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“You don’t even know me,” she said. “Not anymore.”
Somewhere off in the distance, the crowd burst into applause and cheers. It may as well have been happening in a different world. Where he stood, only one thing mattered—the way she was looking at him right now.
An outward force seemed to push him forward. He crossed the remaining inches between them, putting his arms around her and pulling her toward him as he captured her mouth in a long, mind-blowing kiss.
3
What. Was. Happening?
When Nic took those remaining steps toward her, the sizzle in the air between them became impossible to ignore. She’d been battling it the whole time. It was exactly why she’d stayed put, right under the mistletoe. Right where someone stood if she wanted to be kissed.
How could she have let this happen? And why couldn’t she stop it?
Somewhere far off in the distance, the crowd applauded. It felt like the crowd was still applauding.
The lighting! She’d missed it all. She assumed from the cheers, it had gone well. This could have been disastrous. How could she be so irresponsible?
Those thoughts had her pulling back immediately and glancing over his shoulder. What if somebody saw them?
Nobody was looking in their direction. She breathed a sigh of relief at the realization. The closest group of people was a good sixty yards away—half the length of a football field. Besides, all eyes were on the events happening in front of them, not behind them.
“I have to go,” she blurted.
Without waiting for a response, she rushed around him, not even bothering to swoop down and grab her coffee cup as she went. She’d get that later, when the coast was once again clear.
She didn’t stop moving, even when she got to the crowd. Noelle was here somewhere, wearing that elf costume. If there was ever a time when she needed her best friend, it was now.
But the crowd was moving in the opposite direction. Charity was swimming against the tide in as close to the literal sense as possible without water being involved.
She was pretty sure she walked for a good thirty seconds without progressing even an inch toward that stage. She scanned the crowd for Noelle’s velvety green hat. Once she spotted it, she could start moving in that direction. But there was no sign of it.
Somehow, Charity managed to find a break in the crowd and make her way toward the stage. It was packed with people—families who wanted the kids to see the tree up close. She spotted the mayor, some of his entourage, and lots of familiar-looking locals, but not a single trace of a beautiful blonde in an elf costume.
“Charity!”
She heard her name and started looking around. It wasn’t the voice of her best friend, though. The voice came from her assistant, Jayne.
They had no trouble meeting toward the right of the stage. The crowd in that area had pretty much dwindled to nothing by then.
“Where have you been?” Jayne asked. “We’ve been looking everywhere for you. Did you get the mistletoe down?”
Charity didn’t bother to suppress a moan. No, she had not gotten the mistletoe down. It had been exactly why she’d gone to the statue, but instead of doing her job, she had a make-out session with her ex.
Okay, so one kiss that didn’t even last thirty seconds wouldn’t qualify as making out. But she deserved every bit of grief she was giving herself over this.
“I couldn’t reach it,” Charity said. “You don’t happen to have a stepstool handy, do you?”
Eyes wide, Jayne shook her head. Yeah, of course she wouldn’t.
“We’ll just have to count on the mercy of a tall stranger,” Charity said.
She was already looking back in that direction. She needed to come up with an excuse to delay walking toward the statue. For all she knew, Nic could be hanging around, waiting to see if she’d come back.
But no, that was silly. He would have headed home along with the rest of the crowd.
“You know what?” Jayne asked. “I’ll go check it out. You probably want to finish up here.”
Charity nodded. That was a good idea. She could prove to everyone, including herself, that she was serious about making this event a success.
