Pawliday Love

Chapter 5

CHAPTER FIVE

KILLIAN

F uck. I watched Noelle walk away from me after that kiss and for a moment, I considered running after her and asking her if she wanted to…fuck, I don’t know. I spent the rest of the night brooding in the corner, watching everyone enjoy themselves and thinking about the way she felt in my arms. How she tasted, and how much I wanted to taste her again. Everywhere.

“I think someone found the mistletoe,” Noah said as he came up by my side as the night was winding down. “Eden said Noelle thought you were cute. Even if you were a scrooge.”

“I’m not a scrooge,” I scoffed. Fuck, cute ? “And why are you talking to Eden about me?”

“More like Noelle was talking to my best friend when I just so happened-”

“You never ‘just so happen to’ anything, LeCav.”

He put a hand to his chest like I had wounded his pride. “Killer, I can’t believe you would insinuate that I had anything less than the purest of intentions.”

I rolled my eyes, “Purest of intentions?”

“Yep.” He popped the ‘p’ and grinned. “You,” he poked me in the chest, “need a little of the Christmas spirit, and Noelle has it in abundance. She thinks you’re cute-”

“Cute?”

“Maybe more than cute, but they stopped talking when they noticed I was there. Like Eden and Zoe never let me in on their girl talk Noelle is new, so she hasn’t been around as much but that’ll change.” He waved a hand as a few fans came up and asked us to sign a few of the calendar promo cards. We posed for a few selfies and as they walked away, Noah turned to me. “Besides the point. She likes you, you need a fucking Christmas Miracle more than anyone I know. It’s like you wrote Santa a letter and never got what you wanted under the tree when you were a kid and suddenly you saw what you didn’t get and-”

“You think I need a present, that I didn’t get when I was a kid, and she’s it?”

The goalie grinned. “You said it, not me, Killer.”

“Said what?”

“You want Noelle.”

“She loves Christmas, LeCav.”

“And you did. At least until a few days ago. You even sent Christmas cards two weeks before your Thanksgiving. Then, you went home to Columbus, and boom. Scrooge. What the hell happened to steal your holly jolly?”

I raked a hand over my face. “Drew asked my sister to marry him right after dinner. And Ben brought a date home.”

“So?” Noah asked.

“My mom kept looking at me like…”

“Like she was worried you’d end up alone, staring at your Christmas tree on Christmas Eve, Drinking bourbon and watching ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’, wondering where you went wrong?”

“That went dark,” Eden held two glasses out, a small brown bag between her pinky and ring finger. “Here. It’s the last of the Falling Leaves, and I figured I owed my two highest auction book boyfriends a little something. And,” she jiggled the bag, “cookies from-”

“Anna’s!” Noah grinned and grabbed me by the shoulders. “Cookies.”

“What?” I asked.

Eden leaned closer, her bright pink and purple hair falling forward as she looked me in the eye. “Liquid courage and cookies. If you can’t figure it out, Killer , then I am not going to tell you. But,” she glanced at Noah, “Noelle has a thing for cookies.” She arched her brow. “And you. Girl talk.” She winked. Cole came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist.

“Killer, it’s your Christmas Miracle. Not that ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’ isn’t wonderful, but-” Noah started.

“LeCav.”

“Go get your girl, Killer. Love at first Mistletoe kiss. Or whatever.” Cole added.

“Is everyone in on it?” I took the cookies from Eden, who grinned. “But, I don’t even know where-”

Eden giggled. “Check your phone.”

“Did you-” Cole started.

“The one from Cole is me. And you boys might need to get out more. Some of those-”

“Are all Noah,” Cole muttered as he led her away.

“Merry Christmas, Killer. Enjoy the cookies.” Noah shoved me towards the front door. “Get out of here.”