Page 15 of Planes, Trains, and Candy Canes

“Leave everything to me. Nothing illegal, I promise.” Reese put her hand between his shoulder blades and pushed.

Derrick looked at her for several long seconds, then sighed. “I have such a bad feeling about this...”

TRUST YOUR GUT. DADsaid it a million times.

His gut said this wasn’t a good idea. His gut said that he was an idiot, beguiled by a gorgeous caramel-brunette with long, long legs and a tacky-cute Christmas sweatshirt of an alligator in a Santa hat.

His gut saidrun.

His eyes looked at Reese’s smile and said, “Trust her. Your gut hasn’t mastered anything but sit-ups in your thirty-six years on this earth.”

Freshly scrubbed with paper towels and restroom soap, shaved, spritzed, and wearing a hunter green polo that his mother said complimented his dark hair and too-much-time-in-front-of-a-screen complexion, Derrick took his place next to Reese. “You look refreshed.”

“Mhm. Nothing like shopping on Christmas Eve at the airport mini-mall. Santa Gator is all the rage right now.” She struck a pose, gesturing to her new sweatshirt.

His heart throbbed. She’s adorable. Not even just sexy, but adorable, like the kind of girl you want to curl up on the couch with and watch cat videos. “What do we do? And why—hey!” Derrick found his hands suddenly crammed with candy canes.“Why do you have candy canes? Why dowehave candy canes?” he asked.

“They were free at the minimart. Well. One was free. I kind of took half the bowl.”

“You said no stealing!”

“I’m not!” Reese hissed back, looping her arm through his. “This is the candy cane redistribution system!”

“Oh, God.”

Reese just beamed. “Fa-la-la-la, la-la-la-laaaa.”

REESE FELT LIKE SHEwas going to barf. If she was caught, they’d be arrested. Definitely. Impersonating an Our Car Is Your Car employee was probably a federal offense.

But the nationwide car rental service stated that they were absolutely booked solid. Every car they owned was spoken for.

But there was no reason why some drivers couldn’t take on an extra passenger or two...

A harried-looking man in an expensive winter coat came bustling out of the Our Car Is Your Car exit, looking at the key and tag he’d just received inside.

This is it.

I’ll just say Derrick was a pawn in my nefarious scheme. He knew nothing. I’m the lunatic.

Jeff would love to see his ex arrested in Florida. This is totally a Florida thing to do.

Hmm. Maybe that means it’ll work.

“Hi there, sir! Happy Holidays from the Our Car Is Your Car family! May I ask where you’re driving this Merry Christmas Eve?”

“Orlando, God help me,” he growled.

Wrong direction.“How would you rate your experience today?” Reese held out a candy cane, and the man’s scowl lightened—slightly.

“It would be a hell of a lot better if I didn’t have to drive the car back to the Our Car lot in Orlando and then get an Uber to my mother’s place. But I’ll give it a seven out of ten.”

“Have a great day! I’ll pass that on to corporate,” Reese beamed.

Derrick looked at her as she waved the guy off. She shook her head.

A family of four came out, lugging strollers and coaxing a toddler and a whining older sibling. Derrick immediately jumped up to help them load their rented minivan and gave candy canes to the older child and parents.

“Excuse me, do you work here? Where is lot Seven-A?”

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