Total pages in book: 70
Estimated words: 70554 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 353(@200wpm)___ 282(@250wpm)___ 235(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 70554 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 353(@200wpm)___ 282(@250wpm)___ 235(@300wpm)
When you’ve been hunted this long and this hard by a stalker, you become very aware of when an unidentified individual is looking.
Or staring.
Or glaring.
“Light her up!” dramatically announces the male host with a theatrical lifting of his hands.
At that moment, the Christmas lights covering the tree begin illuminating the greenery from the bottom to the top, layer by layer, giving color and magic and life to the holiday symbol.
“It’s beautiful,” leaves me in almost a whisper prompting Nolan to wordlessly rest his head against the side of mine and Kid to lift our joined hands to his lips.
For just a moment, everything around us disappears.
It’s easy to forget about how they were just bickering.
How painful answering coroner questions was.
How much sleep we’re not getting.
For just one…brief…sweet moment…the only thing that truly matters is that we’re here.
Together.
Like our very own little Halmark holiday movie approved scene.
“Ugh,” someone loudly grumbles, cutting through the love filled bubble we have. “Excuse. Me.” A familiar face stomps past making sure to bump into me in particular during the process. “You look like a whore.”
“You smell like one,” I whisper back to Jolene with a wide mouth smile.
Another offended gag is given prior to her tugging some poor, defenseless male along behind her. “Faster, Paul! We haven’t got all night!”
“That’s because his wife will start looking for him if he comes home after eleven,” Mutt goads only to quickly receive a quirked eyebrow from the curly haired man.
“How did you know that?” Horror fuses itself into his expression. “Did she send you?!”
“Paul!” squeaks his date.
“Thirsty?” Kid inquires with a smug smirk. “Hungry?”
“Why wasn’t horny one of the options?” Mutt teases with a devilish smile.
“Because you’re always that,” I sass back, thankful that the feeling of being watched has dispersed, meaning it was most likely his ex causing the unsettling sensation.
“Complaint?”
“Fact.”
Our boyfriend laughs at Mutt’s glaring before diverting his full attention to me. “It’s your first festival, baby. It’s all about you.” Another kiss is delivered to the back of my hand. “What do you wanna do? Snowman bowling?”
“They’re just painted bowling pins,” Nolan immediately explains.
“Make it snowball?” Kipp lists a second choice.
“They’re just white basketballs you throw into a snowflake painted hoop,” his best friend informs.
“The discsnow?”
“Disco dancing in skis,” Mutt shoots him an amused glare, “to songs that were born long before you were, Kid.”
“That doesn’t mean I don’t know them!”
“You don’t know an alarming amount of music,” I swiftly claim. “It’s why you’re not in charge of what we play on my stomach.”
“There’s nothing wrong with classical.”
“Yeah, but it shouldn’t be the only thing she or he hears.”
“He,” they obnoxiously correct in tandem.
“See, now, you two have me hoping it’s a girl out of pure spite.” Laughter leaves all three of us yet mine is stopped short when something in the far distance catches my attention. “Oh! How about a carriage ride?” My clutch wielding hand gestures that direction. “Pretty sure Posie said that it’s the only way to see all the light displays and ice sculptures.”
“You want a sleigh ride?” Mutt curiously questions.
“Carriage ride.” The correction gets him chuckling again. “That’s not a sleigh. And there is no snow in this part of Texas. Just drunk and confused wind chills.”
We snicker together once more prior to heading for the activity.
Thankfully, there are multiple carriages, which allows for the line to move fairly quickly, but unfortunately for us, we end up behind the very woman we just ran into all because the people dividing us decide it's more important for their kid to see Santa than it is to keep us away from Satan.
“I love my diamond tennis bracelet,” Jolene dramatically says, winding her arm around his neck, gaze stealing glimpses of us. “You know just how to make a woman feel special.” She twitches a glare at Mutt who is openly flirting with The Kid by tugging lightly on his sweater. “Adored.” Her smugness she’s determined to get to me, doesn’t. “Wanted.”
Glad that thesaurus app on her phone seems to be getting some good use.
“I can’t wait to really show you my appreciation,” she purrs to him yet remains making eye contact with me.
Which is needless to say…uncomfortable.
“I’ll bring you coffee Christmas morning wearing only a Santa hat if you jingle my bells Christmas Eve,” Kid states on a waggling of his eyebrows prompting our boyfriend’s ex to present me with a smug sneer.
Sure.
They’re flirting.
But it’s not like I’m uninvited.
Or that they’ve forgotten I’m here.
Her point from our last encounter hasn’t been proven.
“You’re lucky I’m not jingling your bells right now, Kid,” Mutt hungrily grumbles.
“See,” I join in the conversation, grateful for an easy segue into it. “Always. Horny.”
“Says the woman wearing lingerie in public making me that way.”
“It’s a dress!”
“Pretty sure it’s a costume,” Kipp lightly chortles while Jolene and Paul get into the next available carriage.