I shot him an arch look when my mother blotted my lipstick again, and he tipped his head back with another laugh.
When the doorbell rang, we all started. “I got it,” Grandpa yelled.
“Oh, no you don’t,” I called out.
We all rushed the door, but my little brothers beat us to it.
When Lucas walked in, the world burst into Technicolor. This was the way it always was with Lucas. The colors in the room became more vivid, the air crackled with his restless energy, and his eyes met mine with a physical jolt.
My heart did a little leap in response when his lips tilted up in that smile I loved so much, the one that was reserved just for me. Genuine, real, and with just a hint of that conceited charm he wore so well.
But don’t tell him I said that. I’d never admit that his cockiness was a turn on. It would only go to his head.
“Lola, my love, you look amazing,” he said as he headed toward me, ignoring my brothers who were begging him to come down to the basement and finish their ongoing video game tournament.
My mother shooed them out of the room and she and Grandpa gave us a moment to ourselves.
He stopped just short of kissing me. “I’m afraid to kiss you,” he said, his eyes lit with laughter.
“Since when?” I teased.
His eyes moved over my face, my lips. “Since you look like perfection.”
“Mmm.” I nodded. “I get that all the time. But I’ll let you in on a little secret. I’m not as perfect as I look.”
He grinned. “Good to know.” And then he kissed me. My poor mother’s blotting job was all for naught by the time we were done. I had to start the whole application process all over again. But it was worth it. We’d been kissing pretty much non-stop for a month now and I still had yet to find anything I enjoyed doing more. Not even swing dancing was as fun as kissing my new boyfriend.
That’s right, boyfriend. We were legit. The real deal. I sucked in a breath as he pulled back to gaze down at me, all the love in the world in his eyes.
“You excited for the dance?” he asked.
I shrugged, but my giddy grin likely gave me away. I could admit it. “I’m a little excited.”
About a school dance. That I’d helped organize. God, what had this guy done to me?
He pulled me close and held me to him so he could talk softly into my ear. “You should be. You did an amazing job.”
He hadn’t even seen the auditorium yet. Talk about unconditional love.
I shrugged. “It wasn’t just me.”
But it had mainly been me, and we both knew it. I’d let Blake and Eleanor convince me to take point on the Valentine’s Day dance and we’d scrambled to pull together an epic event, with live music and, of course, swing dancing.
“We’d better get going,” I said. “There are intro to swing dancing lessons during the first hour for those who want to learn.”
It went without saying that I’d be leading those classes, with Lucas as my partner, though Eleanor and Blake would help. Trevor didn’t know it yet but he was going to be helping too. Ryan and Eleanor broke up shortly after New Year’s so she was going stag, but I knew without a doubt that Lucas would make sure she didn’t feel left out.
I’d long since gotten over any jealousy there. I mean, it was hard to be jealous when she was our loudest cheerleader.
My mom and grandfather came back into the kitchen and we were pushed out into the well-lit foyer for an impromptu photo session, at my mom’s insistence. “Mom, we’ve got to go,” I kept saying, but she’d answer with, “Just one more pose.”
Finally, Lucas intervened, going over to whisper something in my mother’s ear that I couldn’t hear.
Whatever he said made her smile all sappy and watery and she waved us off, she and my grandfather waving goodbye as we headed to Lucas’s car.
“What did you say to her?” I asked.
His smile was so cocky it hurt. My heart literally ached in response.
This guy would be the death of me.
It wasn’t until he’d helped me into his car and slipped into the driver’s seat that he answered. “I told her we had a stop to make before the dance so I had to get out of there.”
“A stop?” I asked. When he pulled out of our driveway and headed in the opposite direction of school, I turned to face him. “Where exactly are you taking me?”
His wink was over the top and made me snicker. “The scene of the crime.”
‘The scene of the crime,’ it turned out, was the hospital. Where our relationship started. I let him drag me along behind him, only halfheartedly chastising him that we’d be late. While I definitely didn’t want to be late to the dance that I’d helped to organize, I was beyond curious as to what he was up to.
When we reached the pediatric ward, I stopped short. “Who did this?”
The hallway was decorated for Valentine’s Day, which was next week. I was supposed to decorate the following day.
“I did.”
I turned to stare at him in shock and he shrugged. “I got some help from a clown.”
“But why…how…” I didn’t know where to begin. He hated the hospital—who didn’t?—and was so far from a holiday lover he was practically Scrooge.
Lucas was looking at his handiwork as he led me down the hallway toward the room he’d been in when we’d met. “I wanted to free up some of your valuable time this weekend so we could celebrate Valentine’s Day together,” he said. Then he turned to me with a grin as he reached for the handle to his room and threw it open. “And I may have gotten a favor in return.”
I took a step into the room and gasped. It was a Valentine’s Day wonderland, with hearts and roses and cheesy teddy bears covering every surface. The fluorescent overhead lights had been replaced by twinkling Christmas lights that made the typically sterile room look magical.
As I stood and gaped, Lucas headed over to a small stereo I hadn’t noticed on a side table. He hit a button and Glenn Miller’s Moonlight Serenade came on, romantic and old-fashioned, and just pretty much me to a tee.
