Naughty and Nice

by Shannon Stacey, Jaci Burton, Megan Hart; Lauren Dane

  Right now, in fact, parked along the curb in front of who-knew-whose house. Frankly, she didn’t care, because Ethan had one hand tangled in her hair and the other was rubbing her backside while his mouth was doing delicious things to hers and she was afraid she might just have an orgasm right there before any clothes got undone.

  And then he vibrated.

  Whoa. He was really talented, and if she shifted just a little to the left, those vibrations…

  “Dammit,” he said, lifting his head. “My phone’s ringing.”

  He shifted, climbing off her and for the first time in a while she felt cold.

  “Seriously? Can’t you ignore it?”

  He gave her a regretful smile. “It could be about Zoey. Sorry. Give me just a second. He checked the display. “Shit.”

  He pressed a button and put the phone to his ear. “Hi, Mom.”

  Wow. It was ten years ago.

  Ethan rolled his eyes. “No, I found her. She’s fine. We’re just sitting here…talking.” While he listened, he gave her a look that sent her up in flames again. “Yeah, I’m going to bring her back shortly. Okay.”

  He pressed the button and tossed the phone on the dash, then dragged his fingers through his hair. “Sorry. Kind of lost myself there for a minute.”

  Riley shuddered out a sigh, realizing whatever had been about to happen, or might have happened, wasn’t going to. Not here, not tonight. “It’s okay. I did, too.”

  “I’ll drive you back to my parents.”

  The only good thing was, Ethan looked as frustrated and regretful as she did.

  He hit the defrosters and the windshield wipers and by the time everything cleared, Riley realized how much snow had fallen already.

  They took a slow drive back to the house, giving Riley a chance to fix her hair and put on some lip gloss so she didn’t look quite so…ravaged by the time Ethan pulled into the driveway. They made a mad dash to the house where Ethan’s mom was waiting with the door open.

  “It’s horrible outside. I was so worried about you.” She enveloped Riley in a hug. “I already sent Brody and Wyatt home, which is where you both need to go before this gets any worse.”

  “Yes, Mom,” Ethan said, with a roll of his eyes, then a laugh and a kiss.

  “I’m sorry we didn’t get to spend more time together. I blame my son for that.” She glared at Ethan.

  “Already discussed and apologized, Mom. Topic’s closed.”

  “Okay, okay. You two get on the road.”

  “I’ve driven in snow before. I have a four wheel drive, Mom.”

  “And I’m still your mother and I’m going to worry. You should drive Riley back to her place.”

  “I have an SUV, too, Mrs. Kent,” and at her look, corrected it to, “Stacy. I’m sure I’ll be fine, but thank you.”

  “I’ll follow her,” Ethan said. “To make sure she makes it there safe.”

  “That’ll make me feel better.” She hugged Riley and Ethan and they were out the door.

  Snow pelted her on the face as the wind picked up. “Wow. It’s really coming down.”

  “Really, do you need me to drive you back to the B and B?”

  “No, it’s not that far. I can make it.”

  “Okay.”

  He seemed as reluctant to let her go as she was to be let go of. But since Ethan’s mother was peeking through the blinds, she opened her car door. “I’ll see you later.”

  “Yeah. Later.”

  She started the car up. She hadn’t thought about gloves because she was a moron, so gripping the icy cold steering wheel was torture, but she managed to back out of the driveway and made the trek back to the bed and breakfast. She had to admit it gave her some comfort to see Ethan’s SUV behind her the whole way. When she pulled into the parking lot and turned off the car, he waited in the street until she opened the front door and went inside. Only then did he drive off.

  Leaving her aching and frustrated. And alone.

  She sighed and turned off the lights.

  Chapter Seven

  There was a holiday celebration at town square tonight, with Christmas carolers, ice skating on the makeshift rink, a parade and, of course, Santa. It was one of Zoey’s favorite parts of the holiday, though Ethan wasn’t sure if it was because of all the events that took place at town square or because she knew that meant Christmas was only a couple days away. Either way, he loved watching the joy in her eyes. He fed off her excitement and this was the event that always got him in the mood for Christmas.

