“Can you flip them on as you go?” Mayor Pearce’s voice boomed through the microphone.
Seriously? She had to call me out in front of half the town? Heads swiveled toward me, and just like that, I was center stage, surrounded by dark lanterns.
I fought the urge to glance over at Brielle. The last thing I needed was to get caught gawking at the redheaded beauty in her hunter-green coat and that ridiculously adorable Santa hat. She looked like the holidays personified—if Christmas could walk around town and make a man forget how to breathe.
Flip them on. Right. Except I had no clue where the power switch was.
I picked one up, turning it over in my hands like an idiot. Nothing. Finally, I gave up and let myself sneak a glance at Brielle.
She was laughing at something a guy in a leather jacket said. City boy, definitely. He didn’t belong here—and still, she smiled at him like she had all the time in the world.
Something hot and sharp twisted through me. It took me a second to name it. Jealousy. I hadn’t felt that in years. Not since my fiancée dumped me for some college guy and I shipped out to the military to escape the wreckage. Since then, I’d kept my head down, my heart barricaded. No risks. No repeats.
But watching that stranger soak up Brielle’s smile? My pulse kicked like I was twenty again.
I strode over just as the guy stepped back, clutching his prize of a lantern. He nodded at me before disappearing toward the exit. Good riddance.
“Hey,” I said, lifting the lantern I held. “How do you turn these on?”
Brielle looked up, her warm brown eyes locking onto mine. They lit me up from the inside out.
“Oh, you need help with the switches.” She glanced toward the path. “Actually, would it be easier if I came with you? Some of them are tricky. I can show you how to angle them so the patterns overlap.”
“That’d be great,” I answered, a little too fast.
She pulled her coat on, the fabric hugging her curves, and grabbed her cash box. After asking her booth neighbor to keep an eye on things, she headed toward me.
And then it was just me and Brielle, walking side by side toward the path, close enough that her sleeve brushed mine every few steps. Each light graze set my nerves on fire.
“So the trick is,” she said, picking up a lantern, “you have to press and hold the button for three seconds. Otherwise, it fizzles out.” She demonstrated, and the lantern bloomed alive, snowflakes scattering across the ground. “See? And if you angle them just right, the light overlaps.”
I leaned in to watch, close enough to catch the soft vanilla scent of her shampoo. She didn’t move back.
As we worked our way down the path, lantern by lantern, the dirt transformed into a glowing runway of gold and silver. Stars, trees, and snowflakes danced across the ground. Every time our hands brushed while trading lanterns, a little spark zipped through me. I wanted to catch her hand and hold it there, just to see if she felt it too.
“This is incredible,” I said. “You made all of these?”
“Every single one.” Pride colored her voice.
Her cheeks flushed, color rising as she talked about the new laser cutter at the community college, how it broadened the designs she could make. The glow from the lanterns kissed her face, and I had to fight the urge to reach out and tuck a strand of red hair back beneath her hat.
“You mentioned you moved here a couple of years ago,” she said, crouching to fix a nativity lantern.
Her knee brushed mine when I knelt beside her, and for a second, neither of us moved. Heat curled low in my stomach.
“Army base in California. Before that, Tennessee.” I shifted just enough to keep from toppling right into her. “I served with Jonas and Gunner—they’re locals. When I got out, they convinced me to check out Wildwood Valley. Ended up being exactly what I needed.”
“And now you work with them?”
“Yeah. We’re building a honky-tonk here in town.”
Her eyes lit up. “Like a real one? With live music and dancing?”
“Dance floor, the works. The honky-tonk could be a disaster, but it feels right.”
She laughed, bumping her shoulder into mine as she angled another lantern. The jolt went straight through me. “That sounds amazing.”
We reached the end of the path, lanterns glowing all around, and I wasn’t ready for it to end.
