Lana didn’t know the person who ended up winning the tournament, but she bet Rick could have beaten them. Then, because a gingerbread town was meant to be eaten, she helped Diego put the different buildings on paper plates to send them home with anyone interested, wrapped carefully in plastic wrap.
A few appreciative smiles were sent her way and even a murmured thank you or two.
“See? We’re not so bad,” Rick told her as the last of the people left.
“Just half-bad?” Lana said as she helped clean up. She and Diego had already closed the kitchen and wiped down the bar, freeing Rick to get the floors swept and mopped.
She’d never noticed Diego leaving, but she did notice that once Rick’s nephew was gone, Rick’s attention had turned a lot more to her than to the floor he was mopping.
Never had Lana wanted to grab someone by the collar and push them onto a pool table this badly. But it had been a long day, and she knew Rick had to be exhausted.
“I should probably take off,” she told him.
Rick nodded, dipping his head to press a soft kiss to her cheek. “You okay to drive in this?”
“A little snow never hurt me,” Lana said. “See you tomorrow?”
“Definitely.”
So she took her raging sex drive and tucked it into her back pocket, heading for the door, her hotel room, and a very cold shower.
“Lana, wait.”
She turned around. Even though he was leaning back like he was relaxed, Rick’s hands were gripping the edges of the pool table, his gaze locked on her as the muscles of his arms flexed beneath his waffle shirt.
“You want to stay awhile?” His voice was quiet, huskier than normal. “Play a game?”
“Absolutely,” Lana told him. She didn’t try to hide the way her eyes were drinking him in. “But no games.”
He tilted his head. “You think I’ve been playing with you?”
“I hope not, because this is feeling dangerously real on my side of things.”
Abruptly, he pushed off from the table, straightening and striding right for her, hazel eyes flashing with desire. Instinct had her taking a step back, not from fear but to give them both more room for whatever was coming. But Rick must not have wanted room. Another step had her chest-to-chest with him. He wrapped his hands around her waist, pulling her tight to his body.
“I figured you knew by now,” Rick said. “Whatever this is…definitely isn’t a game to me.”
“Most holiday flings end with the holidays.” And then she would leave town and he would stay. Who knew when she’d be able to return? Lana ran her fingers down the side of his face, his stubble tickling her palm.
“Then maybe we’re defining this wrong,” he said in a low rumbling voice.
“Rick, I want you.” Those words were the easiest thing to admit and the absolute hardest to feel. Wanting him was killing her.
Hazel eyes grew greener in the low light of the pool hall. “The feeling is definitely mutual.”
“Yeah?” Her words came out soft, her breath a cloud of mist in the space between them. A strong hand rested carefully on her hip.
A shudder rolled through him, his hands sliding down to squeeze her backside, pulling her tight to his body.
This time, his breath tickled along Lana’s throat, warm in her ear.
“Trust me, sweetheart, I want you so much, it’s making my head spin.”
Unable to wait anymore, she pulled his face down to hers.
The moment his lips were against hers, it was like inhaling oxygen for the first time. But like oxygen rushing toward too much heat, it burst into flame. Her very skin burned beneath his hands.
This was what she’d never felt before, this instant all-consuming desire. All she could do was swallow the flames, letting them burn her from the inside out.
“Damn.” Rick’s voice was raw, almost savage. His whole body trembled with restraint, muscles tight and eyes hot with desire as his hands threaded into her hair, biceps flexing beneath that scratchy work shirt.
“I don’t like your shirt,” she said against his lips. “It can’t be comfortable.”
“It’s not,” Rick agreed, eyes drifting down.
“We could take it off.”
Groaning audibly, he closed his eyes. “Lana, are you sure—?”
Her answer was to all but climb up into his arms, crushing her mouth to his as he picked her up. The wood paneling on the wall thumped into her back, but Lana was too busy pulling at his shirt to care. Without warning, the door slammed open, smacking Rick so hard that he cursed and dropped her.
Mid sexiest make-out of her life, Rick dropped her.
Lana stared up at him from the floor. “Are you okay?” she asked as if he hadn’t tossed her like a bag of grain.
The look of horror on Rick’s face was priceless. Lana startled to giggle as the door tried to open again, which was not going to help this any. With a snarl of frustration, Rick shoved the door back closed, earning a curse on the other side.
“Hold on,” he said with a growl as she tried to get her shirt back in place.
This time, the door hit him so hard, Rick must have seen stars, opening enough that a person squeezed through. A really big person.
“Something’s wrong with your door,” Easton told him as Rick helped Lana off the ground. He raised an eyebrow at them. “Did I interrupt?”
“It’s all right, Easton, we don’t mind.” Giggling at the consternation on Rick’s face, she hugged Easton. Apparently, they were on hugging terms now. “We missed you at the tournament tonight.”
“I had a private climbing lesson I couldn’t get out of.”
Rick rubbed his head with a rueful look. “Your timing could use some work,” he told Easton, who raised an eyebrow.
“I saw the light on and figured you might need some help cleaning up.”
“Pretty sure I was doing fine on my own.”
Lana winked at Rick to assure him he was definitely doing fine all on his own.
“I don’t suppose you caught that moose yet?” Easton asked.
Lana sighed playfully. “I think I might need to bring in more serious backup. I’d hate to have the town lose another display.”
“Too late. It already took out that big spotlight above the resort, the one that puts a sleigh on the mountainside. Hannah asked me to check why the sleigh wasn’t lighting up last night. Something smashed the light to pieces and dragged it around for a while. I tracked it as far as I could, but the moose is smart. It takes the roads, so I always lose the tracks.”