Page 20 of A Gift for her Festive Firefighter

“Beary, are you going to talk to Davy again?”

“He didn’t even come today. I’m sure the man is putting another gray hair on his poor mama’s head.”

“Davy and I aren’t dating,” Holly volunteered, trying to squash that rumor immediately. “It was a favor for my friend… who has disappeared apparently?”

“Krista headed toward the snack tables and said she would be back in a few. You were distracted and looking around. Who are you looking for Beary, and I can tell you if I saw them…”

“No one,” she hesitated – and looked up to see Cade looking at her in the distance. He said something to another firefighter from the station, Jude, and was making a beeline in her direction. “Probably wanting to check on the radiator,” she muttered aloud in despair and then hesitated, realizing she’d said it… except the crowd had thinned near her.

Holly was standing alone – and Cade was walking toward her. She did the only logical and sane thing any intimidated person would do at a moment like this: she turned away and started to walk off in order to search for a place to hide for another twenty-one minutes.

“Excuse me… Miss?” and froze as she felt him touch her elbow. He was touching her elbow! Captain Cade ‘Hotness’ Pruitt was making direct skin contact with her elbow. OMIGOSH, OMIGOSH, OHMYGOSH, thudded in her mind in sync with each heartbeat as she stood there.

“Hi,” Cade began again. “I apologize. I’m new in town and getting to know everyone’s names still and…”

Holly turned to look at him, silently praying, begging, and pleading that he didn’t absolutely trash her fragile self-esteem at that moment because she wasn’t sure she could come back from the edge. His eyes searched hers, looking so confused and curious, and the moment she saw a flicker of recognition in his face, his mouth dropped open.

“H-Holly?”

Cade’s voice was hoarse with shock as they just stood there looking at each other. She realized in a split second that he was going to say something, ask about his truck, make a comment, or back away at any moment, and she allowed herself this instant to soak in his features up close.

This was probably the closest she had been to him since she shoved him away from her at the scene of the accident, and even then, it had been dimly lit outside. He was taller than her by almost a head and slim. She adored the scruff on his chin and it made her want to reach up, scratching it like she would a puppy’s sweet chinny-chin-chin… and hesitated.

You do not compare your crush to a puppy. Was that normal? Actually, was any of this normal?

“I think I might have hit my head or been sucked into another timeline or one of those weird movie vortex thingies. Who’s the president? What’s my car’s name? Am I in Texas still?”

“What?” he chuckled, looking at her, and she melted.

Oh heavens, the man had sexy crow’s feet at the corner of his eyes and was watching her – smiling. She couldn’t stop staring and then felt herself smile as she realized that Mr. Perfect, wasn’t, and said as much.

“You’re not perfect.”

And his smile fell slightly.

“No, I’m not perfect and never claimed to be.”

“Your teeth are off-center from your nose.”

“I broke it in a car wreck when I was sixteen, but thanks for noticing.”

“I like it,” she said nervously, meeting his eyes again. “It’s unique, and I’m not myself today, so just ignore me. Better yet, let’s just forget all of this.”

“Actually, this is kinda weirdly nice to see a real person out from under the greasy baseball cap and coveralls. I honestly didn’t know you had blonde hair or hazel eyes,” and hesitated, smiling once more. “It’s kinda hard to notice when someone is glaring at you all the time.”

Holly’s mouth gaped slightly as she reared back in surprise, only to realize he was teasing her this time.

“How’s Butter?” he asked simply. “Any more problems with your car?”

“N-No… at least none that are self-inflicted.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah,” she winced nervously before peering at him again. “You might not have killed Butter because she was quickly resuscitated.”

“That’s good to hear,” he chuckled.

“But you did bruise her.”

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