Page 14 of Unwrapping His Naughty Secret

Somehow, those two words carry all the way across the main floor to where Emily and Heath are putting presents under the tree in the library.

All of his cavorting around about oral sex didn’t catch their attention, but the murmur of blue balls…now I have three pairs of eyeballs staring at me in concern.

“I—”

The doorbell rings.

I exhale in relief. “I’ll get that.”

My brother isn’t wrong. Heisgood with women, or at least, he’s great with Emily. All three of them are a relationship gold standard, and I could learn from them, although I didn’t need the specifics. Like rubbing salt in a wound, because I’m so far from being able to bury my face between a lush pair of thighs, it’s not funny.

First step is finding Kira again and apologizing.

Through the glass panel beside the front door, I see a blur of a person, and the color of the jacket pricks at my brain, like it’s familiar, but I don’t have time to process why that is before I pull the door open?—

Shocked hazel eyes stare back at me.

Hannah tries to push her forward, but Kira doesn’t move.

“Hi,” I say hoarsely.

Hannah doesn’t notice that we’re both stunned. “Merry Christmas, Dad! We made it.”

“You made it,” Irepeat dumbly.

“This is Cara.” When I don’t react, Hannah adds, “My lab partner and the smartest person on campus.”

Her friend’s pink cheeks go pale.

Her lab partner.I try to remember anything Hannah said about the girl she was bringing home for Christmas. I draw a complete blank. All my brain can remember right now is eager vanilla licks and gasping little pants that made my cock so hard I couldn’t think straight. Friend. Friend. Daughter’s friend. What the fuck.

“Cara?” I repeat her name like it’s a question.

“Cara,” she whispers, and I think she did that when we were kissing, too.

Is Hunter your real name?

She’d told me Kira wasn’t her real name, but it was so damn close.

I nod, blood pounding in my veins, loud as a winter storm on the ocean in my ears. “Come on in, Cara. It’s nice to meet you.”

The words sound inauthentic and harsh, even to my own ears.

“I—” She takes a tiny step in, but no further than that.

Hannah rolls her eyes. “Dad, you’relooming. Can you give my guest some space, please?”

Yes, space. That’s what her friend needs. Space from Hannah’s pervert dad, who was just thinking about how he’d stalk his daughter’s friend in the new year and try to force a second date on a girl he didn’t even know.

A girl who lied about her name, and probably her age, for sane security reasons. I’m not so far spun that I can’t see that.

But at the same time, I thought she was twenty-five. And now, looking at her next to my nineteen-year-old daughter, I’m really fucking sure she isn’t twenty-five at all.

“Don’t worry, Care Bear, he’s very nice and usually more talkative than this.” Hannah glances past me as I take a giant stride back. “Uncle Wyatt is here?”

“Yeah,” I say, distractedly. All I can see is Cara’s panicked expression. “Sorry. I’m sorry, Cara.” I hold her gaze and remember my fucking manners. And I do theright thing. “You are very welcome here. Any friend of Hannah is a part of our family.”

As I step back, the damn mistletoe catches my eye. I’m going to have to take that down before she steps through the archway. “Hannah, why don’t you take her upstairs and show her to her room? And then you can join us in the great room. We’d all like to get to know you better.”

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