Hot & Bothered

Maybe it's Mercury in retrograde, maybe it's just not meant to be.

Peyton Doucet’s stream of crappy dates and even crappier boyfriends has her pulling a daily tarot card and studying the stars for a sign that love isn’t hopeless, and the compatible match for her Gemini twins is out there. She’s busy and focused on work and her independence. But after she caught the pineapple at her best friend’s wedding, and the sexy best man caught the garter, all the stars—or snowflakes in this case—seem to be aligning.Jace Shepherd doesn’t really have a lot of time for relationships right now. He’s training for the Emergency Response Team with his police force, and doesn’t want to lead a woman on with promises of more than he can give. He’s also Mr. Monogamy, and doesn’t do one-night stands.Peyton seems to understand his drive and busy schedule, accepting him for who he is. It also helps that they’re neighbors.Things seem perfect in their new, budding, sexy relationship, until a case from Jace’s past rears its head, putting Peyton in danger, and challenging their new relationship more than either of them was ready for.Can this busy couple find the time to make it work, or should they take the threats thrown at them as a sign from the stars that this isn’t meant to be?

** While this can be read as a standalone novella, it does follow directly on the heels of Done with You, involving characters we met in Not Over You and Done with You.

Peyton Doucet couldn’t believe her luck.
After what seemed like an endless stream of douchebag dates and boyfriends who looked good on paper but were crap in the sac and crap in the personality department, she’d been considering a nunnery. Or at the very least swearing off men and proposing to her vibrator.
But fate—or her best friend Rayma—seemed to have other plans and practically dropped a hot hunk of a man with giant arms, a nice smile and gorgeous eyes right in her lap.
Well, sort of in her lap.
He was beside her on the party bus, but he might as well have been in her lap based on how much space he took up. And now they were dancing up a storm on the dance floor at Rayma and Jordan’s wedding.
Jace was a six-foot-four, dark-haired Adonis who was not only a really smart and funny guy, but he was also a police officer. And her best friend’s husband’s best friend.
Were the stars finally in alignment? She would have to check her daily astrology report. Because yes, she was one of those women who believed in astrology, ruling houses, the planets and moons affecting our moods, and that when Mercury was in retrograde the world went to total shit.
She also believed that some astrology signs just weren’t compatible. She was a Gemini and some signs just didn’t pair well with her and her twins. Like Cancer and Virgo for example. Her last boyfriend—Keeler (yeah, what the fuck kind of name was that?) was a Cancer, and they were so incompatible. How they even last the three months they were together was beyond her. The man was a slug. He did nothing but sit on the couch and play video games. Then he made her feel bad for wanting to go out and socialize.
And the sex wasn’t even that good, either.
Rayma said Peyton was human duct tape. She was always trying to fix people.
So maybe that’s what drew her to Keeler (godawful name). She thought she could pull him out of his shell and “fix” him. Make him more social and interactive. Show him there was so much more to life than just getting hemorrhoids on a couch playing video games with teenagers in Romania all day long.
Nope.
Didn’t work.
Her duct tape was obviously covered in all the dog hair from Keeler’s heeler. Yes, Keeler had a heeler. A heeler named Wheeler.
She couldn’t make this shit up if she tried.
But she kicked Keeler—and Wheeler—to the curb in September (she didn’t actually kick the dog, of course, she wasn’t a psychopath) and was enjoying a hookup app and living her best single life with her trusty vibrator since then.
But if she thought that was her best life, she was incredibly mistaken. Because this was her best damn life.
Right now.
Tonight.
Christmas Eve.
The evening of her best friend’s wedding, and Peyton was getting her tongue massaged by Jace’s tongue as they danced on the makeshift dance floor at the wedding reception.
Wine flowed through her veins. Love was everywhere in the air, and Jace smelled so damn good, she was having a hard time not licking his neck.
The song turned to a slow ballad, and a few people left the dance floor, while others moved onto it. Jace and Peyton just slowed down, but he didn’t peel himself off her, and she certainly wasn’t letting go of him.
He broke the kiss and grinned down at her. “You caught the pineapple.” Rayma carried a pineapple down the aisle instead of a bouquet. It was an inside joke between her and her new husband.
Peyton’s smile hurt her face. “And you caught the garter.”
“So what does that mean?”
She didn’t have to respond. Because it was a rhetorical question. His blue-hazel eyes sparkled with intelligence and mischief and the partial erection in his police uniform serge blues that bumped against her thigh told her exactly what he thought it should mean.
She batted her lashes at him sweetly. “I think it means you’re my ride home.”
His grin intensified. “That’s what I thought, too.”
Glancing around them, she realized they were now the only ones left on the dance floor. The twinkling lights overhead seemed to be on a dimmer switch and the brightness decreased.
