corner of his mouth twitched in an almost-smile and she guessed she hadn’t been subtle enough. “This is my busy season, but maybe I’ll at least say hello at some point.”
A clue ! “So you get busy before Christmas?”
“Yup. Hey, grab that bag of pretzels on your way out, would you? And maybe for that Christmas Eve thing I hear you’re doing, you should wear a sexy dress and spike his eggnog.” And just like that he was gone.
Katie refilled the chip bowl and grabbed a new tub of dip out of the fridge, but she stopped to scowl at the alarm panel on the basement door before grabbing the pretzels. She’d been close this time. She was sure of it.
A few plays had already been run by the time she got comfortable again and normally Josh would have given her a recap, but this time he didn’t look away from the television.
This had to stop, dammit. If she was going to lose her best friend over sex, it certainly wasn’t going to be because they didn’t have it. That would be a waste all the way around.
Hailey’s advice echoed through her head. Seduce him , use the hell out of him , and then send the oversexed , possibly dehydrated husk of him out into the world .
To hell with it. She had one week to find herself a drop-dead sexy dress.
* * *
“If you could stop ogling your wife long enough to answer my question, that’d be great.” Maybe meeting Mitch for a late breakfast-slash-early lunch at the Trailside Diner hadn’t been Josh’s greatest idea, but at least he’d been correct in guessing they’d have the place more or less to themselves at ten-thirty on a Wednesday morning.
“You asked a question?”
“I asked what you think I should get Katie for Christmas.” He’d lost almost as much sleep worrying about that as he’d lost to picturing her naked.
“A vibrator, since you’re too chickenshit to get the job done yourself.”
Josh’s jaw dropped, and then he closed his mouth with a snap. “I can’t believe you just said that.”
“I can’t believe I left what I was doing to come and meet you so you could whine about shopping.”
“I’m not whining. I just asked for a suggestion. And what were you doing that was so important, anyway?”
“Working on Paige’s Christmas present.”
“Really? What are you making for her?”
Mitch nodded his head toward Paige, who was refilling the salt shakers around the coffee counter. “Can’t tell you. She has hearing like a bat.”
Josh glanced over and saw Paige looking back. Her mouth turned up in an apologetic smile. “Just for the record, I think a vibrator would be a really awkward gift to receive at a family Christmas party. Sorry.”
“Oh, for chrissake.” Josh slid down in the booth, holding his head. “I should have known better.”
“Fine.” Mitch angled himself in the booth so that Paige wasn’t in his line of sight. “What do you usually get her?”
“I dunno. Stuff. I got her a Patriots sweatshirt once. A Bruins cap. Last year I got her a poster signed by the Red Sox pitchers from the ’04 team. But I’m stuck this year and I’m running out of time. Even though we’re closed this weekend to guests, Rose and Katie are driving me bat-shit crazy with this party. Sneaking out to the city and back’s going to be a problem and there’s no sense in even going if I don’t know what to get.”
“Sounds like you usually go the sports shop and play eenie-meenie-minie-mo. Why the stress this year?”
Damned if he knew. He’d never stressed about gifts for Katie before. Rosie, yes, until he’d figured out a gift certificate to the fancy yarn store a few towns over was her idea of the greatest gift ever. He thought gift certificates were boring, so he usually got her some little thing to go with them, but at least she was happy.
Mitch was right on the money about Katie. He always went into the sports shop and bought the first thing that caught his eye.
“Maybe she wants girly stuff,” he said, frowning at his
A clue ! “So you get busy before Christmas?”
“Yup. Hey, grab that bag of pretzels on your way out, would you? And maybe for that Christmas Eve thing I hear you’re doing, you should wear a sexy dress and spike his eggnog.” And just like that he was gone.
Katie refilled the chip bowl and grabbed a new tub of dip out of the fridge, but she stopped to scowl at the alarm panel on the basement door before grabbing the pretzels. She’d been close this time. She was sure of it.
A few plays had already been run by the time she got comfortable again and normally Josh would have given her a recap, but this time he didn’t look away from the television.
This had to stop, dammit. If she was going to lose her best friend over sex, it certainly wasn’t going to be because they didn’t have it. That would be a waste all the way around.
Hailey’s advice echoed through her head. Seduce him , use the hell out of him , and then send the oversexed , possibly dehydrated husk of him out into the world .
To hell with it. She had one week to find herself a drop-dead sexy dress.
* * *
“If you could stop ogling your wife long enough to answer my question, that’d be great.” Maybe meeting Mitch for a late breakfast-slash-early lunch at the Trailside Diner hadn’t been Josh’s greatest idea, but at least he’d been correct in guessing they’d have the place more or less to themselves at ten-thirty on a Wednesday morning.
“You asked a question?”
“I asked what you think I should get Katie for Christmas.” He’d lost almost as much sleep worrying about that as he’d lost to picturing her naked.
“A vibrator, since you’re too chickenshit to get the job done yourself.”
Josh’s jaw dropped, and then he closed his mouth with a snap. “I can’t believe you just said that.”
“I can’t believe I left what I was doing to come and meet you so you could whine about shopping.”
“I’m not whining. I just asked for a suggestion. And what were you doing that was so important, anyway?”
“Working on Paige’s Christmas present.”
“Really? What are you making for her?”
Mitch nodded his head toward Paige, who was refilling the salt shakers around the coffee counter. “Can’t tell you. She has hearing like a bat.”
Josh glanced over and saw Paige looking back. Her mouth turned up in an apologetic smile. “Just for the record, I think a vibrator would be a really awkward gift to receive at a family Christmas party. Sorry.”
“Oh, for chrissake.” Josh slid down in the booth, holding his head. “I should have known better.”
“Fine.” Mitch angled himself in the booth so that Paige wasn’t in his line of sight. “What do you usually get her?”
“I dunno. Stuff. I got her a Patriots sweatshirt once. A Bruins cap. Last year I got her a poster signed by the Red Sox pitchers from the ’04 team. But I’m stuck this year and I’m running out of time. Even though we’re closed this weekend to guests, Rose and Katie are driving me bat-shit crazy with this party. Sneaking out to the city and back’s going to be a problem and there’s no sense in even going if I don’t know what to get.”
“Sounds like you usually go the sports shop and play eenie-meenie-minie-mo. Why the stress this year?”
Damned if he knew. He’d never stressed about gifts for Katie before. Rosie, yes, until he’d figured out a gift certificate to the fancy yarn store a few towns over was her idea of the greatest gift ever. He thought gift certificates were boring, so he usually got her some little thing to go with them, but at least she was happy.
Mitch was right on the money about Katie. He always went into the sports shop and bought the first thing that caught his eye.
“Maybe she wants girly stuff,” he said, frowning at his
Similar Books
