Chapter Ten
H ow anyone could be expected to look sexy the night after eating three dozen Christmas cookies was a mystery to Jordyn, but as she stood in front of the full-length mirror in her bedroom, scrutinizing her appearance, she had to admit that she’d given it her best shot.
“Jordyn, darling?” Holly called through the closed bedroom door. “How does it fit?”
“Tight.” Jordyn eyed the hooded Santa dress with fuzzy white trim, a wide black belt and shin-high boots. “And short.” She frowned at how much of her bare legs the miniskirt exposed. “I’m gonna freeze my butt off!”
But she supposed baring her legs in twenty-degree weather was a small price to pay in order to win Sexy Santa’s Eggnog Nod contest. Even though, she thought, tapping her chin, she still wasn’t exactly sure what the contest entailed. From what the Nanas had told her, she needed to look her very sexy best.
Stomach rumbling uncomfortably, she placed her hand over her belly and grimaced.
The cookies Nate had taught her how to bake had turned out beautifully and were even tastier than she’d hoped they would be. Only problem was that presenting beautiful, tasty Christmas cookies had been only half of the Christmas Cookie Crumble contest. The second half entailed participating in a cookie-eating contest in which the participants sat at a long table loaded down with the fresh-baked Christmas cookies, which they were expected to stuff into their mouths as fast as they could.
Having been seated directly next to Tucker, Jordyn had struggled to be on her A-game. No matter how fast she had shoved cookies into her mouth, Tucker continued to beat her, scooping up multiple cookies at a time with one hand and downing them in almost one go.
Jordyn scowled at her reflection, her lips twitching with humor as she recalled her loss and subsequent fitful night of stomach upset.
At least Tucker had been honest when he’d warned her he’d win. Turned out, Nate’s brother was a piggish, bottomless pit! Not only had he devoured all of his cookies and eaten half of hers, but he’d also started on a third pile of cookies the participant beside him had baked. It hadn’t taken long for everyone to realize that Tucker had that win in the bag. By the time the timer dinged, signaling the end of the eating competition, Jordyn had already overindulged, her stomach straining the buttons on her jeans.
And today—oh, gracious! Today was even worse. From the moment she had rolled out of bed this morning until an hour ago when she’d begun prepping for tonight’s contest, her stomach had been growling angrily. She had barely been able to down her morning cup of coffee and had not been able to even entertain the thought of consuming anything else all day. Even now, her stomach roiled, begging her to crawl back into bed, pull the covers over her head, and sleep.
“Jordyn?” Holly knocked on the door. “I don’t mean to rush you, but you need to come on out. The contest is starting in half an hour and it’ll take at least ten minutes to get to the town square. You need to leave soon.”
“You don’t want to be late, do you?” Kandy asked on the other side of the door. “You really need this win.”
Stifling a groan, Jordyn rubbed her aching belly once more. She could just see the Nanas now, huddled on the other side of the closed bedroom door, wringing their hands, hoping she had it in her to pull off one more win. And they were right—she desperately needed one. As it stood, she was in fifth place on the Tree Scoreboard, directly below Nate and far below the Stone family. If she wanted to have any hope of winning the Christmas Crown for the Nanas, she had to do well in tonight’s contest.
“Okay.” She sucked in a strong, cleansing breath, squared her shoulders, and opened the door. “How do I look?”
The Nanas stared back at her. Eve gasped, Kandy grinned, Holly squealed, and Carol Belle nodded with satisfaction.
“Good golly, girl!” Carol Belle said. “You’ve got this one in the bag.”
“Well, now,” Eve said, holding up one finger. “She is gorgeous—no doubt about that—but we can’t underestimate the competition. Sandy Simmons wins the sexy portion of the contest just about every Christmas, and I’ve already heard that she’s chosen a killer outfit for this year.”
“Oh, fiddlesticks,” Carol Belle said, frowning. “That gal’s got nothing on our Jordyn.” Smiling, she reached out and brushed a fuzzy piece of lint from Jordyn’s sleeve. “You’re gonna knock ’em dead. I know you will!”
“You look stunning!” Kandy clapped her hands together. “Absolutely stunning.”
