Page 124 of Mistletoe Mischief

“Barely,” Delilah said, pointing. “I’m watching between a couple trees.”

“Go, go, go!” Holly cheered, her voice fading as she squinted. “Wait, is that Anthony in an inflatable reindeer costume?”

“That had to be Pike’s idea,” Delilah said.

“I think it’s genius,” Ryler said, her smile widening as Nick slipped and slid, his puffy body shaking.

Nick came around the corner and hopped up onto the lawn toward Anthony. Once Nick was within arm’s reach, Anthony grabbed the bag from his hand and took off running toward the pile of snow just before the finish line, the inflatable suit several inches too short on him. Another reindeer was bouncing up and down like a frog behind him, and when they hit the snow-covered lawn of the park, they were neck and floppy neck. Anthony rolled each ball of his snowman into position and started removing items from bags. The inflatable suit looked awkward, and by the sound of his curses, it was making the situation more difficult.

“Isn’t that the jerk from the ski slope?” Ryler asked, pointing at Brodie when he skidded across the snow-covered ground.

“Yes, it is,” Delilah said.

Brodie started picking up the snowballs to set them one on top of the other, but they kept rolling off. Finally, he looked over at Anthony and seemed to realize he was packing snow around each section to keep them in place, because he followed his lead. Brodie started gaining ground on Anthony, and Ryler heard Delilah whisper, “Come on, Anthony,” right before he stood up with his hands in the air and yelled, “Finished!”

The last man hadn’t even made it to the snowman section yet when he heard Anthony, and he waddled off in a huff.

Brodie started bitching and hollering about how Anthony must have practiced the course and had an unfair advantage since he created it. Anthony said something about Brodie being a sore loser, and Brodie stood up and stomped away, yelling over his shoulder, “I’ll see you on the ice.”

“I know! I set up the match!” Anthony called after him.

Ryler stood on her tiptoes, searching the distance for Pike.

“Anthony!” Delilah called, and the rest of the people around her, even Sam, who wasn’t exactly an enthusiastic guy, started cheering and hollering. Anthony spun their way in the blow-up costume and spotted them, waving back with a grin.

“I wonder how he pulled the short straw,” Sam asked.

Anthony jogged over to them, the material of the reindeer suit creating a high-pitched noise. Delilah giggled when he wrapped his arm around her, burying her in the material, and Ryler’s chest squeezed. She wanted her guy, but he was slower than molasses—

Whoa, back up, “your guy”?

Anthony released Delilah and fiddled around with something inside the suit until the low hum of the fan stopped. The material deflated around him, creating a brown, wrinkled mess, and he spun around, giving her his back. “Could you get me out of this thing before Sam and Declan start slinging zingers my way?”

“Wouldn’t dream of it, buddy,” Declan said, coughing to cover a laugh.

Delilah pulled down the zipper and held it open while he stepped out. He was wearing a blue thermal shirt and jeans, his hair damp and plastered in every direction. He looked like an adorable mess, and she reached up, waving him down so she could fix his dark hair.

Anthony obliged her, their noses nearly touching as she ran her fingers through his hair and tried to create some semblance of style.

“I’m going to be playing hockey in an hour, love. No sense in wasting your time when I’m going to just mess it up again.”

Delilah gave up with a sigh. “Fine, but the mussed hair is supposed to be for my eyes only when you first wake up.”

“This is different hair,” he said, pointing at his crown. “This is ‘I just got done running in an inflatable reindeer suit’ hair versus ‘waking up next to my beautiful woman’ hair.”

“My God, are they always like this?” Sam asked.

“Worse,” Holly joked.

“Gross,” he said, walking away from them without another word.

“See, if that had been you,” Holly said, addressing Declan, “I would have chased you down for being rude, but that is only because I love you and care about what other people think about you.”

“So, Sam can be an ass and get away with it, but I can’t because you love me?” Declan asked.

“Exactly.”

Declan shrugged. “Makes sense.”