Page 13 of Our Perfect Moment

“I think we deserve more than that.” Cole crossed the floor until he stood over her.

Despite her exhaustion, her heart sped up by his nearness and she was thankful they were already overheated so he wouldn’t notice the flush that he never failed to bring out in her. She took his outstretched hand and allowed him to pull her up to standing but he didn’t release her right away.

His other hand brushed over her face and moved a stray hair off her forehead. Despite herself, she shivered under his touch. He didn’t remove his hand, but instead let it trail down her cheek to rest on her shoulder. For a moment, Amber was sure he was going to kiss her. And she would have kissed him back, because he was right: they deserved more than a drink. Theydeservedthat kiss, and surely Josie would have to agree.

But then he pulled away, leaving her feeling oddly unsettled on her feet. “We deserve to go on that sleigh ride I promised you.”

Her mind spun as she tried to process what he’d just said. “The…what?”

He chuckled. “There’s no way you forgot already.” His smile only made her feel more foolish. “I promised if you helped me out, I’d take you to the festival, remember?”

“Of course I remember. I just thought…never mind.” She shook her head and straightened her shoulders in an effort to pull herself together before she made an even bigger fool of herself. She laughed, and hoped the sound came out naturally. “We should probably get changed and get moving so we don’t miss it.”

After a quick shower and change,they hopped into Cole’s rental truck and headed into town in search of the First Frost Festival. Not that Cole had any interest at all in a festival of any kind. Sitting on a sleigh, or whatever it was they were going to use, sounded like a certain kind of hell as far as he was concerned. But Amber seemed to be excited by the idea, and for reasons that he still couldn’t quite put into words, the prospect of making Amber happy had become more important than anything else.

They stopped at the cafe for a hot chocolate and directions out to the sleigh ride, which was to be held at one of the resident’s farms.

“It’s at the Stevens’ place,” the girl behind the counter said when they asked, as if they should know exactly where the Stevens’ place was. She gave them a slightly annoyed look and swallowed down a sigh when Cole asked for directions.

“Thanks for your help.” He handed the girl a tip that put a smile on her face, and made the annoyance of having to give directions go away completely. “I don’t think I’ve ever been in a town this small,” Cole said to Amber as they made their way back out to the truck. “I thought she might pull a muscle from rolling her eyes when we asked where the Stevens’ place was.”

“Teenagers.” Amber laughed. “But I do think it’s cool that there’s definitely no fear of strangers here. Everyone seems welcome.”

“It’s kind of nice.” He opened the truck door for Amber and was rewarded by her beautiful smile. “It reminds me of the friendliness of Australia,” Cole continued when he climbed into the cab of the truck next to her. “I like it.”

She smiled again. In fact, Amber was smiling a lot, which was perfectly fine with Cole. Amber was beautiful when she smiled. Hell, she was beautiful all the time, but when she smiled…there was something particularly sexy about her. Especially because she seemed to just let herself go instead of thinking so much. Cole got the distinct impression that she spent far too much time thinking about things and he’d like to know why.

“Here you go, navigator.” Cole handed her the sheet of directions out to the farm and turned out onto the gravel road. As it turned out, they didn’t need many directions at all. Signs attached to snow-covered hay bales had been set up all over the highway, pointing the way, and soon enough, Cole pulled the truck into the yard where the festivities were already in full swing.

“Are you ready for this?” Amber eyed him across the cab of the truck with a tilt of her head. She still had her hair in a tight braid, but Cole hadn’t missed the little bit of makeup she’d put on for their—it’s not really a date…but he might like it to be—date.

“AmIready?” He laughed. “You forget I’ve been living on ranches in the Outback for the last few years. Rides pulled by horses are my favorite way to relax.” It was a lie and they both knew it, but Amber’s eyes sparkled as she played along.

“Is that right?”

“In fact, I am the king of hayrides. Never met one I didn’t like.”

“This is asleighride, not a hayride.”

“Are you sure about that?” He raised an eyebrow and tipped his head in the direction of what looked like a large wagon covered in hay bales. “So much for a sleigh, right?”

She shook her head. “I’m not surprised, though. There isn’t enough snow for a sleigh. Either way, it’ll be fun. Besides, you’re the king of hayrides.”

She laughed and slid out of the truck.

Cole shook his head and joined her outside. He’d done a whole lot more shoveling of hay rather than riding on any. And as far as he was concerned, there wasn’t anything fun or romantic about hay, not that it needed to be romantic…after all, they were just friends going out to enjoy the festival.

Still.

“Let’s go check it out.” He took her hand in his and started to walk in what looked like to be the right direction. She stiffened immediately at his touch and her hand tensed in his. Cole looked down at their joined hands before looking up to her pretty face currently lined with shock. “Oh, Amber. I’m…” He let his thought trail away because he wasn’t sorry and he was definitely not going to apologize for holding her hand when it actually felt like the most natural thing in the world to do. So he didn’t. Instead, he winked and squeezed it a little. “I’m excited about this.” When she didn’t pull away, Cole tugged gently and led her toward the crowd.

People were everywhere, laughing and talking and just having a great time. Most of them seemed to know one another, which wasn’t a surprise, but it became quickly apparent that even those who didn’t know anyone—notably Amber and Cole—would be welcome. They were greeted with handshakes and smiles and more introductions than either of them could remember. When Cole explained that his sister was remodeling a house in town, he was handed business cards and pieces of paper with names and numbers for people willing to help with manual labor, pickup trucks, or supplies of all kinds.

It took a few minutes, but finally Cole managed to extract himself and Amber from the main crowd. He found a small table where he’d been told MoonJuicewas being sold.

“What exactly isMoon Juice?” Amber asked the woman behind the table. She crossed her arms and looked more than a little skeptical about the jars of liquid in front of her. “I mean, I have a feeling that Iknowwhat it is, but…do I want to know?”

The woman behind the table laughed good-naturedly. “I’m not sure if you do.Moon Juiceis a local specialty, and it definitely has a kick, but I promise you’ll love it. We even have a First Frost flavor, iced blueberry.”

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