by Lori Wilde
Not what, who. “Forget it.”
“Is he a real person?” Leaning in, Tasha’s breath quickened. “A celebrity? Or . . .” Her voice dropped even lower. “Someone you’ve met in real life?”
Unbidden, Noah MacGregor’s face popped into Kelsey’s head.
In her mind’s eye, Noah looked as he had the last time she’d seen him. Seventeen years old, the same age she’d been, and six-foot-five. Broad shoulders, narrow waist, lean hips. His muscular chest bare, hard abs taut. Her lipstick imprinted on his skin. Unsnapped, unzipped jeans.
Wild hair.
Wilder heart.
Rattled and rocked, her safe little world had tilted. Noah was so big, so tall, and he had a wicked glint in his eyes. An honest man, independent and sexy. One hot look from him had sent her heart scrambling.
That final night, they’d been making out on the dock at Camp Hope, a grief camp for children on Lake Twilight. That year they were both junior counselors, after having attended every summer since they were eleven as campers.
On the dock a blanket and candles and flowers. Courtesy of her romantic boyfriend.
Fever-pitch kisses.
They were ready to have sex—finally—when he’d jumped up, breathing hard. His angular mouth, which had tasted of peppermint and something darkly mysterious, was pressed into a wary line. Noah’s thick chocolate-colored locks curling around his ears and his deep brown eyes enigmatic.
In her bikini, she’d blinked up at him, her mind a haze of teenage lust and longing. “What’s wrong?”
“Did you hear something?” Noah peered into the shadows.
Propped up on her elbows, Kelsey cocked her head. Heard the croak of bullfrogs and the splash of fish breaking the surface of the water as they jumped up to catch bugs in the moonlight. “No.”
Doubled fists, pricked ears, Noah remained standing, ready for a fight if one came his way. Prepared to protect her.
Her pulse sprinted.
Proud and brave and strong, he looked as if he were a hero from the cover of the romance novels that she enjoyed reading.
She’d fallen deeper in love with him at that moment. Head right over heels. Over banana splits at Rinky-Tink’s ice cream parlor the week before, they had shyly said the words to each other. I love you. Then again when he’d carved their names in the Sweetheart Tree in Sweetheart Park near the Twilight town square. Several nights that summer they’d sneaked off for trysts after their charges were asleep.
They’d kissed and hugged and petted but hadn’t yet gone past third base. Tonight was the night. She was on the pill. He brought a box of condoms. They were ready and eager. Kelsey reached for him, grabbed hold of his wrist, and tugged him to his knees. Their first time. Both eager virgins who’d dreamed of this for weeks.
Souls wide open. Hearts overflowing. Bodies eager and ready.
“Come . . .” she coaxed. “Don’t worry, it’s after midnight. Everyone is snug in their cabins.”
Allowing her to draw him back beside her, Noah branded her with his mouth and covered her trembling body with his own.
Hot hands.
Electric touch.
Three-dimensional!
The night was sticky. Raw with heat and hunger. Calloused fingertips stroked velvet skin. The boards of the dock creaked and swayed beneath their movements as he untied her bikini top.
Footsteps.
Solid. Quick. Determined. Immediately, Kelsey recognized those footsteps.
Filomena!
From nowhere, her mother was on the dock beside them, grabbing a fistful of Kelsey’s hair in her hand, and yanking her to her feet. Kelsey’s bikini top flew into the lake.
Angry shouts.
Ugly accusations.
Threats.
Curses.
Regular life stuff with her mother when things didn’t go Filomena’s way.
Mom, dragging her to the car parked on the road. She must have driven up with the headlights off. How had her mother known they would be there? Blindsided by the realization that Filomena must have been keeping tabs by tracking her every move via her cell phone, Kelsey’s fears ratcheted up into her throat.
A hard shove and Filomena stuffed Kelsey into the car’s backseat and shook an angry fist at Noah who’d followed them. Warned him to stay away. Promised litigation and other dire consequences if he dared to contact Kelsey ever again.
“Noah!” Kelsey had cried as her mother hit the childproof door locks to prevent him from opening the door and springing her free.
Pounding on the car window, Noah demanded her mother get out and have a rational conversation with him.
Stone-faced, Filomena started the car.
“I’ll come for you,” Noah yelled to Kelsey. “I’ll find you, and we will be together. We won’t let her win.”
Kelsey clung to that flimsy promise. Took it to mean something. Fervent hopes. Girlish dreams.
“Over my dead body,” Filomena yelled.
“Please Noah, just go,” Kelsey had said, half-afraid her mother would run over him. “We were just a summer fling.”
All the fight had drained out of him then, and he’d stood in the darkness, fists clenched, face gone pale, shaking from head to toe.
Sobbing and shivering, Kelsey sat nearly naked in the backseat of her mother’s Cadillac as Filomena sped all the way back to Dallas.
And Kelsey never saw Noah again.
Years later, out of curiosity, Kelsey searched for Noah and found him on social media, learning that he was a successful point guard in the NBA and married to a drop-dead gorgeous model—something she’d have already known if she had any interest in basketball. She did not friend him. It was far too late to rekindle childhood flames.
Lost hopes.
Empty dreams.
Ancient history.
Soon afterward, she’d met Clive, and that was that. But now, here she was, dumped and half-drunk, with nothing to look forward to but her mother’s predictable holiday harangue. Plenty of reasons to hate the holidays. This year, she had little choice but to review her life’s mistakes.
Ho, ho, ho. Merry freaking Christmas.
Order your copy of the Christmas Dare now.
Also by Lori Wilde
TEXAS RASCALS SERIES
Keegan
Matt
Nick
Kurt
Tucker
Kael
Truman
Dan
Rex
Clay
Jonah
With author Liz Alvin
Handsome Rancher
Handsome Boss
Handsome Lawman
Handsome Cowboy
About the Author
Lori Wilde is the New York Times, USA Today and Publishers’ Weekly bestselling author of 87 works of romantic fiction. She’s a three time Romance Writers’ of America RITA finalist and has four times been nominated for Romantic Times Readers’ Choice Award. She has won numerous other awards as well.
Her books have been translated into 26 languages, with more than four million copies of her books sold worldwide.
Her breakout novel, The First Love Cookie Club, has been optioned for a TV movie.
Lori is a registered nurse with a BSN from Texas Christian University. She holds a certificate in forensics, and is also a certified yoga instructor.
A fifth generation Texan, Lori lives with her husband, Bill, in the Cutting Horse Capital of the World; where they run Epiphany Orchards, a writing/creativity retreat for the care and enrichment of the artistic soul.
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