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With Chace already having this effect on her central nervous system within twelve hours of his arrival, Holly needed to intensify her defenses against him if she wanted to come out of this situation with her heart intact.
An exercise in futility?
Probably.
Especially considering it hadn’t completely healed in the last eight years. But to keep history from repeating itself, Holly knew she had to try.
6
For as long as Chace could remember, Christmas in Hickory Ridge formally kicked off the holiday season, and no self-respecting citizen of the twin towns with their small-town appeal dared to miss the time-honored and highly anticipated tradition. So it stood to reason the streets were already packed with locals and tourists eager to dive into the festivities and create more holiday memories to cherish.
Of course, every single one of Chace’s recollections about the festival included Holly. Even before they’d officially become a couple, when she’d only been Lyss’s best friend, all arms, legs, and a smile so bright it could illuminate the entire world.
His world anyway.
“Look! There’s Sophie!” Emme shouted, pointing at the little girl with the tall, dark-blond-haired man who, for some reason, looked familiar to Chace. Had they gone to school together? He didn’t think so, but he had seen the guy somewhere before. “Can we watch the parade with her and her dad?”
All three pairs of eyes turned toward Holly, who simply shrugged. “Sure. Why not?”
That’s all the girls needed to hear as they dashed toward their friend.
“Should we be offended?”
Holly laughed, the sound hitting Chace square in the solar plexus, knocking the air out of his lungs. He loved to hear Holly laugh. Watch the adorable twin dimples form, cutting deep grooves into the hollow of her cheeks as amusement sparkled like diamonds in her chocolate-brown eyes.
The memory of that laugh, among so many other things he shared with Holly, had kept him sane in some pretty intense situations both in the military and with SSI.
“They’re young and eager to have fun,” Holly’s voice broke into his thoughts. “Especially with their friends.”
He couldn’t take his eyes off her. “That used to be us,” he murmured.
“A long time ago,” Holly agreed softly, her gaze steady on the twins as they dashed toward their friend.
Chace’s upper arm bumped and brushed against hers as they wound their way through the growing crowd of parade spectators, and more than once, Chace caught himself reaching for Holly’s hand. Just like he used to.
A long time ago,he reminded himself of Holly’s words. Not that it made any difference, since the urge to twine his fingers with hers hadn’t faded. Nope, not one bit. If anything, the desire had intensified as if he were still a child, even more tempted because he’d been told no.
Only Holly hadn’t said no. At least not in so many words. But considering she broke their engagement eight years ago, Chace guessed there was a better than average chance thenowas implied.
But that didn’t diminish his yearning to touch her either.
“C’mon, you guys,” Wren prompted them with a wave of her gloved hand.
The remaining space was pretty cramped, but they eased into place behind the twins, with Holly in front of him instead of at his side, which was fine. He was tall enough to see over her head, and if his hands found their way to her shoulders under the guise of steadying himself from an accidental jostling by someone in the crowd, that wouldn’t be his fault.
“This is my Uncle Chace and Aunt Holly,” Emme informed her brown-haired friend. “Well, she’s not really our aunt, but our godmother. But we call her Aunt Holly because she and our mom are best friends. But Uncle Chace is Mommy’s brother, so he really is our uncle and also our godfather. They’re here with us because Mommy went to see Daddy in Germany.”
TMI, much? Chace thought to himself and could all but feel Holly cringe at the dissertationtheirgoddaughter felt the need to share. Thank goodness they were too young to know how close Holly had come to becoming their aunt by marriage, so that tidbit wasn’t added to Emme’s introduction.
“This is our friend, Sophie. And her dad…” Emme trailed off upon realizing she had no idea what Sophie’s father’s name was.
“Trey Prescott,” the father in question supplied, extending his hand.
Chace leaned forward, his front pressing into Holly’s back to clasp Trey’s. “Chace Dutton,” he supplied. “And this is Holly McCade, godmother and best friend extraordinaire, as you’ve just been informed.”
Trey laughed. “It must take a few years for their filters to develop,” he replied as he removed his hand from Chace’s and shook Holly’s. “Nice to meet you both.”
“Same,” Chace and Holly replied in unison.
