Loretta waved her hand. “I know, but still, if I’d thought about it in advance, we could have shopped online. I hated inconveniencing all of those other shoppers.”

“Mom, I think all those other shoppers enjoyed getting a glimpse of Phil and Leon’s muscles. I don’t think they minded at all.” Carolina winked at her mother.

“If you say so. Either way, it was such a fun day. And now I’m utterly exhausted.” She looped her arm through Mitchell’s. “How was your day?”

“Good. Busy. Hung out with the boys for a while.”

Loretta turned to Drew. “Oh, Drew, I’m so sorry to be rude.” She came up and put her arms around him to give him a hug. “We’re so glad you’re here.”

He hugged her back. “Thank you for having me, Mrs. Preston.”

“Loretta. Stop being so formal. We want you to feel at home.” She pulled back. “Carolina tells me your parents are off on a cruise for the holidays?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“How lovely for them. I’d love to take a cruise with Mitchell sometime. Please have your mother call me after she gets back. I want to hear all about it.”

“I’ll be sure to do that. She’d love to talk to you.”

“Would you like me to help you carry these packages upstairs?” Mitchell asked.

“Yes, that would be great. My feet are sore and right now I’d love nothing more than to soak in a bubble bath. It’s been a long and very taxing day.”

Loretta turned to Carolina and Evelyn and hugged them both. “Thank you for spending the day with me. I enjoyed it so much.”

“I did, too, Mom,” Carolina said, kissing her mother on the cheek.

“Thanks, Mom. You helped me finish up my Christmas shopping,” Evelyn said.

“Good night, all,” Mitchell said, arms laden with bags as he followed Loretta up the stairs. The agents followed behind them.

Evelyn fell onto the sofa and propped her feet up. “Lord, what an exhausting day.”

“I could rub your feet or give you a bubble bath,” Gray said, waggling his brows.

Evelyn laughed and patted his leg. “Both are very enticing options. I’ll reserve both for later. Right now I’m just enjoying not standing.”

“I’m with you on that,” Carolina said. She took off her boots and, with a loud groan, pulled her feet up on the sofa. Drew took a spot on the same sofa, but deliberately didn’t sit too close to her.

“So shopping was fun?” he asked.

“For us, yes,” Carolina said. “For you and Gray it would have been torture. Be thankful you weren’t here.”

“Hey, I was here, and I was spared,” Gray said.

“You were. Your mother suggested I invite you. I said you wanted to spend time with your dad today. See how deeply I love you?” Evelyn batted her lashes at Gray.

“It’s obviously true love. And you have my undying gratitude.” Gray brushed his lips across Evelyn’s.

“Ugh. You two should get a room,” Carolina said.

“We have a room. Upstairs, as a matter of fact. And that hot bath your mother mentioned is sounding better and better. I can’t believe it’s ten thirty.”

Drew arched a brow. “Shopping marathon.”

“Well, to be fair, we did stop and eat breakfast. And lunch.”

“And dinner,” Evelyn added. “So we did get to sit down here and there. But still, my future mother-in-law can shop, and once she gets started, she goes and goes. And goes.”

Evelyn yawned.

Gray stood and held out his hand. “Come on. Hot bath time for you. Then we’ll cuddle up on the bed and watch movies.”

“Sounds like a plan.” She waved at Drew and Carolina. “Good night you two.”

“Night,” Carolina said.

“Good night.”

Carolina turned to him. “I’m so tired. I should probably head upstairs.”

“You probably should. From the looks of all those bags, you have a lot of wrapping to do.”

She laughed. “Yes, there’s that, too.”

“You had a good day?”

“It was great. I don’t get to spend a lot of time with my mom, so spending the day catching up with her was fun.”

“Good.”

“How was your day? What time did you get in?”

“A little before lunch. And my day was fine. I got to kick back with Gray and your dad. We played some pool and watched television. It was nice to relax, especially after a long stretch of games. Plus I got to catch up with Gray.”

“I’m glad you had that time together.”

“Speaking of your brother . . .”

She frowned. “What about Gray?”

“He doesn’t know about you and me. At least I haven’t said anything to him.”

“Well, he hasn’t heard about it from me. That would be . . . complicated.”

“Yeah. That’s what I was thinking.”

“And really, what is there to tell? It’s not like we’re dating or anything. We’re just—”

He gave her a look. “Just what? Fucking?”