He held his arms out—because now that he didn’t wear a sling he could hold me properly when we danced.
“I don’t understand,” I said, my head still spinning.
His smile was unbearably smug and unbelievably sexy. “When word got around that I wanted to surprise everyone’s favorite candy striper with a romantic Valentine’s Day surprise, the head nurse pulled some strings.”
I stepped into his arms and he pulled me close. “I’ve got to take all this stuff down by the morning, but I wanted one night to surprise my girl.”
I grinned up at him. “Mission accomplished.”
We swayed in time to the music and he dropped his head so his breath tickled my neck when he talked. “Oh yeah?”
I nodded, breathless from the romantic surprise and from the close contact. “Consider me swept off my feet.”
He pulled back enough to smile down at me. “Good. That’s what you deserve. I’ve been wanting to have a redo in this hospital room for a while now.”
I feigned horror. “A redo? Why would you want that?”
He winced. “Because I was a jerk that first day I met you?”
“Mmm,” I murmured in agreement. “But you were a cute jerk.”
“I was, huh?” He held me tighter. “Tell me more.”
“Oh no, this is your night to be romantic,” I said, laughing as he pretended to be annoyed.
“All right, fine.” He kissed the top of my head. “You know the real reason I wanted to bring you here?”
I shook my head, reveling in the feel of his arms around me in this romantic lighting with the perfect music. “Why?”
“Because this is where my life changed, completely and for all time.”
My heart swelled in my chest, making my throat close up with emotion at the sincerity in his voice as well as the words.
“I’d thought being in the hospital over Christmas break was a bad
break. It never occurred to me that it could be the best thing that had ever happened to me.”
I swallowed down the tears that threatened to choke me and gave him a watery smile. “You called me a psychotic elf with a death wish.”
He laughed at the memory. “True. But luckily you forgave me.”
“Did I?” I teased.
He nodded with a look of feigned seriousness. “You not only forgave me, you promised to wear those God-awful candy cane tights for me next year too.”
I laughed at that. “I did? Gosh, I don’t even remember making that promise.”
He nodded again. “Oh, you did.”
“But they’re awful, you said so yourself.”
His eyes darkened as his smile made me weak in his arms. “Yes, but they’re perfect on you. They’re unapologetically weird and sexy-as-hell in their own unique way.”
I arched a dubious brow. “Sexy, huh?”
“Mmm.” He brushed his lips over the top of my ear, making me shiver. “They show off those killer legs of yours, and they remind me of the way you tasted the first time we kissed—like the perfect candy cane.”
I lifted my head automatically, seeking out his lips at the mere mention of kissing.
He didn’t disappoint. His kisses never ever disappointed.
He pulled back reluctantly when the song came to an end. “We should get you to the dance before anyone notices you’re missing.”
I nodded with a reluctant smile, taking one last look at the scene he’d set for me and thinking back fondly on that very first meeting. Only six weeks had passed between then and now but nothing was the same, and my newfound popularity and having a boyfriend were only the beginning.
With Lucas my world was constantly expanding, my circle of friends, my interests, my horizons. He’d been right. Nothing had been the same since that first meeting, and nothing ever would. It was a life-changing meeting, and a Christmas I’d never forget.
Lucas wrapped an arm around my waist and rested his chin on my shoulder to follow my gaze. “What are you thinking?”
“That I can’t wait for next Christmas.” I turned to kiss him lightly. “And every Christmas after that.”
Thank you for reading! If you enjoyed The Candy Cane Kiss, reviews are greatly appreciated. Be sure to keep an eye out for the next YA romance novels in the Countdown to Christmas special with brand-new holiday romances from spectacular YA authors. To get the latest release news, be sure to subscribe to Maggie Dallen’s newsletter here: http://eepurl.com/bFEVsL or follow her on social media here:
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Keep reading for a free sample of Maggie Dallen’s latest YA contemporary romance, The Perfect Catch and be sure to check out the other standalone romances in the Briarwood High series:
Out of His League
A Whole New League
The Perfect League
The Holiday Kiss
The Prom Kiss
The Perfect Catch
Callie
My butt hurt from all the squats we’d done earlier that morning. My arms were sore from swinging the bat so many times I’d lost track. My thighs…oh God, my thighs were on fire from running. Really, there was no part of my body that wasn’t aching.
And I loved it.
“Way to go, Cooper!” The third base coach shouted after me as I ran all the way to home plate.
Once I’d passed the opposing team’s catcher, I slowed to a stop and bent over with my hands on my knees, grinning down at the ground as some of my new teammates came over to pat my shoulder and congratulate me on the home run.
It was only the first full day of the weeklong softball clinic at Fairfield University but after a grueling day of exercises and drills, I was already beat. In the best possible way, though. It was only going to get more intense from here, but that’s what this was all about. I mean, this was my chance. This was my year.
I’d be a senior in high school come fall, and this week of grueling training wouldn’t just enhance my skills. The last day featured three showcase games where recruiters across the country would be coming to watch us play.