“But you’re missing one thing,” Holly chimed, digging into the little red handbag she carried. “You need a hint of Raunchy Red,” she said, holding up a small tube of lipstick. “My beautician, Patty Dalton, told me this is the trendiest color of the season. Here”—she nudged it toward Jordyn—“slather some on.”
“Oh, there’s no need for that.” Kandy pushed Holly’s hand away from Jordyn. “She looks beautiful just as she is.”
“Well, it couldn’t hurt. It can only help. Don used to love it when I wore red lipstick! He’d be all over me in . . .”
Jordyn frowned as Holly’s voice trailed away, her expression changing to one full of regret. “Who’s Don, Holly?”
“A boyfriend of mine,” Holly whispered. “Well, an exboyfriend. And nowadays, not even a friend. Not after the way I behaved. It seems our bad romance ruined any chance of us remaining friends, and our friendship is what I miss the most lately.”
Jordyn winced at the sorrow in Holly’s voice. She touched Holly’s arm. “I’m sorry. Would you like to talk about it?” Hesitating, she smiled. “After being fortunate enough to meet the four of you, I’ve learned it helps to talk things through with a friend.”
Holly shook her head. “Sometime, maybe. But not tonight.” Her grin returned. “Tonight is all about you and this trendy Raunchy Red, darling!” Holly lifted the lipstick closer to Jordyn. “Why not just give it a shot? It’ll give your mouth a little pop. I’ll even put it on for you.”
“Can’t do that, Holly,” Carol Belle said, frowning. “That’s cross-conspiring.”
“Oh, no, it’s not.” Holly dismissed Carol Belle’s chastisement with a careless wave. “And if it is, then I won’t put it on for her, I’ll just strongly suggest she utilize it to enhance her appearance.”
“Besides, Carol Belle,” Eve said, “if you think no one else in this competition has ever cross-conspired, you’re a bit na?ve, don’t you think? I can assure you that many people have done so. We simply haven’t caught them in the act.”
Carol Belle scowled. “Well, they ought not to. Ain’t no fun in breaking the rules. It’s not a true win, in my opinion, if it’s not achieved fair and square.”
Jordyn smiled. “That’s why I need your help, Carol Belle. Speaking of playing fair, would you please give me a rundown on tonight’s contest again? How is this thing supposed to work?”
Carol Belle’s frown melted away, an excited expression taking its place. “You’re going to have the time of your life, Jordyn! The contest is held in Drake Stone’s bar in downtown Noel—right across from the town square. This event happens behind closed doors with no children allowed. The first half of the contest is the Sexy Santa competition.”
“That’s when you make your grand entrance,” Kandy said with a shimmy. “The men will be on one side of the bar and the women will gather on the other side. The men are going to be dressed in their sexiest outfits, too, and they’ll be the ones who get to choose a Mrs. Claus for the Eggnog Nod part of the competition.”
“That’s right,” Eve said. “Ladies chose first last year.”
“Anyway,” Kandy continued. “Whichever lady a man chooses is who he’ll end up competing against in the Eggnog Nod.”
“And that’s when the real competition begins,” Eve said, nudging her glasses up higher on the bridge of her nose. “There’s a stage in Drake’s bar, and after the couples are paired off, you and your Sexy Santa partner have to strut your stuff across it for the crowd’s approval.”
“Whichever one of you earns the loudest applause from the audience,” Kandy said, “wins the points for the Sexy Santa portion of the contest.”
“After which,” Carol Belle said, “comes the Eggnog Nod portion of the contest. You and your Santa partner will be pitted against each other at the bar, and whoever drinks the most eggnog without giving in”—she made a face—“either physically or mentally, wins the second half the contest.”
“And that’s where you’ve got to be careful,” Holly said, leaning closer. “Very careful. Drake puts rye whiskey and Jamaican rum in his eggnog—lots of it! I’ve seen more than one person fall off a barstool after overindulging in that stuff.”
Despite the churn of her stomach at the mention of liquor, Jordyn laughed. “If there’s one contest I should be able to excel at, it’s holding my liquor.” She grinned. “I had to learn real quick when touring the circuit how to put away my liquor and drink the guys under the table. It’s hard keeping up with the boys sometimes, but I did it occasionally on the circuit to hustle up a few extra dollars when I was running short after a loss in the arena. Not my proudest moment—but it beat going hungry.” She frowned. “Only, back then I was basically living in my truck and all I had to do was walk to the parking lot and crawl in the back of the extended cab to sleep it off. How am I supposed to get back home to Chestnut Ridge after all that drinking?”
