Page 19 of Kissed By Her Fake Fiancé

Faith frowned. It worked just fine for her. In fact, if they could stand here like this all night, she’d be happy.

“Move in front of me,” he said, just as the disappointment was sinking in. “This way, we’ll both stay warmer.”

She did exactly as he said, moving to stand in front of him. When he put his arms around her, she squeezed her eyes closed. This was perfect. In fact, she’d pay the people on stage extra if they’d continue for another hour or two.

It wasn’t just his arms around her, either. He pressed his head close to hers in a move that didn’t seem to have anything to do with keeping warm. Did he want to be close to her?

When he released her to applaud at the very end, Faith’s mind stayed scrambled for at least a couple of minutes. Her insides had turned to mush at the feel of his arms around her, and all she could think about was when it might happen again.

Would they have a reason to hold hands or hug or kiss in the near future? It was likely, considering they were posing as an engaged couple.

“Let’s go find J.J.,” Holden said, holding out a hand.

She’d swear that intensity in his eyes hadn’t been there before. Without breaking the stare, she slipped her hand into his and let him lead her through the crowd.

There was nothing romantic about them holding hands this way. It was purely functional. Necessary, even, considering how crowded the square was tonight. They’d be split up in seconds if they didn’t connect somehow.

J.J. was exactly where she told her dad she’d be—at the far end of the platform near the Christmas tree. Instead of a large group of friends, though, she stood with only two girls who appeared to be about her age, along with an adult couple. Faith assumed the couple parented at least one of the girls.

“Dad!” J.J. called out the instant she spotted him. She began rushing toward him, meeting him more than halfway. “Can I spend the night with Amber?” She pointed back toward the group she’d just left. Faith assumed at least one of the kids was named Amber. “Her mom said she could bring me home in the morning.”

“I thought we were going shopping tomorrow,” Holden said, dropping Faith’s hand.

Faith continued to smile down at the little girl. “It’s fine if you need to cancel.”

“We can go after,” J.J. said. “We can go to the Japanese place for dinner instead of lunch. Please please pleaseplease?”

Holden looked at Faith—a move that once again warmed her heart. “How can I say no to that many ‘pleases’?”

Faith shook her head. “You can’t.”

Shrugging, he turned back to his daughter. “I guess I can’t say no to that but tell her parents I’ll come get you. Maybe around noon.”

“Yes!” J.J. whisper-shouted the word. It was a cry of victory. “Mrs. Webster always makes us healthy peanut butter waffles, so don’t worry about lunch. Love you.”

She threw her arms around her dad and gave him a big hug. Then she ran back to the group. The mom waved at Faith before shifting her stare to J.J. as she returned.

“Healthypeanut butter waffles?” Faith asked.

“The peanut butter is organic, and she uses natural honey instead of syrup. I think the waffles are wheat too.”

None of that had anything to do with the reason Faith was frowning. Actually, peanut butter waffles sounded delicious. In fact, maybe she should get the recipe and make it for J.J. and her dad.

The frown was because she was surprised. Swapping recipes with other moms wasn’t something she thought she’d do until she had her own kids. But it was a total nanny thing to do, so she’d put it in that category.

“I guess it’s just the two of us.” Holden turned to face her, giving her a smile. “I don’t know about you, but I’m craving peanut butter waffles now.”

Faith laughed. “I was just thinking the same thing. We could stop at the grocery store and grab some frozen waffles and a jar of real peanut butter. I’m sure we could even find organic versions of everything if you prefer it.”

“The grocery store’s closed,” he said. “Everything’s closed. Do you know what? I can whip us up something. Come on.”

This time, he didn’t grab her hand as he took off. The crowd had thinned considerably by then, so holding hands wasn’t required to keep from being separated, but she hated the disappointment that filled her. Yeah, she wanted to hold hands with him for reasons that had nothing to do with making it through a crowd without separating.

She was his employee, technically. She had to stop thinking about him any other way.

“Whew,” Holden said as soon as they were in his SUV, doors closed. “This might be a sign I’m a bad parent, but I can always feel the stress lift away when I know someone I trust is taking care of J.J.”

He buckled his seatbelt and started up the SUV as she stared at him. “What do you mean? Why would that make you a bad parent?”

---