Brady McCord: 0.
She shook her head to dislodge the ridiculousness of keeping score, but her smile never faded. As much as she wished his touch had been intentional, she knew better. However, that didn’t mean his reaction had been accidental. Oh, no. She knew without a doubt that Brady McCord wanted her. He simply refused to give in to his baser urges. But she was working on him.
It was taking longer than she’d hoped. If she didn’t know better, she would think Brady was onto her plan to seduce him before Christmas. She’d spent every available minute this past week attempting to stage an accidental run-in with the man. She’d failed miserably.
Then suddenly, there he was, standing in the store looking like sin on a stick. She would’ve given up days ago if she knew she simply needed to stop trying.
She probably should’ve been disappointed that he’d come here looking for Donovan and not her. She wasn’t. It had gotten him here, hadn’t it?
And maybe she should’ve been frustrated that Donovan had shown up right when she could’ve taken her seduction plan to the next level. She might’ve been if she hadn’t expected it. Her brother had perfectly bad timing. Always. It was like he knew the exact moment to appear in order to protect Reilly’s virtue from the one man Reilly’d had her heart set on for … well, for a really freaking long time.
Not that she intended to let Donovan know of her major crush on Brady. Reilly was convinced Donovan still believed she was a virgin. Her parents certainly thought that so why wouldn’t he? Hell, if Donovan only knew that she’d lost her virginity back in high school, there was a good chance he might need medication to moderate his blood pressure.
“Hey, Rye! You think you could hurry your … um …buttup? I’m headin’ out.”
There was only one reason her brother would censor his words. There was a customer in the store.
With her body back under control, Reilly hurried to the front of the store to see Donovan and Brady standing by the front door. Brady was halfway out of the building, but his eyes still lingered on her as she approached.
She grinned. “You realize you ring things up the same way you used to, right?”
Donovan rolled his eyes. “Whatever, twerp.”
“Hey, hold up a minute,” she told her brother as she went behind the register to ring up the guy who plopped down a box of Christmas lights.
“These are popular,” she told him. She’d ordered them a week ago as one of those “just in case” items for the shelf, but she figured they would likely end up on the clearance shelf come January. She was shocked at how many people had come in to get one to avoid heading to the big box store.
“Eight sixty-five,” she told him.
He handed her a ten-dollar bill. She got his change and passed it and the receipt to him.
“Merry, happy Chrismukkah,” she told him.
His eyebrow quirked in question.
“It’s a combo of Christmas and Hanukkah.” She waved him off. “Happy holidays.”
“Yeah, you, too,” he said on his way out the door.
Once he was outside, she looked at Donovan. “You comin’ back later or what?”
Donovan glanced at Brady before looking back at her. “I’m not sure. You need me to?”
She shrugged. “Probably not. That’s like the third person who’s been in here all day. I’ll keep it open as long as we’ve got people comin’ in, though. Or until those Christmas lights are gone.”
It was Christmas Eve eve, or more accurately, two days before the big day, and it was the last night of Coyote Ridge’s Holiday Festival. Once the vendors started setting up in the park, she didn’t expect too many people to stop in. They’d gotten some residual traffic during the week since the tree was lit in Walker Park and residents were traipsing through the majestic light show every night, but it had died off last night. It was bound to happen because the food trucks that had become a hot commodity could handle most of the accommodations for those venturing into town to participate in the festivities.
On a positive note, Reilly could close down early and join the fun.
“Will we see you at the park tonight?” Donovan asked as he moved closer to the door.
“If you’re lucky.”
She ensured she caught Brady’s gaze one last time before he disappeared for good.
The frown on his face amped up her smile even more.
One day, he was going to give in to his attraction to her. Brady pretended it didn’t exist, but she knew better. Because of that, Reilly got great enjoyment out of riling him up whenever he was around.
