Free Nice & Naughty by Tawny Weber

from a wind chime.
    Another hit? Diego didn’t change his pace. No point since the apparent culprits were still in the front yard, both gathering lacies before the chilly wind could grab them away.
    Jade didn’t seem too worried about her lingerie blowing in the wind, though. She stormed right past the pretty little blonde trying to pluck a bra down from a naked tree branch.
    “What the hell are you doing?” she snapped at the guy on her porch, one tennis-shoe-clad foot propping the screen open while he quickly tossed handfuls of undies inside. The guy straightened so fast his shaggy brown hair hit him in the eyes.
    “We’re sorry,” the blonde said before Shaggy could defend himself. “I felt horrible when I heard what happened to your lingerie. I knew you’d be totally ooked out, so I came over this morning to take it to Mom’s to wash. I was bringing it back and had my hands full.”
    Mom’s? Reaching the front yard, Diego studied the other woman. Twenty at the most, she was as blonde and tiny as Jade, but softer. Girlie curls tumbled around a face rounder, but no less striking, than her sister’s. A pale blue skirt floated around her feet, matching the cloud-soft-looking sweater peeking out from her long, white wool coat. There was a third Carson sister, wasn’t there? Diego scratched his chin, wondering if the gene fairy had been just as generous with that one, too.
    “I tripped going up the steps, though,” the pretty blonde said, almost in tears as she rose to her feet and angled one leg to show the dirty rip at the hem of her skirt. “The basket flew out of my hands and your unmentionables went everywhere. Oh, Jade, I’m so sorry.”
    “I’m not worried about the underwear, Beryl. I want to know where my cat is,” Jade snapped, not looking pacified at all. Diego was impressed. He considered himself hardened and tough, but he’d have had trouble resisting the pleading sweetness in the younger woman’s look. Must be some kind of sibling immunity.
    “I thought I was helping,” Shaggy excused sullenly from the porch. Ignoring Diego, he crossed his arms over his expensive ski jacket and gave Jade a look just as pouty as his girlfriend’s. Diego couldn’t help grinning. The pair of them looked like the last two sad puppies in a pet-store window on Christmas Eve.
    “Helping? I’m under strict orders by the mayor, and by Mom, to keep Persephone inside for a reason,” Jade scolded as she swept her hand toward the house next door. Diego followed the gesture, then winced. The cute wooden gingerbread house was lying on its side, tinsel shredded around a mangled foam candy cane.
    “Neal didn’t mean to let her out,” the other woman explained quietly as she drew herself up. She gave Diego a curious look, but kept her focus on pacifying her sister. Tilting her chin so the curls slid over her shoulder, she waved her hand in a move worthy of any prom princess. “Neal was carrying some gift boxes that I wanted to hide here so Mom couldn’t find them. Suddenly Persephone got all crazy. Growling at him and hissing and stuff. Then I tripped and when he came out to help me, she just sort of took off. You know how she is this time of year.”
    Was the cat really that bad? He cast a quick, suspicious glance around the bushes, glad to be wearing thick leather motorcycle boots. Just in case.
    “She’s supposed to stay inside,” Jade said stiffly, as if she was having to filter her words through her teeth to keep the cussing at the back of her tongue.
    Diego knew the feeling.
    “We’ll catch her,” the princess offered. “I promise, we’ll haul her back before she does any damage.”
    “She headed for the park. She’ll probably go straight for the gazebo. I’ll get her before she can haul any decorations off. Don’t worry, I’ll fix it,” Neal said, his words conciliatory, despite the flash of anger in his eyes. He brushed a quick kiss on the princess’s cheek, then sprinted down the steps and