I Told You So
“Get a load of those abs!” Grandma hooted and hollered as the ripped and shirtless fire-eating guy danced across the stage.
I winced every single time he moved with those fiery sticks.
The stage was wooden.
I had no idea who thought it was a good idea to send that guy up there.
“Hubba hubba!” Bethel fanned herself with a bright orange hand fan, waving it like she was some heroine straight out of a Jane Austen novel.
“They’re getting a little carried away, aren’t they?” Preston whispered in my ear.
I nodded. We were sitting just off to the side of the judge’s table—although biased spectators were probably true for two-thirds of the panel, after the hot fire guy—waiting to be called up with Dad and find out who won.
“When are we up there? I need to know when I can get out of here. Lindsay has accidentally bumped into me three times already,” Preston muttered.
I snorted. “One more act, then he’ll call us up and announce how much we raised, then who won.”
“You know I’m taking your crown.”
I rolled my eyes. “If you take it, you take it, don’t you? That’s part of the fun. And honestly, I’d be glad to not do it next year.”
“Do you have to defend the crown?”
“No. You can choose to not do it, but if I lose, I can’t do it next year anyway. It’s in the rules.”
“You know if I win, I won’t defend it, right?” He met my eyes. “I only did this as a favor to your dad—and I wanted to beat you. I haven’t taken any pleasure in kissing all these people this week. I’m not sure my lips will ever recover.”
“They won’t.” I tugged mine to one side. “But I don’t think I’ll come back, either.” I cast my gaze over the stage where three young girls were performing a cheer routine. “I think it’s time to let someone else take over. Maybe it needs an overhaul to allow more people to compete. I think people would love it.”
“You’re probably right. Plus, you’ll be too busy kissing me to kiss anyone else.” He winked at me.
“You’re super confident about that, aren’t you?”
“You know it.” The grin on his face was so playful I had no option but to smile right back at him.
Dad stood and motioned for us to follow him. We waited at the side until he was on the stage with the mic in his hand. “Hello, everyone! Thank you for coming to the Creek Falls Fair Talent Contest! I hope you’ve enjoyed your evening so far, and never fear; there are plenty more entertaining acts to come. Until then, we are taking a short break to announce the results of our annual Kissing Booth contest.
“For those of you who don’t know, we have a kissing booth each year, and all proceeds go to charity. Two people compete against each other for the chance to be the champion. I’d like to introduce our competitors this year: Halley Dawson, the reigning, defending champion, and her challenger, Preston Wright!”
Slightly dramatic there, Dad.
Applause rang out, and we both approached the stage with a smile and waved at everyone. Preston stood on the other side of my dad.
“Thank you to everyone who participated in the challenge this year. I’m thrilled to announce that the total raised to revamp the playground in the park is one thousand, two hundred and seventeen dollars!”
My eyes went wide.
Holy crap. We’d never raised that amount of money before, and even though it usually went to charity, the playground really did need redoing. It would be amazing for the kids in town.
“Yes, wonderful!” Dad said. “And now, for the contest winner…”
I shared a look with Preston. I knew exactly what my dad was about to say, and I had to hide my smile.
“The new kissing booth champion is… Preston!”
I laughed, turning toward him and clapping. He looked genuinely shocked, as if he’d thought I’d won, but I wasn’t surprised at all. I think I’d known from the second I found out he was my competition that he was going to win.
He was new and shiny, and half the women in town wanted to marry him, so…
Dad handed Preston the microphone and shoved him into the middle of the stage. He joined me, off to the side, and wrapped his arm around my shoulders.
“You get a year off then, Halley,” Dad said into my ear.
Laughing, I said, “I think it’s time to pass it on to someone else anyway. I think I’d still like to be involved with the booth—I think it would do well if it was overhauled for next year.”
He nodded. “I agree. Now, let’s see what Preston has to say.”
Preston looked as if he wanted to be anywhere but up on that stage, talking in front of everyone else. Still, he took a step forward and cleared his throat.
The mic screeched. He jumped back, staring at it like it’d punched him.
I hid a laugh behind my hand.
“Uh, hello?” he said, giving the mic a tap to make sure it didn’t screech again. “I’m not sure what I’m supposed to say here, but I wanted to thank everyone for coming out to the kissing booth and seeing both myself and Halley. It’s been a long week, but I know I speak for us both when I say it was worth it. The playground is overdue to be updated, and this is going to make a huge difference to the kids in town. So, thank you.”
He paused while people clapped.
“I’d also like to thank Halley for being great competition.” He swept his arm toward me. “But I am happy to take that crown off her, so you guys can finally kiss someone else next year.”
I stuck my tongue out at him, but I was laughing.
“And on that topic: I won’t be defending next year. You’ll have two new competitors.”
Dad looked at me. “Why isn’t he defending?”
Preston beat him to it. “I’ve learned a lot over the last week or so, but the most important thing I’ve learned is that there’s only one person I want to kiss, and she’s standing right over there.”
My eyes widened as he pointed at me.
“And don’t worry, despite the look of terror on her face, she does already know this.”
My dad smiled, nudging me in the back to push me forward.
“What are you doing?” I mouthed to Preston.
“Kiss her!” Someone that sounded an awful lot like Reagan shouted from the crowd.
I was going to kill her.
“Yeah, kiss her! Kiss her! Kiss her!” That was my grandmother who was now standing on the judge’s table.
And she’d started a chant.
Oh, my God.
The entire crowd was joining in. It got louder and louder until almost everyone was doing it. My cheeks flamed red hot, and I looked at my sandal-clad feet on the stage instead of anywhere else.
Preston’s hand slid around to the back of my neck, and he dipped his head. “Sorry.”
“No, you’re not.”
