Romancing His Rival by Jennifer Shirk

Author:Jennifer Shirk
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Clean & Wholesome Romance; Contemporary Short Stories; American Humorous Fiction; Two-Hour Romance Short Reads; Small Town & Rural; Romantic Themes Workplace; Romantic Comedy; Love Stories; Contemporary Romance Fiction; Women's Fiction
Publisher: Entangled Publishing, LLC
Published: 2019-01-16T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eight

Lucas Albright was not ready for gingerbread decorating.

Elena would have to give him major points for trying, though. Although…maybe he was putting a little too much effort into it. He held the royal icing bag with both hands as if it were a football he’d just caught in the end zone, and so she had to stifle a laugh as it then ripped open from the pressure and the sticky white frosting began oozing down his knuckles.

“You can’t squeeze so hard,” she told him, coming over and patting his back.

He glanced up with a gleam in his eyes. “Good advice for all things in life.”

“Not cow milking,” she quipped.

He chuckled. “Leave it to you to ruin a perfectly good flirtatious line.”

“Is that what you were doing, flirting?” she said, grabbing a wet towel so he could wipe his hands. “I must be immune to your playboy ways.”

Lucas wiped his hands, looking at her thoughtfully. “You definitely are, which bodes extremely well for Scott, but leaves a shallow man like myself with lots of time—and frosting— on his hands. Happen to know any women around here who would be susceptible to the likes of my flirtatious charms?”

Elena blinked. She didn’t know why, but hearing that Lucas was interested in finding a woman while he was here in Cape Harmony surprised her—and grinded her nerves a bit. Not that she cared who he saw in his personal life. It was no concern of hers. Why would she care? He was really Scott’s friend, not hers. But she also knew Lucas was not interested in marrying again, so if he was looking for a woman, it was definitely with another purpose in mind.

“Sorry, I don’t know any of your kind,” she answered with a thin smile, “all the women I know have more than three brain cells.” Then she glanced down as a little girl proudly held up her finished house. “Oh, Sara, you did a great job. Set it over there on the table to dry and I’ll put your name on it.”

“Thanks, Miss Ewena,” she said with a sweet lisp.

After the little girl made her way to the table, Elena cast a side glance to Lucas. “By the way, that five year old totally smoked you in gingerbread house decorating.”

Lucas made a face. “Because of those tiny nimble hands of hers. I can’t compete with that.”

“Did you manage to charge your creative Christmas spirit at least?”

“Actually, I did. Thanks to your little gingerbread event, I now feel very…festive.”

She giggled. “And sticky, I’m sure.”

He looked down at his hands and wiggled his fingers in the air. “Very.”

“There’s a sink in the corner over there.”

“Great. Let me wash up and then we can grab something to eat.”

She smiled. “Sure.”

As Lucas went to the sink, Elena glanced around the room and saw that most of the other guests were finished or just finishing up. About to turn off the crockpot of apple cider, she felt a tap on her shoulder.

“Surprise!” said Arden and Kinsley when she turned around.

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