Chapter 14
The afternoon of Christmas Eve, Grady pressed the doorbell at Chelsea’s house. He’d been looking forward to meeting her family, but at the same time, his skin prickled, as if he was nervous. Maybe he was.
A beautiful young woman with long, copper-colored hair opened the door and greeted him with a smile. “Merry Christmas.” She held out her hand to Grady. “I’m DeAndra. It’s nice to meet you, Grady.”
“I’ve been looking forward to meeting you all.” He grasped her hand, and her firm grip fit with the keen intensity of her gaze. “Thanks for allowing me to be a part of your Christmas celebration, DeAndra.”
“Are you kidding?” She flashed him a grin. “We’ve been bugging Chelsea to let us meet you. We’re glad you made it.”
DeAndra swept him inside the house, leading him to the great room, which he now knew so well.
Chelsea captured his entire attention as she headed from the kitchen straight for him.
She wore a deep red dress, her blonde hair swept up, and a sprig of holly pinned to her dress.
Her favorite diamond earrings glittered in the soft lighting.
He took her in his arms and held her a long moment.
When he raised his head, he kissed her, then looked into her eyes. He smiled. “Merry Christmas.”
She brightened the entire room with her answering smile. “Merry Christmas.”
“Ah-hem.” DeAndra braced her hands on her hips. “None of that, kids.”
Grady laughed as he and Chelsea parted, and she rolled her eyes at DeAndra.
“Come meet the twins.” Chelsea gestured to two young men who perched on her couch, leaning forward with game controllers in their hands.
The twins focused on a video game as they sat in front of a large-screen TV, playing a game he recognized as Myth Hunter.
She raised her voice. “Brad, Joe. Come meet our guest.”
Each guy waved his hand in greeting, without looking up, as they maneuvered their way through the game.
Chelsea shook her head. “They still haven’t outgrown video games.”
Grady looked at her with amusement. “No comment.”
“That’s right. You, too.” She smiled. “It is pretty cool that the homegrown local gal, Ellie McLeod, is the voice of the lead character for Myth Hunter. She’s a regular in my dress shop.”
He nodded. “She’s a great gal.” Ellie lived with her new husband, Tucker Rawlings, on their horse ranch outside of King Creek.
Grady tilted his head toward the front door. “I have a few things to bring in.”
DeAndra swept past them, copper hair swinging over her shoulder, and stood in front of the TV, staring down her brothers. “You two should say hello to Grady and help him get his stuff from outside.”
Grady said, “I can get it.”
DeAndra shook her head and narrowed her gaze at the twins. “Come on now.”
They set their controllers on the coffee table and said in unison, “Yes, Mom.”
Chelsea smirked. “Brad and Joe seem to think they have three moms sometimes, between me, DeAndra, and Anneka.”
“The boys turned twenty-one earlier this year,” DeAndra said. “I can still remember when they were small enough for me and Anneka to boss around.”
“You still boss us around.” The first brother, wearing a blue University of Arizona shirt with the Wildcat logo, held out his hand to Grady. “I’m Joe, the good twin.”
“Great to meet you.” Grady shook his hand. “Myth Hunter is currently my favorite game.”
“You should join us.” The second twin, wearing a maroon Arizona State University shirt with the Sun Devil mascot on it, gripped Grady’s hand next. “I’m Brad, the better twin.”
They released hands, and Grady looked from one twin to the other. “If it wasn’t for your shirts, you’d look like mirrors.”
“One reason why it’s good to go to different schools,” Brad said.
Joe nodded. “Even if he is a Suck Devil.”
“It’s better than being a Wild Asshat.” Brad punched Joe’s arm. “You’re just pissed because we won the Territorial Cup this year,” he shot back, referring to the annual U of A vs ASU game. Grady had heard the rivalry games went back to 1899.
Joe punched Brad back. “We’ll kick your asses next year.”
“You’d think they were still in middle school.” A young, pretty woman with short, mahogany hair captured Grady’s attention.
She held out her hand. “I’m Anneka. Welcome to our Christmas celebration.”
When he started to raise his hand to grip hers, she laughed and pulled him into a hug. “None of that hand-shaking stuff with this family.”
“That’s true.” DeAndra hugged him when Anneka stepped back. She gave an impish grin. “I was just so excited to meet you.”
“I’ve been looking forward to meeting you all.” Grady smiled. “I’d better grab the stuff out of my Pathfinder.” He headed out the door and to his SUV with Joe and Brad joining him.
