Free Simply Irresistible by Jill Shalvis

from last night. He stood still in shocked surprise at Maddie’s
     soft voice.
    “Hi,” she said. “Potential new client here, looking for a master.”
    The loud knocking startled Maddie out of a dead sleep. Discombobulated, she blinked, and then blinked again, but all she could
     see was a sea of green and a flashing red that had her groaning and lifting her hands to hold her pounding head.
    Taking stock, she realized that she was flat on her back beneath the tree, staring up at a string of obnoxious chili pepper
     lights.
    Or maybe that was the hangover that was so obnoxious.
    With another groan, she managed to sit up and nearly took out an eye with one of the low, straggly tree branches. Slapping
     a hand over it, she looked down at herself. Huh. She was completely tangled in red yarn. And she was pretty sure she had sap
     in her hair.
    Even more odd, the cottage was spotless. Maddie had vague recollections of a tipsy Tara moving through the place with a broom
     in one hand and a rag in the other, bossing Maddie to assist as she went.
    Which didn’t explain the yarn. But she also remembered going through the cottage’s bedroom, where they’d found some of their
     mother’s things. There’d been a basketfull of loose pictures, an empty scrapbook that Phoebe had clearly meant to use but never had, and another book, as well—
Knitting for Dummies.
Maddie had stared at the book and at the half-knitted scarf beneath it and felt her heart clench at the long-ago memory—she
     and her mom, sitting together, trying to learn to knit.
    Trying
being the operative word.
    Phoebe had laughed at their pathetic efforts, saying how the fun wasn’t in the final product, but in the journey. At the time,
     it’d frustrated Maddie.
    Not last night. Last night, it’d been a precious memory, one of far too few, and she’d laid claim to the book, the knitting
     needles, and the half-finished scarf from all those years ago. While Chloe had sorted through the pictures and Tara had cleaned,
     Maddie had re-taught herself how to knit.
    Loosely speaking.
    Her sisters were still prone under the tree, out cold. Chloe was snoring. Tara was…
smiling?
Not a sight Maddie had seen often. Hell, none of them were exactly free with their smiles, she’d noticed. She shook her head,
     then groaned at the movement.
    Note to self—
never drink again.
    At some point, they’d clearly decided pj’s were a good thing. Maddie was wearing her favorite flannel Sponge-Bob drawstring
     pants and a Hanes beefy tee with the words BITE ME across the chest. Chloe’s pj’s had come from Victoria’s Secret, but with her body, she could have worn a potato sack and
     looked good. Across her teddy the words JINGLE MY BELLS were delicately embroidered. Tara was wearing men’s boxers, a cami, a silk bathrobe, and a pair of knee-high socks.
    Maddie nudged Chloe’s foot.
    “No more, Juan,” Chloe whispered. “My inhaler’s too low.”
    The knock on the front door came again, and in unison Chloe and Tara sat straight up, conked their heads together, and moaned.
    Maddie staggered toward the door, taking a second to stare in shock at their tree. Last night, it had been the most gorgeous
     tree she’d ever seen. This morning, it stood barely three feet tall and looked like… “A Charlie Brown Christmas tree,” she
     whispered. She stepped over her sisters’ legs, caught sight of herself in the small mirror over the little table in the foyer,
     and just about screamed.
    Her hair had rioted. The little mascara she’d had on her lashes was now outlining her eyes, and she had a crease down one
     cheek from whatever she’d used as a pillow, which she suspected had been the yarn she was still wrapped in. “Never again,”
     she told her pathetic reflection and then pointed at it for emphasis.
    Her reflection stuck her tongue out.
    With a sigh, she opened the front door, then stood there in a stupor. Standing on the porch, wearing faded Levi’s, a black