“No worries,” Holly said. “Those who come to watch the contest draw numbers on the way into the bar and certain numbers are assigned designated driver responsibilities for the contestants. Knowing that, you still think you can handle your liquor well enough to place?”
Jordyn smiled. “Believe me when I say that I’m well prepared for that part of the contest.”
Holly grinned. “Which is why I think you should put on the Raunchy Red lipstick. That’ll add to your sexy outfit and ensure that you win the Sexy Santa part of the contest, too. If you want to win the Christmas Crown, you need all the winning points you can get.”
“Who do you think will choose her?” Kandy asked, a wistful note in her voice. “I bet all the men will be clamoring to have Jordyn as their partner.”
“Oh, you know who’ll choose her.” Carol Belle crossed her arms over her chest and waggled her eyebrows. “In that outfit, Mason Walker will make a beeline for her before I have a chance to say go.”
“Oh, but what about Nate?” Eve blushed as everyone’s attention turned to her. “I mean, he’s bound to choose Jordyn as his partner.”
Carol Belle frowned. “That’s only if he competes—which, sadly, he never does.” She sighed. “Nate can be such a stick-in-the-mud.”
“But this year is different,” Kandy said quietly. “He might change his mind. Don’t you think so, Jordyn?”
Face heating, Jordyn looked down at her shiny, black boots. “I wouldn’t really know since this is my first year competing. But I hope Nate decides to compete tonight.”
“And there’s a good chance of that,” Holly said. “You did tell us that he said he’d reconsidered.”
“Yes,” Carol Belle said. “But did he say exactly what he had reconsidered? Spending time with you? Dating? Cross-conspiring with you by helping you bake gingerbread?”
Jordyn winced. She really shouldn’t have shared Nate’s comment with the Nanas this morning, but ever since he’d smiled at her across the island in his kitchen over perfectly baked, sweetly aromatic Christmas cookies and revealed that he’d reconsidered his answer, she’d been fit to burst to tell someone.
But even she had to admit that she wasn’t sure exactly what Nate had meant by the comment. All she knew was that his soft words and the warm looks he’d tossed her way during the Christmas Cookie Crumble contest had given her hope. Hope that he might reciprocate her feelings. After all, he had to feel some sort of strong attraction to her to be able to cheer her on as she forgot good manners and stuffed her face yesterday in an eating contest against his brother.
“I don’t know,” Jordyn said. “But I’ll take his comment as encouragement.” She looked up then, smiling at the Nanas and thinking of all the romantic possibilities, then held out her hand to Holly. “You know what? I think I’ll take you up on that Raunchy Red lipstick.”
“Wow!” Tucker shouted over the loud chatter of patrons gathered in Drake Stone’s bar. “I don’t believe this place has ever seen the likes of that Scintillatin’ Santa before.”
Nate, sitting on a bar stool beside Tucker, glanced at the open entrance of the bar, his eyes doing a quick double take at the curvy redheaded vision across the room.
There Jordyn stood, the long red waves of her hair tucked underneath a festive red hood trimmed with fuzzy white fur. Her green eyes sparkled beneath lush lashes and her soft mouth had been painted a tempting shade of red that matched the Santa dress she wore. Her long ivory legs, toned beneath satiny skin, were bare beneath the mini skirt of the dress, and black Santa boots rose almost to her knees, completing the ensemble.
The warm, shapely vision contrasted with the soft snow falling beyond her outside the bar, lending her the sexy but vulnerable air of a Christmastime Red Riding Hood.
A wolf whistle pierced the hazy air of the bar and echoed across the stage. At the bar, the group of men surrounding Nate and Tucker, all dressed in Sexy Santa outfits, fell silent for a moment, then clapped their hands in a raucous round of approval.
Nate scowled and raised his voice to speak to Tucker over the roar of the crowd at his back. “That’s just wrong. It’s crude and rude to leer at a woman like that. I mean, every one of these women could be someone’s daughter, sister, wife, niece, or cousin. In twenty years, Roxie might even be one of the women walking through those doors on a night like tonight. It’s disrespectful! Don’t you think this is a chauvinistic tradition?”
