I made my way across the street and into the only hardware store in town. I walked through rows of wrenches before I saw Nathan standing in front of the salt and pepper haired manager.
“Do you know what 9-1-1 is for, Mr. Clarkson?” he asked. “Like, do you have any idea what calling that number means?”
“It means that a percentage of my money pays for the cops’ salaries and I can call it as many times as I want to.”
Nathan rolled his eyes and handed the man a pair of reading glasses. “Glad I could help you find these and save you from the potential ‘emergency’ of you making a mistake on the cash register.”
“I appreciate your heroics, Officer.”
“Are there any other emergencies?” he asked. “Is your toilet clogged?”
“Yeah, it is. You want to help me fix that, too?”
Nathan shook his head and looked away from him. Then he smiled as his eyes met mine.
“Please hesitate to call if you lose your glasses again,” he said to the store owner before walking over to me. “Something wrong?”
“Not at all.” I’d never wanted to fuck someone on the spot so badly before right now. “Did one of my junior staff call you about helping with the setup?”
“No, your sister did.” He slipped his arm around my waist and led me outside. “She called an emergency when you wouldn’t wake up.”
“What?”
“Your sister said you’d kill her if you missed setup, and even though we tried to wake you up, we couldn’t. So, I decided to help.” He paused, laughing. “It was the closest thing to a real ‘emergency call’ I’ve received since I started working here.”
“You’re kidding, right?”
He gave me a look that let me know that he wasn’t.
“Well, thank you for everything,” I said, noticing that he wasn’t leading me back to the festival but down the sidewalk. “If there’s ever a way I can pay you back for this, let me know.”
“There is.” He smiled, stopping in front of his squad car. “Since the setup is done and you don’t need to be here when the event starts, you can start paying me back the fifteen dates that you owe me.”
“We’re up to fifteen dates now?”
“If you fight me on this, we’ll be up to twenty-five.”
“Shouldn’t I put on some decent clothes first?”
“No.” He ran his fingers through my hair. “You won’t need clothes at all …”
THREE HOURS LATER, Nathan parked his squad car near the top of Cedar Mountain, right next to one of the luxury ski-resorts that overlooked the town. He turned off his headlights as a steady snow fell over the buildings, as the Christmas lights twinkled in the distance.
From here, the town looked like a perfect, picturesque postcard, and for the first time, I understood why someone would spend two thousand dollars a night to see it in person.
“So, per your inappropriate wish list,” Nathan said, pulling my red card out of his pocket. “This is the first thing most tourists see when they come to Cedar Falls.”
“Did you bring me up here to try to convince me to fuck you tonight?” I said. “I must admit, all the small, romantic touches you’ve done so far are almost making me consider.”
“First of all,” he said, looking over at me, “I’m definitely going to fuck you tonight. Bringing you up here has nothing to do with that. Second of all, for someone who claims she still needs to consider it, why has your hand been rubbing my cock through my pants for the past half hour?”
Laughing, I blushed as I moved my hand away. I picked up the newest set of flowers he’d bought for me from his dashboard.
During the three-hour drive, he’d stopped at several of Cedar Falls’ top tourist sites and walked through them with me. We admired the seventy-five foot Christmas tree that rivaled the one in New York’s Rockefeller Plaza, took a quick stroll through Christmas Tree Lane, and much to his annoyance, ate dinner at Christmas Every Day, the number one diner right outside of town. (Well, he wasn’t annoyed until residents started walking up to him and asking about some type of “Pets Are Part of Our Family” thing.)
We even stopped at a few upscale stores where he bought the four hundred dollar standing mixer that was on my wish list, along with six sets of designer pajamas, new lingerie, and slippers, and he refused to let me pay him back.
As more city lights twinkled below, I unbuckled my seatbelt and stepped out of the car, moving closer to the red rails that surrounded the edge of the mountain.
“Can you take a picture of me with the town in the background?” I held out my phone as Nathan stepped out of the car.
“Of course.” He stepped back and snapped a few shots.