Naughty or Nice: A Friends to Lovers Christmas Romance Read online

  Naughty or Nice

  A Friends to Lovers Christmas Romance

  Alexis Winter

  Contents

  1. Felicity

  2. Carson

  3. Felicity

  4. Carson

  5. Felicity

  6. Carson

  7. Felicity

  8. Carson

  9. Felicity

  10. Carson

  11. Felicity

  12. Carson

  13. Felicity

  14. Carson

  15. Felicity

  16. Carson

  17. Felicity

  Epilogue

  The Wrong Brother SNEAK PEEK

  Chapter 1

  Also by Alexis Winter

  About the Author

  One

  Felicity

  I’m sitting on my bed in my dorm room, cleaning out my desk to start the packing process. Tomorrow, I will be graduating and done with college. The thought excites me to no end. I mean, no more tests, no more term papers, no more early mornings and races to the coffee cart on my way to class. Tomorrow, I will be a college graduate!

  As I look around my room that’s decorated with pictures of me and my friends from my time at college, I feel a little sad to be putting this chapter of my life behind me. It was a lot of work, but I did have some fun times. At least these last few years I knew what day-to-day life would look like. After tomorrow, I have no idea. It’s like a big blank chalkboard. I have no idea what I’m doing other than going back home with my mom after graduation. From there, I get to settle back into my old room while I apply for jobs and figure out my future.

  Figure out my future.

  Man, I can’t even explain how badly those words scare me. I’m terrified that I will get hired on some place only to find out that I don’t have what it takes. Then these last few years will have been nothing but a waste. Not only that, but the money that my mom spent on my college is wasted too. Good money that she worked hard for. Money that she could’ve used to re-roof the house instead of taking out a loan. Guilt eats at me, but it also pushes me forward. I can’t fail. I won’t fail.

  I take a drawer out of my desk and shake it over the empty box on my bed, too lazy to actually go through it and throw shit away. My phone rings and when I see Carson’s name flashing on the screen, I drop the drawer onto my bed and answer it as quickly as I can.

  “Hey, you,” I say, full of energy and excitement.

  “Hi, sweetheart. What are you up to?” he asks in his thick, deep, raspy voice. His voice has always sent shivers down my spine. Goosebumps prickle my skin every time I hear it.

  “Oh, you know. Cleaning out my desk and packing my whole life into a box. You?”

  He ignores my question and instead focuses on me. “That’s right. Tomorrow is the big day. Are you nervous?”

  I shrug out of habit to getting this question. “I’m not nervous about the concept of graduating, but I am nervous about what comes after it.”

  “What do you mean? Going back home?”

  “Yeah, that and having to figure out the rest of my life. I’m just scared that I’ll fail and let everyone down, you know?”

  “Not possible.”

  I snort and that makes him laugh.

  “I wouldn’t expect you to listen to me, but you have to know that you’ve never been able to let any of us down. Not me. Not your mom.”

  “Well, now I know that isn’t true,” I tease as I feel my face warm from his compliment.

  He laughs. “When have you ever let us down?”

  “How about that time that we got hammered and you had to throw me over your shoulder and carry me into the house even though I was puking down your back?”

  He laughs at the memory. “That wasn’t your proudest moment, but neither of us were let down then either.”

  “I don’t know. I seem to remember a very long, boring conversation with my mother the next day as she forced me to eat the world’s greasiest bacon and eggs.”

  He laughs again and it makes my stomach muscles tighten as need for him floods my entire body. “Actually, I’m pretty proud of you for that. You beat the town drunk at a shots contest. You’re my hero. Have I told you that lately?” he teases as his laughter fills my ears.

  “Yeah, yeah,” I say, not feeling like a hero to anyone. “I didn’t accomplish anything that night but getting wasted, dancing on a table, losing my bra somehow, and then puking down your back as you carried me to the house. You shouldn’t have picked me up over your shoulder like that. All that pressure on my stomach forced all the alcohol up.”

  He chuckles. “You lost your bra because you weren’t just dancing on that table. You were stripping, or at least attempting to. And I had to pick you up like that. You refused to come in the house.”

  I gasp. “You never told me that!”

  “What? That you refused to come in the house?”

  “No, that I was stripping!”

  He laughs. “How else would you have lost your bra? You actually tried to recreate that scene in Flashdance,” he says, the words tumbling out of his mouth in a fit of laughter.

  “I don’t know. I thought I was about to get lucky with some cute guy or something,” I say, but actually, in my messed-up, drunk-out-of-my-mind head, I thought that maybe Carson and I let things get out of hand. That he was the one who took my bra off and I thought that maybe he kept it as a little souvenir.

  He laughs harder. “If you think I would’ve let you go off with some guy when you were that wasted, you have another thing coming.”

  My face heats up with embarrassment when I think about how everyone was at that party my senior year and how they’ve all now seen me topless. “Why didn’t you stop me?”

