A Very Marycliff Christmas

by MacMillan, Jerica

  Ellie skips out the door, either oblivious or uncaring.

  Cal glares at me. “Hands off my sister,” he growls.

  I hold up my hands. “She hugged me, man. What was I supposed to do? Shove her away and yell, ‘Unclean! Unclean!’”

  His face lightens a fraction, then he actually smiles sheepishly. “Sorry. No. Of course not. It’s just …” He shakes his head. “In high school, I constantly had to hear locker room talk about my sister, because my teammates were assholes who thought it was funny. It’s been a relief the last couple of years to be away from that. Now that she’s here …”

  “Dude. Your sister is safe with me,” I reassure him. Yeah, she’s cute, and if she were anyone else who kept giving me elevator eyes and throwing herself at me, sure, I’d probably ask her out, but everyone knows you don’t date your friends’ siblings. It’s a surefire way to fuck up a friendship. And Cal and I have been tight since freshman year. He’s my roommate and my quarterback. My job is to watch his back. Not stab him in it.

  He nods. “Thanks, man. Merry Christmas. See you in January.”

  “Merry Christmas.”

  Want to find out what happens with Simon? Off Limits is on preorder now!

  She’s my best friend’s little sister …

  That alone should be enough to make me keep my hands to myself. Knowing her brother’s extra protective should seal the deal.

  But after Ellie turns up on our doorstep while her brother’s not home and falls asleep on the couch after a misunderstanding with her roommate, I can’t seem to stay away.

  I’m not normally the kind of guy who only wants what he can’t have, but in Ellie’s case, I seem to be making an exception.

  But how can I have her brother’s back on the football field while stabbing him in it the rest of the time?

  If you love brother’s best friend romance, sexy athletes, and stories that give you all the feels, grab your copy of Off Limits today!

  Dear Reader,

  Thank you so much for returning to Marycliff University with me to catch up with everyone. I came up with the vague seed of an idea to write this a couple of years ago and even had the title ready to go, but didn’t quite have (or make) the time to write it until this year. Since I re-edited and relaunched the original series, this seemed like the perfect time to do it.

  I hope you enjoyed catching up with everyone.

  And I can hear you wondering about Simon, Cal, and Ellie, and where do they fit in with everything …

  Well, they’re kicking off a new series in early 2021. I’m currently writing book 1, and I hope to release it in January, but that’s very tentative, so be sure to join my email list if you haven’t already (and claim your free book!) or follow me on Bookbub or Amazon or somewhere so you don’t miss the official release date. It’s going to be lots of fun, and if you loved these guys, I’m confident you’ll love the new batch of football players just as much.

  If you want to make extra special sure you don’t miss it, click here to preorder it now. And keep reading for an unedited sneak peek.

  Until next time,

  Jerica MacMillan

  Special thanks to Deb Markanton and Leslie McAdam for squeezing this book into your busy schedules. Thanks also to Danielle Romero Annett of Coffee and Characters Designs for her help with the cover.

  And thank you to my Book Junkies for being excited for this book. Without you, it probably wouldn’t exist.

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  Sign up at www.jericamacmillan.com/book-club

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  Or, if you want to speak to me directly, feel free to email me at contact@jericamacmillan.com.

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  Jerica MacMillan is a lifelong reader and lover of romance. Nothing beats escaping into a book and watching people fall in love, overcome obstacles, and find their happily ever after. She was recently named a semi finalist in Harlequin’s So You Think You Can Write 2015 contest.

  Jerica is living her happily ever after in North Idaho with her husband and two children. She spends her days building with blocks, admiring preschooler artwork, and writing while her baby naps in the sling. Sign up to receive updates on her reading and writing life at www.JericaMacMillan.com.

