Holidays with the Walker Brothers (Alluring Indulgence #4)(22)
Author: Nicole Edwards

No. “Yes,” he lied.

“You are so full of shit,” Sawyer said with a grin. “Kylie’s gonna kick your sorry ass if she doesn’t have a present under the tree.”

Technically, Kylie’s gift wouldn’t fit under the tree, nor was he able to move it, but he fully understood Sawyer’s point. And shit, Travis would kick his own ass if Kylie didn’t have her present. And then he’d kick Gage’s for telling him that he could make it happen.

With so much going on lately, time had somehow slipped through his fingers, and he had managed to do the unthinkable. How in the hell would he explain to his wife that he only half ass got her something for Christmas? An IOU certainly wouldn’t work.

Grabbing his phone, Travis flipped through the screens until he found the ongoing text conversation he had with Gage.

Did you place that order we talked about?

There, at least the ball was back in Gage’s court now. Not that it would matter, this gift was something they’d been working on for a while, but since it was a two-parter, it required a little creativity, so they hadn’t jumped right in to get the last of it taken care of.

The sound of boots on hardwood made Travis turn to look toward the swinging door that led from the dining room to the kitchen. Waiting patiently to see who had finally decided to grace them with their presence, he simply stared.

When the door was pulled open, he knew immediately that it wasn’t one of the twins. They pushed the door in, rather than pulled.

Huh, such a strange thing to have noticed, he thought to himself.

“Son of a bitch,” Zane muttered after the door came in and slammed into his ass.

Been there.

Travis hid his grin.

“’Bout time,” Sawyer said by way of greeting their youngest brother.

“Shut it,” Zane retorted. “In case you haven’t noticed, the rest of us have jobs.”

Travis roared with laughter as he leaned back in his chair, pushing it back on two legs. “Nice try, kiddo.”

“Fuck off. I didn’t see your ass there this morning.”

“Where?” he asked. “The resort? Well, your ass might want to get up with the chickens if you want to see me in the morning. I was there. I was also gone before your lazy ass probably even rolled out of bed.”

“Yeah, well…” Zane let the sentence hang as he moved to the refrigerator and grabbed a bottle of water before returning to the table and grabbing one of the other chairs. After turning it around backward, he flopped down on it and downed half the water in one gulp. “Where’s the rest of ‘em?”

Million dollar question that one was.

As if on cue, Sawyer’s phone vibrated on the table. He snatched it up and grinned as he read whatever the message was that he received. Travis wanted to throw his coffee at him.

“Ethan’s on his way,” Sawyer said.

Great. That would make four. Three to go.

The front door slammed shut and once again, Travis was admiring the kitchen door as he waited for the next one to show up.

“What’s up, Bubba?” Braydon announced loudly when he pushed into the room, a shit eating grin on his face.

Good to see him smiling these days. It seemed ever since those two started hooking up with Kylie’s sister that things weren’t all roses and butterflies in the land of the Doublemint twins.

“Where’s…?” Zane’s question died off as Braydon’s other half made his way into the kitchen, his cell phone plastered against his ear.

“Yep, that’s the one. Uh-huh… No… Got it.” Brendon stabbed the end button on his phone and turned to face Travis and the others, a giant grin plastered on his face.

“Did you get it?” Braydon asked his twin, obviously the two of them the only ones in on the secret.

“All done.”

For half a second, Travis thought about questioning them, but then thought better of it. The less he knew about those two, the better.

"So…," Zane said, filling the silence. “You get that present, yet?”

It took Travis a second to realize his younger brother was talking to him, and after a double-take, he glanced around the room to see that the rest of his brothers were looking at him too. “What?”

“Well?”

That seemed to be the theme from the peanut gallery, and Travis was hard pressed not to answer, especially when Kaleb came through the door, quickly followed by Ethan on his heels.

“No, I haven’t. Fuck.”

“Haven’t what?” Kaleb asked as he eased through the group now crowding the kitchen on his way to the coffee pot.

“He hasn’t finished getting Kylie’s present.”