But she pulled away. “I really need that shower, before the rest of the family wakes up.”

“Yeah. Me, too.” He swept his thumb over her bottom lip. “Too bad we can’t take one together.”

She sighed. “That would have been fun. The drawback to being surrounded by family—one that doesn’t knock before entering a room.”

He laughed. “I’ll see you downstairs.”

After Carolina left, Drew took a quick shower and got dressed. Not one to delay the inevitable, he found Gray downstairs, brooding over a cup of coffee.

“Where’s everyone else?”

“My parents and their security went for an early morning walk. Evelyn’s still asleep. What the hell are you doing in bed with my sister?”

Drew went to the coffeepot and poured a cup for himself, then faced Gray. “I don’t really think that requires a detailed explanation, do you?”

“Come on, Drew. She’s my sister.”

“And well over twenty-one, and more than capable of making decisions about who she shares a bed with. It’s not like she’s a kid anymore, Gray. You need to let this one go.”

“It’s a rule, man. You never mess with a friend’s little sister. You broke the cardinal rule of friendship.”

“That was a rule set up when we were nineteen.” Though no way was Drew going to mention he had, in fact, broken that rule back in college. Gray would never forgive him.

“It’s one that still holds true.”

Drew took a couple long swallows of coffee. After not enough sleep last night, he wasn’t ready to fight this battle with his best friend. “Come on. Are you saying I’m not good enough for her?”

Gray paced. “No. That’s not what I mean at all. But I know your lifestyle. I know you go through women as often as you change socks. I don’t want Carolina to be hurt.”

“And I don’t want to hurt her. It’s not like that.”

Gray let out a short laugh. “Right. I’m sure you say that about all the women you sleep with, then dump.”

“You need to stay clear of this one, buddy. My relationship with Carolina is my business, and hers. Not yours.”

Drew knew right away it was the wrong thing to say. The look Gray leveled at him was not one of friend to friend. It was big brother looking out for little sister.

“My sister’s happiness is always going to be my business. And if I think she’s seeing the wrong guy, I’m going to step in.”

Immediately defensive, Drew stepped forward. “Since when am I the wrong guy?”

“Okay, enough of this.”

Drew looked over at the doorway where Carolina had walked in. Instead of coming toward him, though, she went to Gray and put her arms around him for a hug.

“Merry Christmas.”

Gray hugged her back. “Merry Christmas to you, too.”

Then she came over to Drew, and gave him the same innocuous hug. “Merry Christmas.”

“Merry Christmas, Lina.”

Gray shot him another one of those looks that could kill. Tough.

Carolina grabbed a cup and the teapot and started to make tea. Then she turned to face her brother. “I’m an adult. This is my life, and I get to make the decisions about what—and who—is right for me. While I appreciate you being protective, Gray, you being irate about me sleeping with Drew is out-of-bounds. He’s your friend, and I don’t want your friendship with Drew strained over this. If this goes wrong and I get hurt, that’s on me. I’m in this willingly and with my eyes open. Got that?”

Gray looked at Carolina for a long minute, then his shoulders finally relaxed. “I guess. But you know I’m always going to watch out for you.”

“I understand and I appreciate it. And if Evelyn had had big brothers who would have been unhappy about you sleeping with her, what would you have said to them?”

Gray looked at her for a minute, then shrugged. “I’d have probably told them to fuck off, because my relationship with Evelyn was nobody’s business but the two of us.”

Carolina stared at him.

“Okay, point taken.” Gray looked over at Drew. “Sorry for flying off the handle.”

“It’s okay,” Drew said. “And Merry Christmas.”

Gray laughed. “Back at you.”

“And can we please not mention this to Mom and Dad? I’ve had enough drama this morning. I’d like to keep my relationship with Drew under wraps for the time being.”

“Why?” Gray asked.

“Because it’s new. And you know how Mom is about stuff like this. Just me seeing a guy will have her so excited she’ll be picking out china patterns for us.”

“Okay, you have a point. I won’t say a word. How about Evelyn?”

“I’ll . . . mention it to Evelyn,” Carolina said, and then slid her glance to Drew, which gave Drew the impression that Evelyn probably already knew.

