5

      THAT SASS WAS ADDICTIVE.

      Alexis was a ball of contradictions. Hot and spirited and yet, beneath all that burning sex appeal was a girl who’d obviously been hurt enough to withdraw from anything or anyone who might be able to hurt her again.

      He could understand Erik wanting to punch the last boyfriend’s lights out, because he was feeling a little punchy himself and he had no reason to.

      But turnabout was fair play so he let loose with a little intel. “All right...you shared, so I’ll give you something in return. Her name was Julianne. Jules for short.”

      Alexis snapped her fingers with a definitive shake of her head. “Yep. Gotta steer clear of anyone named Jules—immediate problem.”

      “Is that so?”

      “Absolutely. You should also avoid anyone named Tiffany or Brittany and if they spell their names with an i run like hell.”

      “Good advice.” He nodded, adding for her benefit, “Conversely, any guy named after a Star Trek Next Gen character you should avoid like the plague. Born players. They’re all concerned with going ‘where no man has gone before.’”

      Alexis broke into peals of laughter, prompting a grin of his own. She had a way about her that was unabashed and free, definitely different from most girls he met, and it was getting harder to remember why he was supposed to keep his distance.

      “Any other advice you might want to impart from the other side of the curtain?” she asked playfully.

      He made a show of thinking, but all he was really thinking was that he wanted to kiss her. Strands of dark hair escaped her low ponytail to curl around her jaw, but she made no move to fix it and he was glad. There was something about her devil-may-care attitude about her hair that he found refreshing. Jules had always been picture-perfect, or at least worked hard to appear so and it got old. Don’t touch my hair or don’t smudge my lipstick were familiar admonishments before the end had come crashing down around them. “How’s your ankle feeling?” he asked, redirecting his own thoughts to safer ground.

      Alexis’s gaze dropped to her ankle and she nodded. “Better. The ice helped.”

      “You should still stay off it,” he said, trying to stay focused. “Now...are we going to watch movies or what?”

      “Is there a third option?”

      “Such as?”

      “Such as...hanging lights.”

      “Come again?”

      “Here’s the deal, I can’t sit here for hours on end and just zone out. I need to be doing something, and since I’m stuck home when I thought I’d be elsewhere, and since you’ve already shared that you don’t think it’s a good idea if we knock boots, that leads me to suggest that you help me hang lights...seeing as I’m laid up and all.” She paused for effect then added, “Or, I suppose we could stay indoors, cuddled up on the sofa...just you and me and no one else in the house...with total privacy to do whatever we wanted and no one would ever know...”

      “You don’t play fair,” he groaned, his groin immediately jumping into the conversation, happy to join the fun, which was a terrible, bad thing in the way of trying to keep his hands where they belonged—off Alexis!

      “I never said I played fair,” she said with a beguiling smile. “I play to win.”

      Damn straight, she did. He had to respect that. His choices were: ignore his better judgment and allow Alexis to hop around outside hanging lights or keep her indoors and try to be a good guy and keep his hands to himself. Yeah, not much of a choice. He wasn’t a damn saint. He gave in with a sigh. “All right, you win this round. I suppose being outside doing something is better than staring temptation straight in the face with you cuddled up beside me. But on one condition...”

      “Which is?” she asked warily.

      “You sit your ass in a chair and let me do the work. The last thing I need is your brother asking why I let you hop around on an injured foot and you end up hurting yourself worse.”

      She made a face. “You make me sound like an invalid. I’m fine. However, I concede to your demands. I will direct the labor and you will do the heavy lifting.”

      He chuckled and grabbed the dishes. “So when is this decorating frenzy scheduled to begin?”

      “Well, in the interest of not being outside when that storm hits, I’d say about five minutes after you put away the dishes and we get dressed. Sound good?”

      Layton agreed, and she was actually ready to go a minute earlier than he was. He gave her a once-over ostensibly to gauge whether or not she was dressed warmly enough, but actually, his gaze was far from simply friendly. Hot damn. That girl could melt snow. White fuzzy boots, white fur-lined jacket and white snow pants, she looked like a snow bunny from an upscale ski resort who didn’t plan to actually do any skiing but would look plenty cute just sitting in the lodge sipping hot chocolate. “Trying to blend in with the snow?” he teased, needing desperately to treat her like a little sister so he stopped seeing her as a full-fledged woman with hips and curves. “I’m not sure you have enough white.”

      She fake scowled. “Pardon me if I don’t take fashion tips from a man who thinks pajama pants are acceptable for going out in public.”

      “Correction—lounge pants. Not pajamas,” he said, adding with a wink because he couldn’t help himself. “As you’ve already discovered, I sleep in the nude. No need for pajamas.”

      Her cheeks flared adorably and he had to admit it did nice things to his ego. Knock it off, Romeo. Erik’s little sister, remember? Layton reined in his giddy libido with effort. “Okay, show me where the lights are and let’s get this started.”