The Christmas Dare

by Lori Wilde

  Santa set her down on her feet. “Merry Christmas, Firefly.”

  Kelsey stared at Noah in that ridiculous Santa suit, and got dizzy because she was holding her breath waiting for him to say something.

  That was it? A week without a word from him and he was simply going to wish her Merry Christmas? Thirstily, she drank him in. That silly stocking cap with the white puff ball on the end dangling over his forehead, and that goofy fake beard. The smile was genuine Noah though, but his chocolate brown eyes looked worried.

  “It’s not Christmas for four more days.”

  “You forget,” he said. “In Twilight, it’s always Christmas.”

  “What is everyone doing here?” she asked.

  “Well, two things. The contest judges couldn’t resist our romantic story.” He rubbed her palms where the abrasion burns were almost healed. “And we won the competition!”

  “It’s the name of the place,” Joel called. “The judges are predisposed to call Christmas Island a winner.”

  “You’re just jealous because your twin beat you,” Raylene volleyed back to Joel.

  “But our love story is what cinched it. So, you see, Firefly,” Noah murmured, “I couldn’t have done it without you.”

  “Aww,” the crowd sighed in unison.

  “The second reason everyone is here,” Noah said, “is to celebrate your liberation.”

  “What?”

  “Yep, party in the Rockabye dome. Woot. Woot.” Tasha pumped her fist in the air and started down the path to the Rockabye with Sean.

  “You’re throwing me a party?”

  “We are,” Flynn and Jesse said, linking arms and following Tasha and Sean.

  Theo and Leah came over and they both hugged Kelsey.

  “What are you guys doing here?” she asked. “I thought your cruise left today.”

  “This is more important,” Leah said.

  “You are more important,” Theo added.

  “That’s so sweet.” Kelsey put a hand to her heart that was wide open with love.

  “We had just booked the cruise because we figured Filomena would be sucking you into her orbit and you wouldn’t have time for us,” Leah said. “We didn’t count on you breaking free.”

  “Really?” Kelsey placed two palms over her chest. “You’re here for me?”

  “We’d much rather spend Christmas with you, sweetheart, than on some silly boat.” Her father kissed her forehead. “How did it go today?”

  “About how we expected.”

  “She didn’t give an inch.”

  “It’s sad really.” Kelsey sighed. “All I can do is love her and keep my boundaries.”

  “Her dysfunction is not your cross to bear. Just because she gave birth to you doesn’t mean you owe her your life.” Her father’s hug was warm and loving, making up for lost time. “I’m sorry things are the way they are.”

  “I’m not. Now I know the truth. Now I can set myself free.”

  “You’re amazing, and I love you so much.” Theo gave her a final hug and pulled away. “We’ll see you up in the dome.” He and Leah turned and walked in the direction the others had gone.

  The rest of the group peeled away as well, leaving Kelsey standing alone under the mistletoe arch with Noah. She looked at him and felt so much. Much more than words could ever say.

  “Cheer up, Firefly,” he said, his eyes glistening in the Christmas lights.

  “Noah.” What she had to say next was hard, but she had to say it. She’d kept quiet too long. No more sweeping things under the rug. “You have to understand something about me.”

  “What is it?”

  “I can’t turn my feelings on and off like a switch. I can’t be happy, happy, joy, joy all the time like you. While I appreciate your positivity and you certainly make the world a more pleasant place to live in, it’s simply not my reality. Not yet anyway.”

  He took her hand and gave her his full attention.

  “I’m striving to be better. I want to be upbeat and cheerful most of the time, the way you are, but here’s the truth. It may never happen. No matter how hard I try I might never be Miss Merry Sunshine because of the way I was raised. If you can’t love me for me, warts and all, then maybe we just aren’t meant to be.”

  “Kelsey,” he said. “That’s you slapping your fears onto me. I never expected you to be like me.”

  “Then stop telling me to cheer up. I’m tired of people telling me how I’m supposed to feel. I’m tired of denying my own needs to keep everyone happy but me. The time has come for me to carve out my own happiness and stop worrying about everyone else so much.”

