Page 84 of The Temporary Roomie: Extended Edition

Jessie can tell, so she takes my hand and drags me with her toward the kitchen. “Well, I could tell by the way that Grandaddy talked about her that he really liked her, but he’s been out of the game for too long now and isn’t sure how to approach seeing her again.”

“Did he say this to you?” I ask suspiciously.

“Well . . . not in so many words.”

“So no.”

“Technically not, buttrust me,he likes her. And so anyway. As luck would have it, I randomly ran into her this morning at the post office, and the two of us got to talking. Turns out, she’s new to the area and pretty lonely.” Jessie pours me a cup of coffee and puts it in my hand. When I just stare at it, she mimes how to drink it in case I’ve forgotten. I roll my eyes and take a sip.

“I think I can see where this is going, and I don’t approve.”

“You never approve; that’s why I don’t tell you my plans until they’re already in motion.” She takes the cup from my hand, satisfied that I’ve gotten a small dose of caffeine, and then wraps her arms around me and slides her hands up the back of my shirt. I want to groan at how good her hands feel against my skin, but I refrain because I don’t want her to think she’s won. “So anyway, I had the best idea ever on how to get her and my Grandaddy to meet again. They just need a friendly group gathering to be invited to—and so I invited her to our annual Christmas in July party happening tonight.”

“We’ve never had a Christmas in July party.”

“Right. But every annual party has to have a first one. We simply don’t plan on telling Dorothea that this is the first. Or that I came up with the idea this morning while talking to her at the post office when I saw that Santa Claus mailers were half off.” She slides her hands a little lower down my back. “Please play along. Please. I want to see my Grandaddy happy.”

I grunt.

She grins and slides her hands over my butt and squeezes, widening her eyes playfully. “Wow, buns of steel! Have you been adding more weights at the gym?” Another series of quick, firm squeezes. “I’m getting so hot. Take me now, Dr. Marshall.”

Don’t smile, Drew. Don’t do it.

I smile. And then I shake my head, giving in to wrap my arms around my ridiculous, kooky, scheming, sexy, wonderful wife. “It won’t work, you know. You can’t set people up like in the movies.”

“I think I dispelled that theory,” Lucy says, stepping into the kitchen just long enough to pour herself a cup of coffee too. She glances between me and Jessie with a smirk. “Jessie . . . why do you think I worked so hard to make sure you were never too comfortable at our place while your house was getting fixed? And Drew, I practically threw Jessie into your path every chance I got.” She rolls her eyes. “It’s embarrassing you never realized you were set up.”

And without a backward glance, she walks out of the kitchen, leaving a stunned Jessie and me in her wake.

“What . . .” I blink down at her.

“Did your sister successfully dupe us? The King and Queen of Dupes?”

I let out a fake groan. “Don’t ever tell her that, or she’ll be unbearable from now on. She’ll expect diamonds for her birthday every year, and on our anniversary posts she’ll always comment how glad she is that she set us up.”

“You’re so right.”

I lean down and whisper against her full lips, “I’m always right.”

I feel her grin rather than see it. “Except for when I am. Which is all the time.”

My lips press into hers, and for a minute I forget how tired I am or that my sister is in the other room or that I’m apparently throwing a Christmas party in a few hours. Even after almost three years of marriage, kissing this woman still affects me like it’s our first. One press of her lips, and she’s swirling through my veins, slamming into my heart, and commandeering my focus. Iput up a fight because it’s fun, but I would do literally anything for her, and she knows it.

“Has Lucy told Cooper yet?” I say after reluctantly peeling my lips from hers. “He’ll agree that this is a terrible idea.”

Except, the front door opens and Cooper steps inside wearing a festive sweater of prancing reindeer and holding a sheet cake. There’s a Santa hat on his head too. “I picked up the North Pole cake from the baker; Levi is with your mom making the cookies they’ll bring over later, and I brought our snowman inflatables from home. What else am I forgetting?”

“Your dignity,” I tell him before taking another sip of my coffee.

He smirks at me but addresses his wife. “Luce, you hired a real-life Grinch to attend the party. Such a nice addition.”

“You can’t seriously be okay with their scheme?” I ask him.

Cooper walks through the living room and into the kitchen to set down the cake while Jessie leaves my side to go help Lucy with the tree. “Not only am I okay with it, I encourage it.” His eyes twinkle with another layer of mischief.

“I’m afraid to ask why.”

He taps my chest and the little pompom on the end of his Santa hat bobs. “Since I’m in the Christmas spirit and feeling benevolent, I won’t make you ask. It’s because when Lucy helps out with romantic schemes, it puts her in a very romantic mood too. And since it’s fake Christmas, I got her a present and left it on our bed at home. It’s a red—”

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