The Christmas Dare

by Lori Wilde

  “Let’s sneak out the side exit,” Sean said. “Avoid the Bard Babes.”

  Tasha cocked her head. “Your groupies have a name?”

  “We didn’t name them,” Noah supplied. “That’s what they call themselves.”

  “You must get a lot of . . .” Tasha paused.

  Kelsey was terrified her sassy friend was going to say tail, but she didn’t finish her sentence. Tasha could be outrageous, and Kelsey worried she might scare Sean off. But face it, the guy had to like Tasha for who she was, or it wasn’t going to work.

  Still holding hands with Tasha, Sean led their small group through The Horny Toad Tavern. The bartender and waitresses were cleaning up after the stage show. Sean escorted them past the kitchen. Waved at the cooks as they slipped out the side door into the cool night. It wasn’t freezing, but there was definitely a bite to the air.

  Kelsey shivered, not from the cold, but from the delight of being here with her friends. She felt seventeen again and ready for adventure.

  “You guys hungry?” Noah asked.

  Not for food was on the tip of her tongue, but Kelsey quelled the impulse. “I love street food if any of the vendors are still open.”

  “Really?” Noah looked surprised.

  “Me too,” Tasha chattered. “I’m a sucker for junk food. Cotton candy. Funnel cakes. Soda. I’m bad.”

  “Uh-hmm.” Sean eyed her.

  “From the looks of you,” Tasha told him, “I’m guessing you’re Mr. Paleo or Keto or something anti-carby-o.”

  “Actually,” Sean said, “I’m vegetarian and I like a slice of hot cheese pizza as much as the next guy.” He patted his taut, hard belly. “I just don’t get to indulge often.”

  “How about you?” Kelsey asked Noah.

  “I’m game for pizza.” Noah dropped his arm from her waist and took her hand. “Be careful on the cobblestones. They’ve been here since the 1880s and are pretty unlevel.”

  The four of them walked toward the town square. It was nine thirty and the foot traffic had lightened considerably, but the midway was still open, as were the food kiosks.

  Sean stopped at the pizza vendor. Held up two fingers. “Veggie slice for me and . . .” He turned Tasha.

  “Pepperoni, no, wait,” she said. “Make mine a veggie pizza too.”

  “You don’t have to eat veggie just because I do,” Sean said.

  “Oh yeah, right. Like I can nosh on meat now. If you kiss me, you’ll taste it on me.”

  “If I kiss you?” Sean’s mouth twitched.

  “Am I getting ahead of myself?” Tasha splayed a palm to her chest. “Am I being too forward?”

  “I’ve got a solution,” Sean said.

  “What’s that?”

  “How about I kiss you before we eat pizza?” Sean murmured.

  “This is our clue to give them some privacy,” Noah said to Kelsey and led her away as Sean enveloped Tasha in a hot embrace.

  Chapter 12

  While Tasha and Sean were getting frisky under the awning of a closed law office, Noah and Kelsey purchased their pizza—they both got the Margherita—and walked the square, taking in the sights.

  Noah didn’t say anything. Kelsey got weirded out by the silence and cast around for a topic of conversation. “So how long have you known Sean?”

  “Sean was my roommate in college and when he got out of the Navy, he didn’t know what he was going to do with his life. Joel and I offered him a job working as a scuba instructor and tour guide. So that’s what he does in the summer. In the winter, he’s our handyman.”

  “How long has he been out of the SEALs?”

  “Why all the interest in Sean?”

  “Noah MacGregor, are you jealous?” she teased.

  “Sean is a hot guy.”

  “Not half as hot as you.”

  “You’re biased.” He finished off his pizza, wiped off his fingers with a napkin, and offered one to her.

  “You have a point.” She dabbed her mouth with the napkin and tossed the remaining pizza crust into a nearby receptacle. “The truth is, Tasha really likes him, and I don’t want her to get hurt.”

  “Do you always run interference in your friend’s love life?”

  “Her last boyfriend was a jerk. She’s been through a lot.”

  “And you haven’t?”

  She ignored his question. “Who knows? Maybe she’s grilling Sean about you on my behalf.”