  “I tried. I did. It was just a little too late. I walked outside by the pool. There was music going and a big crowd gathered around the table. So I walked closer and that’s when I saw what everyone was looking at and cheering for. You! You were up there dancing and your shirt was coming off. Then as I was squeezing my way through the crowd to get to you, you saw me, smirked, and started to take your bra off under your shirt, shouting, ‘I’m Jennifer Beals!’ It’s like you were trying to make me lose my mind. You got it off and swung it around your head, then threw it into the crowd. I grabbed you and your bra that you flung on the table shortly after and pulled you out of there.”

  I shake my head at myself with my eyes closed. Now that he mentions it, the memory resurfaces.

  I’m on the table, dancing to the music as a crowd grows around me. I’m drunk out of my mind. My vision is blurring and everything seems to be blending together, but I feel like a superstar up on this table with everyone crowding around me. They’re all hooting and hollering and cheering me on.

  “Take it off!” someone in the crowd yells and I think, why not?

  My hands find the bottom of my shirt and start to pull it off then decide to take my bra off instead. The cheers grow louder as I let the material drop from between my fingers. It falls to my feet on top of the table. I sway my hips from side to side and wiggle my shoulders to make my breasts jiggle. Even more cheers.

  Well, I wanted to get Carson’s attention. I guess this is one way to do it.

  As I dance, I think about how this is something I would never do before. And I mean NEVER!! But ever since Carson left for college a few years ago, a space has been growing between us that was never there before. He’s moved on without me. Forgot me. He’s got some snobby girlfriend now and I’m jealous in every way possible. Luckily for me, he came home to visit his family and she was too busy to come. I have to make him s
ee that I’m the girl he’s supposed to be with. Not her.

  “Strip, honey!” someone yells.

  Carson comes into view and I see his blue eyes flash angrily to the side at whoever told me to strip. But hey, maybe if I show some skin, he will get a little jealous and realize his true feelings. This is my chance to show him I’m not that nice girl he’s always known. I’m a woman now, with needs. I reach behind me and unclasp my bra. The straps fall from my shoulders and Carson’s eyes land on mine. I can read the message he’s sending me.

  Don’t you fucking dare.

  But I don’t listen and he knows that about me. The bra falls and I catch it in one hand by the strap. I spin it around with my hand and let go. It goes flying into the crowd. In the same instant, I feel like I’m falling. But then I look up and see that I haven’t fallen. I’m in his arms. My chest pressed to his as he carries me through the crowd and out the back of the privacy fence. He presses my back against the wood and our eyes lock. His are so heated it looks like fire burning within them.

  “What do you think you’re doing?” he asks, low, quiet.

  I wet my lips. “Having fun,” I reply.

  “You think it’s fun to show your body to every drunk guy that begs to see it?”

  Wait? He doesn’t like it? Usually, from what I can remember right now, he would have been one of those drunk guys out there cheering a girl on. Then he would have pulled her down and taken her up to a room so he could enjoy her himself. I’ve seen it happen! Why isn’t he doing it now? What’s so different with me?

  “No, I just…”

  “Just what, Felicity?” he asks, and it’s only now I can see the anger on his face.

  “I just wanted to have fun. I wanted you to have fun.”

  “Watching you degrade yourself isn’t what I consider fun, Felicity. You’re drunk. I’m taking you home,” he says, forcing my shirt back over my head. I have no choice but to put my arms through. When I do, he latches on to one of them, then drags me around the house and to his car.

  My eyes open and lock on a picture I still haven’t packed. It’s sitting on the corner of my desk. His smiling face stares back at me.

  “I forgot all about that,” I say, embarrassed all over again.

  “Ah, it was a long time ago. I’m sure nobody remembers.”

  “You do,” I point out. “That’s bad enough.”

  He laughs. “Just another fun memory I have of you.” I can hear his smile.

  “Fun memory? Ha! If I remember correctly, you weren’t having fun. You were pissed!”

  “Hell yeah, I was. All my friends were drooling all over you. You’ve been mine since you were seven years old. I wasn’t going to let them see you like that.”

  I smile at his overprotectiveness. I’m his? And I have been since we met when I was seven? My heart starts racing with that thought. I’m his. His.

  “Anyway,” he says, stealing my thoughts. “I thought I’d just give you a call and wish you luck tomorrow.”

  “You’re coming home too, right?”

  He doesn’t answer.

  “Carson Lee Wells, you promised!” I remind him.

  He laughs. “I know, I know. And yes, I’m coming home too.”

  I can finally breathe. I can’t imagine going back home and not having him there. “Good, and don’t forget, you owe me for missing my graduation.”

  He chuckles lightly. It’s a deep sound that I can feel in my bones. “I promise, I’ll show you a good time to make up for it.”

  Tingles flood my body when I hear about him promising me a good time. I wonder what that could mean. “Okay, I’ll see you soon, then.”

  “Soon you soon, sweetheart.”

  “Bye,” I say, and I hear the click of his phone hanging up.