This was the main reason Nate had never participated in the Sexy Santa Eggnog Nod. Normally, he would sit quietly in the background, watching the festivities, and at the end of the drinking portion of the contest, he’d stay after all the contestants had left and help a small group of volunteers clean up Drake Stone’s bar. This year, however, after hearing that Jordyn planned to participate, he’d arrived early along with Tucker, who’d donned his annual Sexy Santa outfit and fully planned to participate in the night’s contest as he had every year—with gusto!
“Chauvinistic?” Tucker made a face as he paused his clapping. “Of course, it’s chauvinistic. But don’t for one moment think it’s one-sided. Some women can be just as rude and lewd as men if they choose to be. You heard the way those women howled at me when I walked through the door.” A mocking look of affront showed in his expression as he crossed his arms over his chest protectively. “Like I was a piece of meat or something.” He issued a long-suffering sigh. “But the thing is, we’re all consenting adults, partaking in a bit of harmless—albeit, raunchy—Christmas fun. And far be it from me to put a damper on the Christmas cheer. I’m doing my part by participating, and if I only bring a smile to one woman’s face tonight, I’ve done some good.” As Nate, incredulous, stared back at him, Tucker shrugged. “What? You think I dress like this every day?”
Nate glanced down, his mouth twitching at the sight of Tucker’s bare chest, covered only by a pair of thin suspenders in a candy cane pattern, which were hooked to a pair of red Santa pants with a wide belt buckle. The pants were tight—so tight they clung to every inch of his brother’s frame. The only parts of him that were modestly covered were his feet, which were encased in big black Santa boots, and the top of his head, which was covered by a Santa hat.
“I gotta say, that’s a hard question to answer,” Nate drawled. “There’ve been quite a few mornings in the past when you’ve shown up at the house in the wee hours of the morning, looking just about like you do now.”
Tucker, somehow, managed to look offended. “What do you mean? I’ve only shown up at the house half naked once in my life, and that was after Buffy Taylor”—he leaned closer and whispered—“kicked me out of her bed on account of the fact that I forgot her name.”
Nate shook his head and chuckled softly. “Serves you right, you mutt.”
“Heck no, it don’t! It only happened because I was slightly inebriated from pulling my weight in the Eggnog contest. That was two Christmases ago—why, this very night!” He shuddered. “You have any idea how cold it is outside the door at three in the morning? And there I was, half naked and exposed to the elements, having to walk all the way from Buffy’s place back to Frosted Firs Ranch in the snow. It was painful and humiliating.”
And well deserved.
Nate, however, did not repeat himself. He’d learned not to voice too many criticisms around Tucker. His brother might be a rambunctious scoundrel, but Tucker was a good man who had a good heart, and at least he was always upfront with the women he dated, letting them know he wasn’t interested in anything that might involve a long-term commitment.
He could learn a thing or two from his brother, Nate thought ruefully. He should have done the same with Jordyn and stuck to his answer of not being available, as he’d set out to do initially. But as he’d told her two nights ago, he’d reconsidered. Mostly due to what Kandy had said to him during the award ceremony for the Terrible Tinsel Triathlon.
Life can be scary and painful—but the unexpected gifts it gives us along the way, especially when we’re not looking for them, make it all worth it in the end.
He’d had difficulty getting those words out of his head.
He wasn’t na?ve. He’d loved deeply before and had truly enjoyed his life with Macy—what little time they’d been given. He’d also dated briefly prior to getting married. He was well aware the emotions he felt for Jordyn and the connection they’d shared, almost from the moment of meeting, were rare and sometimes never found. That realization, coupled with his gnawing jealousy at the thought of Jordyn taking an interest in another man, had compelled him to take a chance and open his heart again.
Only, he still had reservations.
The applause died down as Jordyn entered the bar and Sandy Simmons walked in behind her, drawing new attention. But despite Sandy Simmons’s allure, several pairs of male eyes still followed Jordyn’s every move, and one pair in particular made Nate’s temper flare.
“You might want to consider playing it cool,” Tucker said above the holiday music blaring through the bar as he leaned closer to Nate. “You keep staring at Mason like you are, you’re gonna burn a hole through that man’s skull.”