They were at Rayma’s oldest sister’s house, in Pasha’s backyard, protected from the harsh winter climate with big tents, tarps, and magical Christmas and wedding decorations. You’d never know it had snowed an unprecedented amount over the last two days. So much so that the venue and several of the booked vendors for the wedding had to cancel last minute.
But everyone banded together, and they pulled off the most spectacular Christmas wedding for the beautiful couple.
She could still hear people inside the house, but when she glanced around the tent, the chairs were all empty.
“Looks like we closed the place down,” she said, biting her bottom lip. “Not the first time I’ve done that, I’ll admit.”
“Me either.” Jace’s head swiveled around, then he reached down and took her hand. “Let’s go find the bride and groom and bid them goodnight, hmmm?”
Ribbons of desire and excitement spun through her and she nodded, letting him lead her off the dance floor and into the house.
Only a few people remained. Rayma and her new hubby, Jordan, Pasha and her husband Heath, and another one of Rayma’s sister’s Oona, and Jordan’s brother Aiden. Otherwise, the place had cleared out.
“Go!” Heath said, narrowing his dark blue eyes at Rayma. “We will clean up. It’s practically done already, anyway.”
“But Big Lassie is our ride, and if he leaves, then you have nobody left to help,” Rayma protested.
“We’ll stick around and help,” Jace offered.
Peyton’s clitoris pouted, but she nodded her head, anyway. “That’s right.” She glanced at the buffet table. “Looks like a lot of the food has already been put away. Just chairs and tables and stuff.”
“And Grant and my brothers are coming back tomorrow before Christmas dinner to help take all of that stuff down,” Heath said. “It won’t take more than an hour. Many big burly men make light work.”
Pasha snorted and rolled her eyes.
Jace puffed up his chest. “I think you just need two big burly men.” He jerked his chin at Heath. “Happy to stick around and help so your brothers don’t have to leave their families tomorrow.”
Heath’s face split into a big smile, then he slapped Jace on the back. “Sure. Let’s get going on the chairs and tables first.”
Jordan approached Jace and thanked him for everything, then the two embraced. He moved over to Peyton and did the same, but Peyton hadn’t even completely released Jordan when Rayma butted in and nearly squeezed the life out of Peyton. “You have crazy monkey sex with Jace, okay?” Rayma not quite whispered into Peyton’s ear. “I want to hear all about it.”
Peyton snickered and hugged her friend back.
“I mean it,” Rayma added. “All about it. And also, thank you for being my best friend and one of my bridesmaids. I love you.”
“I love you,” Peyton said, squeezing Rayma. “And I’m so incredibly happy for you and Jordan. My heart sings.”
“Well, hopefully your clitoris is singing later,” Rayma said before pulling away and bobbing her eyebrows up and down.
“Go home, you little nut,” Pasha said, love infused in her tone as she spoke to her sister.
“I’m going home with my husband and we’re going to consummate our marriage like animals,” Rayma said. “Otherwise, it’s not legally binding. I’m pretty sure it’s written in the Canadian constitution that he must come in two of the three holes on the wedding night for it to be a legal marriage.”
Jordan, Aiden and Oona both snorted.
Pasha and Peyton simply shook their heads while Rayma beamed like the gorgeous, filter-free spirit that she was.
“It’s called the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms,” Aiden said. “And I’ve never heard of that law.”
Rayma shrugged. “Well, we can’t be too careful.”
“Go home!” Pasha said with love and exasperation.
“Okay, okay, we’re going.” Rayma rolled her brown eyes. “I’ll see you tomorrow. I’ll be the heavily sexed up newlywed.”
Jordan groaned. “Ten bucks says she passes out on the drive home.”
“I’ll take that bet, Little Lassie,” Rayma countered. “And I’ll raise you ten that I’ll have your pants off before we get to the curb.”
“You do know there are two other people in the vehicle, right?” Oona asked nervously as they all migrated toward the door.
“Don’t look in the back seat then,” Rayma teased.
Peyton was still chuckling at her best friend’s sass when Pasha closed the door and it was just the two of them in the house. “I thought that woman would never leave. Or shut up.”
Peyton smiled. Even though Pasha sounded frustrated, she really wasn’t. They all adored Rayma and accepted her filthy mind and filter-free brain with love. She was unique and wonderful and had the most enormous heart.
They got to work wrapping up the rest of the food and putting it into smaller containers. Then they returned all the living room furniture to its original spots and Peyton threw on some yellow rubber gloves and started washing dishes, since the dishwasher was already full.
“You and Jace were sucking face pretty hard out there,” Pasha said, sidling up next to Peyton to start drying the dishes.
Peyton’s cheeks grew warm. She was a redhead with a fair complexion and more freckles than the beach had sand, so she knew she’d be blushing and the astronauts on the space station could probably see it. “I like him.”
“I’d be worried if you didn’t, given how far down your throat he had his tongue.”
Peyton focused on scrubbing a big glass casserole dish. “Yes, well …”
“Hey, no judgement from me. You go, girl. He’s hot and single, why not?”