  Because it had snowed, the whole town had a holiday look to it, which made everything perfect. Wreaths hung on every street light, banners and lights decorated every store front, and with the seven inches of snow they’d gotten the entire town looked like something out of a Christmas movie.

  Zoey had spent the past couple days building snowmen in the yard, complete with black button eyes, tattered scarves, carrot noses and red gumdrops for the mouths. It had stayed cold enough that Mr. and Mrs. Snowpeople were still standing, which thrilled Zoey even more and thankfully had given her something to do so she hadn’t bugged him nonstop about when Christmas was.

  The only drawback to this extravaganza was that Riley would be singing.

  Not that there was anything wrong with her singing. It was just that he’d been kind of avoiding her since two nights ago in the car when he’d totally lost his mind and climbed all over her. Fortunately she’d been busy wrapping up all her biography stuff since then and he hadn’t run into her.

  Today was supposed to be her last event, a filmed thing where she would sing a medley of Christmas songs from her last holiday CD. Everyone from town would be there, Riley would sing after the parade, and then she and her entire crew would pack up and go, along with all the media.

  So really, what had been the point of refiring the past between them, except to remind him that the two of them were worlds apart and he still couldn’t have her?

  He didn’t deserve to have her.

  Besides, there was Zoey to think about. Her life was here in Deer Lake where his family was. Where Zoey’s family was. Riley’s life was somewhere else, probably always on the road on that big tour bus of hers.

  And even though he’d driven home the long way to get his riotous libido under control that night, and he’d been thinking about Riley nonstop ever since, especially about that hot interlude in the car and how it had felt to remap her body with his hands, it was pointless.

  She was going her way soon, and he was staying here.

  With his daughter.

  So despite wanting to call her the next day, or go over to the bed and breakfast to see her, he hadn’t. Because his life was reality, not fantasy.

  And since Riley had left, the icy cold hand of reality had firmly clenched him in its grip.

  “Daddy, I want to go ice skating.”

  He looked down at his adorable daughter who looked like a puffy pink marshmallow in her pink coat, pink hat and pink mittens. He’d done her hair in pigtail braids this morning and she’d insisted on puffy pink bands to hold them. She even wore pink boots.

  The girl liked her some pink.

  “We’ll go ice skating later. The parade’s about to start. You don’t want to miss it, do you?”

  Her eyes got big and wide. “Oh. No. Let’s go, Daddy.”

  She tugged on his hand and dragged him toward the center island of town where the parade ended. They were lucky and found a bench to sit on, a perfect viewing area for the parade. They were joined shortly by his mom and dad and brothers.

  “It’s cold as a well digger’s—”

  “Brody,” his mother warned, casting her glance to Zoey.

  “Shovel,” Brody finished with a tweak of Zoey’s nose.

  Zoey giggled.

  Wyatt shoved his hands in his pockets, turned up the collar of his coat and looked about as happy to be there as he would be if he was having a root canal.

  But missing the annual town Christmas event would s
omehow be a direct insult to their mother, and even Wyatt wouldn’t do that, no matter how much he hated the world these days.

  When you lived in a small town, parades weren’t exactly like the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade in New York City. They didn’t go on for hours. You had the cops because they could run their sirens and all the kids liked that. And the fire department, too. Then there were the middle school and high school bands, a few local clubs like Rotary and Knights of Columbus, some private organizations and businesses who put some holiday floats together, and that was pretty much it.

  And then came Santa on his big float at the end, waving from on top of his makeshift chimney. Dave Bowman was doing a fine job as Santa this year, and Ethan suspected Dave’s rosy cheeks were due to the shot or two of whiskey Ethan had seen him downing at McGuffey’s Tavern prior to the start of the parade.

  The Santa float was always the biggest hit with the kids, since Santa’s “elves” tossed candy. There was Tori dressed as an elf in her green stockings and short skirt, her flaming red hair a perfect compliment to the whole elf gig.

