“You know how much I hate being the center of attention,” I tell him.
“More than you hate me being crowned someone else’s king?”
I pause to consider. “Hm… no. Not more than that.”
His hold on me tightens and he bends to kiss the shell of my ear. “It’ll be easier going up there with me at your side.”
That’s probably true, but I still don’t think there’s any chance I’ll win. Unless… “When you say we’ll win it straight next time, are you implying we aren’t winning it straight tonight?”
“I will not confirm or deny these accusations,” he murmurs, running his perfect lips along the sensitive column of my neck. “All I’ll say is you better get ready to win.”
I sigh. “You shouldn’t fix elections, Hunter.”
“Because it’s against your precious rules?” he teases.
“It’s illegal,” I inform him dramatically.
“You know what’s illegal? You being so damn sexy, but that doesn’t stop you.”
I grin, my face heating with horrified delight. “You say the craziest things.”
“I should’ve fucked you in the limo. Now I have to wait a good two hours. I didn’t think it through.”
I can’t stop grinning as I pull away from him so we can walk over to the snack and drink tables. “You have a problem, Hunter Maxwell.”
“My only problem is that you’re wearing clothes,” he says, taking my hand.
We grab snacks and drinks, then walk under an arch of pearlescent white balloons into a forest of white paper trees.
There’s a park bench set up in the “enchanted forest,” so Hunter and I have a seat there to eat our snacks. I got a deli meat pinwheel, a snowflake cookie, and a blue cake pop.
There are tables set up around the dance floor just like there were at homecoming, so we could eat at one of those, but since I’m here with Hunter tonight, I know if we sit at a table, people will join us.
I’m happy with it just being the two of us for now.
As I polish off the delicious cake pop, I shake my head and tell Hunter, “You know, I don’t like her, but Valerie could have a very promising career as an event planner.”
Lightly amused, he says, “That must be some cake pop.”
I nod eagerly. “We should have these at our wedding.”
His smile widens. “Thinking about marrying me, huh?”
I spread my fingers about a half inch to indicate just a little bit. “Just for the crown, of course.”
“Of course.”
“I’m dedicated to this collection you’ve started for me. After I collect all the high school dance crowns, the next step up is the real deal, and I hear your family has diadems.”
Hunter grins as he stands up, then he takes my hand and hauls me off the bench. “Come here, you.”
I smile, careful to keep the stick from my cake pop away from his nice tuxedo as I give him a hug.
“I hate to break this to you, but you don’t get to keep the crown after the wedding,” he tells me.
I look up at him, feigning dismay. “I have to give it back?”
He nods grimly. “Sorry.”
“Well, forget it, then. The wedding’s off.”
Hunter takes my hand and leads me out onto the dance floor. “I’ll just have to offer you additional incentive to marry me,” he says.
I slide my arms around his neck and gaze up at him lovingly as his hands settle on my waist. “I’m glad the chaperones at these things are so bad at their job,” I tell him.
“Are we dancing too close?” Eyes flashing with mischief, he pulls me even closer.
I roll my eyes indulgently. “Way to flout the rules, Mr. Maxwell.”
“Any rule that dictates our bodies shouldn’t be close together is a rule that needs to be broken,” he replies.
I can’t really argue with that.
___
As long as homecoming felt, this dance seems to fly right by.
Hunter was right. When the snow king and queen are announced, our names are called. He takes my hand and hauls me up on stage with him, and while I’m still not comfortable with so many eyes on me, it doesn’t feel as frightening as the night of homecoming.
He was right about the other thing, too.
Valerie must have been holding out hope that she would win, because when my name is called instead of hers, she stands at the front of the crowd in her tight silver dress and seethes with rage.
I don’t pay much attention to her, though. I’m not worried she’ll pull anything tonight. Whether she likes it or not, she knows I have Hunter’s protection now. She knows he’ll retaliate if she does anything to me.
Once Hunter and I have our crowns and sashes, we get to take another photo with them on while the principal finishes up his announcements.
Then it’s time for the king and queen to dance. Hunter takes my hand and hauls me out on the dance floor.
The music that begins to play isn’t like the rest of tonight’s playlist. It’s Christmassy and classical, the kind of music you imagine people waltzing to at a real royal ball. The kind of music we did dance to at the ball in New York.
The music brings me back to that night—the better parts of it, anyway. Being held in Hunter’s arms and whisked across the dance floor. Hunter must be feeling it, too, because he leans down and kisses me.
I’m so swept up in the romance of the moment, dancing with my perfect man, it would be really easy not to notice anything else.
But even though I’m not worried about Valerie like I was at homecoming, that whole awful experience trained me to keep an eye on her. Even though I’m thoroughly enjoying this moment with Hunter, I’m very aware of where she’s standing.
She’s right up front watching us. Her silver dress is shiny so it catches the light. She’s hard to miss if you’re as aware of her as I am.
So I don’t miss it when she reaches beside her and grabs Wally by his tie. I don’t miss it when she yanks him close and crushes her lips against his.
My heart falls. Not only because she’s kissing him, but because of his response. He doesn’t pull away, stunned. He doesn’t break the kiss and demand to know what the hell she’s doing.
He grabs her around her tiny waist and pulls her flush against him, deepening the kiss with the kind of easy familiarity that makes me think this isn’t the first time they’ve kissed.
“Oh, God.”
Hunter’s grip on me tightens protectively, even though he doesn’t know what has upset me. He turns to look in that direction, and his face freezes with shock.
Next to Wally, white as a sheet and looking as if she can’t breathe, is Sara.
We stop dancing, but the train wreck isn’t over. Before I can break away from Hunter and run over to Sara, Anderson inexplicably gets involved, shoving Wally away from Valerie and asking what the hell he’s doing.
Valerie takes a step back, her gaze jumping to Anderson. He looks at her as if he’s wounded. I can’t tell what she says to him, she says it too quietly, all I know is he raises his gaze back to Wally and says something else to him. Wally doesn’t back down and takes a step toward him, and then Anderson lunges at Wally and takes a swing at him.