Nick laughed. “So whipped.”

“No denying.” He grinned. “And one day, it will happen to you.” Hudson clapped his brother on the shoulder as they headed toward the elevator. On the ride up, he launched into more details about Nick’s new piece of horsepower. While he pontificated, sound effects rumbled out of Nick’s piehole and echoed off the wood paneling.

When they stepped off, Allie looked up from setting a platter of food on the table.”Perfect timing. Grab a seat, you two.”

“Can I help you with something?” Hudson brushed his lips against her cheek.

“No. Oh wait, yes! The wine.” She jockeyed between the table and the kitchen, trying to work out which way to go.

“I got it.”

Allie stopped him with a touch to his forearm. “Unless you’d rather not.” She glanced at Nick, who was sticking his finger in the sweet potatoes.

The affection this woman had not only for him, but for his brother as well, was an arrow to the heart. “We’re good, baby.” Nick had made it clear he didn’t want everyone walking on eggshells around him. He wanted things as normal as possible, and since Hudson would normally serve wine with a dinner, he would tonight as well.

He’d just returned from grabbing a bottle of Chardonnay out of the wine fridge when Allie came out of the kitchen. Her arms were loaded with yet another dish, but damn it was his favorite: green bean casserole with extra crispy onions. The dish might have been low-rent to some, but hell if it wasn’t a classic.

“You’ve outdone yourself,” he said. As out of her element as Allie had seemed, everything was pulled together perfectly.

Hudson released the cork with a soft rush of air and started to fill their glasses. Allie brought out the last dish, and fuck him, he was going to drop down on bended knee.

“Oh shit, are those scalloped potatoes?” Nick blurted before he could even get a word out.

“You got it.”

“Dude, Hudson, she’s a keeper. Don’t fuck this up.”

“Not a chance in hell.”

“Sit, please. Eat while it’s hot.” Allie sat down, and just as she did her phone let out a muted shrill of “Girls Just Want to Have Fun.”

Hudson raised a brow at the 1980s tune that was a pop-culture anthem to do just that.

“Harper.” She smiled sheepishly. “She programmed it, not me.”

Hudson and Nick both laughed at her quickly offered defense.

“Hey there,” she said into the phone. “How’s St. Louis? Uncle Eddie still have his pants on?” A frown marred her perfect brow. “You’ve been at O’Hare this whole time?” She stood and moved toward the panoramic windows overlooking Lake Shore Drive. Snow shifted one way, then sharply to the other with each gust of wind. “It’s coming down pretty hard, but traffic is moving.” There was a beat of silence. “Well obviously you’re not getting a flight tonight . . . No, we haven’t eaten yet.”

Hudson slid the napkin from his lap, resting it on the table.

“Why don’t you hop on the L and come spend Christmas Eve with us? . . . No, it’s no trouble.” Allie was back at the table lifting the platter of scalloped potatoes as Nick was spooning into them. “Oh no, the food won’t be ready for another thirty minutes, so it works out great.”

Hudson and Nick shot each other a look that their own hunger might become a liability.

“Head on over,” Allie said before ending the call. Without pause, she turned to Hudson and Nick. “Will you give me a hand with the rest of these?”

“What the fuck?” Nick’s words rushed out under his breath as Allie left the dining room with an armful of platters.

“Just go with it.” With that they both worked on hauling plate after plate of food to the kitchen. Allie raced to set another place setting and Hudson reached for his phone.

“Max, there will be a feisty redhead arriving soon by the name of Harper Hayes. Send her up.”

Allie gaped at him. “Max is working tonight?”

“Yes.”

“Send the man home. It’s bad enough you’ve had him follow me everywhere for the past two weeks, but it’s Christmas Eve.”

“Crime doesn’t break for the holidays.”

“I’m in your penthouse. Nothing is going to happen to me here.”

Hudson exhaled. “After she arrives, you can leave for the night,” he told Max.

She lifted a brow.

“And I’ll see you on the twenty-sixth,” he added reluctantly before hanging up the phone. While he wanted Max on standby, Allie was right. He shouldn’t keep the man from enjoying time with his family.

“Thank you.” She kissed his cheek. “Maybe give Nick the rest of his presents?”

“I could think of a better way to spend the next half hour.” He wrapped his arms around her and pressed a quick kiss to her lips. “Drop the cookie, Nick,” he said, without looking up. He turned to catch his brother red-handed, then kicked his chin in the direction of the tree. “There are more presents with your name on them.”

Chapter Twenty-one

“Sweet hell,” Hudson muttered under his breath when the elevator doors opened. Harper looked like she’d brought her whole damn closet in the guise of two suitcases the size of an Escalade. With his hands planted on his hips, he checked out the set of mix ’n’ match luggage. If he didn’t know better he’d have sworn the redhead was moving in.

Allie rushed to the elevator at the same time Harper started to unravel herself from the layers of clothes she’d armored herself with against the weather. All he could see at the moment was a set of bright green eyes.

“Oh my God, you must be freezing,” she said.

“Not too bad.” Harper’s teeth chattered and the snowflakes along for the ride dusted his wood floor. She sat down on the bench in the foyer and tugged off her . . . Christ, were those fire-engine red boots?

“And I didn’t know you had all this luggage.”

“Hello, have you met me?” Emerald-green gloves came next, falling to the floor with a wet slap.

“We should have met her at the L stop.” Allie shot a frustrated look at Hudson. “Come on, let’s get you in front of the fire.” She glanced over her shoulder at him and Nick as she ushered Harper toward the living room. “Will you take care of those?”

The two brothers looked at each other. Hudson ran a hand through his hair and bit back a curse. It was bad enough he was playing host-with-the-fucking-most, but now a goddamn bellhop? Jesus Christ, he was going to drag his brother down with him. “Well, don’t just stand there, make yourself useful.” He threw out his arm, slapping Nick against the chest with the back of his hand.

“Ouch.” Nick mock-flinched. “Know your own strength, bro?”

Hudson moved toward the elevator, and as soon as he reached it, jerked one extending handle up while Nick grabbed the other. The two brothers hauled Harper’s luggage—a multicolor polka-dot and a rainbow stripe—into the foyer and clicked the handles back down. When they were done, they found the two women sitting in front of a roaring blaze. Allie had obviously tossed in a couple more logs, turning the living room into an inferno.

“Why in the world do you need that much luggage?” she asked. “I thought you were only going for a few days.”

“One has the presents for my nieces, my mom’s Frango mints, and . . .” With her head finally free of outerwear, Harper fully took in her surroundings. She let out a descending whistle as her eyes darted around the Great Room, from the oversize tree that was visible from space to the Kapoor sculpture, to the Fazoli piano and the vaulted ceilings.