  Cataclysm

  Anything You Need

  Shouldn’t Want You

  Everything I Want

  Just For Now

  Anyone But You

  Songs and Sonatas Series

  Double Exposition

  Development

  Recapitulation

  Broken Chords

  Counterpoint and Harmony

  Overtones

  Reverb

  Players of Marycliff University

  Summer Fling

  Close Quarters

  Always You

  Unsaid Things

  Coping Skills

  False Assumptions

  A Very Marycliff Christmas

  Sneak peek of Off Limits

  Chapter One

  Ellie

  My flip flops slap my heels as I march down the sidewalk to my brother’s house. I know he won’t be thrilled to see me, but that’s just too freakin’ bad. It’s late. I’m tired. The library just closed, and I have nowhere else to go.

  The perfect end to the perfect evening.

  Fortunately, he only lives about a half a mile from campus, and even though walking alone at just after midnight on a weekend might be questionable from a safety perspective, wandering campus alone would definitely be worse. And while I could probably call my brother and have him come get me, that would give him the opportunity to argue with me about my choice of destination—namely, his house. Surprise is definitely the better tactic.

  And let’s not discuss why I’ve spent most of my Friday night—the Friday of the first week of school, no less—in the library. We’ll ignore that right now. We’ll also ignore the reality of Cal’s reaction when I show up knocking on his door in the middle of the night. Not that I’m worried he’s asleep already. He won’t be. He and his roommate will probably be up playing video games. At least that’s what I assume they do on the weekends. That’s what he did in high school, anyway, and I haven’t noticed any marked changes in his interests since then.

  As a distraction I start making a list of phrases that never end well.

  First up is the infamous how bad can it be? Everyone knows that leads nowhere good.

  Next is Hold my beer. Often uttered by drunken idiots immediately prior to undertaking something spectacularly idiotic.

  And my newest entry to the list? Sure, Autumn. Anything I can do to help. No problem.

  I just didn’t realize that the thing she wanted me to do was stay away from our suite all night Friday night.

  Technically, it’s not all night. It’s just until she tells me it’s safe to return.

  Autumn is … lovely, but a little eccentric. And tonight she tells me she’s doing some kind of ritual to manifest the right energy for the year or something like that. She mentioned it having to be tonight because of the moon phase and chakra alignment or something that I didn’t quite follow. When she gets excited about something, she starts talking fast and doesn’t quite realize that not everyone grew up meditating naked under the full moon and reading tarot cards.

  I met Autumn during freshman orientation last year, and we hit it off right away. Honestly, her free spirit energy is exactl
y what I need a lot of the time. But being suite mates this year might prove … interesting.

  Sighing with relief, I turn into my brother’s walkway, pleased that the porch light is on and there’s a light glowing through the closed curtains of the front window. It’s a cute little red brick house with a tidy front yard that Cal’s roommate Simon took care of all summer. I hope he makes Cal do the yard work for the next two months to make up for it.

  Two steps up and I’m in the little sheltered alcove that houses their door. Steeling myself for Cal’s irritation, I raise my hand and knock firmly on the oak door. The sound of footsteps on creaky floorboards precedes the door opening, and I’m face to face with a chest. A solid, heavily muscled, naked chest.

  Swallowing hard and licking my lips, I force myself to drag my gaze to Simon’s face. This guy. Damn. The first time I met him, I immediately developed a crush, which I know would annoy Cal to know end. And while I love nothing more than to torture my brother—and let’s face it, he started it when we were little kids by constantly bossing me around and picking on me—somehow visibly drooling over his friend seems a step too far. So I do my best to rein it in and be normal. Or at least as normal as possible. As I’m sure Cal would love to say, I’m anything but normal.

  Simon crosses his gigantic arms over the chest I’m definitely not ogling—nope, because I’m looking at his face. It’s not my fault my peripheral vision is in perfect working order. His eyebrows draw together over warm brown eyes, concern filling his handsome face. “Ellie? What are you doing here? I thought Cal must’ve locked himself out.”

  “Oh, uh, well,” I stammer like I’m a moron who’s never been asked a question, never seen a hot guy, and never seen a hot guy without a shirt on. For the record, I’ve seen both those things before and managed not to stammer when asked a question.

