Page 38 of The Naughty List

‘Oh, the owner of Winter Lodge was so handsome. What was his name again? Oh yes, Nick. Nick Winter. Mmm, he was one fine hunk of man candy.”

Holly felt like she’d been slapped. Nick was the owner of Winter Lodge?

Nick Winter. Winter Lodge. The hotel that the restaurant Jaxon owned was attached to. It all seemed so clear now. Why had she never noticed that before?

And Holly had sat there, telling him how she thought it should be run.

She closed her eyes. Dear Lord, how humiliating was that? What a fool she’d made of herself. She wasn’t even a hotel manager, just a lowly receptionist.

Quit putting yourself down.

“Shut the fuck up,” Holly muttered angrily at her inner voice.

“I beg your pardon?” A shocked-sounding gasp came from beside her.

“Sorry.” Holly apologized, more embarrassment heaping onto what she already felt. “I was just talking to myself.”

Closing her eyes, Holly attempted to recall every exchange to assess how badly she might have messed up. And as she did so, another snippet of conversation tickled the back of her mind. Something she’d forgotten. ‘Well, well. Looks like Kris has finally caught up. Late to the party, as usual, Snow.’

Holly blinked her eyes open and sat up with a jerk.

Kris Snow. Did that mean…?

Holly collapsed back in her seat, and the woman next to her harrumphed under her breath.

Maybe she should care, but right now, it was hard to care about anything except what a fool she’d made of herself in front of the two men who had become her lovers.

Just like thinking Jaxon was a busboy, and that he and Nick were gay. No wonder they’d moved her along without bothering to say goodbye. They were probably still busy laughing behind her back.

They bought you some beautiful–

Not listening!

Holly found her earbuds and played some music to stop her manic thoughts, and drown out the voice in her head, much to the ongoing irritation of the woman sitting beside her. Closing her eyes, Holly ignored the dirty looks that were thrown her way, which was why she missed the commotion that was going on.

She finally opened her eyes when the bus ground to a halt. They surely couldn’t be at the interchange yet. They hadn’t been traveling for long enough.

Poking her head out to peer down the aisle, all Holly could make out was that the driver had pulled over on the side of the road and was speaking to someone. Around her, people started muttering about the delay as the driver exited the bus and rummaged around in the luggage hold. Had they accidentally put someone’s bags on the wrong bus?

The passenger door swished open before the driver came back, and Holly’s eyes widened as two sexy, burly men stalked towards her, one scowling grimly, the other with eyes lit with laughter.

They stopped by the side of her seat. “Wh-what are you doing here?” Holly stuttered as Jaxon crooked his finger in a ‘come here’ gesture.

“We’ve come to get you, of course, since you ran out on us,” Kris growled.

“What do you mean?” Holly asked with a frown. “Why would you do that?”

“Don’t have time to argue,” he replied shortly. “We’re holding everyone up.”

“But…”

“No buts, unless it’s the one I’m spanking,” Kris deadpanned, and Holly felt a dozen pairs of eyes on her from the people sitting close by, avidly watching it all play out.

“Sounds like an interesting threat. I’d go with it if I were you,” the woman sitting next to her said.

And with that, Jaxon pulled on Holly’s arm until she stood, then Kris picked her up and tossed her over his shoulder before turning and strolling back toward the door.

Holly raised her head for long enough to see Jaxon grabbing her carry-on luggage, and a few minutes later, she was being bundled inside Nick’s SUV, her suitcase already in the trunk.

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