  I let out a sigh as I get up and move over to my bed. I throw myself back, dreaming of his face. His blue eyes and the way they seem to cut right through me, making my heart skip a beat. The sharpness of his jaw and his defined cheekbones. That little dimple in his chin and the two that appear on his cheeks when he really smiles. They only come out if the smile in genuine. If it’s forced, they don’t make an appearance. I close my eyes and picture him standing before me. His tall, muscular body is twice the size of mine. I can see myself running my hands through his short dark hair, over his neck and collarbones, over his pecs and down to his narrow waist where I can unfasten his jeans.

  Stop! No good can come from this. If Carson wanted you, he had plenty of chances as we were growing up. We met when I was seven and he was ten. We became friends, then teenagers together. We went through the awkward phase together. I stood back and watched him date girl after girl; every time he introduced me as Felicity, she’s like my kid sister. Every time, it broke my heart because even at seven years old, I was completely in love with him.

  I’ve been waiting for my chance with him. I thought starting college would make him see me as the woman I am and not some little girl who tags along everywhere he goes. I thought that if I showed him how much I had grown that night my senior year, he would finally see. But he didn’t. He didn’t see anything but a child misbehaving. He rescued me. I only wish I could have done the same for him.

  Sleep finds me quickly even though I don’t mean to nod off, but the stress of finals has worn me down. Being warm, comfy, and thinking about Carson though, it pulls me into a warm happy place. Our childhood.

  “Hi, I’m Felicity,” I say, coming to a stop in front of the new boy who just moved in next door.

  He looks at me with his brows pulled together. “I’m Carson. Hey, are there any boys in this neighborhood to play with?” he asks as he spins around to pick up his bike that’s lying in the grass at my feet.

  I shake my head, feeling my pigtails slapping the sides of my head. “Nope, no kids. Just me.” I smile proudly, happy that I finally have a friend to play with.

  He scoffs. “That figures.”

  I frown and cross my arms over my chest. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  He looks up at me. “How old are you?”

  “Seven and a half,” I say matter-of-factly. “I’m the oldest and tallest kid in my first grade class.”

  He laughs and shakes his head. “That’s my point. I’m ten. I’m in fourth grade. A fourth grader and a first grader can’t play together. I’m too old.” With that, he pushes off on his bike and rides away, down the sidewalk.

  I sigh, sad to see my new friend leave. Well, I guess he’s not exactly my friend yet, but I hope he will be. There’s nobody else here to play with. He’ll get bored eventually and I’ll be there.

  With that thought, I smile to myself as I picture his dark hair, blue eyes, and goofy smile with his crooked teeth. As I walk back across the yard to play by myself, I think of him. I wonder if he’ll let me count the freckles on his nose. I have thirteen. I bet he has more. I wonder if I can make shapes out of them like I do with the clouds. My freckles aren’t close enough together to make anything out of, but he seems to have a lot. If I can look at them long enough, I bet I can see a square or star or maybe even a heart.

  Two

  Carson

  I hang up the phone and let it fall to my side on the couch. I lean my head back and stare up at the TV screen as I bring my scotch glass to my lips and take a sip. The alcohol goes down smoothly and I expect it to wash away all thoughts of her, but it doesn’t. Instead, I think of that time she came to visit me in college. She was a senior in high school, and I was a junior in college.

  I open the door to my small apartment and there she is, bright-eyed like always and smiling from ear to ear. I don’t hesitate, I just wrap my arms around her and pull her against me for a rib-crushing hug.

  “It’s about time you got here. I was about to start calling every hospital along the way to make sure you didn’t drive yourself off a bridge or something.”

  She giggles. “You worry too much. You know that?”

  “Yeah, yeah, that’s what you always say,” I repl
y, setting her on her feet and pulling her into my apartment. “So, what did your mom have to say about this?” I take her bag and toss it onto the couch as I turn to inspect her face.

  She smiles. “She thinks it’s great that we get to see each other again. She knows you’ll keep your eye on me. Plus, I think she’s hoping this place grows on me so I’ll stay close to home instead of going across the country for college next fall.” She flops down onto the couch and I go to take a seat next to her.

  “Have you put any thought into where you want to go?”

  She shrugs. “I’m still debating. It all just depends.”

  I’m about to ask her what it depends on, but someone else knocks on my door and I have to get up to answer it. It’s my buddy, Tray. He doesn’t wait for me to invite him in. He just walks right past me and turns in a circle to face me.

  “Dude, get ready. There’s a crazy party going on.”

  I shake my head. “Not tonight, man. I got company.” I motion toward Felicity who’s still sitting on the couch.

  He turns and looks at her. “Ohhhh, well, you don’t need a party. You already caught you one for the night.”

  “No,” I say, shaking my head. “This is Felicity. My friend from back home. I’m showing her around the campus this weekend. She’s going to college in the fall.”

  “Oh, you’re that Felicity,” he says, turning to shake her hand.

  “The one and only,” she says, shaking his outstretched hand. “Or the only one that matters anyway,” she adds on, making him laugh.

  He looks back at me. “I like her.”

  “Everyone does,” I say, joking.

  “So, if you two aren’t…you know, come to the party. Bring her. The parties are half the college experience.”