  Noah glanced over his shoulder, and Kelsey followed his gaze to where Sean and Tasha were still deep in the throes of a grappling kiss. “I don’t think she is.”

  “She’s rather spontaneous.”

  “I gathered.” Noah took her hand again and they meandered toward Sweetheart Park, adorned in a wealth of Christmas lights.

  They paused at the Sweetheart Fountain, a stony depiction of Jon Grant and Rebekka Nash locked in a lovers’ embrace.

  “Should we throw a coin in the fountain and make a wish?” he asked.

  Kelsey caught her breath. The old legend. Throw a coin in the fountain, wish to be united with your childhood sweetheart and you would be. It was mythic, of course, but what was he suggesting? Did he want to rekindle the old flame? Did she?

  “I mean . . . I was just joking,” he amended quickly. “No expectations.”

  “No?”

  “Do you want me to have expectations?”

  Kelsey studied his face, trying to get a read on him. “Do you want me to want you to have expectations?”

  He laughed, a rueful sound that landed hard on her ears. “Firefly, you’re doing it again.”

  “Doing what?”

  “Trying to figure out what I want so you can please me.”

  “Am I doing that?” she asked mildly.

  “You know you are.”

  “What do you want from me, Noah?”

  “To speak your truth. I can handle it. If you’re regretting the hell out of the kisses we shared today, just tell me and I’ll back off. I have no intention of pressuring you.”

  “I see.”

  “But you were the one who kissed me first, so I thought maybe . . .”

  “On a dare.”

  “But you chose me.”

  “You were under mistletoe. It was an opportunity I couldn’t pass up.”

  “That’s it?”

  “I just got stood up at the altar, Noah.” A waspish note crept into her voice.

  “I understand that. It’s why I want you to tell me what’s going on here.”

  What was going on here?

  “I feel . . .” Kelsey paused, searching her body for areas of tightness in the places where her emotions got trapped. Anxiety lived in the muscles around her eyes. Fear turned her stomach into a rock tumbler. Guilt strummed the strings of a headache.

  “Yes?” He waited on her, patient and kind.

  “Confused.”

  “By me?”

  “By everything.”

  “Is there anything I can do to help?”

  “Just be my friend.”

  “I can do that.” He paused, cleared his throat. “To be clear, are we friends who kiss?”

  She wanted to laugh at the earnest expression on his face. “I’m not looking for love.”

  “Oh me either.” He shook his head vigorously. “I’m happy as a clam.”

  “So you weren’t hoping . . .”

  “Not to be rude or anything, but while you are smoking hot and I would love to have all kinds of fun with you, we haven’t seen each other in ten years. Lots of water under that bridge.”

  “Yes.” She nodded. “You are absolutely right. I agree.”

  “You didn’t have any lurking dreams of coming here to reconnect with me after your wedding fiasco?”

  “No. As I told you, Tasha sprang this whole thing on me.”

  “So, what are you looking for?”

  “Me.”

  “A noble goal.”

  “I’m a little late to the party in finding myself. But if I’m going
to find me, I can’t get distracted by—”

  “Me.”

  “Yes.”

  “Whew.” He blew out his breath, put his palm to his nape. “I’m glad we had this talk.”

  “Me too.”

  “So . . . is it okay to hold hands?”

  “If it’s okay with—” Kelsey cut herself off, realized she was doing it again. Feeling him out before she gave an opinion. “No, you know what? I’d love to hold hands with you, Noah. And I enjoy kissing you. And if other things unfolded, I wouldn’t be opposed.”

  “But no strings attached?”

  “No strings attached. Believe me, the last thing I want are strings.”

  “Me either.”

  “For the next two weeks, I don’t want to think about anything but having a good time,” she said.

  “Why, Firefly, I can guarantee you a good time.” He held out his hand and she slipped hers into his, feeling more solid and grounded than she had since . . . well, since Camp Hope.

  As they continued on through the festively decorated park she felt the bah-humbug roll off her shoulders.

  “It’s a beautiful night,” she murmured.

