Read Online The Bad Boy's Redemption by Lili Valente, Jessie Evans - Free Book Online Page A

tromp through the snow toward the house, walking funny because she had snow down her pants.
    He turned back to the fight in time to avoid a sneak attack from Tucker and sacrificed one of the snow monster’s heads in order to make sure his big brother got it good.
    The battle waged on for another twenty minutes before the younger boys started to get whiny and Seth called for a ceasefire. While Seth and Tucker herded the boys toward the garage to strip off as much of their wet clothes as possible before entering the house, Colt swung by the Jeep to grab the present he’d hidden under his seat and headed for the barn to check on Olivia’s surprise.
    As promised, Tucker had left several sprigs of mistletoe and the spare key to Colt’s cabin on a table near the last stall. All Colt had to do was hang the mistletoe, tie the key onto the ribbon on Olivia’s present—a box filled with twenty pairs of lace panties—and the stage was set.
    After, he stood back, admiring the simplicity of it.
    He’d never gone out of his way to introduce romance into a relationship, but he thought this was a pretty good first attempt. He knew Olivia would get a laugh out of his gift and he hoped she would understand that the key to his house meant more than an invitation to come stay over whenever she wanted.
    It was an invitation into his life, where he wanted her to feel at home.
    Hell, he wanted her to feel more than at home. He wanted her to consider something more permanent than seeing where things go. Time and circumstance were pushing him to make big decisions faster than he was usually comfortable with, but Olivia was worth it.
    Now he could only hope she felt the same way come the day after Christmas when he planned to spill the beans and ask her to help him figure out what came next.
    As he made his way through the trampled yard toward the house, fresh snow began to fall and thunder rumbled gently in the distance. Thunder snow was an odd occurrence, but usually happened about once or twice every winter, and usually spelled ugly driving conditions.
    It made Colt wonder if he and Olivia should head out right after dinner instead of sticking around for caroling. As much as he loved his family, he didn’t want to be stuck staying over at his parents’ house tonight. He wanted Olivia all to himself, and no one around to hear the sounds she made when they were making love.
    Making love . The phrase always seemed cheesy before, but now it was simply…accurate.
    The thought made him smile as he pushed into the kitchen, stopping to knock the snow off of his boots on the mat by the door. But instead of interrupting the chaos of post-snowball fight cocoa making, he stepped into a tense silence.
    Across the room, Daisy sat beside his mother at the kitchen table, while his father stared out the back window into the field behind the house.
    “What’s up?” Colt asked, taking off his sock cap and shaking it out onto the rug. “Is everything okay?”
    “No, everything isn’t okay,” Daisy said, rubbing at her temple. “Olivia’s gone.”
    Colt froze. “What?”
    “She’s gone,” Daisy repeated. “And we don’t know where she went and we can’t call her because she left her cell here. She said she was going to take a walk, but that was thirty minutes ago and now it’s starting to storm and I’m afraid she’s so upset that she’ll wander too far and get lost in it.”
    Colt shook his head. “Why is she upset?” One look at his sister’s guilty, but stubbornly self-righteous, expression and he had his answer. “You told her? Daisy you promised you wouldn’t!”
    “I didn’t tell her,” Daisy snapped. “I told Mom and Olivia walked in while Mom was crying and wanted to know what was wrong. Sorry, but I didn’t feel like lying for you anymore.”
    “I’m sorry, Colt,” his mom said, wiping at her tear-streaked cheeks. “It’s my fault.”
    “It isn’t your fault, Mom. And I wasn’t asking you to lie for me, Daisy,”