Page 87 of Mine For The Winter

“So, last night with Kelly…”

“It went fine.” Kris smiled, because he was stealing Kelly’s phrase. But that was about as much as he was willing to share. Because it had been more than fine and he’d been walking around with a smile for most of the day.

North lifted a brow. “I’m real glad it went fine. But I’ve got a woman whose gonna be pushing me for all the details and I’m not planning on making her push me too hard, if you know what I mean. So give me them and we’ll speak no more about it.”

“Hasn’t she spoken to Kelly? They’re supposed to be friends.”

“And apparently Kelly’s keeping her lips sealed.” North sighed. “And normally I’d be more than happy if you did the same. But my wife is pregnant and what she wants, she gets. So spill.”

“There’s nothing to spill. We talked. We kissed. I drove her home, we said good night.”

North gave him one of those looks. An older brother I-know-you’re-shitting-me kind of look. Kris tried not to laugh.

And failed.

“I’m serious. Nothing happened. I wouldn’t have let it anyway.”

“Why?” North asked. “I thought you like her.”

“I do. But we had things to talk about. Painful things. And it might sound stupid, but I didn’t want her to do something in the heat of that emotion and regret it after. And I guess I needed to breathe, too. There’s a lot going on. Kelly comes as a package, I need to think about both of them.”

“Her and Cole?” North asked.

“Yeah. And I guess her dad, too.” Kris shrugged. “They come as a package.” And he was okay with that. “Then this morning, Cole asked me to go to his father-son game next week. Kelly’s worried Cole’s getting attached to me.”

“Yeah. I noticed that.”

“So did I.” Amber walked in, curling back onto the sofa. “What did I miss?”

“Everything okay?” North murmured.

“Yeah, she’s clean and dandy.” Amber nodded then looked back at Kris. “So?”

“So nothing happened. Kelly told you the truth.”

Wait. What?“You spoke to Kelly?” He glanced at North who looked sheepishly away. He was hustling for information, the asshole.

It was a good thing Kris loved him.

“Yeah. She said nothing happened. You talked then took her home.”

“Well she’s right.” Kris shrugged. “I can’t believe you tried to catch me out,” he told North.

“We were just checking.” North winked.

“But something happened before, didn’t it?” Amber said to Kris.

“She tell you that?”

“Yes.” Amber grinned. “Not all the sordid details. But I know you guys fooled around in your cabin.”

Jesus. Luckily, North looked as horrified as he did. “Enough,” North said. “Let’s not get into details.”

“Why don’t guys want the details?” Amber asked. “They’re always the best.”

“Firstly, because imagining my brother doing anything like that makes me want to hurl.” North grimaced.

Kris nodded. “Case in point, when North caught Gabe slapping the salami in the living room when we were kids.”

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