“We don’t have peace on earth. That’s why I’m leaving.”
She kissed him tenderly. “Exactly,” she said softly. “There’s nothing more Christmas-y than sending our soldier off to work on that peace thing. You are my Christmas present to the rest of the world.”
He shook his head. “Damn, girl. What would I do without you?”
“Well, you would never know how hot Skype-sex can be with a girl who’s wearing nothing but a Santa hat.”
He lifted a brow and gave her a slow, sexy smile. “Only girls on the naughty list would Skype their husbands in nothing but a Santa hat,” he said huskily.
She grinned and nodded. “Oh, I know.”
He kissed her once more before backing up. “Well, then, I’ll see you soon.”
“You know—” she said, leaning on the porch rail as he went down the steps to car waiting to take him to the airport. “Turns out, naughty girls do get toys.”
He tossed his duffle onto the seat and looked back. “That right?”
She lifted a shoulder. “Well, they have to buy them themselves. From adults-only online stores. But yeah.”
He laughed and shook his head. “The nice list is way overrated.”
She blew him a kiss and watched him drive away—off to save the world. Her heart filled with a familiar ache that was both pride and love.
After the taillights rounded the corner, she went back inside. She should head back to bed. The boys were asleep again and she definitely hadn’t gotten much sleep the last couple of nights.
But she paused on the first step. She wasn’t sure she could face the bed alone just now. It was always hardest right after he left. Sometimes the boys would cuddle with her in the big kind bed for the first couple of nights when they were all missing him acutely. But they were deeply asleep. And they might not always do that. They were getting older after all.
Before she overthought it, she turned and headed for the kitchen.
General looked up at her from his kennel.
“So,” she asked the German Shepard. “How do you feel about sleeping on the bed?”
He woofed softly.
“Excellent.” She unlatched the kennel and he followed her up the stairs. She patted the foot of the bed and he jumped up. He settled down after she slipped back under the covers, a warm, comforting weight against her calf.
She stroked his head and he gave a deep, contented sigh. She reached her phone. She took a picture and texted it to Matt.
General thinks I’m nice.
Matt’s reply was quick. Thank you. I just won $20 from Dana.
She smiled. Why?
Dana thought you’d last two days before he got on the bed.
Lindsey laughed. Well you know me, I’m a sucker for a big, warm body in this bed with me.
I think the word is EASY, babe.
She fell back to sleep with her dog against her leg, her phone against her heart, and a smile on her face.
Thank you so much for reading Eggnog Makes Her Easy! I hope you enjoyed Matt and Lindsey’s story!
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There’s so much more coming from the Boys of the Big Easy! Next up is Nice and Easy, Caleb and Lexi’s story!
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Going Down Easy and Taking It Easy are also both available now!
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Read on for an excerpt from Nice and Easy!
From Nice and Easy
“What are you doing with that?” Caleb asked, gesturing to the newspaper in front of her. And changing the subject.
“Uh…apartment hunting.”
He looked up with a frown. “Why?”
She lifted a brow. “Because I need a place to live.”
“You have a place to live.”
“We can’t stay with you permanently.”
Yes, they could. That was his first reaction. And his second. And even after he thought about it for nearly a minute, it was still his reaction. “I think you should,” he finally said.
“Um, no.”
“You just said that our schedules are crazy and we’re in and out and that might be negatively affecting the kids.” Okay, that wasn’t entirely fair. She hadn’t said things were bad for the kids and she’d said they could make the necessary changes. Which they definitely could. Obviously all of Shay’s issues were not because of their schedules. But then again, it wasn’t like their strange routine was a good thing, right? And what about Jack? The kid needed a place he could be stable and secure. Permanent.
“The kids are fine,” Lexi told him. “Don’t overreact.”
Yeah, well, that was kind-of his MO with these three people. Especially in the past twenty-four hours. “I’m not,” he said. “I just can’t come up with any reason that we shouldn’t live together.”
Both of her eyebrows flew up. “Really? None? Because I can think of a couple.”
“Yes, you’re messy. But I can live with that.” The girl left glasses and cups and pens and notes and hoodies all over the house. But honestly, it made him smile to clean up after her. He liked how comfortable she was in his house.
“Yeah, okay, that’s a good point and not even one of the reasons I was thinking of,” Lexi said.
“Okay, what’re your reasons?”
She pressed her lips together, regarding him thoughtfully. “The naked thing,” she finally said after several seconds passed.
“The naked thing?”
“The reality that we will both be naked in this house at times and if we’re both always here together, the chances of seeing the other without clothes goes up exponentially.”
He wondered if she’d been talking to Logan. “I not really seeing that as a reason to not live together.” He gave her a slow grin.
She just tipped her head to the side and gave him a Really? look. “That could make things awkward, don’t you think?
It could make the fit of his pants a little tighter. But it could also make his day start off on a fucking amazing foot. “How so?”
“Naked time doesn’t really go with this big-brother-little-sister thing we have going on does it?”
Big-brother-little-sister thing? He leaned in. “Lexi, I can honestly tell you that I’ve never thought of you as a sister.”
She sighed. “Then what? A stray cat? A charity case?”
“No,” he said firmly. “A…friend.”
“Okay. So our friendship doesn’t really go with naked time.”
Yeah, he knew where this was coming from. And there were a few things they needed to get straight. Mainly that he’d never given in to all his feelings for her because it wasn’t right for him to initiate it. But not because he didn’t have them. She had started things last night. She’d wanted him. But she’d also been drunk and grateful.
However, if she wanted to do that again, when she was sober and things were good and safe and stable in her life, then she needed to be aware that he was definitely not going to be so noble he’d resist for the sake of their friendship.
In fact, she needed to be very clear on that.
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