Page 16 of All I Want For Christmas

“I’ll make gumbo,” Logan told him. “Lindsey said it’s your favorite.”

“It is,” Matt agreed. How had his love for gumbo come up in conversation with Lindsey and Logan? Lindsey had told him, though, about how enamored Logan was with Chad and his military service. Apparently Logan repeatedly referred to Chad as a badass and had started reading military thrillers because of the stories he’d heard from Chad’s mom and Dana. The books were, of course, only slightly like what guys like Matt and Chad did every day. However, it was great that Logan was embracing Chad’s part in Dana’s life and was impressed with and interested in what Chad had done with his service in the Army.

“You’llmake gumbo?” Dana asked Logan.

“I willprovidegumbo,” Logan conceded.

“His grandma makes the best I’ve ever tasted,” Dana told Matt.

“You show up on my doorstep with a pot of that and I’ll even tell you about a couple of eighty-year-old grandmas who captured us with their cooking,” Matt said. “Best Kabuli Palaw I’ve ever had. Almost worth the two days at the hands of their grandsons that followed.”

Logan looked like a little boy who had just been told that he could stay up to wait for Santa. “And you’ll tell me how you escaped?”

“You bet.” He’d even make the story exciting, since the real one wasn’t. They’d been let go after the other soldiers realized they had the wrong guys. But he could combine a couple of his stories for dramatic effect for Logan.

He could, of course, burst Logan’s bubble and tell him aboutallthe not-fun, not-exciting, boring-as-shit parts of what they did, but the guy was taking care of Lindsey’s best friend and was treating the memory of Matt’s best friend with a hell of a lot of honor. He appreciated that and had decided, even before Lindsey suggested it, to tell Logan some of his best stories. And if he embellished them a little that was his way of thanking Logan for everything he had done to help with the secret Santa thing they’d pulled on Lindsey.

And he didn’t have to embellish all of them. What they did really could be exciting and it was something he was damned proud of no matter what.

“Okay, that’s it.” Lindsey came up and looped her arm through Matt’s. “I’m taking this guy home. He has to tell me all of the stories first.”

“Why do you get to hear them first?” Logan asked. “You can’t make gumbo worth a crap.”

Matt laughed. That was true. And clearly Logan and Lindsey were good enough friends that the other man could say that.

“Because when I hear about him being all brave and tough and heroic, I start taking my clothes off,” Lindsey told Logan. “And no matter how good your grandma’s gumbo is, naked boobs trump shrimp and sausage every time.”

Matt caught Lindsey around the waist and pulled her up against him. “Damn right.”

Logan sighed. “Yeah. Okay, I get it.” He looked at Dana. “Naked boobs trump everything.”

She patted his cheek. “I know. Poor baby.”

“I just really wanted to hear soldier stories.”

“In a few days,” Dana told him.

“Any ideas about how to make me feel better tonight?” he asked, pulling her in and nuzzling her hair.

“Hmm…maybe I’ll let you open a Christmas present early,” Dana said, tipping her head so that Logan could kiss her neck.

Lindsey gave a wistful sigh as she watched them, then looked up at Matt. “Let’s go, soldier boy. I can’t believe we’ve stayed this long.”

Chapter

Five

Lindsey took Matt’s hand and he followed obediently. There was nowhere he’d rather be in the world than with Lindsey at home. “Remind me to tell you about the time we spent the night in trees because the enemy had us surrounded.”

Logan groaned loudly. “No fair! It’s not like Ichoseto not have boobs!”

Matt laughed as Lindsey grabbed her purse and started for the front door of the community center. She looked over her shoulder at him. “There wasn’t really a night in the trees, was there?”

“Nope.”

“But you’re going to tell Logan some big, crazy, awesome story about it?”

“Yep.”

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