It shouldn’t be a big deal, but it is. Not much is more attractive than a guy who appreciates a competent woman.
Candace and a few others stand under the pegboard, chucking rings back to us whenever we miss one. After a minute, we’ve landed each of the ten rings, but nothing happens.
We look around, in case we missed something. We count the rings on the pegs. The more we scramble, the more uptight Todd gets.
“What do we do now?” he yells. “What do we do now?”
“Come on, Candace!” Coop whispers to me, and I laugh, but I’m channeling a bit of Todd, myself. What the heck do we do now?
Coop goes over to grab the instructions, and he reads it out loud again. But he’s slow and steady, confidence emanating from him like heat from a fire.
“Five golden rings, a festive sight,
But ten rings are needed this glorious night.
Toss them true, but oh, be wise!
And the next clue will be your greatest prize.
What looks like a peg to you and me
Just may be the needed key.”
“A key!” I say.
I run over to the pegboard, and Coop and Candace are right behind me. We tug on each of the pegs until Candace yanks one out that has a key on the end.
“What does it go to?” Todd yells.
“WE DON’T KNOW YET,TODD,” Candace snaps. “Calm down! And everyone else, look for a keyhole.”
“This door has a keyhole,” Coop says.
Candace runs over, sticks the key in the door, and it opens.
“Yes!” she yells.
Candace, Todd, and their team all run into the other room, which looks like a stable. Coop is standing at the door, taking up enough space that my arm brushes his as I enter.
My arm tingles like I walked through a spiderweb. I give a small shiver.
“Cold?” he asks.
“Of course not,” I say. “Midwesterners don’t get cold.”
“Good to know. Because if you were, I’d have to give you my hoodie.”
“I’m freezing,” I say.
He grins, unzips his hoodie, and puts it around my shoulders. I slide my arms in, and he turns me around to face him. Then he takes the two sides of the zipper and zips it all the way up to my chin.
And even though his hand doesn’t touch a single part of my body until he reaches my chin, flames follow the movement all the way up.
He holds my gaze. “Better?”
“Much.”
Then he gives me a shove, and I fall butt first into a reindeer trough.