Heeding Tucker’s advice, Nate tore his attention away from the other man and refocused his eyes on Jordyn. He couldn’t hold it against Mason for admiring her. In his opinion, she was always the most beautiful woman in the room, but tonight, she was downright sensational.
The thought, however, did little to tamp down the flare of his jealous temper. In less than five minutes, the Sexy Santa’s Eggnog Nod contest would commence, Carol Belle would kick off the choosing of partners and Mason, no doubt, would make a beeline straight for Jordyn. Nate was afraid his self-control might wear thin by that time.
He glanced at Tucker and narrowed his eyes. “Give me your suit. You’ve been demoted.”
Tucker reared back, his mouth falling open in shock. “You’re joking, right?”
“No. Take it off.”
Tucker crossed his arms over his bare chest and looked around sheepishly. “Right here? Right now? You could at least buy me a drink first.”
Nate rolled his eyes as Tucker doubled over and burst out laughing.
“Forget it,” Tucker said, catching his breath and wiping a tear from his eye. “You’re too much of a prude to pull something like this off, and we need a win.”
Nate stood. “Just for tonight, I will lower myself and participate in this humiliating display—even you will be proud.” He snapped his fingers. “Now, I mean it. Get up and come to the bathroom. We’re swapping clothes . . . or scraps of clothing.”
It took Nate two minutes to drag Tucker through the crowd to the small bathroom at the back of the bar. It took another minute for Tucker to strip out of his skimpy outfit, grumbling all the while about missing out on a chance to spend time with his dream woman. Two more minutes later, Nate had successfully swapped outfits with Tucker and stood in front of the small bathroom mirror over the sink, eyeing his exposed chest with discomfort.
Good Lord, what if Roxie heard about this? What kind of example was this to set for his young, impressionable daughter—especially when he’d already worked so hard to help her see the value of a person’s character rather than their appearance.
Yet, here he was, half naked, about to shake his butt for a bunch of screaming women.
He winced. “This is the most distasteful, sexist display I’ve ever—”
“Oh, shove it, Nate!” Tucker pushed him out of the bathroom and back into the noisy, crowded bar. “You’re getting your shot with Jordyn and depriving me of the opportunity to let a woman take advantage of my spectacular physique for the night. Just enjoy the evening, Casanova.”
That was easy for Tucker to say. He was now dressed warmly and respectably in Nate’s jeans and flannel button-down shirt, whereas Nate was walking half naked through a pack of leering women.
“Oh, my!” a female voice shouted in the crowd. “Nate Reed is jumping into the mix this year! Have you ever seen such magnificent pecs? Nate, honey, you’ve got my vote!”
Heat snaked up Nate’s neck as applause broke out from the women who stood opposite the men in the small bar. He ducked his head and soldiered on, returning to the bar and sitting on a barstool beside Tucker.
Jordyn, standing on the opposite side of the room among the other women, met Nate’s eyes, a surprised grin spreading across her face. She held his gaze as her brows rose in question.
Face now burning, too, he shrugged sheepishly and ducked his head.
“Okay, ladies and gentlemen,” Carol Belle announced from the stage at the other end of the bar. “It’s that time. The rules are the same as last year”—she smiled—“namely, there aren’t any, other than whoever’s left standing—however unsteadily—in the drinking contest, wins. And men will have first choice of Sexy Santa partner this year since the ladies had first choice last year. To kick off the choosing of partners, Nate Reed will have first choice tonight since this is the first year he’s participated in Sexy Santa’s Eggnog Nod contest.” She glanced across the room and gestured toward Nate. “Go ahead, Nate—choose your partner!”
Nate stood, rubbing his bare arms to ward off the cold as applause broke out. One person shouted, “About time you joined us, Nate!” as he walked to the center of the small room. He kept walking, weaving past several women before he stopped in front of Jordyn and held out his hand. “Jordyn, would you do me the honor of being my Sexy Santa partner for the evening?”
Good Lord! No matter how much respectful dignity he tried to infuse into the invitation, it still sounded ridiculous as the words left his lips.
Jordyn laughed, the soft, flirty sound sending a delicious shiver over his skin that dispelled the cold and left a streak of heat. “I’d be honored.”
She slipped her hand in his and it fit perfectly. He led her toward the stage, where they took their place at the front of the line, waiting for the rest of the participants to choose their partners and join them.
