Page 20 of Kringle and the Kraken

“Um, okay. You said carolers in town were another thing you like about the holidays. That surprises me.”

“That’s because you’ve never heard their voices. I swear they’re magic.”

Levi’s face slipped into an expression I’d seen on him before, one that made it look like he was trying to keep his face blank—like he knew something I didn’t know—and he was trying to keep me figuring it out. The expression was gone a split second later, but seeing it on his face at all made me uneasy.

“Magic? Really?”

“You’ll just have to see for yourself. I can’t explain it.”

Levi nodded, then looked at where the lights were laid out. “Should we get back to this?”

I took in the progress around the barn. Most of the other groups were working on their tasks and several were at the point where they’d need the lights sooner rather than later. “Might as well. Let me grab the extra bulbs.”

Setting my cocoa mug next to me, I stood and tried to ignore the way Levi looked up at me from where he was still sitting on the ground. He was eye level with my crotch, and he smirked, his full lips tilting into a flirty smile. Naturally, my mind immediately flashed to what it would be like to feel his full soft lips stretched around my cock while he looked up at me with his molten honey eyes.

“You were on your way to get the extra bulbs.”

“Oh, right.” Reluctantly, I tore myself away from the fantasy and turned to carry out my task.

The bulbs were on the table near where my brother Keith and his boyfriend, Mike, were touching up paint on a couple of six-foot-tall nutcrackers.

“Dude,” Keith whispered. “Levi is hot.”

Mike raised his eyebrows and nodded his approval. “Yeah, like, call the fire department hot.”

My brother waved his paintbrush around. “And he seems really nice. I’m happy for you, Kris.”

“Aww. Look how cute that is.” Mike pointed across the room to where I’d left Levi. Kyle had found his way over and was sitting on the floor in the spot I’d recently vacated. They had their heads bent together as Kyle showed him something in his hand. Levi’s expression was serious as he gave our nephew his undivided attention.

My heart did the flip-floppy thing it had a habit of doing when Levi was around.

“Ooooh, somebody is a smitten kitten,” Keith teased, and I couldn’t deny it.

“Get back to work.”

Mike grinned. “Yeah. You too.” he shot me a wink as I picked up the box of bulbs and went back to Levi.

Kyle was still there when I returned.

“Uncle Kris, look.” He held out his skinny little arms showing me where he’d drawn on himself with a purple marker. “I have tattoos just like Levi.”

“Wow, kiddo, that’s so cool! Have you shown your mom yet?”

He shook his head, a dark brown curl flopping into his eyes. “Nope. I wanted Levi to see first. I’m gonna show her now.” He jumped to his feet and ran across the room, running straight into Kimmy’s legs.

Levi watched him go. “I really like that kid.”

“Yeah, he’s pretty great. I have a feeling my sister is going to have her hands full when my other nephew gets here.”

“No doubt.”

After that, we fell into an easy rhythm, testing lights and swapping out dead bulbs, and by the time we were done andhad distributed the lights to the teams that needed them, it was almost time to head into town to pick up dinner.

“You guys are hanging out again?” Kori asked as he passed over the three boxes of food he’d packed for our order.

“I can’t get rid of him.” Levi’s hand intertwined with mine proved he wasn’t trying all that hard.

“Yeah, my family pretty much adopted him.”

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