Gage flipped him off.
With a knowing grin, Ethan finally relented. “She and Sophia were singing karaoke.”
“And?”
“She can’t sing, and she doesn’t like to share.”
Gage relaxed. That didn’t sound so bad. His gaze strayed once more to Madison, who was gesturing with her hands as she spoke—she’d obviously been spending way too much time with Sophia. When Madison’s dress slipped off her shoulder, revealing creamy-white skin and a red bra strap, Gage swallowed a groan. He dragged his attention back to Ethan. “Any reason in particular we had to meet here?”
“My mother. She wouldn’t let up until I promised to come. I don’t know what’s gotten into her. Ever since she’s come home, all I hear is how it’s about time I found myself a nice girl to settle down with.”
“She have anyone in particular in mind?” Gage’s hand balled into a fist on his thigh.
He knew who was stirring up the matchmaking pot, but the thought that his best friend would make a move on Madison bugged the hell out of him.
“Madison.” Ethan’s smile faded. “Hey, don’t look at me like that. It’s not like I planned on making a move on her, but I thought you might be interested in knowing Nell’s up to her old tricks.”
“I’d already figured it out. She’s got Dad playing matchmaker, too. You’d think getting our parents together would be enough to keep her occupied.”
“If she’s been talking to my mother, which we know she has, she’s probably given up on them. Liz is furious with Paul.”
Gage frowned. “Why, what’s up?”
“You know how they came home early because of an outbreak of flu on board ship?”
Gage nodded.
“Well, from what my mother tells me, it was not the epidemic Paul made it out to be. He strong-armed her into coming home. Went on about her weak heart, asked her how her children would feel if something happened to her while she was away.”
“Since when does Liz have a weak heart? I didn’t think her mitral valve prolapse was that serious.”
“It’s not. And once she got home, my mother found out there was only one case of flu and the cruise continued.”
Gage imagined Karen must be as furious as Liz. “He’s paranoid. If anyone he cares about so much as gets a scratch, he goes to the worst-case scenario.” Gage grinned. “You thinking what I’m thinking?”
“Yep, there’s hope for them yet, as long as we can get my mom to speak to him after this. Right now, the odds are against it.”
The timer on the penalty box buzzed. Time to leave. To be on the safe side, Gage was taking Ethan with him. “Let’s go to my place for a beer and watch the game. Dad took the girls for the night.” He saw Madison clamber out of the box, her dress riding high on her well-toned thighs, and he lurched to his feet.
Ethan frowned, then followed the direction of his gaze and grinned. “You’ve got it bad.”
Gage ignored him, tracking Madison’s movement across the dance floor. She did a sexy little bump and grind with Sophia then took her seat at the table where Grace, Jill, and Autumn sat. His best friend was right. He had it bad.
Ethan gave his head a slight shake. “That… was hot.”
It was, and Gage couldn’t take his eyes off her or get his feet to move. Brandi walked over, handing him a beer he hadn’t ordered. “You better keep an eye on your girlfriend. They’ve moved on to Candy Cane shooters.” She nodded at the five girly drinks—each a frothy white liquid with a line of red swirled through the center—on her tray. “Rick has his camera at the ready.”
That got his feet moving—in the wrong damn direction. Brandi’s reference to Madison as his girlfriend should’ve sent him for the door, but all he could think of was how upset she’d been when Hartwell forced her to remain in Christmas after her last stint on the front page of the Chronicle. He wove his way through the tables to stand behind her chair.
“Hey, Gage.” The four other women waved their fingers at him and grinned.
Geezus, they’re looped.
Madison tipped her head back, smiling up at him. “Sheriff.”
The sexy curve of her full lips and the slumberous look in her eyes sent a fierce jolt of desire through him. It took a minute to untie his tongue. “Ladies.” He looked down at Madison. “It’s time for you to go.”
Her head snapped up. “Whoa—” she pressed two fingers to her temple “—a little dizzy there.” She turned to face him. “Why? Is something wrong with Nell?”