  He squeezed her hand, his eyes on her. “Yes, it is.”

  She cast him a sidelong glance, studied him in the winking and blinking of twinkle lights. He was such a handsome man.

  Her heart fluttered, and her breathing slowed.

  He dipped his head.

  Was he going to kiss her?

  Her eyes widened.

  So did his grin.

  “Do you remember where we carved our names?” He pointed behind her.

  Kelsey turned to see the two-hundred-year-old pecan tree thick with branches. Hundreds of names had been carved into the trunk. The oldest was Jon loves Rebekka 1874 engraved into the center of the tree. The carving was weathered and faded but still visible. After that famous local couple declared their love on the tree, many others followed their lead. Writing their names in Twilight history with pocketknives.

  Sometime in the 1960s, a botanist threatened that if the desecration continued, it would eventually kill the pecan and the town had built a white picket fence around the tree. Along with a stern sign declaring “Do Not Deface the Sweetheart Tree.”

  “Do you remember where we carved our names?” Noah repeated.

  Kelsey stepped over the low fence and squatted at the base of the tree. “We were stretched out here on a blanket.”

  She squinted in the dark, trying to find their names among all the others.

  “We were lying on our stomachs, trying to make ours the lowest of them all.”

  “But really you’d just gotten too comfortable after our picnic and you were too lazy to stand up,” she reminded him.

  “Oh yeah.” His grin was as lazy as his name-carving ambitions had been. “It was warm, I was full, and you were soft. I hated to move.”

  “Here we are.” She reached to trace her fingers over the names. Noah & Kelsey 4 Ever. “You didn’t even spell out ‘forever.’”

  “But I carved an actual heart,” he said, coming over to crouch beside her. “That suggests I wasn’t as lazy as you’re making me out to be.”

  “Cutting too close to the bone, am I?” She laughed.

  Their faces were so near, the rich smell of winter soil permeated the air. She could feel his warm breath on her cheek.

  “I’m not too lazy to do this.” He leaned in and touched her mouth with his. Light, teasing. Just the right amount of casual pressure.

  But were they trying too hard to recapture the past?

  Kelsey pulled back, offering him a soft smile to let him know he hadn’t crossed any lines, that retreating was all on her.

  He looked puzzled but easily let her go. It was not the first time he’d let her go without a fight.

  That’s unfair.

  Noah had tried to see her again after that night on the dock, even though she hadn’t known it. But Filomena was too formidable; especially for a seventeen-year-old kid with a basketball scholarship to the University of Texas.

  Kelsey grappled with insecurity. Part of her was still the girl who felt abandoned by her twin, her father, and her first love. Yes, as an adult she understood how complicated and complex life was, but deep inside, there was a scrap of that wounded child who’d never quite healed.

  That was really the root of why she was here in the first place. To heal. Tasha had known what she was doing when she cooked this whole adventure up. She needed to thank her.

  Noah stood, straightened. His imposing height towering over her. He reached down a hand to help her up.

  She accepted his hand, studied his kind face, felt her heart trip over itself. She was reconsidering that kiss when Noah’s phone dinged, signaling that he’d gotten a text.

  “Sean and Tasha are heading on back to the Rockabye,” he said, checking the phone screen.

  “It’s getting late.”

  “Almost midnight.” The cell phone cast shadows across his face in the darkness, giving him a spooky, but sexy look.

  The park lay empty, no one else around.

  Noah guided her toward the rear exit of the park, sheltered by thicker trees, and the road leading back to the town square.

  On the street, a few people lingered. Couples holding hands. Laughing and joking, a group of twentysomethings drifted out of the wine bar, Fruit of the Vine. The town felt safe, comfortable, happy.

  Noah didn’t speak. Neither did Kelsey. It was a companionable silence. Enjoyable. A nice night.

  She inhaled deeply, and a soft sense of peace settled over her.

  They walked along the cobblestones, their footsteps echoing. At the loudness of their footfalls, Kelsey realized the Christmas music had stopped playing.

  On the courthouse lawn, kiosk vendors were packing up and closing down their stands. She could smell the lake even from here. The wind drifted the loamy scent over them.

