A Barker Family Christmas (6 page)

“Oh I don’t know, maybe because I’m busy?” Her sister was out of breath, but Billie ignored it. She was still focused on Debra. The woman was standing there looking confused. What part of
watch
and
five fingers
did she not get?

“Hold on, Bobbi.”

“Are you kidd—“

Billie held the phone away and slid open the partition glass that separated her office from the main entrance. “I’ll be out in five minutes, Debra.”

The woman nodded. “Oh, good. I’ll get the boys ready.”

“So what are you doing?” Billie asked, sliding the glass closed. “Are you with Gramps?”

“No, I’m not with Gramps.”

“Oh,” Billie replied. “So where are you?”

Bobbi cursed so long and loud that Billie winced, and it was then that she truly understood how pissed off her sister was.

“I’m at home,” Bobbi exploded into her ear.

“Well, shit. You don’t have to take my head off.”

“Oh but I do. You more than anyone know how rough it’s been for Shane and me these past few weeks.”

“But what’s that got to do—“

“We’re at home, Billie.
Together.
As in he’s waiting for me right now, naked and horny as hell because I have no underwear on.”

“Oh,” Billie said softly.

“And let me tell you it’s pretty damn hard to get in the mood when Livin La Vida Loca keeps playing like it’s on rewind or something.”

“Your ringtone is Ricky Martin?”

“What?” Bobbi snapped.

“Your ringtone. Ricky Martin.”

“Oh my God, Billie. What the hell do you want?”

Billie made a face and was glad that her sister couldn’t see it, though when she glanced up, she caught Debra Bergens looking at her strangely. She turned around and sighed.

“I just wanted to make sure that you don’t forget about Abel.”

“Abel.”

I knew it.

“Yes, Abel. He’s about twenty-seven pounds, eighteen months old, currently getting into everything and he’s hidden every single one of his soothers. So I hope you have an extra one at your place, because I’ve had no time to get to the store.”

“I know who Abel is,” her sister retorted.

“You’re supposed to be watching him tonight, remember? I have plans with Logan.”

“Right. Okay. On it.”

“I mean it Bobbi. Don’t forget. I need this. Logan needs this.”

“No problem. I’ll have Shane drop by Logan’s shop and scoop him up, but it will have to be later. Right now I’m getting some sugar and you need to not call me again for at least an hour.”

“Okay.”

“No, scratch that. Minimum ninety minutes.”

Billie stuck her tongue out. Shit. When was the last time that she and Logan had had ninety minutes all to themselves?

“Hey, don’t forget about the…”
Lingerie
.

But Bobbi had already hung up and with a sigh, Billie headed out for her private lessons. By three-thirty, she’d finished her power skating class and was waiting on the last few parents to pack up and leave. Her desk was filled with new coffee mugs and chocolates, as well as an impressive number of homemade Christmas Cards. Her students were amazing and she smiled as little Connor McBride waltzed by with his grandmother, Joanne.

“Merry Christmas, Mrs. Forest,” Connor shouted.

“I hope you’ve been a good boy,” she replied with a smile.

“I tried really hard to be good but it didn’t always work out.” He shrugged. “My mommy says that’s all we can ask for.”

“She’s right about that,” Billie chuckled. “See you in the New Year, Connor.”

“So have
you
been a good girl all year?”

Billie smiled as her sister Bobbi walked into her office.

“What do you think?” Billie retorted, eyeing her up with interest. Her sister looked great. “Wow. You look like—“

“Like I’ve just had the best sex of my life ever?”

Billie nodded and smiled. “Something like that.”

Bobbi held up a small little bag. “I hope you’ve been bad because this is only for girls on the naughty list, just saying.” Her sister pulled out a sexy red bra and the teeniest matching panties Billie had ever seen.

“You remembered.” Billie chuckled. “I plan on being a little bit sinful and a whole lot naughty.”

