Page 2 of Mistletoe Mischief

Pike noticed she hadn’t stopped moving since he walked in, fidgeting with her hands and hair, and he smiled at the tell. It was cute that he made her nervous, but he wanted to put her at ease. “Great, then, if you’re fully recovered, maybe we could have coffee sometime?”

“Um—”

“I’m going to take off,” Anthony said abruptly, coming around the counter. It didn’t surprise Pike that the bigger man was in a hurry, since it took a good twenty minutes to reach the ski resort lodge, but his brusque exit probably had something to do with Pike not acknowledging him. He hadn’t meant to be an ass, but was so surprised and delighted to see Delilah, he had tunnel vision.

“Alright, man.” Pike almost stopped him to talk, but he wanted to be alone with Delilah. He patted Anthony on the back as he walked by. They could talk about the games later.

Pike returned his attention to Delilah, pulling his cell phone from his back pocket. He opened his mouth to ask Delilah if he could get her number, but—

“By the way,” Anthony said from behind him, “thanks for bringing my blanket back, Delilah.”

His blanket? What the fuck?

Delilah’s mouth dropped open, her big blue eyes staring over his shoulder. Pike spun around to ask Anthony what he was talking about, but he was already out the door. Finally, he turned to face Delilah again and noticed her flushed face. Suspicion scratched at the back of his mind. Had something happened over the weekend after she left the bar?

And if so, why hadn’t Anthony said anything?

“Why did you have his blanket?” Pike asked, keeping his voice even.

Delilah’s mouth snapped closed, and he realized that he sounded like a jealous boyfriend.

Idiot.

“Sorry,” he said with a laugh. “You don’t have to answer that. You don’t owe me any explanation.”

“No, you’re fine,” she said, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. “When I got a little sick the other night, I threw up on myself. It was really embarrassing. Anthony gave Holly the blanket to help me clean up, and I washed it at home. That’s why I had it.”

Pike wanted to crawl into a hole. If Anthony was interested in Delilah, he would have told him. His straight shooter best friend was the last person on Earth to lie and sneak around behind Pike’s back.

What the hell is wrong with you?

Pike hated to make excuses for bad behavior, but as a guy who’d lost most of his girlfriends to other more successful, attractive men, he might have a complex. But to start off acting like a jealous asshat before they’d even had a date? Bad form.

“Man, that sucks. I haven’t been that sick in years, but it took me a long time to figure out my limits.” Pike cleared his throat, shooting her a sheepish grin. “So, you and Anthony aren’t secretly hooking up then?”

Delilah snorted. “No, definitely not.”

“Good, then, could I snag your phone number before I miss my chance again?”

“When did you miss your chance before?” she asked, a slight edge to her voice he couldn’t decipher. He’d heard it before when they danced on Saturday night, as if his interest irritated her.

“On Saturday, before you disappeared.”

“Right,” she said, her face relaxing into a smile. “Yeah, sure, you can have my number.”

Pike held out his phone for her to take, his skin humming with excitement as she typed in her information. This was his moment, a story they could tell their grandkids about. Your granddad thought I was too young, and he almost waited too long, but he came in a clutch, and I fell for him all over again.

At least, he hoped some variation of that took place because Pike was pinning a lot of his future romantic hopes on Delilah.

His notification sound went off, and she handed it back to him with wide eyes. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to look, but you have an Instagram notification.”

Pike snatched the phone back, his hands shaking as he opened the app. Alia would be announcing Excursion’s next destination any minute, and he couldn’t wait to see it. Even though he knew the chances were slim, it was still exciting to imagine her picking Mistletoe and maybe even booking a snowmobiling outing with them. The publicity alone would be enough to shoot their company to the moon, so long as she had a good time. If she did come, he would make sure it was absolutely perfect.

I need to stop dreaming so big.

Too often he hoped for the incredible and ended up crushed when it didn’t work out.

When he saw the @ExcursionsPC handle in his notifications, he started jumping up and down. “Oh fuck! Holy shit!”