  “Damn,” Brody whispered. “Her skirt is short enough that every time she bends over, you can see—”

  Brody whistled instead. Tori shot him an evil glare and threw candy at his head.

  “Maybe you shouldn’t look.” Ethan suggested.

  “And maybe I should.” Brody unwrapped the candy, popped it in his mouth and walked away.

  The parade over, the crowds milled around for a while. Zoey amused herself by playing a few games, ice skating and, of course, eating. Chairs were being set up at the town center gazebo area for Riley’s concert. The television crews were in hot turnout today, no doubt because it was the weekend and that meant people from surrounding areas would come, increasing attendance.

  Great. Good for the town, Ethan supposed, but it just meant more crowds.

  “Riley Jensen is going to sing today, Daddy.”

  He smiled indulgently at his daughter. “I know.”

  “There’s no backstage today, because she’s gonna sing on a stage that has no back.” Zoey giggled.

  “So I noticed. We’ll just hang out here and listen, okay?”

  “Do you think Riley Jensen will see us all the way back here? It’s kinda far.”

  “I think she’ll probably be a little busy, but maybe she’ll be looking for you. You can stand on your chair and wave to her while she’s singing. But no talking, because that would be rude.”

  “Okay, Daddy.”

  When it looked like people were starting to claim seats, Ethan moved in with his parents and brothers. Tori had joined them, too, along with one of her friends. They made it about three quarters of the way back since it was pretty well packed in. Damn there were a lot of people here.

  “Daddy, I can’t see,” Zoey whined.

  His kid needed a nap. As soon as Riley finished singing, they were outta here.

  “It’s the best we can do, muffin,” he said, tugging on one of her pigtails. “Sorry.”

  Then his phone buzzed, an unfamiliar number.

  “Hey, Ethan, it’s Joann, Riley’s publicist. Are you here at the festival?”

  “Uh, yeah.”

  “Riley has the front row saved for you and your family if you want to watch the concert.”

  “Oh. We’re already seated, kind of in the back.”

  “Then come on up front. I’ll be waiting here to seat you.”

  “Okay.”

  He hung up and turned to his mom. “That was Riley’s publicist. She has the front row saved for us.”

  “Oh, isn’t that nice,” his mom said, then herded the family up and out of their chairs and toward the front row.

  Zoey, of course, was thrilled. And the view was much better up here in the front row. What he didn’t care for was having to endure knowing looks, encouraging nods and smirks from everyone as they made their way up there.

  Great.

  “Hey, didn’t know you and Riley were back together.” Mark Roberts patted him on the back. “Nice going, man.”

  “We’re just so thrilled for you and Riley, Ethan,” Callie Roberts said.

  Ethan half turned. “It’s not like that. She likes Zoey and wanted to make sure she could see. Plus she’s known my parents for a long time.”

  Callie gave him a sly grin. “Sure, honey. Whatever you say.”

  Ugh. Zoey was bouncing in her seat waiting for the concert to begin and telling everyone around her that she was Riley Jensen’s new best friend. Even his own mother had gotten into the act, sharing that he and Riley had “gone out” alone together the other night.

  Maybe Ethan could just slip out and go home.

  But then Riley and her band came out, and damn if his libido didn’t tie him to the chair, because she looked gorgeous in tight blue jeans, sinfully sexy thigh high boots, a wide-open suede jacket and a shirt that clung to her curves. She’d worn her hair down. It swept her shoulders in loose waves and all he could think about was how good she’d smelled the other night when he’d held her close and kissed her and touched her. And oh, man, he was sitting next to his mother and thinking about having sex with Riley.

  He was probably going straight to hell for that.

  At least this time she wasn’t singing about him. It was all Christmas songs, and Zoey couldn’t help but sing along, despite his mother’s best attempts to admonish her to stay quiet. But Riley smiled down at Zoey, since his daughter wasn’t exactly a quiet singer. Fortunately, she did have a great voice and Riley finally motioned to her to join her on stage. And since his daughter didn’t have a shy bone in her entire body, she got to stand with the choir and sing her little heart out along with Riley and the choir.

