Page 64 of Daddies' Holiday Toy

“Hey. Enough. You’re gonna wake Holly. You really want to be having this conversion while she’s around?”

Jack doesn’t even acknowledge me.

He leans forward over my shoulder like I’m barely there and jabs a finger hard into Liam’s chest.

“You don’t touch her again. You don’t even look at her.”

Liam’s lips suddenly twitch in that dangerous, baiting way I’ve seen him use before when he wants to get under someone’s skin.

His eyes flick down to the spot where Jack’s finger is still pressing into him then lift slowly until they’re locked on Jack’s face.

There’s a coiled energy in him, the kind that says he’d be more than happy to turn this into something physical if given half a reason.

His smirk turns cold. “You sound jealous.”

Jack’s jaw flexed. “I’m not jealous. I’mdisgusted.”

“Sure,” Liam says, voice dripping with disbelief. “Keep telling yourself that.”

And…that’s enough for me.

I shove Liam back a full step this time, planting my other hand against Jack’s chest to keep him from following.

“Knock it off, both of you. Jesus Christ.” My voice is low but hard, the kind of tone that should’ve been enough to end this before it got any worse.

But it’s already too late.

Their raised voices have done exactly what I’ve been trying to avoid all along.

The front door of the cabin opens, kicking up stray flecks of powder that the heat from inside collides with the chilly frost out here.

A moment later, Holly steps into view.

Her hair is mussed from sleep, sticking up in a way that makes it impossible not to picture her tangled in sheets.

The oversized T-shirt she’s wearing hangs loose off one shoulder, sliding low enough to reveal the slope of her collarbone.

She squints at us, eyes still heavy with sleep. “What’s going on?”

17

HOLLY

I come out of my room still half in that heavy, post-nap fog.

Everything feels soft around the edges and not quite real, my body’s sluggish, limbs loose, not having quite caught up to my brain yet.

I rub at the corner of my eye with my knuckle, trying to blink myself fully awake.

The floor is cool under my bare feet, a faint shock each time my toes touch down on the wood.

I pause in the hallway, stretching my arms above my head until I hear my spine pop, waiting for the familiar hum of voices and the low rumble of the TV.

Strangely, I hear nothing.

It’s too quiet.

And not the good kind of quiet, either.