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Bessy has gone all out this year.
The town center has been transformed into the most incredible winter wonderland. Santa has just come and gone to visit all the children of Blushing and ask what they want for Christmas. There are hard-working elves in incredible outfits that Bessy must have spent weeks working on. They’ve been busy handing out candy canes for all of the kids while discreetly handing Jello shots to the adults, making this more than my type of festival.
There’s a Christmas kissing booth, a reindeer field with Santa’s sleigh rides, an ornament arts and crafts station, and of course, Blushing’s famous Christmas tree decorating competition where the men of Blushing fight it out for the quickest time to not only erect a Christmas tree, but decorate it completely with lights, tinsel, ribbon, and fifty assorted ornaments. Nana used to make Pop enter every year until he started complaining about his back being too sore. But between me and him, his back never bothered him a day in his life.
The fair opened at nine this morning and has been running all day, and now at almost five in the afternoon, most of the younger families have started to disperse, leaving the grownups to start shifting this family fair into a rowdy town party, but not before Bessy gets to put on her favorite event—the infamous Catch A Cowboy.
I’ve been dreading it since the moment I agreed to do it, but I stand by my decision to participate. There’s no telling who Bessy has chosen for her most eligible bachelor this year, but when it comes down to it, all that’s required of me is a little running around. I don’t need to go showing off my track skills, not that I have any. I just need to make it look convincing enough to feign a decent interest in the game until some other woman gets to find the man of her dreams. Hell, all proceeds from today go to helping the soup kitchen to put on Christmas lunch, so it’ll be worth it in the end.
There are roughly ten minutes until the main event is supposed to go down, so I make my way toward the dog park that’s been transformed into a makeshift arena. Bessy is on the microphone, reminding our small town of the good that’s coming from today’s fair and urging them all to donate to the cause.
When I hear her begin to announce the Catch A Cowboy event, my gaze shifts around the arena. I see Sarah directly across from me with her husband and a few other familiar faces in the crowd, but there’s one specific face I haven’t seen all day. Oxley is about twenty feet to my left with his future husband, assuming the guy says yes to his proposal tomorrow night, and I take in the faces of the people around them. I see Nick’s father, his younger brother, and even their family dog, Beau, but not Nick.
Maybe he didn’t feel like celebrating the Christmas season this year. Totally plausible. Or perhaps he’s just trying to avoid me after he made my knees shake with that kiss.
Goddamn. If I start thinking about it again, I’m screwed. It was everything and more.
The way his arm tightened around my waist and held me close to his chest as though he’d never let me go. The way his fingers gently caressed my cheek. The way his mouth fused to mine and devoured every doubt that I’ve ever had.
It felt right. It felt like for the first time in six years, I was exactly where I was supposed to be.
Maybe Rena was on to something about remaining here in Blushing. That kiss only proved that there’s unfinished business between me and Nick. Well, that’s a given. There’s always been unfinished business between us, but even after lying dormant for so long, the embers are starting to sizzle beneath us, and now that he’s finally in my life again, I can’t possibly walk away.
I owe it to myself to see this through, to see if we really do have a future worth fighting for. Hell, that’s assuming Nick can find it within himself to forgive me for all the hurt I’ve caused him. He’s been so angry with me since the moment I showed up here, and he has every right to feel that way, but beneath all of that anger, I know he still loves me. Though, that unease has been starting to fizzle out, and instead of having his walls up every time I see him, he’s beginning to settle into it, even playing around and teasing just like we used to.
Bessy calls the volunteers to the arena, and I let out a heavy sigh before peeling off my winter coat to reveal the cute cowgirl outfit I managed to put together—a pair of Daisy Duke short-shorts, an old flannel button-down of Pop’s tied at my waist, and to finish it off, my old cowboy boots. Hell, I even managed to shave my legs.
Let’s face it, I’m going to freeze. There’s no question about it, but it’ll be fun while it lasts, and the second it’s over, I’ll be pulling my coat straight back on.
As other women enter the arena from the crowd in similar outfits, I do the same, striding out to take my position around the circle. There are ten of us, all evenly spaced around the big arena, and I don’t miss the way they size each other up, taking this game far too seriously. A few girls look at me as though I’m their next meal, and panic flutters through my chest.
What the hell have I just gotten myself into? Am I about to be mauled by a bunch of thirsty women?
“A round of applause for our eager contestants,” Bessy’s voice comes over the speakers, and I scoff.Eageris a bit of a stretch.
The crowd cheers for their favorite event, getting into the zone for the most athletic race this town has ever seen, and when Oxley’s voice sails over the crowd, my cheeks instantly flush. “HELL YEAH, B. WHOOP THESE BITCHES ASSES.”
Holy shit.
More of the other girls start looking at me, suddenly wondering if I’m going to be a threat to their Christmas date with the town’s most eligible bachelor.
Speaking of, I wonder who it will be. Knowing Bessy, she’ll be hitting up every available guy in town, but in the past, she’d used this opportunity as some kind of match-making program. I remember back in my college days, three years running, the winners of this event ended up a real couple who are now married and settled down with babies.
No wonder these other girls look so competitive. They think this eligible bachelor could have the potential to be their future baby daddy.
“Alright, alright. Settle down,” Bessy says as the crowd continues to go insane, getting into the spirit of the event. “Why don’t we go ahead and introduce this year’s most eligible cowboy?”
The crowd loses it, and I roll my eyes as Bessy is forced to wait. Not even the microphone could lift her voice over this noise. When the crowd finally begins to calm down, Bessy starts her usual over-the-top introduction. “Coming in at six-foot-four with a smoldering, deep blue stare and a grin that could knock any woman on her ass, please welcome to Blushing’s favorite arena, Nicholas Carter Stone.”
What. The. Effing. Fuck.
Nick strides into the arena wearing a pair of old jeans, well-worn chaps, and a pair of cowboy boots that make my mouth water, but it’s the bare torso that really makes me squirm. I knew he’d gotten bigger since the last time I saw him. That was evident the minute I laid eyes on him, but the sharp ridges of his abs are insane, matched with the big, wide shoulders and defined pecs . . . fuck.
I’m a goner.
He struts through the arena, and judging by the way his chest seems to glisten in the fading sunlight, I can only assume that Bessy slathered him up in baby oil, and I bet the old bag enjoyed it too.
He’s simply delicious.
