Page 33 of Holly and Nick Hate Christmas
Sudden footsteps pounded down the stairs. “Who was at the door this time of morning?” Holly called as she appeared at the foot of the steps. She’d traded her earlier robe and bedhead for a pair of skinny jeans and tunic sweater. Her red hair had been wrangled into submission and her green eyes popped. Both looks did her plenty of justice.
But that was neither here nor there.
Holly’s gaze landed on him, and he lifted his chin a notch. Yep, he’d escaped her Christmas booby trap of horrors. And he wasn’t afraid.
Much.
He shifted his weight, maintaining eye contact and refusing to blink first. She quirked an eyebrow at him. Attractive or not,this was the woman bent on creating matching ugly Christmas sweaters with him. Sailors had been lured by mermaids to more gracious deaths.
He wouldn’t break first.
Then, blessedly, her gaze flickered to the group gathered at the door. “Chloe!” She rushed forward.
“Why is everyone so surprised to see me?” Chloe, still tucked against Axel’s side, gestured with her coffee cup. “Mom asked me to come.”
“Maybe they’re just surprised you brought home a surfer boy,” Thomas muttered.
Nick snorted, then quickly muffled the sound with a cough as Thomas shot him a look of partial amusement. Thomas probably thought Nick was in a similar position, being Holly’s date out of the blue. Another daughter he had to protect. But at least he and Thomas had already shared several mature conversations, and Thomas knew Nick’s greater goal.
And at least Nick’s hand hadn’t ever drifted south on Holly the way Axel’s palm was migrating—
“Who’s he?” Chloe frowned at Nick. Then, before anyone could answer, her face lit and she swung toward Holly. Her voice pitched upward an octave. “Oh em gee.Is he your—”
“I’m Ryan’s friend.” Nick moved to shake the younger girl’s hand, ignoring Holly’s stare boring into his skin. No sense in putting himself more blatantly on Thomas’s radar—not when Axel filled that space like a low-flying 747. “Nice to meet you.”
“Ryan has friends?” Chloe tilted her head as she returned the handshake, and Nick genuinely couldn’t tell if she was kidding.
Axel eagerly pumped his hand next, longer than typical. “Gnarly to meet you, man. I’m stoked. Never been on a farm before.”
“It’s not really a farm.” Chloe shrugged at him. “We don’t have, like, chickens anymore or anything.”
“You used to have chickens?” Axel’s face lit up. “You’re so cool.”
Nick could make out a gold earring nearly hidden beneath Axel’s unruly hair. He tried to match the energy Axel was generating into this never-ending handshake. “You two go to UCLA together?”
“That’s right.” Axel finally released Nick’s hand and put his arm around Chloe. “I was out surfing one day and saw this mermaid on the beach.”
Chloe wrapped her arm around him in return and beamed. “Yep. And turns out we lived in the same dorm all along.”
“The same dorm.” Thomas swallowed visibly. “How about that.”
Olivia shot her father a look and then put herself between him and Axel. “The more the merrier, I say.” She tucked her hair behind her ears and offered Axel a welcome smile. “And as the oldest sibling, I can speak for all of us.”
Holly and Kat shared a quick look, one Nick couldn’t quite interpret, before Holly hugged Chloe. “I’m glad you’re home.”
Kat reluctantly came forward to do the same. “You know they have actual sun in California, right? You don’t have to fake-tan.” She tapped Chloe on the end of her slightly orange nose.
“Ha, ha.” Chloe narrowed her eyes. “Maybe you should try it sometime, Casper.”
Kat narrowed her eyes. “And maybe you should audition for the role of an Oompa Loompa.”
All this, with no caffeine. Nick pinched the bridge of his nose as he slowly started backstepping toward the kitchen. His fingers still felt mildly tacky with the adhesive Holly had used on his door, and he wanted to wash his hands again almost as badly as he wanted to guzzle coffee.
“Hey, is it even Christmastime?” Chloe glanced around the room with a frown. “Where’s the tree? And Frosty?”
“We were, ah…” Grace shot Thomas a flustered look. “We were…waiting for you!” Her face relaxed into a smile.
“Aw!” Chloe squealed. “That’s so sweet!”