  The familiar aroma stirred images, both bad and good. In her mind’s eye she saw Chelsea in that canoe on Possum Kingdom Lake, her sister’s determined chin set. She saw Camp Hope and Noah and how he looked at eleven years old on the first day they ever met. Then that last day she’d been with him, as Filomena dragged her off the dock by her hair.

  As they headed toward the marina, the few people in the area dispersed to cars, until they were the only ones left on the sidewalk. Noah wrapped his arm around her shoulder. Contented, Kelsey snuggled against his side.

  Behind them, a car moved slowly down the street, but Kelsey didn’t pay it much attention. She was wrapped in her reverie and the feelings of happiness combined with sadness churning through her. The urgency to change mixed with fear. Regret mingled with guilt. Possibility collided with redemption. All of which was the result of this midnight walk with a man she hadn’t seen in ten years. A man who’d once meant so much to her and might mean a lot to her once again.

  Abruptly, car tires squealed.

  The vehicle behind them revved and sped up. Simultaneously, Noah and Kelsey jerked their heads around.

  A black Lincoln Town Car jammed on the brakes in the middle of the road right beside where they stood on the sidewalk.

  Oh Lord, she knew that car.

  A big bulky man, dressed all in black, leaped from the passenger side and pounced onto the sidewalk in front of them.

  Kelsey recognized him right away, despite the ski mask he wore.

  Clifford Steel, her mother’s personal bodyguard.

  Before she could react, Steel roughly shoved Noah into the side of the building, grabbed Kelsey’s wrist in a vise grip and forced her into the backseat of the Town Car.

  Steel tumbled in beside her, and as he grappled to slam the door closed he yelled at Lewis Hunter sitting behind the wheel, “Go, go, go!”

  Stunned, after hitting his temple on the side of the stone building when the assailant shoved him, Noah shook his head.

  Kelsey was being kidnapped!

  His noggin throbbed, but h
e shrugged it off and jumped for the door of the Town Car before the assailant could close the back door.

  Chaos ensued.

  “Gun it!” the kidnapper screamed at the driver.

  “He’s half in the car!” the driver shouted back.

  Noah punched the guy who’d taken Kelsey, slamming him in the nose. Blood spurted. It had been a long time since Noah had been in a brawl and Kelsey’s assailant was much faster than he.

  The man dodged Noah’s next punch and delivered one of his own, smacking his fist into Noah’s left eye.

  Noah groaned.

  The assailant kicked at Noah’s hand clinging to the inside door handle.

  No way, asshole.

  Noah was not going to let them get away with Kelsey. He clung to the door as hard as he could, his upper body angled across the other man’s lap.

  “Let go,” the assailant growled.

  “Kelsey, get out the other door!” Noah said.

  “I can’t,” she cried. “The child locks are on.”

  The assailant grabbed hold of Kelsey’s braid with one hand and yanked her back. She yelped in pain, fueling Noah’s anger. With his other hand, the assailant pressed his palm into Noah’s face and kicked him in the shoulder.

  Noah grunted but hung on.

  “Noah, Noah,” Kelsey said. “Let go. I don’t want them to hurt you. It’s okay. My mother sent them.”

  “You know these bozos?” Noah asked.

  “Yes.”

  He couldn’t see her. Too much hammy palm in his face. “Do you want to go with them?”

  “No!”

  “Well, then.” Noah punched the assailant again. Bam, bam, bam.

  “Stop it,” the man howled. “This will not end well for you!”

  “Let me go. Let me out of here.” Now, Kelsey was kicking the assailant from the other side.

  Hot blood seemed to be everywhere. Noah didn’t know if it was from the assailant’s nosebleed, or the cut stinging his cheek, or if Kelsey had also been hurt. Alarmed, the hairs on his nape lifted.

  The man couldn’t handle both of them. Not two at once. “Drive, Hunter, dammit!”

  Noah needed to strike before the chauffeur decided to take off, with Noah’s legs still dangling outside the car, and drag him. Leveraging his body weight, he leaned back and jammed his elbow hard up against the guy’s Adam’s apple.