  “I agree.”

  “You do?”

  “All I’ve ever wanted, Firefly, is for you to be happy. I made some missteps in this relationship. I admit it. But Raylene pointed something out to me that I hadn’t realized about myself.”

  Her eyes widened. “What’s that?”

  “I take the easy way out. I don’t dig deep. I skim along on the surface. But you don’t. You are the deepest person I know. You feel so much. You are so empathetic. It’s why your mother held on to you so hard. You have the empathy she lacked. I want this to work out. I want us to work out.”

  “Oh Noah, that’s what I want too.”

  “For a while, I was afraid that I was falling for you because you were familiar and safe. That maybe I was hanging on to our childish crush and kidding myself that we were fated. But what I feel for you is a mature and solid love.”

  “How do you know?” she asked.

  “Because I’m so much better when I’m with you, and I think you’re better with me too. We complement each other, Kels. We’re a good mix of similar and opposites. Ultimately, we both have an upbeat outlook on life, even if you’ve got a darker bent. You’re still a glass half-full kind of woman.”

  “We both prefer to avoid conflict.”

  “So that we might have to make an effort to pick a fight now and again, so we can have make-up sex.” He wriggled his eyebrows.

  “We are both people-people.” She laughed. “Although I do have more of an introverted side.”

  “But you’re not overly introspective—”

  “Otherwise I would have figured things out about Filomena years ago . . .”

  “Neither one of us is the broody type,” he went on, enumerating why they made a good match.

  “We don’t stew over failures.” She nodded.

  “Me by letting things roll right off my back, you by rolling up your sleeves doing the hard work necessary to ensure success.”

  “We both make the best of whatever circumstances we find ourselves in.” She reached for his hand.

  He tugged her close. “You make the most mundane things like decorating a gazebo pleasurable.”

  “And you’re funny and lively. You’re the talent and I’m the audience.”

  “I’m always ready to striptease for you, Firefly.”

  “You give me the energy I need to keep going. You’re quick and self-confident and curious and open to new experiences. I love that about you.”

  “And you bring a sense of steadiness to my sparkle. You’re far more sympathetic and soft-hearted than I am.”

  “This is going to work,” she said.

  “I’ve known it from that first day at camp.”

  “When we got lost together.”

  His eyes misted at the memory. “I’ve got something for you.”

  “A present for me?”

  He reached into the pocket of his Santa suit, took out a small black box.

  Kelsey gasped. Put a hand to her mouth. She loved Noah with all her heart and soul but she wasn’t ready for a ring or marriage. She was just starting to find out who she was and what she wanted. But Noah was definitely on the list.

  “Before you say anything,” he said. “Please open it.”

  Fingers trembling, she cracked open the box. It wasn’t an engagement ring after all, but it was the most perfect gift.

 
; A tear slid down her cheek.

  “Kelsey?”

  She fingered the silver firefly necklace that so magically captured the first sweet gift he’d given her, a jar full of fireflies that night at Camp Hope. The romance they’d started so long ago as children had grown and bloomed into a beautiful mature love.

  “We’re not ready to get married yet,” he said. “We need time to get to know each other inside and out. I want to sweep you off your feet. Romance you. Love you. Then when the time is right, I’ll ask.”

  “And I’ll say yes.”

  “At last, you’ve discovered the real magic of Christmas.”

  “It’s love, isn’t it?”

  “Yes, Firefly, it is.” He nodded and kissed her, and it was the most beautiful kiss right there underneath the Christmas Island arch. It was a rare and beautiful night. One she would treasure forever.

  Tasha’s Christmas of Yes dares that had started out as a way to push Kelsey out of her comfort zone had landed her right into the most comfortable spot of her life . . .

  Noah’s loving arms.

  Epilogue

  On Christmas Eve, one year later, Theo James walked his daughter, Kelsey, down the makeshift aisle of the Rockabye dome. Filomena had been invited, but she refused to attend, saying she wasn’t about to set foot on a hillbilly houseboat.

