Pretend You're Mine(38)

“What about Luke?”

Sophie shook her head. “He’s never done it. Even in high school. That boy was born an adult. I don’t know if he’s ever had a day of frivolous fun in his whole life.”

Harper yelped as a face plastered up against her window. “And then there’s my idiot brother James here who’s the opposite,” Sophie said, pointing at her window.

James yanked Harper’s door open. “Let’s go, ladies! The lake waits for no one.” He was wearing swim trunks and a Garrison Christmas 1993 t-shirt with a mooning Santa on it. Obviously he was much smaller in 1993 because it was more of a belly shirt now. He had plastic light-up reindeer antlers perched on his head.

“You look kind of adorable, James,” Harper teased, getting out of the car.

James lowered his sunglasses and winked. “Damn straight.” He plopped a Santa hat on her head and tossed one to Sophie. “Suit up, sis.”

Harper and Sophie peeled off their shorts and t-shirts and tossed them into the backseat before pulling on their sweaters.

Harper ignored James’ low whistle when he caught a glimpse of her white bikini. But Sophie cuffed him in the back of the head. “No poaching. I don’t want to watch Luke pound you into the ground.”

“Luke’s not here to do any pounding,” James grinned.

Harper took in the tailgating madness. It really did look like the whole town of Benevolence had turned out for the event. There were fat Santas and pointy-eared elves mingling with people dressed as stockings and Christmas trees. There was even a group of middle-aged men in red and green Speedos. She also caught a glimpse of Georgia Rae in an “I’m Mrs. Claus” sweatshirt.

James led the way through the crowd towards the lake.

“Excuse me, ladies. You look like you need mouth-to-mouth,” Ty, in a lifeguard tank top, red shorts, and yellow sunscreen painted nose, stepped up to plant a steamy kiss on Sophie.

“Ma’am, you’re looking like you could use some oxygen. Can I be of assistance?” A blond, muscle-bound guy, dressed like Ty and carrying a rescue buoy, sauntered up to Harper.

Ty stopped kissing Sophie long enough to punch him in the arm. “Nice try, Linc. This is Harper, Luke’s girlfriend. Harper, this is Lincoln Reed. He’s fire chief and Luke’s high school nemesis.”

“Girlfriend, huh? Nice to meet you, Harper.” Linc extended his large hand and Harper took it. He pulled her in a step closer. “Luke or no Luke, you let me know if you need assistance.”

Harper pulled her hand back and laughed. “Nice to meet you, too, Linc. But I’m breathing just fine. You guys look pretty impressive,” she said gesturing at their costumes.

“We take this event very seriously, which is why I’m going to have to insist that you do a shot before getting in the water,” Linc said, adopting a serious face.

“It’s purely a precautionary measure,” Ty agreed solemnly.

“We’d better do what the lifeguards say.” Sophie winked at Harper. “Lead the way, boys.”

Ty picked Sophie up and tossed her over his shoulder and started weaving his way through the crowd towards a makeshift plywood bar with a Remo’s banner hanging above it. “We need shots, stat, bartender!” Ty said, dropping Sophie on her feet in front of the bar.

Linc offered Harper his arm. “Better catch up, sunshine.”

Harper rolled her eyes and took his arm. “Lead the way.”

The bartender was Sheila from Remo’s. “Welcome to Remo’s Lakeside, ladies.” She plopped a bottle of whiskey and a bottle of tequila on the bar top. “What’ll it be?”

“Oh, tequila, my nasty friend,” Sophie sighed.

Harper decided on the whiskey, and Sheila poured the shots in plastic cups. “Okay, the rules are each participant gets two warm-up shots. No more. There will be no repeats of Puke Fest 2010. You can have them both now or one now and one later.”

“I’d save one for later, sunshine.” Linc leaned against the bar next to Harper. “You’ll need another to restart your heart from Arctic Hell. Or I could do it for you.” He flexed his pecs under his tank top.

Harper snorted. “Does that work on the ladies of Benevolence?”

“Like a charm. I’m thinking about extending my coverage area. Where are you from?”

“You’re ridiculous,” she laughed.

“I think you like ridiculous.” He nudged his plastic fluorescent sunglasses down his nose.

Actually, she had a thing for serious and broody. But a little harmless flirting with ridiculous sure didn’t hurt.

“Aren’t you gentlemen doing a shot with us?”