Read Online Holiday Affair by Lisa Plumley - Free Book Online

instant something happens, okay?”
    “If there’s anything racy to report, you’ll be the first to know,” Karina told her. “I swear on my Badgers T-shirt.”
    She held up two fingers, Boy Scout style, but the truth was, it was an easy promise to make. There was no way in the world official good girl and devoted mother Karina Barrett was about to indulge in a supersteamy holiday fling. For one thing, she’d be working. She owed Stephanie her very best efforts.
    Besides, there wasn’t enough spiked eggnog in the world to loosen up Karina that much. While a short-term Christmas romance might be…invigorating, she could definitely do without the aftereffects of starting up a new relationship. Even if it would be, by necessity, limited to the holidays. Possibly with a hunky, hayseed-chewing Midwesterner…who liked honey.
    Like a dream, Honey-Buying Man’s head superimposed itself on an image of a shirtless, Santa hat–wearing, muscle-bound stud. Hmmm. She liked that, actually. She liked that a lot.
    Whoa. She had to get hold of her hormones. STAT.
    “So I’d better get going. Lots to do before our flight.”
    Forcing a smile, Karina slung her purse over her shoulder, then prepared to gather up the kids for the drive home. Just before she headed to the video game zone, though, she realized she’d forgotten something. Something she should have come here specifically to do, but had been afraid to try until now.
    She stepped up to Eric, then squared her shoulders. Wearing her sweetest expression, she asked, “By the way, can I have my half of our Christmas decorations, please? I noticed they were missing from the attic. You must have grabbed all of them by mistake when you moved out.”
    Chelsea frowned. “Eric! You didn’t.”
    He hung his head. “Sorry, Karina,” he mumbled. “I’ll get them right now.” He schlepped away, flip-flops flapping.
    “Load the boxes into her car for her too!” Chelsea called.
    He waved his assent without turning, then kept going.
    Karina watched Eric hop to it. “Wow. I’m impressed.”
    “It’s nothing.” Chelsea shrugged. “Just simple directness. Men respond pretty well to a straightforward approach.”
    “Well…that bikini of yours probably helps too.”
    “Probably,” Chelsea admitted with a grin. “A little.”
    She and Karina shared a satisfied, sisterly (and entirely unlikely) moment of camaraderie. Right then, Karina decided there was a lot to be said for Chelsea’s methods. Even if they had led (indirectly) to the dissolution of her marriage.
    Chelsea might be a little bubbleheaded, but she was also supremely self-confident—and she got results when she wanted them, too. Even from Eric. That was commendable.
    “You should get one.” Chelsea gestured at Karina’s suburban mom outfit. “A bikini, I mean. You could totally pull it off.”
    Karina blinked. “Me? No way. I’m a tankini girl, all the way.” Only someone as flawless as Chelsea could be so blasé about baring it (almost) all in anything less. Karina had borne three children—and her body had all the usual jiggly spots to show for it. “Besides, where I’m going, I’ll have to dress for warmth. It’s freezing in Michigan in December, remember?”
    “Oh yeah.” Chelsea grew thoughtful. Karina could almost see the gears turning in her tiny, blond-haired head. “You probably don’t have much in the way of cold-weather gear, either.”
    “Nope. What Southern Californian does?”
    “True. And even if you had it, your stuff would probably be less ‘snow bunny’ and more ‘abominable snowman.’ Am I right?”
    Karina considered being offended by that comment, then decided to let it go. Her single item of truly warm clothing was a quilted parka. And it was pretty abominable. She’d bought it at an end-of-season sale for a trip to Lake Tahoe with Eric. In the end, they’d cancelled. They hadn’t been able to find a reliable baby-sitter, and Karina hadn’t wanted to risk using a