Christmas in Echo Creek: A Sweet Holiday Romance by Kacey Linden

Author:Kacey Linden [Linden, Kacey]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Page Nine Press
Published: 2017-11-17T16:00:00+00:00

The fifth and sixth rounds went by quickly. Willow hardly even realized what was happening until the defeat of their sixth-round opponents was greeted by a deafening round of applause. She looked around and realized there were only two tables left. They had reached the championship game.

Her surprise must have been obvious because Cale laughed and pulled her up from the table before enveloping her in a spontaneous celebratory hug.

“You were amazing,” he said in her ear, but she barely heard him. She was too busy adjusting to the feelings he’d created simply by wrapping his arms around her.

He probably meant the embrace to be warm and friendly, but instead it provoked a blazing onslaught of sensation from every nerve in her body. She felt everything with heightened senses—from the rasp of light stubble where his jaw brushed against her forehead to the firm strength of his shoulder beneath her cheek. And dear heaven, he smelled so amazing she almost forgot to breathe. The moment became simultaneously miraculous and terrifying when she realized that not only was Cale hugging her, she didn’t want it to end.

She didn’t have a chance to respond before he pulled back, still smiling. “We should find out who our final opponents are. Are you hungry? Need any more cookies?”

Willow shook her head, not quite ready for words yet.

He’d hugged her.

And she hadn’t wanted him to stop.

While she was still trying to wrap her mind around the implications of that, the crowd parted to reveal the winning team from the other table.

Uncle Pete. And… “Mrs. Dillon?” Willow said, stunned. “I didn’t even know you were playing!”

The older woman reached out and wrapped Willow in her third hug of the night.

“Pete talked me into it,” she confided, her eyes shining and her cheeks bright with color. “And I’m so glad he did. I can’t remember when I last had this much fun.”

“But…” Willow didn’t want to have to compete against someone she knew and liked. Even if she won, it would feel like losing.

The squeal of a microphone cut through her discomfort.

“Hello, Echo Creek!” A middle-aged man in a blazer, jeans and cowboy boots stood on the stage. “We’re just about to start our championship round, so load up on cookies and fudge while we move the table up on stage!”

Horrified, Willow watched while a table was placed right in front of the enormous tree.

“That’s Dave Gentry, the mayor,” Mrs. Dillon whispered in her ear.

“We have a special surprise,” the mayor went on, “for the winners of tonight’s tournament. Myself and the city council have agreed that as this year’s prize, the members of the winning team will receive the honor of being named Mayors for a Day!”

The crowd erupted in cheers.

“Now we definitely need to win,” Cale said, grinning down at Willow. “I could institute thousand-dollar fines for the no-parking zones on Main Street.”

“And I could recommend that a certain know-it-all deputy spend twenty-four hours in jail,” Willow retorted, striving to sound normal.

“Now that you all

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