Multicultural Holiday Romance Box Set Read online

  Josie couldn’t get over how great he looked. He’d been such a nerd in school. Now he was the kind of guy she’d definitely go up to in a club… if she weren’t happily married, of course.

  “That’s weird,” he said, brushing snow out of her hair.

  “Oh, we were making snow angels.”

  “No, I mean our hair colour,” he replied, lifting the strap of his backpack.

  “Oh yeah. We used to both have black hair, now we both have orangey highlights. But I guess that’s the style, right?”

  “Right,” he said with a bashful smile. “You always were the practical one.”

  “Hardly,” she chuckled as Froggy approached. He circled once around Josie’s legs before she stopped him by setting her hand on his head. “I’d like you to meet a little someone. This is my son Ewan.”

  “No, tell him Froggy,” he said in a loud whisper.

  As Kaz sank to his knees, she relented, “I’m sorry. We named him Ewan, but he prefers to be called Froggy.”

  Once he was at eye level with the boy, Kaz said, “It’s great to meet you, Froggy. My parents named me Kazuhiro, but I like it better when people call me Kaz. That means you and I have something in common, and that means we can be friends.”

  Froggy smiled, but looked quickly up at Josie for confirmation. She and Rob were vigilant about the don’t talk to strangers rule. Smiling back at her son, she confirmed, “My friend Kaz is going to stay with us over Christmas. Now, I’m just going to run into the house for a sec. Why don’t you show our guest the gigakiki?”

  As she skirted past Kaz, she noticed the wheeled suitcase he’d been dragging behind him. “Oh, let me take that into the house for you.”

  “That’s okay, Jos,” he replied. Just like Rob, he called her Jos.

  She gulped hard, snatching the handle away from him. “Don’t be silly. I’m going into the house. I insist.”

  With a gushing smile, he agreed.

  Pulling his suitcase up the driveway, Josie perched her shovel against the garage door, and carried the big bag into the house. The second she’d closed the door, she dropped it and ran to the front window. “Rob,” she called out in the loudest whisper she could muster. She didn’t want to risk Kaz hearing, even from outside. “Rob, come here for a sec.”

  Rob came in from the kitchen, wiping his hands on a tea towel. “What’s up?”

  “He’s here,” she said, pointing out the window to the hot guy helping Froggy build a bigger, better, and more realistic gigakiki. “Kaz is here already.”

  “That’s Kaz? I thought you said he was a lonely nerd.”

  “Well, he was,” she said. The look on her husband’s face said he obviously didn’t believe her. “He was. God, if he looked like that back in the day, do you think I would have dumped him? Anyway,” she went on without letting Rob get a word in. “What he looks like isn’t the point. The point is that he’s here. Now. I wasn’t expecting him until tomorrow afternoon.”

  “You mean he showed up early? That was pretty rude of the dude.” Rob twisted the tea towel and slapped it against his hand like a riding crop. Putting on an accent, he joked, “Ve have vays of dealing viss his sort.”

  Josie couldn’t help laughing as her husband pranced about the family room like a German dominatrix. “You’re crazy, you know that?”

  “Zat is vy you love me.”

  Though she turned her attention out to the front yard, she could still see Rob wielding his dishtowel-whip in the reflection of the bay window. It was getting dark outside.

  “You totally distracted me,” she said, trying to shake the image out of her head. “I think I told Kaz to come anytime, and he was welcome to help us decorate the tree tomorrow. I worded it like that.”

  “Open to interpretation,” Rob stated. When he snapped his whip again, it hit their framed Waterhouse print, knocking it off-kilter. He looked at her with the sheepish expression even Froggy had outgrown. Chuckling nervously, he set the picture frame straight, and then took his tea towel back to the kitchen. “Time to put this thing away, I guess.”

  As she opened the front door to call Kaz and Froggy inside, Rob hissed, “Oh Shit!”

  She ran to the kitchen only to find him staring with despair into a big pot on the stove.

  “I forgot I was making hot chocolate. The real kind, with cocoa and milk.”

  “Oh,” Josie replied, one eye on the door as her son led her old boyfriend in from the cold. “I’m sure it’ll be fine if you give it a stir.”

  A panicked surge raced through her as she realized Kaz and Rob would soon be in the same room together. The image of her husband and her high school sweetheart duking it out in a sumo ring flashed before her eyes, and she gasped for air. I really haven’t thought this out, have I?

  “It might be salvageable,” Rob called from the kitchen.

  “Good. Great,” she replied absently.

  As she knelt to help Froggy off with his winter boots, she heard Rob’s footfall as he walked from the kitchen. When she looked up, she realized she’d managed to plant her face three inches from Kaz’s crotch, and right at eye level, too. Her throat let out a high-pitched eep, but he stepped out of his ultra-cool leather boots without seeming to notice. She turned her head to see Rob setting down a tray of mugs in the living room.

  “Honey,” she said, bolting upright with Froggy’s boots in hand.

  They both turned. With the male gaze resting squarely on Josie, she suddenly felt like her clubhouse was full of boys.