If I was ever going to take my skills to the next level, this was it. And if I had any chance of landing a scholarship to Fairfield, my first choice, or any other school, this was my best opportunity. No pressure or anything. But I wasn’t worried, because this was what I’d come here for.
I was focused, I was determined, I was—
“Hey, there’s the hottie!” one of the girls in the crowd around me said.
The hottie? What luck. It just so happened I was on the lookout for a hottie. Granted, there was probably more than one on campus for the summer, but the one I was looking for worked part-time in the athletics department, so there was a very good chance that this was the one I’d been hoping to see.
Standing up straight, I ignored the girls who whispered and giggled around me as I scanned the area around the softball field for this alleged hottie. Last night all the girls in my dorm had been talking about the hot guy who’d been at the sign-in desk when they’d arrived yesterday and by their descriptions, the hottie in question was Noah.
My former neighbor and my brother’s best friend. I would have said my friend if things hadn’t been so awkward between us last time I saw him. I mean he was still my friend, I just wasn’t sure what to say to him when I saw him.
That was part of the reason I hadn’t called or texted to let him know I’d be here this week. I was sort of hoping that I’d see him and once we were together, in person, things would miraculously go back to normal between us.
But when I’d checked in yesterday I hadn’t seen him, or any other hotties, for that matter. I’d been greeted by Coach Everly, the middle-aged female coach who’d run the weeklong clinic the past two years that I’d attended. She’d barked at me to get my bags up to my room and be back down for drills in the half hour, and it had been nonstop training ever since.
Well, when we weren’t eating or sleeping. How was a girl supposed to hunt down a hottie under these conditions?
“Good work, Cooper,” Coach Everly said as I reached the sidelines.
“Thanks, Coach.”
“You keep that up. The college scouts will snatch you right up.”
I grinned up at her. Everly wasn’t known for being a sweet talker. If she said it then she meant it, and for a moment I forgot all about my brother’s best friend. “That’s the plan.”
“You know who got a scholarship last year? That Peggerton girl. Remember her?” Coach Everly kept talking—gossiping, really—about last year’s team. I tried not to let on that I was only half paying attention. One thing about coaches in general, and Coach Everly in particular—they really liked having your complete attention.
And if they didn’t get it there tended to be consequences, typically of the sprinting variety. My poor legs were hurting enough after last night’s drills. I so did not need to punish them any more.
So I held her gaze, nodding and smiling and avoiding the urge to sneak a glimpse over her shoulder toward the locker rooms where all the other girls were staring.
It was Noah, I knew it. I could just tell. Giddy excitement had me bouncing on my toes. It had been almost a year since we’d hung out. And no, I wasn’t counting Christmas break. He’d been in a mood to end all moods and had taken it out on me.
I mean, he hadn’t exactly been sweetness and light to my brother Eric either, but I’d been the one to get the worst of it. He’d given new meaning to the term cold shoulder.
I pressed my lips together in annoyance at the memory of the way he’d ignored me and glowered at me like I was some pest. My brother might have treated me that way at times, but never Noah.
But that was all in the past. He’d had his reasons for being a grouch, and while I didn’t condone his behavior toward me, I was ready to forgive and forget. Surely enough time had passed since they discovered the injury that had ended
his baseball career. By now he had to be ready to be friends again.
“…pace yourself and make sure…” Coach was still talking.
I had to bite my lower lip to hold back an impatient sigh. I was so close to Noah and not being able to run over to him was killing me. Killing me. We’d known each other since forever so, while he might technically have been Eric’s best friend, he was a crucial part of my world.
He’d grown up in the house next door and had been in our lives for as long as I could remember. After he and Eric had graduated last year, they’d gone separate ways. Eric and his longtime girlfriend Miranda went off to school in San Francisco. He’d always been into the arts so California seemed like a good fit for him. He hadn’t even come home for the summer. He told my parents it was because he wanted to take summer classes, but I knew from talking to him that he was just having too much fun.
Which was good, it was fine. But I missed him, and I missed Noah, so when I found out that he was going to be staying at his school for an internship this summer—the same school where I was heading for a softball clinic…
Well, I was psyched. I missed my friend.
And there he was. The friend in question. I spotted him over my roommate Maddie’s shoulder just as he walked around the corner heading toward the admin building. Thankfully Coach seemed to be wrapping it up and I gave her one last nod and smile before bounding off after him, all thoughts of sore legs forgotten.
“Wait up,” Maddie called from behind me. She was a seasoned veteran of this clinic—partly because she was super serious about softball, but also because the campus was basically in her backyard. She still stayed on campus with the rest of us during camp, though, and we’d become great friends, even though this was the one week of the year we actually saw each other in person.
The rest of the year we relied on some video calls and texts to stay up to date on one another’s lives. But I hadn’t told her about Noah. I mean, there wasn’t really much to tell. So my brother’s best friend had been a jerk to me. It wasn’t the end of the world and telling anyone about his private health issues had just seemed like an invasion of privacy.
The Candy Cane Kiss: Briarwood High Series Page 15