Page 44 of Home for the Holidays

“I know I promised, but can you just, like, lay off, please?”

“Lay off?” She opened her eyes and stared across the room. “What do you mean?”

“No one shoved you out of the closet.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa.” She was instantly upset. “I am not shoving you out of a closet. I’m only trying to help.”

He sighed deeply before he said, “I’m scared, Iris.”

“Come home. Please? So we can talk? I love you. I’ll see you soon, okay?”

“Okay,” he said and hung up before another word could be exchanged.

She shook her head as she stared down at her phone.Shove him? I’m not shoving him. I’m encouraging him, aren’t I?A wave of guilt washed over her. Oh no. She was shoving him, wasn’t she? He needed to do this on his own terms, but now was a perfect time, especially if he and Evan had reconnected.

Once she had cleaned up and popped some ibuprofen, she headed downstairs, toward the lilting sounds of carols playing on the kitchen island’s Bluetooth speaker. She needed a cup of coffee,stat. She didn’t care at this point if the family wondered why Zac wasn’t with her.

“Good morning, Iris,” Nora said as she came running up to her, as did Maddie, carrying her stuffed dog toy.

Iris said her hello to Maddie first, then picked Nora up with ease and hugged her. “Well, hello there. Merry Christmas Eve.”

“Merry Christmas Eve! We are having a yummy breakfast this morning. Grammy is making it.”

Iris chuckled. “A yummy breakfast, hmm?”

“Yes, and I get to help with the dishes.”

“You get to help with the dishes? Wow, you’re a very lucky little girl.”

“I know.” Nora beamed, then leaned in and kissed Iris on the cheek before scrambling out of her arms over to where Maddie was now lying in her fluffy, round bed with her stuffed dog toy. “Good morning, everyone.”

“Merry Christmas Eve. How’d you sleep?” Oscar handed her a mug of coffee and slid the creamer and sugar over on a tiny platter. “You look like you need that.”

She laughed. “Yes, yes, I do. I slept okay. How about everyone else?”

Shaun pulled her over to him and gave her a hug. “We missed you last night. We played charades.”

“Oh, no, I’m a poor sport. I would have been no fun if I lost.” She shook her head. “You’d have been thoroughly annoyed with me.”

“There is no poorer sport than I,” Adrien said. “We will remedy this. Tonight. Before our Home Alone marathon.”

“Now that’s something I can get behind.” Iris was being fawned over by Shaun at the moment; his big, strong hands were hard to say no to as he started to rub her shoulders.

“Here, sit,” he said as he rushed over and pulled out a chair from the breakfast nook in the corner of the expansive kitchen. “I’ll give you a little massage now, and then later I can do a much better one.”

“He’s a massage therapist,” Adrien said while waggling his brows. “I’m a lucky man.”

Wait. Wasn’t his ex-girlfriend a massage therapist?

“Yes,” Adrien said with a smile. “She was.”

“What the hell? Can you read minds?”

“No.” He laughed. “I saw it all over your face.”

“Gotta work on that face,” she said with a chuckle just as Shaun found a knot. Iris made sure to contain her moans as he dug into her shoulder muscles.

“You’re super tight, Iris,” Shaun commented. “Is everything okay?”

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