Page 8 of Say Yule Stay
MURPHY: I was about to send a search party
WALKER: She didn’t say why she left early to come here but she’s fine
WALKER: The roads were bad when she got to Starlight Bay and she got stuck in the snowbank near my house
MURPHY: Why isn’t she answering me?
WALKER: She’s taking a nap. I’ll get her car taken care of when the weather clears but it might be a few days
MURPHY: That’s lucky you were so close and could help
WALKER: It was definitely unexpected
MURPHY: Will you tell her to call me when she gets up?
WALKER: Definitely
MURPHY: Thanks again man—I’ll see you next week
WALKER: You got it
Guilt clawsat me even though I didn’tcompletelylie—at least not about anything important. It’s not my business to tell Murphy why Lacey left the city early.
Murphy would be on the road with only the clothes on his back to make sure his baby sister is all right.
And no one needs that.
“Pretty sure you have to use the spoon to mix that. You can’t just will the dough into submission.”
Dropping my phone onto the counter, I can’t help the way my mouth hangs open at the sexy smile on Lacey’s face, the wordsubmissionbouncing around my skull.
Because in this exact moment, I’d give anything to have her submit to me, and I’m terrified about what that could mean. Yesterday, Lacey had just been my friend and Murphy’s sister.
But today?
She’s the only present I want to unwrap this year, and dammit all to hell, I don’t care if I shouldn’t.
I just want her.
8
LACEY
The sound of Walker’s phone thumping against the counter is the only sound in the otherwise quiet house. He doesn’t seem startled, more like flustered and I need to know why.
Does he feel something too?
I’d fallen asleep with the look he’d given me still on my mind. That flash of desire.
Interest.
It’d been almost too much to comprehend.
And now he’s looking equal parts turned on and guilty.
Weird.
“Are you all right?” I ask, dropping onto the stool across from him, choosing to ignore the way he’s looking at me because I just woke up and I’m going to need an afternoon coffee to unpack that.
