Page 19 of Holiday Hook Up

Snapshots. Holy crap!Why hadn’t he thought of Bethany’s pictures? Maybe she’d taken a photo of the mystery woman. “Sure thing. I’ll see if I can go through them personally.” He smiled. That he would.

He needed to get over to the Christmas Corner pronto. He zipped up his leather jacket, said a quick good-bye, and stepped out into the cold. His pace picking up speed as he zigzagged his way through pedestrians heading to breakfast or doing some Christmas shopping.

Even if his brother called right now, he’d have to wait. Going through Bethany’s digital images from last night was his first priority.

Bethany bitinto the glazed eggnog donut she’d picked up from the Star Lite diner and maneuvered around the six big boxes Danny had dropped off this morning.

Though she still hadn’t the foggiest idea who MR Wedding was and why she’d received a second shipment from them addressed to her, she was kind of grateful for the distraction.

She’d tossed and turned for most of the night, unable to stop thinking about the kiss she’d shared with Adam or that he was now exclusively dating her best friend for the next two weeks. Talk about an evening with highs and lows.

And she’d admit it. When she wasn’t replaying those two events, her thoughts also went to the spooky finale where she peered into the hope chest only to find it empty.

Where had Mary’s wedding dress gone?

Better question: Did she really want to know?

She bent down and opened the first box, pushing back the flaps. “Seriously?” she said out loud, pulling out a pair of pink satin strappy heels. Beaded necklaces, tiaras, and now fancy party shoes . . . what on earth were her mom and dad up to?

Her parents’ cruise ship was scheduled to be docked tomorrow for the day. She hated interrupting their vacation, but she’d send her mom a quick text later to see if they could schedule a time to talk. At the very least, her dad was going to have to tell her what to do with all these boxes, because at the rate they were coming in, there wouldn’t be any room left in the back to store them.

The door chimes sounded and she glanced behind her shoulder.

“LB,” Adam greeted her, delivering his often-abbreviated Lady Beth nickname while pointing to the shoes she held up. “Won’t your little toes be cold?”

A vision of his hands giving her a warm foot massage came out of nowhere and she set the heels back in the box. “Apparently, my parents have decided to open some type of wedding business without telling me. That or maybe a shoes and accessories store.”

“For real?”

She moved aside and motioned for him to look in. “Take a look for yourself.”

He came up beside her and glanced inside the box. Her speeding heart reacting to his familiar spicy scent.

“That’s quite a shoe collection.”

“No kidding. I’ve got eight boxes full of tiaras and beads in the back.” She brought her long brown hair to the side, trying to forget that the last time they were this close, her lips were on his. “So, what brings you by?”

“You are never going to guess what happened this morning.”

Before she could answer, he blurted out, “I did it. I finally did it.”

She studied him for a second. Never mind the curled up mouth, was that a twinkle in his eye? Did something happen between him and Rachel? The first date, which everyone knew was ice-skating in the center of town, wasn’t until tonight, but what if they jump-started their Holiday Hook Up?

Oh, God. What if Rachel spent the night at Adam’s or vice versa? Surely, he wouldn’t have stopped by to sharethatnews. Whatever it was, he looked like he was about to burst with excitement. Walking behind the counter, she slid on her apron and tied the strings behind her back, bracing herself for his big reveal. “So, what exactly did you do?”

“I nailed the Batter Up spell,” he said, putting his hands on his hips and puffing out his chest. “Supernatural Matchmaker, at your service.”

“You did? On who?” If he said Rachel, she might lose it.

“Zoe Mathews. She followed me into the bakery earlier this morning demanding that I try it on her.”

“Really?” Bethany couldn’t help but smile, remembering the petite blonde making out with Will Jenkins in the corner. If they’d broken apart for air, she might have been worried that one of them would have recognized her in the disguise, but at the rate they’d been going at it, she knew her secret was safe. “So, you did it on her?”

“Yep, and the name Marvin appeared.”

“Marvin?” Bethany tilted her head. She couldn’t think of any guys around town named Marvin, but Adam was now making a face like she should know.

“It’s Will,” he finally said.

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