Page 18 of Mistletoe Latte

“See,” Nick said, jabbing a finger to the disinterested teen. “You’ve got to get a scholarship.”

With a sigh, Skylar closed her hand around her finger and stared him dead in the eye. “And how many scholarships did you get, uncle Nick?”

He gulped, looking toward Emma before focusing on his niece. “This isn’t about me,” he said when her phone buzzed.

Skylar leaped to her feet, tossing her homework to the floor. Nick reached over to gather it up, chastising her, but she held her screen to him while saying, “It’s dad. Hi, dad!” The sour teenager sweetened as she dashed up the stairs.

Instinctively, Emma watched her until she vanished down the hallway. A heat prickled up her arms and over her neck as she realized she was alone with Nick. She swiveled her gaze and found him looking back at her. Startled, she reached for her glass the same time he went for his mug. Their hands bumped, nearly scattering coffee and red wine to the carpet.

“Sorry,” she said, slamming both hands over her rotating glass and keeping it pinned.

“My, uh…” He gulped, jostling his coffee back and forth like a carousing pirate. “This is weird, right?”

“Extremely.”

“Not that it isn’t nice to have you. Here. It is. Nice, I mean. To eat dinner with instead of the sullen groans and sighs from Skylar.”

As she looked to him, Nick tipped his head back to take a long drink of coffee. The skin under his whiskers heated up, turning the blonde scruff red. “Though, you’d probably rather be anywhere else.”

She was supposed to be in Maine being berated by her sister, not sitting in a near-stranger’s living room trying to not blush to death. Out of all the places for her car to have broken down, she couldn’t have asked for nicer. Emma opened her mouth to explain as such when the light caught on his barely pursed lips and glistened. “It’s a comfortable couch.”

Oh, my goodness.

He chuckled as if she’d told a joke and glanced at a cuckoo clock hanging above the fireplace. “Ah shit, it’s already eight? I… This is gonna sound pathetic, but I try to get to bed by nine. Early morning cattle call and all. Um…”

“Oh? Oh! You…” Emma fumbled to her feet, realizing he wanted her to ship out. “I should…get out of your hair. Thank you for the meal. I could order a car or…” She checked her couple of ride-share apps, but they didn’t show anything for a hundred miles. Apparently, small towns didn’t rely on the side hustle market. “Or you could drop me off back in town and I’ll figure it out from there.”

Nick rose too, towering above her. She had no idea what to do or where to go, leaving her feeling like a mouse in the presence of a giant. “Listen, it’s cold out. Gonna get colder, and you should stay here.”

“Oh…that’s a generous offer.” He wanted her to stay in his house, sleep in a bed somewhere under the same roof. Emma’s brain panicked at the idea. “I couldn’t burden you further after all you’ve done.”

“It’d be a bigger pain to drive you to a motel. Really. Just, stay here. So I don’t worry about you navigating the mean streets of Lake Holly on your own in the dead of winter.” He lifted his eyebrows and his eyes pleaded with her to say yes. “Unless it’s weird. It’s probably weird. If you don’t want to, I can take you back to your car.”

The moment the nervous energy crackled from him, Emma wanted to ease his burden. She placed a palm against his arm and said, “I’d be happy to stay.”

Nick’s grumbling faded and his blue eyes gleamed. “I’d like it. Oh…uh, wake-up’s at four in the morning.”

She laughed. “I don’t mind.”

“Got to get to the cafe before the regular zombies roll in needing caffeine. And it takes an hour to drag Skylar out of bed.”

“Really.” She pressed her fingers to his arm to get his attention, but the biceps hidden behind an expanse of flannel caught hers. Forgetting to let go, she held on to his muscle flexing harder and sending a flush down her spine.

Nick peered at her from below his brows, and she dropped her grip. “I kept a lot of strange hours working in the restaurant business. Four a.m. is no bother.”

“Good. I mean, I should show you where you can sleep. It’s up here.”

“Skylar gave me a quick tour earlier,” Emma said as she followed him up the stairs.

Nick paused at the top and sighed. “She’s going to be insufferable about this.” He banged his fist on the first door covered in warning tape and Korean pop singers.

“What?”

Poking his head in, Nick revealed a sliver of Skylar’s room. The furniture and fixtures looked like they were meant for a young girl—all pastel purples and fluffy clouds. But the piles of clothing, angsty posters taped to the walls, and cork board of various quotes told a different tale.

“Emma’s gonna be staying with us for the night.” A huge grin rose across Skylar’s face at the news, but Nick cut her off with, “Don’t.”

She held up a hand before looking down the hall. “You know we threw the spare mattress away when the mice got into it.”

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