“Trust me. These won’t last long enough to see you through the naughty part of your evening. Once Logan sees your new undies, I bet he rips them off within a minute.
With his teeth
.”

“Hmmm. At least he has undies to rip off.”

Bobbi snorted. “You got me there.”

“Thanks for grabbing this for me. I’ve been so swamped.”

“No problem. Shane is on his way to get Abel, and you can leave now.”

“Oh, but…” Billie glanced out at the stragglers. “I’ve still got a few clients inside.”

“I’ll lock the place up. You need to go home and shower and if I know you, you’ll need to shave the places that need to be shaved. Like your legs and your—“

Billie hugged her sister. “Got it.” She kissed her on the cheek and squeezed her once more. “Thanks for this. We really need a night to ourselves. With the wedding and Abel and the holidays, it’s just been crazy.”

“I know,” Bobbi said softly. “Go get some sugar, okay?”

Billie scooped up the lingerie bag. “I plan on it. Lots of sugar.”

“Sugar is good,” Bobbi shouted as Billie practically ran from the place.

“Yeah,” Billie said with a sly grin, heading out into the cold. “Sugar is real good.”

Logan Forest parked his truck near the garage and glanced up at his house. It was already dark, sunset was early these days, but hey, that didn’t mean much considering his place had enough Christmas lights to power a small city.

They twinkled from the roof and the railing that ran around the front porch. Red. Blue. Green and yellow. The windows sported nice white ones and the junipers that lined the far drive were also lit up. As was the carriage house, his garage. Hell, even the mailbox was lit up.

There was a massive inflatable reindeer on the front lawn, its nose glowing neon red, as well as a snow globe and, he glanced back up to the roof, yep, there was Santa staring back at him. As if that wasn’t bad enough, you could see them a mile away on account of the 100watt spotlights pointed in their direction.

He shook his head, and even though he’d taken a lot of ribbing from his brothers and Shane, there was a grin on his face. Who the hell would have thought that his house would turn into something that’d make the Griswald’s proud? Just when he thought he had his wife figured out, she up and did something like this. Sure, she said it was for Abel, but he knew better. Billie was a kid at heart, and the holidays meant a lot to her.

He got it. He came from a large family and Thanksgiving and Christmas were full of some of the best memories that he had. Logan glanced back at the house, his blood heated. He was looking forward to making a lot more.

He slipped out of his truck and slammed the door shut behind him, wondering what his wife had in store for him tonight. Shane had swung by the shop a few hours ago— Logan had been in the middle of explaining to Abel what made the Harley he was rebuilding so damn special. But his son didn’t care about anything except the shiny metal that he wasn’t supposed to touch. And he sure as hell wasn’t supposed to jam it into his mouth.

When Shane told him that he’d been instructed to take Abel home with him, Logan had been surprised, but it was the good kind of surprised. It had been ages since he’d had his woman all to himself, and he was looking forward to spending some quality time with Billie. And that would be, naked quality time.

He hopped up the front steps, jacket half off and tugging on his Henley when the door opened and he stopped cold.

“You’re late,” Billie said, her voice tense, which kind of killed his mood.

“I…uh….” He swallowed, eyes moving over her. “You’re dressed.”

Billie tugged him inside. “Of course I’m dressed, and you need to get your butt into the shower.”

Wait. What?

“Are you coming with me?”

“Coming with you where?”

“Into the shower?” he said hopefully, reaching for her, but Billie—always light on her toes even when said toes were encased in four inch heels—sidestepped him.

“Logan, your clothes are on the bed, and I need you back down here in ten minutes.”

Billie’s long hair waved around her shoulders, and damn, the red dress she wore showed off assets that he was dying to see. Dying to touch. To kiss and to taste. But he recognized the look in her eyes. The woman meant business.

“Give me a kiss and I’ll have the fastest shower on record,” he challenged.

Logan was rewarded with a ghost of a smile. “If I let you kiss me, we’ll never make it out of the house.”

