“I don’t know how the hell you wear those chaps. They’re uncomfortable as hell.”
I huffed out a laugh, imagining him fitting his tree trunk thighs into a pair of chaps. And that’s when his eyes turned on me, and heat scorched me from head to toe as those brilliant blues studied every inch of me.
“Oh!” Blake jumped up, grabbing my drink from my hand. “You should totally dance to this song.”
“What?” I asked, dragging my feet as she tugged not only me, but her handsome brother toward the center of the bar.
“Yeah, this is a good song, and I need my brother to loosen up a bit. Do me a favor and dance with him.”
“But—”
“I hardly think I need my sister to set me up for a dance,” he muttered.
“See? He doesn’t want to dance.”
“Of course he does,” she chuckled, shoving us out there for everyone to see.
When we just stood there, she grabbed her brother’s hand and placed it on my hip, then rushed around him and grabbedhis other hand, holding it up—only to place my hand in his. God, this was mortifying.
“There! See? It’s not that hard.”
Everyone in the bar was staring at us. Like, hardcore eyes on us, waiting to see what would happen.
I couldn’t even hear the music over the sound of my absolute mortification. For a whole ten seconds, we just stood there with our bodies uncomfortably locked in the position Blake set us in.
“Sorry about that,” he muttered. “Blake is pushy.”
“I can see that.” Pursing my lips, I glanced around the bar, wondering if we were going to just stand here all night like this. “You know, we really don’t have to?—”
He pulled me closer, sliding his hand up the center of my back until I was flush against him.
“Oh, okay. So we are doing this,” I said as he gently swayed from side to side.
“So, bookshop lady?—”
“Cassidy,” I clarified. “And you are?”
“Sam.”
“Right, Blake’s older brother.”
I wasn’t sure why I had asked his name. Since the moment I laid eyes on him, I had repeated his name in my head only every minute of the day that I wasn’t reading. He had even starred in some of my fantasies as I laid in bed at night.
Which was not the thing to think about right now.
“Did you finish your lights?”
“Oh, yeah. Got them all up and finished decorating yesterday.”
“It’s a little early.”
“That’s what everyone tells me, but I don’t care. I love Christmas. It’s the most magical time of the year.”
“It’s not even Thanksgiving.”
“Right, but you don’t get the joy of Christmas morning on Thanksgiving.”
He rolled his eyes at that. “You get football and food on Thanksgiving.”
