One Hundred Lights: A Holiday Romance Novella by Chrissy Hopewell

Author:Chrissy Hopewell [Hopewell, Chrissy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Fox Hollow Publishing LLC
Published: 2024-11-02T00:00:00+00:00

8

ADRIAN

The lights are on and the remaining kids are waiting out front for their rides. It’s just the vendors packing up their equipment and late volunteers cleaning up the mess left behind by the students.

I can’t keep my eyes off Britt taking down a strand of lights five feet from me. She’s insisting that she and I dismantle and pack all the lights ourselves, because heaven forbid another volunteer puts our hard-won decor away incorrectly. Slipping off her heels, she climbs a short ladder and reaches above a doorframe to unhook the last light strand. I should stop her and do it myself, but instead, I steady the ladder, watching her stretch her body up high, the top hem of her dress moving down a few inches and revealing more of her back.

I’m frozen until she turns to me and smiles.

“Can you let me climb the ladder next time?” I throw my hands up when she’s back on the gym floor.

“It’s hardly a ladder. More like a step stool.” But she grins and rolls the strand into a neat pile in one of the new plastic bins that is just about full. “And we’re all done, I think.”

When I look at her, I feel all the things I’ve been fighting against my entire life. Emotions so intense they overwhelm me. I’d do anything to pull her behind that curtain again.

For once, I don’t feel bad about wanting to give in to those emotions. I don’t feel like I’m making the mistakes my parents did, because this feels right and good. Not destructive nor forbidden. I can’t define what I feel. Just lust? Really intense lust? No. It’s more than that. Affection? Friendship, along with the lust?

I’d wanted to dance with her every time a slow song came on, but she was always running around making sure everything was going smoothly.

Maybe she was avoiding me and whatever is happening between us.

“Want to help me find this mysterious storage room?” She bends down and picks up a box of lights.

“Yes, I do, but give me that before you lose your whole dress carrying it across the gym.”

Britt laughs and I close the gap between us and slide my arms along the bottom of the bin, our hands meeting at the center of the container. We stop, our fingers touching, both of us smiling. I see a flush creeping up her neck and feel a stirring in my dick as I imagine the bin tugging her dress further down.

Across the gym by the entrance, a loud crash draws my attention. Two parents and the caterer are cleaning a mess of metal trays and lids.

And Chelsea stands in the middle of the doorway, watching us with arms crossed.

Oh no. I would wave, but my hands are full, so instead I press my lips together in an attempt at a smile.

We aren’t doing anything wrong, but it’s clear from my daughter’s stiff back and narrowed eyes that she’s not impressed. Fuck. She spins and disappears before I can react.

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