Page 158 of How My Neighbour Stole Christmas
“In fourth place…”Please not me, please not me.“…we have Beatrice Pedigree.”
Thank Jesus.
“Mr. Chadwick liked your shapes but was not a fan of the strawberry flavoring.”
Strawberry, I was right. Yeah, I wouldn’t have ventured out with a new flavor.
“In third place…” I cross my fingers behind my back, really hoping I can get top two. “We have Storee Taylor with her classic candy cane.” Damn it. I smile and nod at Jefferson. “Mr. Chadwick enjoyed your traditional rendition but marked you down for not being able to pull your own sugar.”
Well, sorry for not having forearms of steel.
“In second place, we have…” He pauses like he always does, leaving the town on edge, and then into the mic he says, “Cole Black and his holly jolly sidekick, putting Jimmy Short in first!” The crowd cheers, and Jimmy fist-pumps the air as we all move toward the front of our tables and line up together. I happen to move in next to Cole, where his arm brushes against mine, sending warmth through me.
When the crowd has died down, Bob Krampus continues, “Mr. Chadwick was very impressed with Cole’s three-striped candy cane, but what won him over was the pineapple flavoring that Jimmy was able to incorporate.”
I hear a stunned gasp, and when I glance to the side, an angry-looking Atlas is staring Cole down. “I fuckingtoldyou we should have done pineapple,” Atlas mutters.
And to his credit, Cole mutters back, “You were right, dear.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Cole
Every Kringle in Kringletown, the old and the young,
Didn’t expect Chadwick to like pineapple on his tongue.
And yet Jimmy took first; he won the whole thing!
While Cole thought of ways to remove Storee’s G-string.
With his teeth? With his hands? With the hook of a candy cane?
He can’t wait, for the bulge in his pants continues to strain.
“Are you cold?” I askStoree as I rest my hand over her thigh while I drive us toward Evergreen Farm. It’s only a few minutes’ drive, but I want to make sure she’s as comfortable as possible.
“No,” she says.
“But you shivered,” I reply.
“Because you dragged your hand over my upper thigh.”
I glance over at her and smirk. “Did I arouse you?”
“Remove that smirk from your face.”
“Why?” I ask as I drag my thumb over her denim-clad legs.
“Because I don’t think a man with the kind of sex appeal that you have should be in any way encouraged or have his ego inflated. It’s bad enough you make me shiver with one touch of your hand, even worse that you’re what I’ve thought about for the last two days—I don’t need you knowing it.”
“Then why did you just tell me?” I ask as I smirk again at her.
She points in front of us and gruffly says, “Just drive.”
I let out a deep rumble of a laugh as I do as I’m told.
After we’d cleaned up our stations, handed out candy canes to the crowd, and then said our goodbyes, I pulled Storee to the side and told her she was coming with me.