  “Rob, this is Kaz,” she introduced, though they probably would have figured out who was who. “Kaz, Rob.”

  “Yeah, we actually met at your wedding,” Kaz replied, eying the sofa and the drinks.

  “Oh, that’s right,” Josie said. “I totally forgot.”

  “Please, sit down,” Rob motioned. “I made hot chocolate.”

  At the sound of those two magical words, Froggy shouted, “Hot chocolate! Hot chocolate!” and ran for his cup.

  “Go slow, Froggy angel. It’s hot,” Josie warned, setting his mittens on the radiator to dry.

  “I guess I burned it a smidge,” Rob apologized as Kaz reached for a mug. “Sorry if it’s a little off.”

  “No, it’s great,” Kaz replied. “Burning stuff brings out the caramel taste in the sugars. That’s why you burn a crème brulé, right?”

  As they conversed about cooking with the ease of old friends, it dawned on Josie that there were only three mugs of hot chocolate in total. Josie, Rob, and Froggy made three. He hadn’t counted on Kaz arriving early. And she knew Rob; she knew he’d let her have the third. What a sweetheart.

  Picking up the last mug, she passed it to her husband, who simply shook his head and said, “It’s for you.”

  She watched her surroundings, feeling oddly estranged from them. Froggy blew on his cup as Rob and Kaz talked about recipe websites. After a few sips of deliciously creamy hot chocolate, she passed the mug to Rob. “We’ll share, babe.”

  When he smiled at her, she felt so at ease that she teased herself for having trepidations. There was nothing strange about any of this.

  “You know, I’ve got to say, I don’t remember you from our wedding,” Rob began. “Most of our friends aren’t so cool. I’m sure I would have remembered you.”

  Josie could have laughed out loud. Rob had a man-crush!

  “Trust me, I was not very memorable back then,” Kaz replied. “Just your run-of-the-mill computer nerd. I still am, at heart. My old girlfriend just fixed up the package a bit.”

  “I bet she did,” Rob chuckled, with a furtive glance in Froggy’s direction. He was fine, still exploring the cosmos in a cup.

  Kaz offered a forced smile. “Right, well, she made me more to her liking. So I wouldn’t embarrass her around her friends, mainly.”

  “That’s kind of funny,” Josie cut in. “Well, not funny, but you know what I mean. Because that’s the exact opposite of what you did for me. You helped me find my inner girl geek and
be proud of her.”

  Just as she was beginning to feel sublimely cosy, Froggy looked up at her and said, “I’m hungry.”

  “Oh, that’s right. We haven’t eaten dinner,” she said, suppressing that mean little voice scolding, For shame! Must your son remind you to feed him?

  With their newfound discovery of each other’s penchant for cooking, Rob and Kaz went nuts with dinner ideas. After digging through cupboards and flipping through cookbooks, they reached the consensus that, even if they had all the right ingredients, it was already too late to start preparing a nice coq-au-vin or anything along those lines. The pair of tongue-teasers got Josie’s taste buds all riled up for haute cuisine, but ultimately gave up and ordered pizza.

  After story time with Mommy, Daddy, and their new best friend Kaz, Froggy was out like a light and Josie could finally really decompress. As much as she’d enjoyed playing in the snow and catching up with an old friend, she really felt like she needed some alone time with her hubby. He so often went without when she worked those extra hours.

  A surge of joy ran through her at the thought of a few days off.

  “On holidays—finally!” she squealing, hugging Rob around the neck as he bent low to stack the dishwasher. “Hey, what would you say to opening up the hot tub and going for a soak?”

  “That sounds great!” Kaz replied, patting them both on the shoulders. “I didn’t bring a bathing suit or anything but, hey, we’re all grown-ups, right?”

  Chapter Three

  Josie was about to give Kaz a friendly swat and say, Oh, very funny mister. She only had to take one look at him to see that he wasn’t joking.

  “Oh,” she stammered. “Well, you know, the hot tub’s outside. Most people can’t stand the thought of braving the snow in their skivvies, so if you’d rather not, we would totally totally understand.”

  “Are you kidding?” Kaz asked, bubbling over with a seductive sort of glee. “That sounds like the perfect way to sit back, relax, and really get to know each other.”

  Glancing sheepishly at Josie, Rob replied, “Yeah, it certainly can be.”

  “Oh my god, I just realized what a rude jerk I am!” Kaz cried, smacking his forehead with his hand. Just as Josie started breathing a sigh of relief, he walked out to the front hall and said, “I left my luggage sitting here like it’s going to grow legs and walk itself to my room. Please, let me get all this crap out of your way.”

  Josie and Rob breathed a collective sigh—and this one didn’t know the meaning of the word relief—before he said, “Why don’t I show you to the guest room while Josie checks the chlorine levels in the tub.”

  “Bromine,” she called, shaking her head as Rob led Kaz to the guest room. He never listened when it came to practical matters. “Put chlorine into the mix and the whole tub will explode.”

  The night was even milder than she’d anticipated: one of those rare states after the snow stopped falling and before the temperature dropped and the winds picked up. There wasn’t even a breeze out as she brushed fresh snow off the tub cover. When she lifted the top, stream rose up to the sky. It was deep, dark, inky blue pierced by pinholes of starlight.