He considered lying to her, but saw the worried look in her eyes and couldn’t do it. “No, I just—”
“Oh, good,” she said. He lost her attention as soon as Brandi set the shooters on the table. “I’ve got it.” Madison waved off Sophia, who was digging around in a purse the size of a suitcase. “Thanks.” She gave Brandi a wide smile, thrusting a wad of bills in her hand.
“She’s a good tipper. I’ll give her that.” Fighting back a grin, Brandi walked away.
“Bottoms up, ladies,” Madison said. The five of them tossed back their drinks, polishing them off in a single gulp. Eyes watering, they gasped for breath between manic giggles.
Ethan came up beside him. The women smiled at him, wearing matching milk mustaches. “They’re blitzed,” he said under his breath, as he returned their finger waves.
“Ya think?”
Out of the corner of his eye, Gage spotted Rick, camera in hand, leaning on the jukebox. “Okay, ladies, it’s time to call it a—” Before Gage could finish, “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” blasted out of the speakers. The five women squealed, jumping from their chairs to head for the dance floor. Sophia dragged Ethan along with her.
Gage took hold of Madison’s hand. “Oh, no, you don’t. I’m taking you home.”
She frowned. “I can’t leave now. I’m having fun. Sophia said I was uptight and…” She shook her hand free, placing it on her hip. “You said the same thing about me when we first met.”
What he’d said was she looked like she had a stick up her ass—not actually her, but the picture of her in the Times. “No, I didn’t. Come on, let’s—”
She tilted her head. “You know what, Sheriff? I think you’re the one who’s uptight.” She grabbed his hand. “But don’t worry, I’ll loosen you up. You’re in good hands.”
That was what worried him. It’d taken everything he had to control his body’s reaction while watching her on the dance floor. So getting up close and personal with an attentive audience, one of whom had a camera, was the last place he wanted to be. “Madison, trust me, this isn’t a good idea. Let me take you home.”
The music changed. “Woo-hoo, conga!” She grabbed his hands, placed them on her hips and started wiggling her way to the dance floor while clapping her hands over her head.
Other than tossing her over his shoulder, it looked like he was stuck. But if he kept his eyes glued to Ethan’s head—four couples down—instead of Madison’s butt, and ignored the feel of her hips swaying beneath his hands, he’d be good. He was just starting to relax when the line circled the dance floor for the second time and they passed the jukebox. Rick smirked, then pressed a button.
Gage groaned as a slow, sexy beat pulsed through the speakers. They had to leave… now. “Madison.”
She turned. The adorable loopy smile on her face faltered when he took a step back. “I can’t…” he began, but then two men came into his line of sight, waiting expectantly for him to move on so they could move in on Madison. To his left, Rick lifted his camera.
To hell with it. Gage tugged her into his arms.
* * *
“Stay put,” Gage warned Sophia, buckling her into the backseat of Ethan’s Escalade. It was hard enough to understand Sophia sober, let alone when she was half-cut, but he took a shot. “I don’t care if you’re going to hurl. You’re not sitting up front. Use your purse.”
“Easy for you to say,” Ethan grumbled, shutting the door on a blast of Spanish. “Why the hell did you make them eat before w
e left?”
“To sober them up.” It’d seemed like a good idea at the time.
Ethan snorted. “Right.” He looked at the women laughing hysterically in his Escalade and sighed. “Explain to me again why I have to drive all four of them home, and you only have to take Madison,” he said, as he walked around to the driver’s side.
Gage looked over to where the woman in question stood under the soft glow of the streetlamp, catching snowflakes on the tip of her tongue, and wondered the same damn thing. He was an idiot. “They live closer to you than me.”
“Like I’m buying that.” Ethan shook his head, opening the driver’s-side door to Sophia’s unintelligible rant. He lifted his eyes to Gage. “You owe me.”
“I’ll shovel out Jill’s place tomorrow.” As friends of Jack, he and Ethan shared the responsibility of looking out for his family.
“Almost makes it worth driving Sophia home. Almost,” Ethan repeated when she yelled at him. “ ’Night, Madison. Gage.”
“ ’Night. Drive safe.” Madison bent over to wave good-bye to her friends as Ethan pulled away from the curb.
