Mistletoe Mischief (Falling in Mistletoe #2)

Chapter Thirty-nine

R yler walked up to Delilah with a white coffee cup in her hand and stopped alongside her. “Hmmm, this better not be boring, or I’m going to chuck a snowball at Pike’s head.”

Delilah laughed. “I guess if it is, they won’t have another one next year.”

“Oof, don’t put that out into the universe. I actually want them to do well.”

Delilah shot Ryler a curious glance. “I do, too, but I’m surprised you feel that way. I thought you and Pike hated each other.”

“‘Hate’ is such a strong word,” Ryler said, taking a sip of her coffee. “I prefer to think of it as mild dislike with a friendly dose of animosity.”

Delilah shook her head. “Whatever you say.”

“Everyone, get ready to cheer on your favorite holiday trio. The first team to complete the final task wins! On your mark. Get set.” A loud bang sounded in the distance, and Ryler kept her eyes peeled on the crest of the hill, watching for a flurry of motion.

“If he comes in last, I’m never letting him live it down,” Ryler said.

“Look!” Delilah pointed to a redhead on a blue sled, zipping down the hill. She bumped Ryler with her hip. “I guess you can’t torment him now, huh?”

“Don’t think that doesn’t piss me off,” Ryler said with no real heat. What she really wanted to do was scream at the top of her lungs and cheer Pike’s name, but they’d already sent the gossip mills spinning with their exit at the auction. No way was she causing any more drama.

Holly came back with Declan and Sam in tow, asking, “How are they doing? ”

“Pike just handed off the bag of goods to Nick, who has to put on skis.”

“Who came up with this idiocy?” Sam asked.

Ryler glared at the pretty boy and bent over, forming a ball of icy snow in her hands. The snowball caught him on the side of the head, and he frowned at Ryler. “Did you just nail me with a snowball, girl I barely know?”

“Why would I hit a stranger with a snowball? That would be really odd.”

“Go Nick!” Delilah yelled.

Holly’s employee, Erica, returned with a corndog in one hand and a churro in the other, all smiles until Sam tried to take a bite.

“Hey now, get your own! You ain’t pretty enough to share my food with.”

Ryler was ready to scream at all of them to shut up as she watched Nick ski down the road, stopping every ten feet or so and picking something up. Someone in an orange parka was gaining on him.

“You can see them?” Erica asked.

“Barely,” Delilah said, pointing. “I’m watching between a couple trees.”

“Go, go, go!” Holly cheered, her voice fading as she squinted. “Wait, is that Anthony in an inflatable reindeer costume?”

“That had to be Pike’s idea,” Delilah said .

“I think it’s genius,” Ryler said, her smile widening as Nick slipped and slid, his puffy body shaking.

Nick came around the corner and hopped up onto the lawn toward Anthony. Once Nick was within arm’s reach, Anthony grabbed the bag from his hand and took off running toward the pile of snow just before the finish line, the inflatable suit several inches too short on him. Another reindeer was bouncing up and down like a frog behind him, and when they hit the snow-covered lawn of the park, they were neck and floppy neck. Anthony rolled each ball of his snowman into position and started removing items from bags. The inflatable suit looked awkward, and by the sound of his curses, it was making the situation more difficult.

“Isn’t that the jerk from the ski slope?” Ryler asked, pointing at Brodie when he skidded across the snow-covered ground.

“Yes, it is,” Delilah said.

Brodie started picking up the snowballs to set them one on top of the other, but they kept rolling off. Finally, he looked over at Anthony and seemed to realize he was packing snow around each section to keep them in place, because he followed his lead. Brodie started gaining ground on Anthony, and Ryler heard Delilah whisper, “Come on, Anthony,” right before he stood up with his hands in the air and yelled, “Finished!”

The last man hadn’t even made it to the snowman section yet when he heard Anthony, and he waddled off in a huff.

Brodie started bitching and hollering about how Anthony must have practiced the course and had an unfair advantage since he created it. Anthony said something about Brodie being a sore loser, and Brodie stood up and stomped away, yelling over his shoulder, “I’ll see you on the ice.”

“I know! I set up the match!” Anthony called after him.

Ryler stood on her tiptoes, searching the distance for Pike.

“Anthony!” Delilah called, and the rest of the people around her, even Sam, who wasn’t exactly an enthusiastic guy, started cheering and hollering. Anthony spun their way in the blow-up costume and spotted them, waving back with a grin.

“I wonder how he pulled the short straw,” Sam asked.

Anthony jogged over to them, the material of the reindeer suit creating a high-pitched noise. Delilah giggled when he wrapped his arm around her, burying her in the material, and Ryler’s chest squeezed. She wanted her guy, but he was slower than molasses—

Whoa, back up, “your guy”?

Anthony released Delilah and fiddled around with something inside the suit until the low hum of the fan stopped. The material deflated around him, creating a brown, wrinkled mess, and he spun around, giving her his back. “Could you get me out of this thing before Sam and Declan start slinging zingers my way?”

“Wouldn’t dream of it, buddy,” Declan said, coughing to cover a laugh.

Delilah pulled down the zipper and held it open while he stepped out. He was wearing a blue thermal shirt and jeans, his hair damp and plastered in every direction. He looked like an adorable mess, and she reached up, waving him down so she could fix his dark hair.

Anthony obliged her, their noses nearly touching as she ran her fingers through his hair and tried to create some semblance of style .

“I’m going to be playing hockey in an hour, love. No sense in wasting your time when I’m going to just mess it up again.”

Delilah gave up with a sigh. “Fine, but the mussed hair is supposed to be for my eyes only when you first wake up.”

“This is different hair,” he said, pointing at his crown. “This is ‘I just got done running in an inflatable reindeer suit’ hair versus ‘waking up next to my beautiful woman’ hair.”

“My God, are they always like this?” Sam asked.

“Worse,” Holly joked.

“Gross,” he said, walking away from them without another word.

“See, if that had been you,” Holly said, addressing Declan, “I would have chased you down for being rude, but that is only because I love you and care about what other people think about you.”

“So, Sam can be an ass and get away with it, but I can’t because you love me?” Declan asked.

“Exactly.”

Declan shrugged. “Makes sense.”

“I’m going to hike my butt across the park and settle up with the redhead,” Ryler grumbled.

“Settle up?” Delilah called after her retreating back.

Ryler turned to face her, walking backward. “I may have bet against him, and now I have to pay the piper.”

“I’ll see you when I get back,” Delilah said, and Ryler waved in response.

When she reached the sidewalk along the main street, Ryler spotted Pike jogging across the street with a wide grin on his face. “What did you think? Pretty awesome, right?”

“It certainly was.” Ryler wrapped her arms around Pike’s neck. “When do you want to collect your winnings?”

“After the hockey game. You’re coming to watch, right?”

“I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”