Nora slipped her free hand into Quinn’s and allowed herself to be led to the rear driver’s side door. “I’m afraid to ask…”
“As you should be,” Quinn retorted as she opened the door and pulled her small collection of prizes from the bags on the seat. “But, I mean, c’mon…” She gave Nora her best, wide-eyed innocent smile as she showed her the light-up Santa hats and battery-powered Christmas light necklaces she’d gotten for them, as well as a single light-up antler à la The Grinch and a garish red-and-green LED collar that she’d found for Fort. “Tell me these aren’t perfect.”
Nora, bless her heart, really tried to look like she was horrified by Quinn’s collection, but she only managed it for a few seconds before she started laughing. “Yeah. Wow. They’resomething, all right.”
Quinn draped one of the necklaces over Nora’s head and kissed her softly. “It’s awesome,” she said as she pressed the little button on the power pack to turn them on. She brushed her lips lightly against Nora’s, and when Nora’s eyes fluttered, she took advantage of her being distracted to plop a Santa hat onto her head. “And so sexy.”
“Hardly,” Nora muttered. She heaved a long-suffering sigh and shook her head, but made no effort to take the hat off. “I look ridiculous.”
Quinn gave Nora a thorough once-over, from her perfectly kissable pout to the necklace that framed her chest in a rainbow of light like a queer bat-signal she wanted nothing more than to bury her face in. She trailed her gaze lower, lingering for a few heartbeats to appreciate the way Nora’s jeans hugged her hips before finally reversing course. She shook her head as her eyes landed on Nora’s, and smiled as she murmured, “You really don’t.”
“Woof!”
“See? Fort agrees.” Quinn pecked Nora’s lips. “Don’t worry. I’ll make it worth your suffering later.”
“You better,” Nora grumbled.
Quinn grinned and quickly donned her own gear before pulling on the backpack she’d packed with clothes for the morning when she’d stopped by her rental before coming over to the market.
“What do you think, bud?” she asked as she squatted in front of Fort so he could check out his new gear. Once he’d given both a good sniff, she started helping him into it all. The collar was easy enough to size up and layer atop the one he already wore, and she laughed when he enthusiastically shoved his head through the elastic band that held his antler in place. She powered up his lights and booped his nose as she told him, “You look marvelous, dude.”
“Smil!”
Quinn looked up at Nora, and her breath caught at the tenderness in Nora’s gaze as she delivered the requested smile. She leaned closer to Fort to make sure they’d be in the frame together, and Fortwoofedhappily as he head-butted her with his best doggy grin.
“Bedårende,”Nora declared as her camera’s flash fired.
Half-blinded from the flash and ears ringing from the doggy blow to the head she’d just taken, Quinn patted Fort’s side. “Hear that, buddy? We’re adorable.” The music down at the water vamped, and she sucked in a sharp breath as she jumped to her feet. “That’s our cue to get moving.” She held a hand out to Nora. “Shall we?”
Nora nodded as she took Quinn’s hand. “Lead the way.”
Despite Nora’s insistence that she wasn’t a fan of exuberant holiday festivities, her smile never faded as they wound their way through the emptying market stalls before jockeying over to the sailing center.
“But the back of the line is that way,” Nora said, pointing in the general direction of her house and the colorful line of boats that were idling in the middle of the channel, waiting for the parade to kick off.
“Paul said he’d meet us down here.” Quinn lifted Nora’s hand to point at a bearded, fifty-something man in boardshorts and a hideous reindeer sweater who was waving at them. “And there he is.” She chuckled when they got closer and she could make out the surfing Santas that dotted his shorts. She squeezed Nora’s hand as she leaned in to murmur, “Think I could pull off those shorts?”
“Unfortunately, yes,” Nora muttered. “But I think I’d have more fun pulling them off you.”
“You do realize that’s only going to make me go buy a pair, like, tomorrow, right?”
“Baby steps, Haavik,” Nora chuckled. “You’ve got me and Fort kitted out in these ridiculous—”
“Nice hats!” Paul interrupted with a booming laugh. “And the single antler?” He pinched his fingers and touched them to his lips in a classicchef’s kissmotion. “Perfect.”
Fort barked and gave a happy little hop.
Quinn laughed and pressed a quick kiss to Nora’s cheek. “See?”
“Glad you were able to make it in time, Q.” Paul extended a hand with a wide smile. “I was so happy to hear from you earlier.” After shaking Quinn’s hand, he turned to Nora. “And you must be Nora. It’s nice to meet you.”
Nora shook his hand. “You, as well.”
“Woof!”
“And that’s Fort,” Quinn said, waving at Fort.
“Of course he is.” Paul knelt to give Fort’s ears a thorough scratching. “I’m impressed he’s keeping the antler on.”