“You have a good time tonight?” Gage asked, as they headed for his truck.
“Great time. You?”
“Yeah, you ladies were very entertaining.” He frowned, halting her forward motion with a hand to her arm. “You’re as bad as Annie. You’re going to catch a cold.” Tugging her coat closed, he began to do up the buttons while trying to ignore the voluptuous curves his fingers brushed against as he did.
“I’m hot.”
“Yeah, you are,” he said without thinking.
She put a hand on his chest. “So are you.”
He shook his head. “I promised myself I was going to stay away from you.”
She searched his face. “Why?”
Seeing the hurt look in her eyes, he walked her backward to the alley between the bar and hardware store. “Because you make me want to do this.” He lowered his head and kissed her like he’d wanted to all night. She tasted like candy canes, her lips soft and pliant, opening for him on a needy exhalation.
“But I like when you kiss me,” she murmured against his mouth, wrapping her arms around his waist.
“Yeah, so do I.” She felt good snuggled up against him, like somehow they fit. A dangerous thought, a thought that should have him backing away.
It did.
He broke the kiss, then lowered his forehead to hers, listening to the soft rasp of their breath, a car in the distance, the dull throb of music and voices from the bar. The door to the Penalty Box opened, a shaft of light illuminating the sidewalk. He turned, blocking her from sight. A man and woman laughed as they walked by. He released the breath he’d been holding. It wasn’t Rick.
“It’s getting late. I’d better get you home before Nell starts to worry.” He placed a hand at her back.
She slanted him a look as they crossed the road. “I’m a big girl, Sheriff. If you’re not interested, just say so.”
That was one of the many things he liked about her, Madison didn’t pull any punches. She was open and honest. And maybe it was time he was honest with her.
He opened the passenger-side door and helped her inside. She tugged on the seat belt. He cupped her chin, raising her gaze to his, then kissed her hard and fast. “I’m interested.”
“But?”
He tucked a silky strand of hair behind her ear. “I don’t get involved with women from town. With my job, I’m under the microscope enough as it is, and I’ve got Annie and Lily to think about. I don’t want them hurt or confused or to have to listen to a lot of crap about their dad. I dealt with enough of that when Sheena left us. If it was just me, trust me, you wouldn’t be going home to Nell’s tonight.”
“You’re a good dad, Sheriff.” She gave him a half smile. “I guess we’ll have to settle for just being friends then.”
Friends with Madison? A woman he couldn’t be within a hundred feet of without wanting to kiss her, to take her to his bed? Maybe once she was back in New York they could be friends.
Chapter Thirteen
Madison plunked herself down on a chair at the back of the empty church hall, releasing a weary sigh. Looping her foot around the leg of the chair in front of her, she turned it around to put up her feet. She smiled, feeling pretty pleased with herself.
Even though pageant practice wasn’t for another two hours, she’d used it as an excuse to escape the citizens of Christmas who’d descended on the warehouse armed with drills, hammers, paintbrushes, and chainsaws to work on the floats for the Santa Claus parade. They were like an army of elves—elves with ADHD—and a head elf, Nell, with attitude. Madison figured they were as glad to see her go as she was to leave.
She supposed she couldn’t blame them. But it wasn’t as if she’d blown the fuse box on purpose or that she’d intentionally painted Santa’s house the wrong color. Maybe she shouldn’t have articulated her negative feelings about Christmas so loudly. At the time, it’d seemed like a better option than the curse words that popped into her head after she’d hammered her finger instead of the nail.
So much for peace and quiet, she thought when her cell phone went off. She dug around in her purse, wincing when her wounded digit came into contact with her phone. “Hey, Skye,” she said around her finger.
“Maddie? There’s something wrong with the connection.”
“Sorry.” Madison took her finger out of her mouth and blew on the discolored nail. “What’s up?”
“Have you talked to Vivi lately?”
“Uh, yeah, why?” She’d drunk-dialed Vivi from the Penalty Box last night, passing her around the table to introduce her to her new friends.
