“What?” Her gasp of outrage echoed down the hallway. She brought her voice down to a furious whisper. “Are you out of your mind? What about Christmas?”
“What about it? My mother’s going on a cruise with her church group. She didn’t want to stay home without Dad this year.”
“And you’re okay with that?”
I hated the hushed, careful tone of her voice. My dad had passed away a few years ago, and I was thrilled that my mom was moving on and doing things with her friends. I didn’t have to worry about her as much anymore. With my job, I was happy to enjoy a quiet Christmas.
I was pretty Christmased out.
“I’m good, Mel. I swear.”
She moved closer and rubbed my arm. “I don’t know about that. I can’t get you to go on a blind date, but you want to go to a cabin with a near stranger?”
I pulled her in for a quick hug. “If you fixed me up with guys as hot as this guy, there wouldn’t have been a question.”
Mel laughed and hung on for an extra minute. “Okay, you have me there.” She pushed me away and squeezed my shoulders. “You take that extra charger and make sure your phone is always with you.”
“I think if he’s a murderer, I would have already been done for.”
“Don’t make jokes,” she said with her voice cracking.
“Hey.” I linked our fingers. “It’s fine. I swear. I’m a little crazy, but I’m not stupid. You know I’m not.”
“No.” She shook our hands lightly. “And I don’t know anyone who needs to get laid more than you.”
“Gee, thanks.”
Mel laughed. “If nothing else, it does wonders for the skin. Not that you have to worry about that. You still look like you’re twenty.”
I touched the small blemish on my chin. “I could totally do without these.”
She pushed me away. “Go. Have fun. Text me every day so I know you’re okay.”
“Yes, Mom.”
“Shut up. Your mom would be more thrilled than I am.”
I winced. She wasn’t wrong about that. “All right. Merry Christmas and all that. Have fun with your parents and brothers.”
Mel sighed. “Heaven help me. You were supposed to be my support in that endeavor, you know. Think you can abandon me to have wild monkey sex?”
“Yes.”
She laughed. “Um, duh. Of course, you can. At least this one time. I’d lose my bestie card if I didn’t let you go. Besides, your lipstick is still smudged and I know that’s the super-stay-on-through-a-hurricane lipstick.”
Yeah, well, Lincoln Murdock could definitely be categorized as a storm, so that fit. I had no sarcastic reply for that one, so I just grinned.
“Ugh. There better be more details later.”
I hugged her. “You won’t be able to shut me up.” I grinned again and waved as I headed toward the elevator. I tapped the up button and the doors opened to a glowering Lincoln. He held a large leather bag in one hand. He’d changed out his Santa suit for his jeans and plaid shirt with his black leather jacket.
I was pretty sure my tongue was hanging out, but hope sprung eternal on the fact that I wasn’t quite so uncouth.
“Trying to escape, Miss Kane?”
9
Kay