Her gaze shot to the stairs. “Drew.”

“I could take you out, you know. If you’d let me.”

She shook her head. “I don’t have time for a relationship.”

He let out a short laugh. “Isn’t that what we’re having? A relationship?”

“No. We’re doing exactly as you said.” She paused, then whispered—“Fucking.”

“Okay. Call it what you want. I just don’t want to complicate things by letting Gray know we’re doing whatever it is we’re doing.”

She nodded. “I agree. So you should probably keep your distance while you’re here.”

He didn’t like the direction this conversation was going. “So you want me to just hang out with Gray and ignore you.”

He could tell she didn’t like it anymore than he did, which made him feel at least a little better.

“I guess that’s probably a good idea.”

He stood. “Done.”

“Where are you going?”

“To bed. I’m tired.”

“Oh. Okay.”

“You want me to help you upstairs with your bags?”

“No. I’ve got them.” She got up, grabbed her boots and shoved them under her arm, then started wrangling all the shopping bags.

No way was she going to make it in one trip.

He grabbed the majority of them.

“Lead the way. I’ll follow.”

“All right.” She headed up the stairs, Drew a couple steps behind, which gave him a stellar view of her butt encased in those very tight jeans.

Ignore her, huh? Yeah, like that was going to be possible if she kept wearing jeans that looked like they’d been sewn on her ass. His dick twitched just thinking about the other night when he’d had her bent over, his cock sliding in and out of her hot, wet pussy.

And then he went fully hard.

Shit. He swallowed and counted the number of steps up to the second floor, hoping his erection would be gone by then.

No such luck, because Carolina had a natural sway to her hips that made him groan.

She gave him a look over her shoulder. “Are you okay back there?”

“Fine,” he said through gritted teeth.

“It’s just down the hall here.” She’d dropped her voice to a whisper, no doubt not to disturb anyone.

She opened the door to her room and flipped on the lights. It was spacious, with a big bed he could already imagine seeing her naked on.

Which wasn’t helping his pounding dick. He needed to erase those thoughts.

He laid the bags down. “Nice room. Has this one always been yours?”

“Yes. And thanks. Is your room okay?”

“It’s fine. I don’t need much, and my room here is plenty big enough.”

“I’m glad. Which one did they put you in?”

He leaned against the wall. “Why? Thinking of paying me a midnight visit?”

She rushed over and pulled him inside, then shut the door. “Why don’t you broadcast to the entire family? I thought we agreed we were going to be discreet?”

“Yeah, well, that was before you walked ahead of me up the stairs. He palmed his dick through his jeans, and Carolina’s gaze went right there, which only made him rub his erection more.

“Drew.” Her tone was a warning, but she looked torn herself.

“I can’t help it, Lina. You make me hard.”

She shuddered out a breath. “We can’t do this.”

But she didn’t back away, and she didn’t open the door for him to leave.

“Okay. We can’t do this.”

He waited. And she came closer.

“Drew.”

He slid his fingers in her hair. “Yeah.”

She rose up on her toes and brushed her lips across his. He swept his arm around her back and flipped her, pushing her back against the wall next to the door. Then he kissed her, taking what he’d wanted since she walked in tonight—a deep, soul-shattering kiss, pressing his body full-on against hers, letting her feel what she did to him.

She moaned against his lips and he wrapped his tongue around hers while letting his hand roam along her back and lower to cup her butt. He pulled her in, driving his shaft against her.

He wanted her naked, wanted to sink inside her, the need for her driving his desire to a primal level that left him mindless.

She reached for his shirt and pulled it up. He released her lips and tugged the shirt over his head, then grabbed her sweater, doing the same. He undid the clasp of her bra and removed it, her breasts spilling into his waiting hands. With relentless need, he bent and took each bud into his mouth, sucking until she whimpered, pulling at him, kissing him with the same fevered hunger that drove him.

He stepped back and undid the button on his jeans, kicking his shoes off at the same time he shucked his jeans and boxers to the floor. Carolina was already reaching for his cock, dropping to her knees and putting her mouth on him.

He groaned when she took him between her lips, and as he watched his shaft disappear into her hot, wet mouth, he propped a hand against the wall for support, because his legs shook. He pumped his cock into her mouth, then partly withdrew. She lifted her gaze to his and cupped his balls, gently squeezing as she propelled her lips forward and squeezed his cock between the roof of her mouth and her sweet tongue.