“There’s something going on with her. It sounds like the guy she’s been seeing pulled a Danny,” Skye said, referring to Vivi’s college boyfriend who’d ended their year-long relationship without an explanation. “She’s acting like it’s no big deal, like it was just an extended one-night stand, but I know it meant more to her than that. Vivi doesn’t do one-night stands.”
It’d been pretty obvious to Madison during their Skype conversation that Vivi had fallen head over heels for Hot Bod, so she didn’t buy that she wasn’t upset, either. Besides that, none of them did one-night stands. If the guy wasn’t relationship worthy, they walked away. Only now it looked like this time the guy had done the walking.
Sort of like Gage. He was relationship worthy. But he’d made it clear last night that he wasn’t interested in one, at least not with her.
She’d had an odd feeling of déjà vu when he kissed her in the alley, like somehow they were meant to be. When he held her in his arms, they seemed like a perfect fit, which made it hard to let go of the idea they might have a future together. She pushed away the thought she might’ve found the one, only to have to let him go.
“Maddie?”
“Sorry. You’re right. I’ll give Vivi a call tonight, see if I can get her to open up.”
“You know how hardheaded she is. It’d be easier to get her to open up face-to-face. Are you going home soon?”
“Not for at least another week. Nell has this long list of events I have to take part in, and I have a meeting with the bank manager on Monday, and then there’s the pageant I’m working on. I don’t want to disappoint them.” She startled, thinking about what she’d just said and how she hadn’t mentioned Hartwell, not once. When, she wondered, did the citizens of Christmas become more important to her than the job she was sent here to do? “What about you?” she asked before Skye commented on her telling response.
“No, I have a meeting—”
Behind Madison, a throat cleared. She swiveled in the chair. Annie and Lily stood beside their grandfather. “Hey, Skye,” she cut off her best friend. “I’ve gotta go. I’ll call you once I talk to Vivi.”
Disconnecting from Skye, Madison stood up. “You guys are early.” Not that she minded. She enjoyed spending time with Gage’s daughters.
“Oh.”
Paul McBride glanced around the empty hall. “Nell called to say you changed the practice time.”
Madison sighed inwardly. She should’ve known she couldn’t put anything past Nell. At the sound of stampeding feet coming from the other side of the door, it appeared the Christmas hotline was alive and well. The church hall began to fill. Madison made a show of looking at her watch, then tapped the face. “Would you look at that, my watch stopped.” It wasn’t as if she could tell them Nell had figured out she lied about having to get to the church hall for practice… fibbed. Lying seemed a little harsh.
“Maddie, what happened to your finger?” Lily asked, scrunching her turned-up nose.
“It had a run-in with a hammer.”
Dr. McBride and Annie leaned in for a closer look. Gage’s father took Madison’s hand in his, gently bending her wounded digit. “It’s not broken, but you’ll probably lose your nail.” He looked up with a smile. “You’ll have to get Gage to teach you how to use a hammer. He’s very good with his hands.”
He wasn’t insinuating what she thought he was, was he? She narrowed her eyes, catching the twinkle in his. Oh God, yes, he was. Faintly horrified, she mumbled, “Good to know.”
Time to make a break for it, she decided, then noticed Annie’s under-the-lashes glance at the four girls forming a tight-knit circle on the far side of the room. They were a clique Madison had pegged as the in crowd the first day of practice. And it was clear Annie didn’t belong. In Madison’s opinion, that wasn’t a bad thing. But she knew what it was like being on the outside looking in, and her heart ached for Annie.
Another little girl took a step in the direction of the four girls. They gave her an up-and-down look then turned their backs. Like Annie, she didn’t make the grade. Madison wanted to shake them, but had a better idea. “Sara.” Madison waved her over. “You know Annie, don’t you?”
Head bowed, Annie shifted uncomfortably. Madison moved in beside her and gave her a gentle nudge.
“Hi,” Annie mumbled. Sara, a shy smile on her sweetly rounded face, returned the greeting.
Madison handed each of them a clipboard and pen. “I need you and Annie to help me out.” The It Girls looked on with interest, sidling closer. “Find out what part everyone is interested in trying out for and write them down for me. We need two copies. Don’t worry if you have more than one name per part. We’ll figure it out later.”
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