Page 17 of Three Days of Holiday

I had too much at stake. My entire future at Causebay Family Farms rested on winning this competition.

The door closed hard behind me. The other contestants had already taken their places at the round table in the center of the room, and they turned in my direction with the loud noise announcing my arrival. I stuck a smug expression on my face and took a deep breath of the coffee-filled air, sauntering to the table like I owned the place.

Because I did.

I was Will Fucking Causebay, and I was here to take out every single person at the table. Just like my father trained me to do.

If Holly Halliday was so stuck up she considered herself too good for me, so be it. I would take her just like I had her predecessors. I’d win this competition on my own.

I pulled out a seat directly across from Holly, making the chair scrape along the carpeted floor. Then I pretended to listen intently as the contest official explained this year’s objectives and rules, including their ill-thought-out theme.

It was exactly what I’d heard in the years prior. We had a few days to prepare five tables at Maine’s Annual Apple Cider Taste-Off. Whichever farm pulled off the best-coordinated yet unique table setting, menu, and refreshment list would be crowned the winner with bragging rights for an entire year.

The first year we won our event, revenue at the farm rose over 450 percent. The extra income created by event rentals for weddings and other parties funded improvementsto our equipment. Just getting your name on the top websites and event planning magazines was enough to shoot your year out of the atmosphere.

This year the judges wouldn’t just be crowning me reigning champion but securing my spot as the next CEO of Causebay Family Farms.

The official passed out paper and pens, giving each person a moment to take notes. Holly scribbled furiously at hers with a wicked grin stretched across her face the entire time. I didn’t even bother writing the date on the top of mine.

Every few scribbles, Holly stopped, and I swore she raised her brows enough to look at me underneath her eyelashes and glare. I glared right back, tapping my pen angrily against the table.

“Does anyone have questions about this year’s theme?” the official asked. He passed out folders with the necessary information for the final event—basically, all the crap Holly rushed to write in a fevered pitch. If she’d been at the winners table before she’d have known.

I smiled a bright, smug expression and never took my gaze away from Holly. Those of us who’d sat at this table so many times knew there was no point in taking notes because they gave you all the information later.

Holly flipped open the folder and examined the packet, her confident expression falling as she noticed the pages and pages of information. More information than she’d taken the time to write. More than any person needed to know.

In reality, the event was pretty cut and dry. Make your tables look pretty and provide good food for the judges. Itwas more about setting a mood and creating an illusion than anything else.

The homemade apple pie I planned to ship in from our farm wouldn’t hurt, either.

The longer Holly looked at the paper and then underlined certain parts, the more my heart softened. It was clear everyone at the table wanted to win this event. You didn’t make it this far without a healthy appetite for competition, but something told me Holly wanted it a little more than everybody else.

Well, everybody else but me.

Still, I found something inherently sexy about her determination. Nobody from the Halliday family could beat me, but Holly planned to do her damnedest to try. I definitely respected that spark. She had gumption, and I admired it even if she ticked me off.

The contest official answered questions from the other competitors sitting around the table. They’d have found the answers to their questions if they had done a quick perusal of the paperwork in their folders. The leader—a veritable saint—took the time to answer each question for them individually.

By the end, Holly and I were the only two who hadn’t asked a question. I was too busy formulating my plans—though not on how I’d win the competition. That plan snapped together the moment he told us the theme.

Holiday family camping trip.

So original.

Not.

No, I spent the time creating a plan to get Holly to speak to me again. I waited until the judge dismissed us and then jumped out of my seat a full fifteen secondsbefore Holly, making sure I walked out of the conference room ahead of her.

I missed the opportunity to stare at her gorgeous ass as she left, but I needed to place myself in the best hallway position before she exited the building.

Her sister, Hope, waited for her by the front doors. I wheeled on her before the two of them met up.

“Look, Holly. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you the truth about my name, but I promise I didn’t use you. I felt something between us last night. We have something here.” Something I’d never felt with another human being in my entire life.

It took dessert with my arch nemesis from across the state to make my heart thunder in my chest.

Holly crinkled up her nose and stepped back, clutching her folder to her chest. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

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