“Have you really never participated in this contest before?” Jordyn asked, smiling at him.
Nate crossed his arms over his bare chest, deeply aware of the attention they were attracting. “Nope. It’s not exactly my kind of thing.”
Jordyn laughed. “I can tell.” Her gaze swept over him from head to toe and she winked. “But the look sure suits you.”
Her flirtatious amusement made him smile. “Oh, you like this getup, do you?” Uncrossing his arms, he lowered them to his sides and flexed his pectorals. “You’re not the only one. I have it on good authority that my pecs are well appreciated.”
She threw her head back and laughed, the rich joyful sound music to his ears.
Take that, Mason Walker!
“So long as you give it your all on that stage, Neighbor Nate,” she teased. “I assure you that I’m just as uncomfortable as you are, but we both need this win.”
“Agreed.” He looked down at her, admiring her long lashes, bright eyes, creamy skin and soft, red mouth. “With you on my arm, I can guarantee a win. If I forget to tell you later . . .” He hesitated, then whispered, “You’re the most beautiful woman in this room, Jordyn Banks.”
Her lips parted as her eyes roved over his face, the pretty blush on her cheeks deepening. “Thank you. And thank you, too, for choosing me as your partner—even though I’m going to drink you under the eggnog table later.” She rose to her toes, her warm mouth brushing his temple as she whispered in his ear, “There’s not another man in the world I’d rather spend tonight with.”
Lord help him! He could swear his heart actually stopped beating as his brain absorbed her words. His mind reeled as his pulse raced, searching for a suitably flattering reply. “I . . . I—uh, me, too.”
Oh, man. Way to sweep her off her feet!
She didn’t seem to mind though. She looped her arm around his and grinned as Carol Belle called them to the stage to strut their stuff. “Let’s give this crowd a glimpse of what a Sexy Santa should look like.”
And they did. He and Jordyn sashayed across the stage, arm in arm, to a particularly sexy Christmas tune, delighting in the applause of the crowd. They danced to the pulsing beat, and he spun Jordyn gently in his arms, then dipped her for the crowd. During the upbeat chorus, she cradled his biceps, showing them off, then, at the pleading of the crowd, she even spun him around and lightly smacked his backside for good measure.
Surprisingly, Nate enjoyed himself. Perhaps a little too much, considering that two hours later, well into the Eggnog Nod portion of the contest, Drake Stone’s liquor-infused eggnog had lost its burn as it coursed down his throat, and he’d grown rather fond of the fuzzy, cotton-wool feel of inebriation pulsing through his veins.
“Hit me!” He slapped the slightly damp countertop of the bar and narrowed his eyes at Jordyn, who sat across from him. “I’m good for another.”
A collective cackle rose from the amused crowd of onlookers surrounding them.
Jordyn bit her lip, concern in her eyes. “Are you sure, Nate?” She leaned across the counter, eyeing him closely. “You can admit defeat, you know. I’ve already ousted the rest of the competition and you’re all that’s left. You’ve lasted a lot longer than I thought, but you’re about to fall off that barstool.”
Man, was she gorgeous! Those emerald eyes, those ruby-red lips, those beautiful, bountiful curves beneath that skimpy Santa suit and those gorgeous legs . . .
“You’re maleficent,” he breathed.
She frowned.
“No,” he hastened, waving a clumsy hand in the air. “That ain’t right. You . . . you’re maj-a-ficent. No—magnificent!”
All three of her beautiful faces smiled. Laughter rippled across the crowd surrounding them.
“Thank you for that,” she whispered. “But I really do think you should fold while you’re ahead and call it a night.”
A heavy hand settled on Nate’s back. “I second that, brother. You’ve held a lot more liquor than I thought you could in that old, stuffy, straitlaced body of yours.”
It took considerable effort, but Nate managed to swivel his head to the side and peer up at Tucker. “Fuh-get it. Not giving up.”
“Take your hand off his back and step back, Tucker,” Carol Belle said from her position beside Drake Stone behind the bar. “You’re not allowed to touch or physically support contestants during the Eggnog competition.”
Tucker laughed. “Trust me, Ms. Carol Belle, when Nate falls off this barstool, it’s gonna take a lot more than my hand to keep him from hitting the floor.” He removed his palm from Nate’s back and raised both hands. “But I’m happy to comply.” He grinned. “It’s not every day I get to see Nate half naked and plastered.”
