Page 51 of Evergreen Christmas

“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 mea lotof 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?”

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