“Is this where we tell you that you need to be good to Chelsea, or we kick your ass?” Joe said with a false stern note in his tone.
“We could tie him to an anthill.” Brad came to a stop when they reached the vehicle. “After pouring honey all over him.”
“Great option.” Joe grinned at his twin. “I do like the idea of a giant vat of burning oil.”
Grady laughed. “She deserves to be treated like a princess.” He grabbed three large bags and handed each brother one of them. “I won’t let her down.”
“You’d better stick to that promise.” Brad looked at Joe. “I’ll handle the first round of surveillance. You can take second shift.”
Grady shook his head. He liked her brothers and their clear concern for Chelsea’s happiness, even though they were teasing about the oil and the anthill.
Once they were back in the house, Grady took the gifts he’d brought for each member of the family and put them beneath the Christmas tree. He pulled out two bottles of wine from one bag, and Anneka took them from him.
“You are the best.” She raised one of them. “Moscato, my favorite. And Chardonnay for DeAndra and Chelsea.”
Grady lifted a six-pack of green beer bottles out of the last bag, along with a bottle of non-alcoholic sparkling cider.
“Rolling Rock.” Brad relieved Grady of the six-pack and the bottle of cider and carried them to the kitchen. “Best beer ever. I’ll get them and the cider to the fridge.”
“Awesome on the beer.” Joe gestured to the paused form of Nyx Cox, the main character of Myth Hunter, currently on the TV screen. “Wanna join us? We have a couple of extra controllers.”
Brad returned, and they walked to the living room. “The girls keep kicking us out of the kitchen.” He pretended to look disappointed. “Guess we have to play the game until they’ll let us near the dining room.”
Joe heaved a big sigh. “We get clean-up and dish duty after dinner.”
The twins plopped onto the tan leather couch, and Grady took the matching armchair.
A fire crackled in the fireplace, and he smelled the burning wood.
The flames were bright and high, and it looked like a log had recently been added to the fire.
A stack of logs was on the right side of the hearth, the poker and ash bucket on the left.
Brad handed over a blue game controller for their PlayStation, and Grady logged into his online account so that he could join their game. The screen was partitioned to show each player. Soon, they continued from where the twins left off.
They were in a jungle, searching for the truth behind a myth and the treasures that came with proving it to be true—if it was. As they maneuvered through the game, they could end up in a trap, a distraction perpetrated by the boss of the level they were on.
Joe took the path on the right, and Brad went to the left.
Grady went down the middle. “I’ve met Ellie McLeod.
” Grady’s character used a machete to make his way through the dense jungle.
“She’s a great voice actor. In real life, she sounds nothing like Nyx.
” The main character had a commanding yet sensual and sophisticated tone.
“I hear she does a lot of other voicework for stuff like anime.”
Brad found a bottle of elixir, grabbed it, and continued on. “When did you meet her?”
“When I was at her husband’s horse ranch, before they got married.” Grady barely managed to duck under a falling tree. He hit the ground, rolled, and bounded to his feet—only to come face-to-face with a tribesman, an NPC—non-player character. The tribesman bore a spear dripping with poison.
“I saw her on a talk show,” Joe said. “She is one gorgeous woman.” He flashed a grin at Brad. “Just don’t tell her husband I said so. I hear he’s a big guy.”
“He knows men find her attractive. She attracts a lot of attention at game cons.” Grady battled the tribesman, dodging the poison-tipped spear and running the character through with his longsword. “That’s one thing about her career that he’s not keen on.”
The guys continued on with the game, and Grady felt like he’d known the twins for a long time, probably because Chelsea had talked about them now and then.
The smell of honeyed ham, potatoes, and freshly baked rolls made his belly shout in protest. Grady had to force himself to focus on the game, rather than being distracted by his beautiful woman as she and her sisters made dinner.
It was a wonder he did well at the game, considering his thoughts were mostly on Chelsea.
Chelsea was thrilled at how well Grady fit in with her family.
She had been sure he would, but she hadn’t taken it for granted.
Christmas dinner had been filled with laughter and chatter, and Grady joined in.
She was glad he had been able to arrange his schedule so that he could celebrate Christmas Eve with them, especially since he was so far from all his family.
He had to work the rest of his shift tomorrow and the next couple of days after that.
Her mind wandered as she returned to the kitchen to help put away leftovers. She wondered if she and Grady would be together next Christmas. She reined in her thoughts—she didn’t need to go there.