Three Christmas Wishes - Krista Wolf Page 0,15

him with his clipboard, and Brock ended up ducking out. He grinned as he walked off though. Behind my back, out of sight of the old man, I curled my hand into a fist and flipped him off.

“Why don’t you just call them light grey and dark grey?” I lamented. “All these weird names are confusing as hell.”

“Just get your ass back in there and fix it,” the old man told me, pointing back to the forklift. “Alright?”

“Yes boss.”

I dragged the orange fencing back into place again, then jumped into the lift. Before I did, I checked my phone one last time. Nothing.

“You’d better still be on the wagon,” I grumbled, wondering if I had the phrase right. “Or however you say it.”

Either way, I needed to know where Brandon was, and more importantly, that he was okay. Last time this happened I came back to our place and half his shit was gone. Another time, most of it had been sold away.

For today though at least, it was still there.

Moving the lift back into position, I raised the fork and vowed to focus on more pleasant things.

Or to be more accurate, one pleasant thing in particular.

Twelve

SLOANE

I’d had the greatest night’s sleep of my life. The most amazing breakfast. I folded every last ounce of my laundry, ran all my errands, and cleaned the apartment until it was utterly spotless.

All while gazing longingly back at my beautiful new tree.

The guys had really outdone themselves, especially when it came to picking out ornaments. They didn’t all necessarily match, but I kinda hated all the matching Drake used to do anyway. The tree represented everything that was fun in life; a randomness of color and style that you could embrace for how beautiful it truly was. It even looked better in the daylight.

Of course, I spent the entire morning thinking about last night too. About how a little wine and some flirting had led to kissing, and how that had led to something a little more.

Oh, and SO much more…

Physically and emotionally, I’d never been more turned on in my life. I was dying for them last night. I could remember every touch, every caress. Every mind-numbing climax, as they held me so tightly in so many strong arms.

There was a part of me that couldn’t believe what I’d done, though. A more prim and proper part, that told me my actions had been shameless and wrong. Maybe I should’ve stopped things before they went too far. That even kissing three guys at the same time was simply way too much.

No. Screw that.

A bigger part however, welcomed what happened. I’d fulfilled one of my most sensual fantasies, and then some. The guys had taken care of me, so to speak, in every sense of the phrase. They’d been loving and selfless. Caring and giving and so incredibly generous.

I could stop there, and let the night live forever in my mind as a happy memory. I’d gone pretty fucking far, but not all the way. I’d been naughty, but I hadn’t given myself entirely over. Technically, I was ahead of the game.

Still, none of those things were my style. Halfway through the day I decided I wanted to see the guys again. I needed to know why the night had ended so abruptly. Why the three of them had left in such a hurry, when there was still so much more to do.

Driving out to the masonry yard, I swung my truck into the nearest parking space and began tracking them down. I did it quickly, before I lost my nerve. But I also did it without knowing exactly what I was going to say, which was equally important in keeping things real.

After about five minutes of wandering, I noticed Valerio working the tree lot. I waited until he’d sold and wrapped his latest tree, tying it off to a white minivan belonging to a beautiful family of four. Then I shadowed him from an adjacent line of trees and snuck up behind him.

“Those were some knots you just tied.”

He whirled in shock, his face going wide with surprise for half a second. But he recovered quickly.

“You liked them?”

“Yeah.”

“I worked the docks down in Rio Gallegos,” he said proudly, “all through my teens. You should see what I can do with ropes and knots.”

His handsome smile disarmed me, along with the sexual innuendo. It was making me blush all over again. Already I was at a disadvantage.

“You don’t know where Rio Gallegos is,”