Page 23 of Acting Merry
Her lashes flicker ever so slightly at the wordboyfriend. “I thought we were here to have fun.”
“Competitionisfun.” My gaze slides over to Megan and Brady, who are shoulder to shoulder as Brady sketches on the paper in front of them. “Are you really telling me you don’t care if they beat us?”
She watches them for a few seconds, and I wish I could eavesdrop on her thoughts. Is she still in love with him? How much does it hurt to see him with one of her closest friends?
She probably feels like she wasn’t enough for Brady.
Completely crazy. She deserves more than that guy. If he made her feel she wasn’t enough or wasn’t desirable, I know my goal here, and it’s not just winning a gingerbread house competition.
Her nostrils flare slightly, then her gaze slides back to mine. “I wanna win.”
My mouth pulls into a smile. “Good, because I was invested in this whole situation”—I gesture gently toward Brady—“before we came, but now?”
Reese arches a brow as she waits for me to continue.There’s the smallest hint of challenge in her expression. It makes me braver than I usually am—maybe braver than I should be.
“I hope you’re ready for me to turn up the heat.”
For a millisecond, I could swear Reese is about to draw back. Instead, she takes a step toward me, then slides her hands up my chest.
I almost choke on my own heartbeat as her eyes meet mine, the competitiveness burning bright.
A little smile curls her pink lips. “Consider it turned up.”
The sudden need to kiss her charges through me like a flash flood, obliterating every other thought and emotion in its path.
Icouldkiss her. I think she’d let me right now.
“Six minutes!” Tess calls out from her table.
I blink, my heart thumping like I just got caught stealing. “We’d better get our plans laid.”
Reese lets her hands drop from my chest. “Lead the way, foreman.”
My heart is still beating faster than usual as we lean over the blank sheet of paper and start planning. Brady and Megan seem to be making some sort of castle, Hannah and Tyler are working at what seems like a high-rise, and Tess and Dylan’s sketch looks like a tiered mansion.
After a little back-and-forth, I suggest we model our gingerbread house after our house.
Her house.
My old house.
Whatever.
“Will ours be too boring?” Reese asks.
“Haven’t you ever watched HGTV?”
She scoffs. “I don’t live under a rock.”
“Okay, and what happens on every single episode?”
“They find a $100,000 dollar problem they didn’t expect.”
“Exactly. I guarantee your friends have all bitten off more than they can chew, but you and I?” I chuck her under the chin. “We’re being smart, and it’ll pay off. Trust me.”
“It’d better,” she teases.
We sketch out our general plan—a quick, shoddy one because Tess’s timer goes off before we can do much else. Luckily the plans for the real thing are in my head.
