The Gingerbread Bakery (Dream Harbor, #5)(10)

‘How could you not be excited?’ Annie was standing next to him on the lawn in front of the town hall, bundled up in a puffy coat, knit hat and mittens that he was frankly jealous of. Her cheeks were rosy, and her eyes were lit up in anticipation, and it suddenly seemed like a real oversight that he’d never noticed how cute she was. Although, to be fair, she was much cuter when she wasn’t scowling at him.

Apologizing to her friend had really gone a long way. He knew now that messing with anyone Annie loved was a dealbreaker. And he also knew the girl could hold a grudge.

‘I don’t think I’ve done this since I was ten.’

‘You’ve been missing out. The Dream Harbor Christmas Lights Tour is one of my favorite holiday traditions.’

They were waiting for one of the school-bus-turned-tour-buses to return to pick up the next load of passengers. It would then drive them around the Dream Harbor neighborhoods to admire the light displays. The crowd was almost entirely old folks discussing who they thought would have the best set-up this year and small children running in circles while their parents tried in vain to get them to calm down. The consumption of candy canes and hot chocolate while they waited probably wasn’t helping.

Mac blew into his hands again. Annie watched him with a small smile.

‘You’re cold?’

‘Not too bad.’

‘Why do guys do that?’

‘Do what?’

‘Pretend they’re never cold. Do they revoke your man card if you admit to being chilly?’

Mac huffed a laugh, his breath clouding in front of him. ‘I’m fine.’ He stamped his feet a little to get feeling back into his toes. Probably shouldn’t have worn sneakers.

Annie raised an amused eyebrow. ‘You’d rather freeze to death than wear a hat?’

He looked terrible in hats, so yes, he’d rather die than wear one in front of a cute girl. But he was not about to admit that level of fragility. ‘I didn’t think it was this cold out. It hasn’t even snowed yet.’

Annie rolled her eyes and made a point of tugging her hat down over her ears. It looked soft and cozy. Damn it, he was an idiot. He wished he had a hat. And mittens. And lined boots.

‘Where’s this bus, anyway?’ he muttered, rubbing his hands together until Annie finally took pity on him.

‘Stop.’ She took his hands between her mittened ones, enclosing him in her warmth. ‘Better?’

So much better, but it wasn’t only because of his hands. Annie was close to him now and all the things he’d never noticed about her were right there. Her cute little upturned nose, the dip in her full upper lip, the slight flush on her cheeks. A few wisps of blonde hair had escaped her hat, and he had the bizarre urge to tuck them behind her ear.

Annie was pretty.

Like, really pretty.

What the hell was wrong with him? How do you look at someone for thirteen years and not realize they’re actually beautiful?

This gorgeous girl had been in front of him his whole life and, somehow, he was only now noticing?!

As he stood there staring at Annie’s lips—had they always been so pink?—another inconvenient truth revealed itself. Mac wanted to kiss her. Like, he really wanted to kiss her. He wanted to kiss that mouth that used to do nothing but frown at him, the mouth that now looked so appealing and sweet, tipped up slightly in the corner like she was amused by him.

‘Mac? Do your hands feel better?’

Oh, shit. He’d been standing here staring at her like an idiot.

‘Much.’ He cleared his throat. ‘Much better, thanks.’

Annie smiled, rubbing her hands over his. ‘Good. Can’t have you losing any fingers and ruining the tour.’

‘So glad you were worried about my wellbeing.’

Annie laughed. ‘Nope. Just the Christmas lights.’

He laughed, too, because suddenly he was having fun at this stupid town tradition that he’d written off as childish; because Annie liked it, because maybe Annie liked him.

Or she at least didn’t hate him anymore.

But leaning down to kiss her right now was probably a bad idea. Right?

Right. They were only hanging out because no one else was in town and they’d agreed they were both bored. Nothing about that was grounds for suddenly kissing someone.

Except for the fact that, the way Annie was looking at him right now, he thought maybe she wouldn’t mind. Maybe he could. Maybe she wanted him to.

While Mac wondered if Annie was the kind of girl that wanted to be asked first or if he should just go for it, the bus pulled up, the screech and hiss of the brakes fully ruining the moment anyway.

‘Let’s go!’ Annie dropped his hands and quickly joined the line of people slowly making their way onto the bus. He followed her up the steps and was greeted by his kindergarten teacher in a Santa hat sitting in the driver seat.

‘Merry Christmas,’ Nancy greeted each passenger.

‘Merry Christmas, Ms. DeMarco!’

‘Well, if it isn’t two of my favorite students.’

That was certainly a lie. Mac had spent a considerable amount of time in the ‘cozy corner’ taking a ‘break’ when he was in Ms. DeMarco's classroom. His ‘listening ears’ and ‘gentle hands’ never seemed to be working right, and he’d had to spend a lot of time thinking about that. He really had been a little shit back then.