  No one really expected anything else from her. She’d settled right into her mayoral duties and things seemed to be going well. Kelsey was happy for her. Kelsey saw Pamela once at a charity event she was still involved in and her cousin looked miserable. Just before Kelsey left she leaned in and whispered, “It’s okay to leave.”

  Pamela, the poor thing, was still Filomena’s aide-de-camp. But Kelsey held out hope for her cousin. A year ago, people hadn’t held out much hope for her and now here she was, about to marry the man of her dreams.

  Tasha was matron-of-honor of course and couldn’t hide the fact that she was five months pregnant. Sean won her over and they’d married at the Rockabye on the Fourth of July. Tasha now worked for Noah too, as his executive chef. They’d built a restaurant on Christmas Island, named aptly The Firefly.

  Finally using her degree in hospitality, Kelsey had taken over the administrative duties of both the Rockabye and The Firefly and she’d doubled their revenue.

  “I’m so proud of you,” Theo whispered as he passed her over to Noah.

  “Thanks, Dad.”

  She took Noah’s hand and looked into the eyes of her best friend, saw the spirit of Christmas brimming there. The holiday she’d once hated was now her favorite time of the year. Of course, they would have a Christmas wedding. She wore the firefly necklace Noah had given her last year as a promise for this day.

  A happy smile lit up his dear, easygoing face. “You are the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.”

  Kelsey’s heart skipped a beat, her gaze clinging to her tall, laid-back man who was so much fun and who’d helped define the person she had become. A balanced woman able to freely give and receive love. They complemented each other, both bringing something special to the relationship.

  And in the entire year since last Christmas, her eye hadn’t twitched once.

  When the preacher pronounced them husband and wife and Noah kissed her under the stars shining above the glass dome, she breathed a prayer of gratitude.

  This was what she’d been missing all those years. Affection, understanding, love.

  So much love. Not just from Noah, but from Theo and Leah, Noah’s family and friends, and the community of Twilight as well. There was nowhere else in the world that she would rather be.

  As Noah held her in his arms, Kelsey went up on tiptoes, pressed her lips to his ear and whispered, “Wanna slip into a cubbyhole before the photographer starts rounding everyone up for pictures?”

  “Why Mrs. MacGregor.” He grinned. “Whatever do you mean?”

  “You know exactly what I mean, Mr. MacGregor.”

  “Mrs. MacGregor, are you trying to push me out of my comfort zone?”

  She clicked her tongue, gave him a knowing wink, and murmured, “Yes, I am. Find a secret place to have your way with me now . . . I dare you.”

  An Excerpt from To Tame a Wild Cowboy

  Keep reading for a look at

  To Tame A Wild Cowboy

  the previous book in Lori Wilde’s Cupid, Texas series

  Available now from Avon Books!

  Chapter 1

  “It takes a village.”

  Huh?

  Rhett Lockhart opened one eye and studied the shapely blonde in the bed next to him. Pouty red lips, which last night had tasted like strawberry gloss, glistened in the bright sunshine pushing against the edges of the light-blocking curtains.

  Big smoky brown eyes, circled by smeared mascara, blinked at him. Full perky breasts, which tasted just as delicious in real life as they’d looked in last year’s Rodeo Queens of New Mexico pinup calendar, thrust against his arm.

  Miss September.

  On the calendar, she’d worn spangles, bangles, a pink cowgirl hat, and little else. Much like she was dressed now, minus the hat. She was cute and perky and just the right kind of wrong.

  Too bad his head throbbed like a sonofagun.

  The culprit, an empty bottle of cinnamon whiskey, lay wedged between his pillow and the headboard. The celebratory hooch she’d brought with her because, as she’d said, he was red-hot.

  “To get you up, cowboy.” She glanced down at his crotch with a knowing smile. “Some bozo’s been hammering on your door for a solid five minutes, and I’ve been calling your name . . .”

  Nausea jiggled his stomach. It took him a second to remember where they were. Oh yeah, inside his Featherlite, a horse trailer with living quarters, currently parked on the rodeo fairground’s back lot in Albuquerque.