“And that’s a bad thing because…”

“Because I went to a lot of trouble to plan a special night we’ll remember for a long time and if you don’t get your butt into the shower, I’ll be pissed. Trust me, Logan. You don’t want pissed off Billie, you want—“

He grabbed her mid-tirade and planted a hot, open kiss on her mouth. He kissed her thoroughly, his hands sinking into her hair so that she couldn’t move. He tasted every inch of her mouth, his tongue thrusting into her, mimicking his hips as they moved against her. When she made that little noise—the one that told Logan she was right there with him—he pulled away and grinned.

Billie’s lips were swollen, her gloss smudged, and the heat in her cheeks had parts of him standing at attention. Painfully so.

She blew away an errant strand of hair and his hand lingered along her cheek, before running his fingers over her delectable mouth. “That’s the Billie that I want.”

“Not fair, Logan.”

He took a step back, hands up in surrender. “I’ll hit the shower, babe. I’ll do whatever you want me to do, but you have to promise me one thing.”

“What’s that?” she asked breathlessly.

“You gotta promise me that before midnight, I’ll see you naked. Don’t get me wrong. I love the red dress and all, but I’m much more interested in what’s underneath.”

A slow smile spread over her face. “Well that’s the plan,” she replied cheekily. “But it’s not going to happen unless you get in the shower.”

“I’m on it.” Logan ran up the stairs, swore when he nearly tripped over his cat, Weird, and in fact took the fastest shower ever. He was back downstairs in less time than it took him to drive across town to his shop. Dressed in dark navy slacks, a cream button down shirt underneath an indigo V-neck, he looked suitable for the gorgeous woman waiting for him. His good leather dress jacket hung by the door and he slipped into it, smiling at the look of pleasure in her eyes as she came from the kitchen.

“Will this do?” Logan asked.

“Totally,” she replied, slipping her hand into his. “Let’s go.”

“Where exactly are we going?”

“Twisted Lemon.”

“Twisted Lemon,” he repeated slowly.

Billie halted just outside of his truck, for the first time a bit unsure. “We love the Twisted Lemon.”

“We do,” he said sliding into the truck. “But it’s in the city and the storm hit them worse than us.”

“Whatever, Forest. I don’t want to hear any negativity. This is our night.” Billie slid in beside him. “Besides, the storm’s been over for nearly twelve hours. I’m sure the roads are good.”

Except the roads weren’t at all good, and a bad accident had the interstate down to one lane for well over half of the distance it took to get to the city. By the time Logan parked his truck at the Twisted Lemon, they were over an hour late for their reservation. Billie had called ahead, but even so they had to wait for nearly half an hour longer until a table could be readied.

“Hey,” he said softly, bending low to Billie’s ear. He knew she was tense and more than a little upset that things hadn’t gone smoothly. “Let’s just go with it. No worries. It’s you and me, all right?”

With his hand at the small of her back, the two of them followed the host to a private table tucked away in the corner. Logan’s hand lingered on the back of Billie’s neck as he pushed in her chair and when he sat across from her, he knew by the look in her eyes, she was remembering another night. A night when his whole world had changed.

“Our first official date was here,” she said slowly, taking a sip of wine. “Remember?”

Logan nodded. “Billie, everything about that night is burned into my brain. I can still remember how sweet you smelled. How hot you looked.” Her eyes smoldered, and he had to take a moment. She really was the most beautiful, intoxicating, and funny woman that he’d ever met. Sure, she could be opinionated and stubborn and argumentative as all hell, but it was the fire inside of her that he respected. It was the fire that he craved and when she brought it into the bedroom, well…

“I really liked the way the night ended,” he said with a grin.

She snorted. “Uh huh. If I remember correctly I passed out on your bed because I drank too much wine.”

“You did. But the morning after was pretty damn hot, so I didn’t mind so much.”

She giggled and Logan Forest knew that if he lived to be a hundred years old, he’d never get tired of hearing that sound.