Ready to Run (I Do, I Don't 1)

She leaned an elbow on her booth and turned to grin at him. “Mostly. Did you agree simply because I did?”

“Mostly,” he said, giving her a reluctant smile back. “You don’t have to, you know. Vicky won’t mind if you back out.”

She rolled her eyes. “Nice try, Elliott.”

They had to wait all of fifteen more seconds for their first customer. Jordan’s first customer.

A pimpled kid with puffy yellow hair shoved a dollar bill into the box and grinned happily at her as he adjusted his glasses.

Jordan grinned back, friendly and welcoming. “How old are you, handsome?”

“Sixteen. Seventeen next month.”

She turned her head, pointed playfully at her cheek. The teenager came eagerly forward, planting a quick, awkward kiss somewhere near her ear. He pulled back, and Jordan leaned forward, giving him a peck in return on his cheek.

The boy went from pink to scarlet, but even Luke had to smile at the elation on his face before he backed away and ran off.

He must have told his friends, because a minute later Jordan repeated the process with a group of equally gangly teenagers.

“That’ll give ’em something to talk about for months,” Luke said, after the last of the boys had moved on, talking about how she was a total babe.

“Speaking from experience?” Jordan asked.

“You mean am I still talking about your kiss? Nah, I’ve been saving it all for my diary.”

She let out a surprised laugh. “No, I meant when you were sixteen, did you talk about kissing girls on the cheek for months?”

“I never kiss and tell, City.”

“Here’s your chance to prove it,” she said, jerking her chin in the opposite direction.

He turned and, sure enough, a middle-aged woman was making her way toward him with very definite purpose.

She stuffed a five in the box. “I want five.”

“Um.” His brain scrambled in panic. “It’s one kiss per cust—”

The woman grabbed a fistful of his button-down and jerked him forward, promptly planting five very firm, no-nonsense kisses on his mouth.

She grinned as she pulled away, patting his cheek. “Not bad. Not bad at all.”

The woman walked off, leaving Luke stunned and Jordan cracking up. “Not bad. High praise.”

“Shut up,” he muttered. “I think my lips are bruised.”

“Look on the bright side, you’ve nearly tied me in the competition with only one customer,” she said, gesturing to the box that now held a five, compared to her assortment of ones.

“Looks like my kiss is worth more.”

Jordan merely snorted.

Over the next hour, they each had a handful of customers. Most of hers were of the awkward-teenage variety, as well as a couple of older gentlemen who merely wanted the chance to kiss the cheek of a lovely young lady.

Luke found his mood improving since the men of Beacon County seemed to be minding their manners and no horny cowboys were taking advantage of what thus far had been good clean fun.

For his part, he’d been subjected to more than a few mouth kisses. The women at the fair, apparently, were bolder.

Although Jordan didn’t seem to notice or mind, which was…disappointing.