Trapped in a secluded cabin with my grumpy stepbrother was the last thing I envisioned for Christmas. But unexpected curveballs became a regular part of my life for five years, starting when my mom announced she had married her coworker on a whim. Who does that?

My mom wanted me to feel like part of a new family and mandated a weekly Sunday night dinner. Her husband fed the same line to Cody, the grumpy stepbrother from hell. No one thinks a drunken one-night stand is going to be the best sex of your life. His reappearance as my stepbrother was karma’s cruel revenge for something I did in another life. We both avoided those awkward dinners except for holidays and birthday celebrations until our twin half-brothers came along.

My love for my younger brothers was the only thing that made me agree to Christmas at an off-grid, secluded cabin in the middle of nowhere. Too many spiked apple ciders last weekend are to blame for my agreement to ride with Cody since my car didn’t have four-wheel drive. We arrived at the cabin just as snow covered everything in sight. What started as a light snowfall soon transformed into the biggest storm in a decade, leaving us stranded in the cabin and our parents and half-brothers stuck at the bottom of the mountain, unable to make the drive.

Three nights with a giant grumpy Grinch should be my Christmas fantasy come true. Too bad he’s forbidden fruit I can’t touch. I swear it’s the universe’s way of telling me to invest in a robe collection and adopt a dozen cats.

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