  Sighing, I rub my forehead, the closest thing I can do to both slapping myself in the face and covering my face in mortification at the same time. “Sorry, Simon. I know Cal will be pissed I’m here, but my roommate’s—”

  Simon steps back and gestures me in. “Say no more. Roommates hogging the room is a rite of passage of dorm life. Come on in. I’m just watching TV. How long do you need to stay?”

  The door opens into a long hallway, and the living room is off to the right. I move past him into the living room and offer a shrug, surprised when I don’t find Cal on the couch. “I’m not sure,” I tell him, turning to face him and pretend I’m not distracted by his bare chest. I haven’t spent a lot of time around Simon, so I haven’t grown immune to my attraction to him at all. My brother has done his best to keep me away from all his friends since he started at Marycliff. He brought a teammate—not Simon—home with him for Thanksgiving his freshman year and according to Cal I kept checking the guy out the whole time so he never did that again. Actually, Simon is the only other teammate of his I’ve met. And the only reason that’s happened is because they’ve been housemates since last year.

  “Autumn just said she’d text me when she was done. I’ve dawdled on campus for as long as possible, but the library closes at midnight and still no word from Autumn.” I lift my hands and let them drop, flopping back on the couch and kicking off my flip flops. “Where’s Cal?”

  The furrow between Simon’s brows only grows deeper, the longer he stares at me. “Why don’t you text her and—“ He cuts himself off with a grunt at my raised eyebrows. “Never mind. Assuming your roommate’s …” He clears his throat. “Cal’s out. Not sure when he’s coming back. Make yourself at home.” The last statement is tossed over his shoulder as he disappears down the hall.

  I lean forward to try to peer after him, but I’d have to get up to actually see anything, which would make me seem like a creeper trying to follow him around his house, and that’s not happening. What is he doing?

  He reappears a moment later, and much to my disappointment, has a gray Marycliff football T-shirt now covering that glorious chest. Large, firm, round muscles, a dusting of hair on his pecs and a delicious treasure trail starting at the top of his flat abs and thickening as it disappears below his waistband …

  Giving myself a mental slap, I drag my mind out of the gutter. Maybe I was checking out Cal’s teammate he brought home that Thanksgiving. Because I know I’ve done it every time I’ve seen Simon. But can you blame me? It’s not my fault that all his friends look like fitness models.

  The couch creaks as Simon settles his large frame as far away from me as possible. I dart glances at him out of the corner of my eye as he picks up the remote and presses play on the paused show.

  “Oh!” I sit up a little straighter and tuck my feet under me as the first episode of Cobra Kai comes to life. “This is a great show. Are you just watching it for the first time?”

  The look he throws my way is equal parts amusement and annoyance. “Yes. My schedule is packed, so I’m just getting around to it. Shh.”

  I make a show of zipping my lips then settle back into my seat. Maybe this night isn’t shaping up so bad after all. Watching a great show with a hot guy at his house? Yes, please.

  And for at least a little while, I’ll pretend that he isn’t my brother’s friend and this isn’t my brother’s house and that I actually have more than a snowflake’s chance in hell of landing Simon at some point.

  I’m not stupid. I know he’d never go for me. He’s a senior. He’s a football player. He’s my brother’s best friend.

  And I’m the annoying little sister.

  I know how life actually works. But for a few minutes, I’m just going to let myself believe in possibilities.

  That’s what Autumn’s whole point for tonight was, after all. Manifesting what you want for the semester. And what I want is to have some fun. And ideally I’d like some of that fun to be with someone who looks something like Simon. So even if I’m not chanting naked in the moonlight, I soaked up some moonlight on the walk over here, which according to Autumn is important somehow, so I’ll take that energy and direct it toward what I want.

  Closing my eyes, I take a deep breath and put my desires out into the universe. Fun with a hot guy.

  Sounds like a great plan to me.