He laughed, bringing our bodies fully together. “At least they won’t gossip now.”
And then he kissed me.
Just once. A single touch, but one that meant so much. It warmed my entire body, consuming me until I was barely aware of anything other than him.
I had tingles all over my skin where he touched me, and I knew.
I was teetering on the edge of falling in love with Preston Wright.
There was no going back from it, not now. It all felt completely right, even though there was whooping and hollering from people who loved a show.
He released me with a wide smile. His eyes shone with something I couldn’t place, an emotion that I knew was genuine all the same. “Whoops?”
“Whoops my ass!” I laughed and leaned into him when he wrapped his arm around my shoulders, nestling me against him.
“Is this where I drop the mic?” he whispered into my ear.
“Metaphorically. My dad probably won’t like it if you actually drop it.”
His chuckle made his whole body shake, and he turned and held it out in the direction of my dad. “I just realized I kissed you in front of your dad.”
“Yep.”
“Shit.”
I laughed, covering my mouth with my hand.
Dad approached us with a stern look on his face. “And what on Earth was that?”
I could see the glint in his eye that said he was messing with Preston, but he went as rigid as a board next to me.
“I, uh, sir—”
Dad burst out laughing and yanked him over, hugging him. He patted him on the back twice before letting him go. “Go on, you two. I’m not surprised at all. We need to get the talent show back on.”
“Sure.” Preston tucked me back under his arm.
“Tell Grandma I’m going to kill her,” were my parting words to my dad.
He laughed, and Preston swept me off the stage and around the back. The crowd watching the talent show had calmed down, and there were so many people there that the food stalls were all but empty.
We detoured quickly and grabbed a couple of hot dogs before we made it back to the booth. It was silent, and we ducked inside the tent together.
“That was dramatic,” I said, sitting cross-legged on the stage.
Preston dropped to the floor in front of me with a laugh. “I’m not gonna lie, I did that in the hope Lindsay would leave me alone now.”
“I knew there was an ulterior motive for it.”
“Only a little one.”
I pursed my lips. “I can’t believe you beat me.”
He laughed, leaning back on his hands. “It was never in doubt.”
“Liar. You looked really shocked up there.”
“All right, I was. I really thought you were going to keep your streak going for another year.”
“Five would have been nice. What would have been nicer is being able to hold it over your head like you’re going to do to me, though.”
“Me? What gives you that idea?”
“The big shit-eating grin on your face,” I replied. “At least your sister is richer for it.”
“She bet on me, didn’t she?”
I nodded. “Ava’s going to be furious.”
“Ava’s always furious about something. It’s basically her default emotion, like Reagan’s is, well, she doesn’t have emotions. She’s basically a walking, talking potato.”
I snorted, scrunching up the hot dog wrapper. I leaned back and looked around the tent. “It’ll be weird not being here next year.”
“I guess it will be for you. It’s been so long.”
“I’m looking forward to it, though. Maybe I’ll actually get to enjoy the fair more next year. Although I won’t miss the smell of this place.”
Preston wrinkled his face up. “It is pretty damn smelly. Maybe next year the kissing booth needs to raise money to replace the kissing booth.”
I laughed, falling down onto my back. I sighed it out, happy to just lie there and soak in the peace for a little longer.
Preston took the space next to me, looking up at the ceiling just like I was. “What do we do now?”
“What do you mean?”
“This. Us. I’ve told you what I wanted. Hell, I showed the whole damn town.”
I rolled my head to the side and looked at him. Really looked at him, studying his handsome face. I picked up where his beard stubble was a little longer in one place, like he’d rushed while shaving. The tiny scar close to his hairline that was no bigger than a pimple. His thick eyebrows that were naturally better shaped than mine were, and his dark eyelashes that framed his stunning eyes.
“I know,” I said softly. “I just—we’re such different people, Preston. I’d made peace with the fact that we were never going to happen, and now it is, and I think I just need to stop telling myself it’s all going to go wrong.”
“It might go wrong,” he said honestly. “I fucked up literally an hour after our first date, so…”
I smiled. “Are you afraid it’s a little too fast?”
“I’m not asking you to marry me, Halley. Hell, I’m not even telling you that you have to be my girlfriend. We can take it slow and see how it goes without putting any big labels on it.”
“But we’d be exclusive?”
“I can honestly say there isn’t anyone I’m even remotely interested in. Except for you.” He looked at me. “And maybe Betty. For a raccoon, she’s a bit of a MILF, isn’t she?”
I laughed, pressing my forehead against his shoulder. “I can take sharing affection with Betty.”
“I have to share with Boris.”
“Boris is a jerk. It’s when those babies come that you’ll be sharing affection.”
“Oh, God, are you going to take time off work?”
“No! Oh, my God!” I laughed all over again. Honestly, it was a miracle I didn’t have abs at this point. “The rescue just outside town has a vet they send out to keep an eye on her. A couple of years ago, one of their older babies got caught in a bear trap. We freed it, and we looked after it until it was recovered when we sent him back out to Betty. But, also, you’ve never seen how freakin’ cute raccoon babies are. They’re the fuzziest little things.”
“You’re getting overexcited, aren’t you?”
“Little bit.” I smiled, rolling onto my stomach. Accidentally, I rolled into Preston with an “Oomph.”
Instead of letting me go, he wrapped his arms tightly around me. I peered down at him, my lips curving.
“What?” he asked.
“Nothing. It’s just—this is weird, isn’t it?”
“Yep.” His eyes sparkled. “But I like weird.”
I dropped my lips onto his.
Yes, it’d only been a week. Yes, it was crazy, and it could all go wrong, but I wanted to take the risk.
More than anything, I was happy he wanted to take the risk with me.
Even if we were going to be the talk of the town for his little show.