Free Yule Be Mine by Lori Foster

him. “It’s the least I can do since you played White Knight for me again.”
    Damn. Parker shut the door behind her. Now what? Hands on his hips, he looked around at his apartment, seeing the newspapers everywhere, the layers of dust, the dishes in the sink. His neck stiffened.
    So what? He worked so damn many hours this time of year, he didn’t have time for fussing around the apartment.
    Stalking into his bedroom, mumbling under his breath, Parker rummaged around in his dresser until he found clean clothes. In the bathroom, he stripped down to his skin and stepped under the steamy, relaxing spray. Tension eased, and his thoughts drifted—to Lily being only twenty-four, young and ripe, and so sexy.
    To Lily smiling at him, touching him. Understanding him, admiring him.
    To Lily naked, stretched out over his kitchen table while he—
    With a groan, Parker stuck his head under the water and tried to clear his brain, but the past ten months flashed by with highlights of Lily. He saw her in her shorts, her shapely legs lightly tanned. He saw her speckled in yellow paint when she’d redecorated her kitchen. He saw her fussing over him when he got stitches in his head from a car chase that went bad, and laughing at him when he came home covered in mud for the same reason.
    When with her, he felt younger and happier—and that made him vulnerable.
    Dealing with the dregs of society had taught him that good didn’t always prevail over evil. Right didn’t overcome might. Crimes went unpunished, while good people sometimes paid with their lives.
    But Lily gave balance to the futility of his job. Her enthusiasm for life made him less pessimistic. Time and time again, she told him what a difference he made—and when she said it, he almost believed it.
    Almost.
    His trained ears detected the sound of his door opening. He straightened abruptly, straining to hear Lily, his heart suddenly galloping a wild beat. If he didn’t greet her, would she join him in the shower?
    Liking that thought far too much, Parker washed with a vengeance, rinsed, and turned off the water.
    He could hear Lily singing…to Christmas music.
    Damn. Dredging up his bad attitude, his disgust with the holiday, he scowled toward his closed bathroom door.
    He didn’t have any Christmas music. None. Was it on the radio? Probably. Lately, that’s all they played.
    She had a nice voice.
    He groaned.
    Parker quickly dried and dressed in loose sweatpants and a T-shirt. He finger-combed his wet hair, peered in the mirror, saw the dark whiskers on his face, the circles of exhaustion under his red-rimmed eyes, and disgusted, left the bathroom.
    Before he saw Lily, he noticed the portable CD player, blaring Elvis’s holiday tunes. Then he noticed the red, cinnamon-scented candle, its smell potent enough to assault his nose. He saw that the dishes, placed just so on his beat-up table, were all red and green.
    And he saw Lily, standing at his counter, pouring a big glass of milk. She sang along with Elvis while rocking her hips to the beat of the music. An air of happiness surrounded her, and Parker simply stood there, watching her, his heart thumping and his mind in turmoil.
    She must have felt the intensity of his gaze, because she glanced over her shoulder and gave him a quick once over, her expression warming. “I figured you must like milk, since you have a gallon of it. I couldn’t see beer with dinner, and there’s nothing else.” She turned to face him. “Unless you want me to run back to my place and grab some eggnog?”
    The thought of eggnog nearly made him gag. “Milk is fine.” He gestured at the table presentation. “What the hell is all this?”
    She laughed. Of course. Lily was forever laughing, because Lily was always happy.
    â€œYou sound like the Grinch, Parker.”
    â€œWho?”
    â€œYou remember. That green nasty guy who wanted to do away with Christmas