  His mother took approximately ten thousand pictures. Plus video.

  Ethan had to admit he was pretty excited about it, too, though it wasn’t like he thought of Riley as a celebrity. She was just Riley. But he was always thrilled to see his daughter happy, and Zoey was grinning from ear to ear, especially when one of the choir angels put her halo on Zoey head.

  Zoey probably wouldn’t touch ground from her happy place for at least twenty-four hours.

  After the concert, Zoey jumped into his arms. “Did you see me, Daddy? I got to sing on the stage.”

  “I saw you. You were awesome.”

  “Did you hear me? I sang really loud.”

  He laughed as Riley joined them. “I had no problem hearing you.”

  Riley rubbed Zoey’s back. “This young lady has a beautiful voice, just like her mama did.”

  Zoey frowned. “Did you know my mama, Riley Jensen?”

  Riley lifted her chin and Ethan could tell she fought tears. “I did. She was my best friend in high school.”

  “Wow.” Zoey turned to Ethan. “I didn’t know that, Daddy. Did you know that?”

  “I did.” He put Zoey down and lifted his gaze to Riley. “You did a nice job out there tonight.”

  “Thanks. I’m just glad all this is over with.” She swept her gaze over the camera crews who were packing up.

  “Everyone leaving?”

  “They are.”

  He frowned. “You’re not?”

  She shrugged. “I’ve sprung my people loose. Figured I’d hang out here until after the holidays and write some music.”

  “By yourself?” his mother asked.

  Riley smiled. “Yes. Everyone has their families to go home to. I plan to stay and enjoy the solitude. I do my best songwriting that way. No one to hover over me and no place I have to be.”

  What she hadn’t said, Ethan noted, was that Riley had no family to go home to for Christmas.

  “You’ll come to our house for Christmas,” his mother said, taking the words right out of his mouth.

  Riley’s eyes widened and she shook her head. “Oh, no. I couldn’t. I wasn’t trying to wrangle an invitation. I really do intend to just spend a couple weeks alone and write.”

  “That’s just fine, dear. You do that. On
Christmas Eve you’ll come over for dinner and games. Christmas morning we have pancakes for breakfast, turkey for dinner. You won’t be spending Christmas alone.”

  Riley slanted a helpless gaze his way.

  “No use arguing with her. You know how she is. If you don’t come over she’ll just send one of us to fetch you.”

  She inhaled and let out a sigh, then smiled. “Of course. Thank you, Stacy. I’d love to come over for Christmas.”

  Ethan wondered how many holidays Riley had spent alone the past ten years. She’d never come home before so he had no idea where she’d spent her Thanksgivings and Christmases.

  It would be…interesting spending Christmas with her. And okay, maybe he was thinking about carving out some time to be alone with her.

  They might not have a future together, but they had right now.

  He looked down at Zoey, who leaned against his mother and yawned. “Mom, why don’t you and Dad take Zoey home? She looks tired. I’d like to hang out with Riley for a bit.”

  He knew his mother would jump all over that one. “Of course. Come on, little miss. Time for bed for you.”

  Ethan picked up Zoey and gave her a kiss.

  “Night, Daddy.”

  “Night, muffin.”

  She turned sleepy eyes on Riley. “Night, Riley Jensen. I love you.”

  Riley’s eyes sparkled with tears as she pulled Zoey into her arms. “Good night, Zoey. I love you, too.”

  As they walked away, Riley lifted her eyes to Ethan. “She’s an amazing child. You’re very lucky.”

  “Thanks. I think so.”

  “And she really does have a beautiful voice. So clear and perfectly on key.”

  “She gets that from Amanda because if you recall I can’t sing for shit.”

  Riley laughed. “Your singing is great.” At his dubious look, she said, “Hey, at least you sing on key.”

  “Okay, maybe that, but Nashville isn’t going to come calling to offer me a record deal anytime soon, so I’m grateful Zoey got her singing genes from her mom.”

  “Me too.”

  He looked around and realized it had gotten dark. The crowds had thinned.