  Last night, he’d come in first place, blistering his biggest rival, Brazilian hotshot Claudio Limon. Claiming a solid ninety-two-point ride on Smooth Operator, one of the orneriest bulls bucking. Life didn’t get much sweeter than that.

  It was only May, but he was jockeying a hot streak. Burning through the circuit, racking up points left and right. This was his year. He was on the cusp of earning his lifetime goal and landing the dream he’d been dreaming since he was old enough to strap on chaps.

  Come November in Las Vegas, he was finally going to shove Claudio off his lofty perch as a two-time winner of the Professional Bull Riders World Finals Championship and collect the title for himself.

  “Rhett?” The blonde snapped her fingers in front of his face. “You with me, hon?”

  Quick, what was her name? Carrie . . . Corrie . . . Chrissy . . . no . . . Cassie? Yes, Cassie. That was it. Right? Did he risk calling her Cassie, or just use his old standby?

  He flashed her a big smile, winced against the added pressure in his aching temples, and drawled, “Mornin’, sweet cheeks.”

  “It’s Carla,” she said, her voice flat, and her smile as fragile as iced lace.

  Oops, not Cassie after all. But hey, her name started with a C. He was in the ballpark. Although the look in her eyes told him she wouldn’t find that a plus.

  Carla was on her side facing him, hands stacked underneath her cheek, watching him like he was a bug doing the backstroke in her soup.

  “I know that,” he lied through his teeth. “But those sweet cheeks of yours are drivin’ me crazy.” He reached to palm her butt.

  “You’ve got a bit of the devil running through your veins, Rhett Lockhart,” she breathed out on a wistful sigh. “You ooze temptation with that sexy walk and charmin’ talk. How’s an honest girl supposed to resist?”

  She was right. He couldn’t deny it, much as he might want to; he was Duke Lockhart’s son. That ornery sonofabitch.

  Bam, bam, bam. A firm and urgent knock on his trailer door.

  “Shh.” Rhett brought a finger to his lips. “Let’s pretend we’re not here. Maybe they’ll leave.”

  She scooted away, nodded at his
mobile phone on the bedside table beside a half-empty box of condoms. “Your cell’s been pinging too.”

  “Ignore it.” Rhett walked his fingers up her bare thigh, which was poking out from underneath the covers.

  “What if it’s an emergency?”

  “It’s not.”

  “How do you know?”

  “Don’t you want to spend the day in bed with me?” he wheedled.

  “It’s not me. It’s the rude dude at the door.”

  “Maybe it’s TMZ wanting an interview.” He gave her another wink and a tickle. “I was pretty spectacular last night.”

  Carla laughed. “Yeah, right.”

  “Pardon me? Are you making fun of my bedroom prowess?”

  “Oh, I have no complaints in that department,” she purred.

  Bam, bam, bam.

  “It might not be an emergency, but whoever is out there isn’t going away. For once in your life, face the music, Lockhart.” Carla got out of bed.

  Face the music? Not his strong suit.

  “Rhett!” his lawyer, Lamar Johnston, called out. “Open the damn door. I know you’re in there.”

  “Want me to get that?” Carla found his black PBR T-shirt draped over the footboard. Pulled the tee down over her head, covering those beautiful boobs.

  Darn it.

  “It’s just Lamar.” He reached for her arm and hauled her back onto the mattress beside him. “Ignore him, and he’ll leave.”

  “Who is Lamar?”

  “My Texas lawyer.”

  “Why is your Texas lawyer in New Mexico?”

  “I might have been avoiding his calls.”

  “What have you gotten yourself messed up in?”

  “It’s nothing.” Rhett waved a hand. “People like to sue you when you’re in the public eye.”

  “It doesn’t sound like nothing.”

  Bam, bam, bam.

  “Rhett, I’m not going anywhere,” Lamar confirmed. His attorney had crap timing. “You might as well let me the hell in.”

  Carla rolled out of his arms. Grabbed for the tiny scrap of pink silk that passed for panties lying on the floor and wriggled into them.