Page 26 of Naughty Santa

Probably not.

Dammit. He was doing it again. Trying to change reality.

He waved back to Paris, remembering her telling him that they couldn’t let people know they were hooking up. It was the smart way to handle it. He didn’t need any of his friends or family giving him shit about hooking up with Miss California.

His mother would tell him she’d raised him different. Which she had. But he was a grown-ass man jumping on an opportunity. Literally.

That didn’t mean he wasn’t still going to be himself though. He couldn’t just show up, nail Paris, and walk back out. It might be casual, but that didn’t mean they couldn’t be friends too. Isn’t that what they called it? Friends with benefits? Joe wanted to do all sorts of nasty things to Paris, but he also liked talking to her.

That was why when he parked his truck on the street behind her house and cut through three yards to knock on her back door, he had a plan in mind.

Lydia had vertical blinds on the slider leading to the family room, and they shifted, Paris’s face appearing. She had her phone to her ear and a scared expression. Her shoulders dropped, and she opened the blinds and then the slider.

“What the hell are you doing?” she asked. “I was about to call 9-1-1.”

“Sorry. You told me I had to be discreet, so I parked on the next street.” It hadn’t occurred to him he’d scare her. Small-town life meant people were always knocking on each other’s back doors.

“You could have warned me.” She put her hand to her chest. “I lost three years of my life. Come in, you weirdo.”

Joe stepped inside and kicked the snow off his boots, but he stayed on the tile by the door. “Grab your coat. I want to take you somewhere.”

Paris paused in the process of bending over to grab her dog, which gave him a hell of a view. “What? Where?”

“It’s a surprise.”

She scooped Louis off the floor and cuddled him to her chest. “I don’t like surprises.”

“I thought all women like surprises.”

“I told you I threw up when my ex surprised me with an engagement ring. I don’t like not being in control.”

That made Joe grin. She’d just handed him ammunition for sex. He was going to drive her wild until she totally lost control.

“Relax. It’s nothing crazy. I just want to show you something.”

Her eyes dropped to the front of his jeans. “I can get behind that plan.”

Joe grinned. “Go get your coat and boots, dirty girl. By the way, how is Louis doing?”

She’d mentioned earlier that she was going to stop bringing the little guy to the store because it seemed to give him anxiety. He’d taken to standing in front of the reindeer and barking nonstop. He had also flatly refused to do his business on the sidewalk, so Paris had left him in Lydia’s office this afternoon on the sofa on a fleece blanket, watching HGTV on the ancient TV, while wearing a sweater she’d ordered from Amazon that read “Resting Grinch Face.” The dog had it made.

“He’s better. Tomorrow, I’m leaving him here all day. There’s just too much going on at the store. It makes him nervous.”

“Does he stay at home during the day when you’re in L.A.?” Joe was curious about her life in California.

“He goes to doggy day care.”

“Get the fuck out of here. Is that really a thing?” That was a head scratcher to him.

She laughed. “Of course it’s a thing. People have busy careers, and traffic in L.A. sucks, making for a long commute.Most people either have a dog walker or take their dogs to day care so they’re not alone being under stimulated all day.”

In North Pole, if a dog needed to be stimulated, you took it hunting or fishing with you. But he could see her point. It just illustrated how different their lives were. Their real lives. This was a temporary arrangement for her, taking on Lydia’s life.

“What do you love most about L.A.?” Joe asked her.

“The weather. Living close to my parents. World-class shopping.”

Solid answer and not unexpected. “What do you like the least?”

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