she felt a bit like a predator chasing after a poor doomed gazelle. He was plainly telling her it wasn’t going to happen and she respected that—to a point—but his gaze was also throwing sparks that were bound to catch fire at some point.

  Alexis sighed dramatically, leaning casually against the sofa, idly gazing at her injured foot. “Well, the truth of the matter is the fact that I want to give you a tongue bath must mean that somewhere, deep down, you’re defective.”

  He startled with a laugh. “I think you just insulted me, but for the life of me all I can think of is that tongue bath.”

  “See? It’s hopeless. Let’s be honest, we’re both adults and we’re both attracted to one another. We also both kn
ow that we shouldn’t act upon the dirty thoughts in our heads. So...it’s probably best that you go home before something terribly unfortunate happens between us.”

  “Unfortunate?”

  “Yeah, like all our clothes flying off and landing on the floor.”

  He swallowed and she privately delighted in the way the thought made him stutter a little. “Are you always this blunt?”

  “Pretty much. My mom says I’ve always suffered from a lack of tact, but my dad says I don’t seem to suffer from it at all.”

  Layton laughed with a slight twinkle in his eye that she found highly alluring. “Okay, well, not leaving. I made a promise to Erik that I’d stick around and make sure you stayed off that foot, so you’re just going to have to deal with my company.”

  Alexis held his gaze for a moment then shrugged. “Okay, but I can’t be held responsible for what may happen between us.”

  “Nothing is going to happen,” he said with amused laughter. “You don’t quit, do you? You’re like a dog with a bone.”

  Alexis shrugged. “We’ll see.”

  “How about this? You pick the movie and I’ll scramble up some eggs and bacon for breakfast.”

  She perked up. The only thing capable of jarring her one-track mind was the introduction of her second favorite distraction: food. “You can cook?”

  “A necessary skill when you live with a bunch of other guys several days out of the week. Yes, I can cook. Any requests?”

  Oh, how could she not take him up on that offer? She hated to cook but she loved to eat. “A Denver omelet would be fab,” she admitted. “I think we have everything you need in the fridge.”

  “Denver omelet coming up,” Layton said, going to the kitchen. “And while I’m making breakfast you can throw out movie ideas.”

  On the surface, that sounded well and good, but Alexis didn’t want to sit around the house all day. She spent so much of her time studying that she needed a physical outlet. Her gaze drifted to the window where soft snowflakes fell lazily from the sky. The storm hadn’t hit yet. There was probably just enough time to get the lights up before the snow really started coming down.