Page 28 of A Very Merry Matchup
“What?”
“My phone’s back at the house. I can’t take any pictures.” Slipping on my mittens, I circle around the front of the truck to meet Beau. “Lucy’s obsessed with Christmas lights. She’d go crazy over this.”
Beau tugs his phone from his pocket. “I still have her number. I can send her a picture or two.” He aims his phone toward the park entrance, but I tug his arm down.
“Not here. Inside the park. And we need to be in it. How about over there? By that snowman? That’ll be a cute picture to send.”
Twenty minutes later our cute picture has turned into an all-out photo shoot.
Beau’s grinning. “Are we sure it’s Lucy who goes crazy over Christmas lights?”
“Get this one,” I say, cackling and running through the snow to get to the display of reindeer. “Are you getting this one?”
“Oh, I’m getting it,” says Beau as he holds up his phone to snap me pretending to sit on a flashing Rudolph as I wave my stocking hat like a cowboy on a bull.
“Have we gotten one with the bridge in the background yet?” I race toward the bridge, hearing Beau’s chuckle follow me.
“I think that might be the only picture we haven’t taken yet.”
When he catches up to me, he wraps an arm around me, and we huddle together so he can take a selfie of us in front of the glowing bridge. “I’ll take that kiss now.”
“What ki—oh.” Right. The cheek kiss I promised. Fine. A deal’s a deal, I suppose. Twisting my face, I press a quick kiss to his dimple. The same moment he snaps a picture.
“Let me see it,” I say as soon as he lowers his arm holding the phone.
The side of my face that’s visible in the picture is flushed from the cold and all the running around, but I’m not sure I’ve ever seen myself look happier. I look like... well, a kid at Christmas. And Beau, of course, looks like Beau. His sandyblond hair is curling out from beneath his stocking cap. His blue eyes and dimple are both popping.
In other words—he looks perfect. Handsome. Charming. The man couldn’t take a bad photo if he tried. “Don’t send that last one to Lucy.”
“Why not?”
“It might give her the wrong idea. Almost looks like we’re a real couple there,” I say with a littleisn’t that ridiculous?laugh.
Beau’s right dimple makes an even bigger appearance as he grins at the phone screen. “Almost? Try definitely. This is worthy of a Christmas card. It screams ‘real couple’ more than any photo I’ve ever seen.”
“I’d say that’s going a bit too far.” I start heading back toward the truck.
“Guess we’ll see what Lucy says ’cuz... I just sent it to her.”
Of course he did. And part of me is a little relieved because now I can ask Lucy to send the picture to me. Not that I’ll ever admit that to Beau. I shake my head as if I’m annoyed at him and keep walking.
His shoulders lift in an exaggerated shrug as he catches up to me with his hands buried inside his pockets. “Don’t you want Lucy to know how our relationship is progressing? She is one of our matchmakers after all.”
“We are not in a relationship, my dear.”
“My dear? I like the sound of that.”
“It was meant to sound condescending.”
“Sounded sexy to me. Anytime you want to admit you’ve got the hots for me, I’m ready.”
“I’m not admitting anything.”
“So you do have the hots for me, you just don’t want to admit it.”
I press my lips together, afraid of what all I may admit at the moment. Obviously the Christmas lights are flaring up my symptoms again with all their bright-colored yuletide cheer and romance.
“Okay, okay, okay,” Beau says with a laugh as he wraps a hand around my elbow to slow me. “I see you’re pleading the fifth, but be honest with me for a minute here. What if I was a teacher?”
