She chuckled, then sighed, hating the idea of Burke not being around for that. “It’s okay,” she said. “What you’re doing…what you’ve done, it’s already so generous. I don’t want to keep you up all night and force you to scarf down pie and worry about…”
She stopped there when she realized his eye had wandered. Justine studied him as his gaze followed something through the window.
At once he set his eyes back on her. He searched her face for the slightest moment, and then moved in as if he were about to kiss her.
“Hold still,” he urged under his breath. He moved in closer then, gliding his cheek ever so gently, teasingly, against hers. “I don’t mind coming back for the tree-lighting,” he said under his breath.
Goosebumps rippled up her arms as his facial scruff tickled her skin. He settled very close to her ear where his hot breath caused yet another round of goosebumps to surface.
She froze in place, unwilling to disrupt as he pressed a soft, heated kiss just above her jaw. His lips trailed over her skin, his breath teasing along the way, until he was at her earlobe again.
A deep wave of bliss rushed through her, settling low in her tummy.
“They’re watching us,” he rasped in a whisper.
She managed something she hoped he’d take as a nod, though she barely dared move for fear it would stop him. In truth, she did not want the moment, so very much like the one from her dream, to end.
At that thought, he came in once more, pressing the slightest kiss on her earlobe before circling the tiny diamond stud with his teasing lips.
Justine fisted the blanket in her lap as more goosebumps came.
“Sorry,” he said, the word barely audible as he kissed her cheek once more. He pulled back then, slid a finger along her jaw, and fixed those blue eyes on her. He looked so…calm compared to her.
Justine forced her fist to soften. She smoothed out the blanket beneath her hand as she worked to form an intelligible word.
“The game is afoot, princess,” he said with a wink. He grinned triumphantly. “I’ll get your door.” And then he was pushing his own door open and climbing out.
A jagged breath passed through her lips as he circled the car. The game was afoot, was it? It seemed so. It also appeared that Burke was a seasoned all-star while she was a mere novice. Perhaps she should leave the blanket in the car, she decided, scooting the quilt off her lap; lounging with Burke on the lawn might be more than she bargained for.
Justine cleared her throat, smoothed a hand over her sweater, and turned in time for him to open her door. Behind him, the self-proclaimed old timers, a group that met at the pool hall for coffee and cards each week, had stopped to eye them on their way toward the booths. Thank heavens Gramps wasn’t among them. He’d gone early to help Millie take the bread and butter to her booth.
Troy Martin looked over his shoulder at them as his wife tugged on his arm. Leroy Smithers was doing a similar thing, glancing back as his wife hurried him along.
Tonight’s event would be different from a quiet, meet-the-parent type of situation they’d had with Gramps. They were supposed to be an engaged couple. At least Burke seemed to know what he was doing. Thank heavens.
Now it was her job to keep up.
Chapter 15
Burke took in the setup in the massive lodge. The structure was designed in such a way that its barn-style doors rolled and stacked in the center and on the sides, leaving most of the face front open to enter or exit.
It made this portion of the structure feel as if it was part of the outdoors. And what a beautiful part of the outdoors it was. Leaves covered the land, their rich orange, gold, and red scattered clear into the floor of the lodge. Another touch that added to the ongoing feel of nature within.
Justine was holding his hand, an action that seemed to happen all too naturally after he’d helped her out of the car.The car.Burke had to fight off a wry grin at the mere recollection. He’d seen the large group shuffling past them, watching to see who was inside.
Burke had been asked to play a part, and he planned to do it. It just so happened that that job came with a whole lot of perks.
The vending booths didn’t look anything like the canvas booths that lined the street fairs he’d been to. This set up looked more like something he’d see at a craft expo his mother talked him into going to a few years back.
The lady selling art had her paintings propped on easels tall and small, the display surrounded by decorative touches like a wheelbarrow full of pumpkins beside a rusted, metal jug.
Another had homemade candles stacked on bales of hay. Dried cornstalks added to the fall feel, along with small, handcrafted scarecrows with stitched-up grins. Those were for sale too, he realized.
A spark of interest kindled as he reminded himself that Justine had a booth too. “Where’s yours?” he asked.
“Up here a bit. Gramps likes to run it for me,” she explained.
“That’s nice of him,” he said, only then realizing that, if that wasn’t the case, Justine might be stuck at a booth most of the time.
