Page 9 of Inherited Holiday

Wiggling my finger as if it would do something, I warned, “Don’t you even dare, Felix.”

“It’s only for a few days. A couple of weeks, tops! Well, I mean… at least until he’s old enough to be adopted.”

“Felix… I have no time to take care of a puppy.”

He held the fluff ball up to his cheek. “But look at him,” he baited, unable to resist. “How can you say no to this face?”

As if on cue, the puppy stuck out his tongue, and I swear it shot right to my heart.

“I can’t believe you’re doing this to me right now. You know how busy I’ll be until the new year.”

“Doll, what’s your excuse for the rest of the year?”

“Ha ha.”

“Fine.” He pouted the most pitiful face, and the cockapoo must have been a paid actor because he gave me those puppy eyes, and I was a goner.

Felix didn’t miss a beat, adding, “I guess he’ll just have to live at the shelter all by himself with no one to love him. Then he’ll have abandonment issues and won’t take kindly to strangers trying to adopt him. You know what happens when they don’t get adopted, Noelle…”

I shook my head, bemused, “You Saint Clair men… the ability you have to get what you want is truly a remarkable talent that should be studied.”

He smiled wide, knowing he got me.

Oh! Did I fail to mention that Felix is Nicholas’s older brother by about two years?

What can I say?We became close after Nicholas left, but I had always been friends with them both. That said, I was Nicholas’s girl back then, and I didn’t know if that made any sense.

They also had a younger sister, Holly. She was five years younger than me, and they both lived in town. Felix ran the five-star hotel in the town square and helped with the animal shelter, while Holly ran the hair salon that stayed booked four months out. Every business in Mistletoe Town thrived; we made sure of it.

In three strides, Felix stood in front of me, and I was assaulted with the addicting puppy scent.

“Do you want to say hello to your new mommy?” He handed me what appeared to be a boy.

I reluctantly folded as if I was nothing more than a house of cards. “Temporary mommy, right?” The puppy fit into the palms of my hands, and I held his button nose up to my face to boop it with a kiss. “Oh my God! Why are you the cutest thing ever?”

The puppy licked my face in approval, already making me fall head over heels in love with him.

“On that note.” Felix abruptly turned, obviously trying to get the hell out of there before I changed my mind. He swiftly hauled ass toward my front door. “My work here is done.”

On his way out, I noticed all the puppy supplies he brought sitting by the foyer table.

Once he realized where my gaze went, he called me out, “I knew you wouldn’t say no.”

I rolled my eyes, kissing the puppy’s head as I followed Felix out the door. It was freezing outside, but luckily, I was wearing my warm gingerbread pajamas with my matching fuzzy robe and house slippers. I was literally dressed head to toe in gingerbread cookies and wouldn’t have it any other way. The amount of Christmas clothes I owned was probably obscene, but again, I didn’t give a shit.

They made me happy, and that was all that mattered to me.

While we stood at the end of my long driveway, Felix leaned in to kiss my cheek. “You just can’t say no to me, doll.”

I giggled, ready to tease him back, but a rough familiar voice roared from behind me, “What the fuck?”

I spun around, meeting Nicholas’s stunned stare. “What are you doing here?” I snapped, annoyed to see his mug for the second time that day in only a few short hours.

Nicholas completely ignored me, gesturing to Felix. “What the hell are you doing here with her?”

“Excuse me,” I argued, bringing Nicholas’s attention over tome. “That’s none of your business. What, are you stalking me now?”

Nicholas signaled to my house. “You live here?”

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