Jordyn laughed, the glorious sound coaxing his attention back to her. “Make it a double, please, Drake. I hate to do it but I need this win, and I think that’s all it’ll take to do him in.”
“Uh-uh.” Nate patted his chest, and the feel of bare skin meeting his fingers prompted him to look down in confusion. “Lost my shirt.”
“Here you go.” Drake Stone set two tumblers on the bar between Nate and Jordyn, both filled to the rim with liquor-laden eggnog. “Throw ’em down the hatch on the count of three. One . . .”
Jordyn picked up her tumbler and Nate, a bit clumsily, picked his up, too.
“Two . . .” The crowd joined Drake, counting down. “Three!”
Four hefty swallows of eggnog, three slow blinks, and two moments later, Nate came to, lying on his back, blearily gazing up at Jordyn’s anxious face.
“Nate?” She tugged the Santa hat off his head and cradled his jaw. Her palms were soft and warm against his chilled cheeks. “Are you okay?”
He shoved himself onto his elbows and squinted at the crowd of smiling faces behind Jordyn. “Wh—what happened?”
“You passed out, that’s what!” Tucker, hunched over behind Jordyn’s left shoulder, guffawed. “Then you lost.” He straightened and lifted his arms over his head. “Long live Jordyn—Noel’s Eggnog Nod Queen!”
Cheers erupted around the bar as the crowd of onlookers dispersed, some returning to the bar for another round, others making their way to the stage to dance to the holiday music still blaring from the surrounding speakers, while a few exited the bar, shrugging on their coats and walking out into the cold, snowy night.
“Nate,” Jordyn prompted, her fingertips lightly tapping his cheeks. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
Lying down? With her hands on him? “I’m in heaven,” he whispered, tugging her hands from his face and kissing each of her fingertips. “You know what I wanna do?”
Her lips twitched as she stared down at him. “What?”
His gaze, though blurry, homed in on her delectable mouth, an overwhelming surge of need moving through him. “I wanna kiss you. A lot.”
She grinned. “Oh, really?” Leaning down closer, she asked. “Are you wanting— a lot —to kiss me just once? Or are you wanting to give me a lot of kisses?”
“Wh . . . what?” As he tried to comprehend her words, his mind whirled right along with the room, so he focused on her mouth again instead, refusing to think. “Either. Both.” He reached up and trailed his thumb over the curve of her lower lip. “Just kiss me, please?”
She glanced around, her cheeks reddening. “Right here? Our first kiss? On a barroom floor in front of God and everyone?”
Oh. She had a point. That wasn’t something a gentleman would do. “Okay. Maybe not such a good i—”
Her soft mouth touched his and everything disappeared—the bar, the people . . . the world. All that existed was the gentle press of her lips and the sweet-smelling waves of her hair spilling down around him. He cupped the back of her head, weaving his fingers through the long strands as her chest lowered against his. Then he parted her lips with his, kissing her deeply, tasting her, savoring the feel of her against him.
“Hey!” A throat cleared. “Get off him, woman. My brother’s in a vulnerable state.”
And just like that, she was gone.
Nate reached out but only cold air hit his hands. “Jordyn—”
Then her warm hand curled around one of his arms and a stronger one grabbed hold of the other one, tugging him off the floor and to his feet.
“Tucker’s right,” Jordyn said near his ear as she helped him gain his balance. “You need to get home and into bed.”
He smiled, finally focusing on her face—just one of them this time. “Yep. That’s exactly what I wanna do. But with you.”
Jordyn flushed.
Tucker cackled. “Oh, man. I’m never gonna let him live this one down.”
“Another time, maybe,” Jordyn said, leaning over and kissing his cheek. “When you’re good and sober.”
“But . . .” Her hands left him, and he watched her walk away, her red Santa suit and long red hair disappearing into the throng of people still milling about the bar.
“Come on, brother.” Tucker, grinning ear to ear, threw his arm around Nate’s waist and hauled him toward the door. “I’m gonna drive your chauvinistic butt home and put you to bed. You need a good night’s sleep, ’cuz you’re dang well gonna regret every second of this in the morning.”