  As she breathed the fresh night air into her lungs, the light clicked on in the guest room. It suddenly occurred to her how fortunate they were to have everything they did, and how great it was to be able to share their bounty with others. She really didn’t resent Kaz staying with them, or showing up earlier than anticipated, or even invite himself into the tub. It’s not like she deserved these things any more than anybody else.

  The pH and temperature were pretty close to perfect, so, with a few minor adjustments, she headed upstairs to jump into her suit. She could hear the deep vibration of the men’s voices up in the attic room.

  The one-piece or the bikini?

  Daring as it seemed, she chose the turquoise two-piece lined in chocolate brown. As she suited up, a racket like a herd of college boys shook the house. If she didn’t know better, she’d have thought it was an earthquake.

  Darting to the bedroom door, she threw it open just in time to see a naked Kaz racing down the attic staircase like a kid on Christmas morning. Rob was close behind, just as naked and twice as giddy. He stopped at the linen closet as Kaz kept on to the ground floor.

  Josie didn’t process the scene fast enough to be shocked by it. Instead, she went straight to giggles. Their adorably juvenile behaviour reminded her of the time in high school when Kaz and his buddy Paul skipped fourth-period to perch their asses outside the classroom window, mooning everybody inside.

  Even nerdy boys acted like maniacs sometimes.

  “How’s the tub?” Rob asked, tossing her a towel as he followed Kaz downstairs. “Can we get in now?”

  Sucking her teeth, she teased, “You’d better get your filthy asses into that hot water. Last thing I want is you two sitting your buck naked selves down on my good furniture.”

  She laughed at her own jokes even after the sliding glass door opened and the boys coursed into the backyard. Before heading down, she peeked into Froggy’s room to find his angelic little eyelids resting closed like waxy little rose petals. How could that child sleep through such racket? She leaned in to kiss his forehead before closing his door to join the naked men outside.

  Josie ran across the deck in flip-flops, kicking them off as she threw her towel over the cleared deck chair. The cold didn’t even manage to catch her up before she slipped her skin beneath the warm water. It bubbled away like a witch’s brew as she leaned into the jets next to Rob. She reached for his hand as he reached for hers, and they found each other’s thighs instead, which was just as good.

  Kaz sat across from them, which seemed fortuitous. Even together in the same hot bubbles, they could get away with murder under the hydric hum of the tub.

  “Your head’s not too cold?” Rob called to Kaz over the noise.

  “Huh?” he replied, placing a hand behind his ear. “I can’t hear you.”

  “Perfect,” Rob whispered to Josie as he slipped his fingers between her legs.

  Kaz shrugged and closed his eyes, at one with his jets. His seat was roughly the same as hers, with water flows attacking the stress in her lower back, upper back, mid back, not to mention her butt.

  The one thing Kaz didn’t have was a husband’s naughty fingers creeping under turquoise bathing bottoms. The wetness that dear hubby came across was more than just water. It was the very nectar of Josie’s lust for him.

  She couldn’t very well mount her man with Kaz across the way, even if his eyes were closed. What she could do was squirm out of her bottoms and hold them tight in one hand while she worked her way down to Rob’s cock with the other hand. His hardness made her gasp—or perhaps that was the fingers slowly stroking her clit.

  Though she tried not to make much noise while he played with her pussy, her cries wouldn’t make much difference over the jets. She took a firm hold of his cock, rubbing up to the tip until she could feel that skin-on-skin sensation she loved so much.

  Handjobs were fun, both giving and getting. She opened her legs wide, tossing her thigh over Rob’s as he snuck a wayward finger into her slit. As he penetrated her, she set his cock against her outer thigh and gave it a good smack. Rob loved that; she could see it in his eyes. He reached deep inside her to rub that sweet spot marked with a g and Josie went wild.

  Pressing his palm flat against her clit, he rubbed it in circles. Josie almost felt guilty. There was no way what she was doing to him even half equaled the pleasure he was giving her.

  Wrapping her fist around his cockhead, she teased the tip alone, pulling it while she cupped it in her hand. Rob liked being hard in her hands. He like the pressure and the jerking. She liked it too. She liked the rubbing feeling inside her body, compounded by the swirling motion on her clit as he stroked it in circles.

  Her pleasure mounted as she watched the enjoyment on his face. His lips formed the words I love you before he threw his head back in ecstasy. He hel
d on tight to her pussy, like he’d caught her with a curiously finger-like fish hook.

  She writhed against his static hold, never letting go of his cock as she ground her pussy against his hand. His palm on her clit felt so good-beyond-good she couldn’t contain herself.

  Just as a wayward cry escaped her lips, the hot tub clicked and she knew she had to shut her mouth because the bubbles were going to stop in three… two… one…

  Silence.

  Chapter Four

  Kaz opened his eyes wide, the way Froggy did when he thought he’d inadvertently broken something. Rob must have noticed his terror too, because he said, “Don’t panic, man. The jet cycle just ended.”