Given that women talked to each other about relationships all the time, that didn’t surprise him. Or bother him.

“Now that that’s settled, I’m going to make some tea and try to wake up the normal way.”

It wasn’t long before Gray and Carolina’s parents came back from their walk, and Evelyn came downstairs. Then there was a flurry of activity and wishing everyone a Merry Christmas. They had breakfast, then everyone gathered in the family room to open gifts.

Drew settled back to watch the family open their gifts, then was surprised when Mrs. Preston handed one to him.

“For me?”

She smiled at him. “Of course.”

He opened it up, and there was a framed photograph of him scoring a goal in a game against New Jersey. It was a great shot, too, with his stick in forward motion right at the net.

He stood and hugged her, then shook the vice president’s hand. “Thank you for this. It means a lot to me.”

“I’m so glad you like it,” Mrs. Preston said.

Evelyn and Gray had given him something, too. A mug with a hockey stick that said, “I have a big, hard stick and I know what to do with it.” He laughed out loud.

“This is perfect.”

“Evelyn picked it out,” Gray said.

Evelyn grinned. “It seemed appropriate for you.”

When Gray gave her a look, her eyes widened and her cheeks flushed red with embarrassment. “That’s not at all what I meant.”

And then everyone laughed.

He’d brought gifts for all of them, too, though considering what went down this morning, he wasn’t sure the gift he’d gotten for Carolina was going to go over all that well with Gray. But he’d found it and he thought it suited her, so he handed it to her.

She was sitting on the floor in front of the tree, so while everyone else was busy, he sat next to her and handed her the box.

She looked up at him. “You got me a gift?”

“Yeah. It’s nothing special.”

She opened the box. Inside, a single silver chain. He wasn’t even sure she’d like it since she typically wore no jewelry.

He leaned in closer. “I know you don’t wear jewelry, but I love your neck, and when I saw this, I pictured it around your throat.”

Carolina took a deep breath and fingered the chain in the box. She lifted her gaze to his. “It’s lovely. It’s perfect. Thank you.”

She pulled the chain out, then lifted her hair. “Would you mind?”

He undid the clasp, then fastened the chain around her neck. He leaned in and whispered to her. “Now, when you wear it, you can think about me.”

She turned to face him. “I really want to kiss you right now.”

But her gaze drifted, and Drew looked to see Gray staring at them. “Later.”

She reached under the tree and handed him a box. “This is for you.”

He opened the box and inside was a pair of boxer briefs with the Carolina Designs logo.

“My first pair. And a part of me that I want touching you,” she said, her voice low and soft.

He smiled at her. “Believe me, I’ll definitely be thinking about you when I’m wearing them. Thank you.”

“And that’s what I wanted to talk to you about. A photo shoot for the underwear line. On the ice.”

He cocked a brow. “What? You want to make my balls shrivel up like walnuts?”

She laughed. “I haven’t even mentioned making it look like you’re sweating, so we’d have to pour water over you.”

He rolled his eyes. “There are ways to make me actually sweat, you know.”

“Obviously we’re going to have to talk about this another time.”

“Obviously.”

After they finished opening gifts, everyone dressed for church. Drew wasn’t much of a churchgoer, though he typically went with his parents on Christmas, so it was fine going with the Preston family.

The media was in attendance again today, and the church was packed. He sat next to Carolina, trying not to hold her hand as they listened to the minister talk about new beginnings.

A lot like Carolina and him. Their relationship had started out as a disaster, and she’d harbored a grudge for a long time. But the ice between them had slowly been melting. So maybe this was a new beginning for them. He’d enjoyed spending the holiday with her and her family, and, despite Gray’s misgivings, he thought he was good for her. She worked too hard, and the one thing Drew liked to do was take some time to relax and play.

Even Gray had to see the benefit in that, and maybe before he left tonight he needed to have another conversation with Gray and talk about the good things he could bring to a relationship with Carolina.

After church and more media time, they headed back to the house, where the staff had cooked up an amazing turkey dinner.

Drew’s eyes bugged out at all the food. Turkey, ham, and more side dishes than he could put on his plate.

And then there was wine.

“When’s your next game, Drew?” the vice president asked.

“Monday. But I head back tomorrow for practice.”