The Romantic Pact (Kings of Football)(25)

We walk up to the tree, and thankfully there’s a small line where people are patiently waiting their turn to take their picture in front of the tree. Luckily, there’s a nice attendant who’s managing the line and taking the pictures.

“What’s that smell?” Crew says, glancing around while we wait in line.

“Nuts,” the gentleman in front of us says.

“Excuse me?” I ask.

He turns and points to a stall off to the right with a sign that reads Hot Nuts. “Some of the best hot nuts you’ll ever have,” he says with an English accent. “My wife and I travel to Munich this time of the year for the Gebrannte mandeln and an annual picture in front of the tree.”

“Oh, wow. Well, looks as though we need to get some nuts after this,” I say.

“It’s a must.” The gentleman smiles kindly. “Are you two on your honeymoon?”

“Yes,” I answer automatically and snuggle up to Crew. “Can you tell we’re in fresh wedded bliss?”

He nods. “You have a glow about you. You picked a nice place for your honeymoon. I hope you enjoy.”

“Thanks,” Crew says, and there’s humor in his voice.

“Ah, we’re up.” The man turns to the side and says, “Bella, darling, it’s our turn.”

From the left, a woman in a wheelchair rolls up next to him and says, “I was just talking to a lady over there about the nuts. Told her she must get some.”

I chuckle as I hear the gentleman say how he just told us the same thing.

“He was nice,” I say.

“So, are we going with the whole honeymoon thing now?”

“Does it offend you?” I ask, a wave of insecurity crawling up my back.

“No.” He shakes his head. “Just want to make sure we’re on the same page.”

I shrug. “Just seems easier than explaining that we’re on a trip that your dead grandfather and my dead pseudo-grandfather planned for us while he was sick.”

“Yeah, I think you might be right about that.” He yawns and covers his mouth. “Shit, sorry.”

“It’s okay. I’m feeling tired as well. I had plans to drink all the mulled wine I came across tonight, but I have a feeling that might be a bad idea. I might pass out in the giant tree.”

“I might join you. And now that you have a—as you like to call it—bosom, I could find comfort in your chest as a pillow.”

“Aren’t you funny.” It’s our turn and I tug on his hand. I hand the attendant my phone and then position us in front of the tree, hoping I have the right angle to mimic the photo of Pops and Gloria. Crew drapes his arm over my shoulder and pulls me in tight. I place my hand on his chest and, together, we smile.

The attendant takes a few pictures, and when we’re done, we step aside to look at them.

I pull out the photo of Pops and Gloria and compare it to the one on my phone.

They’re almost identical, besides the people in the pictures.

“This looks so good.” I smile up at Crew. “This might be my new favorite thing.”

“Send me that picture, will you?”

“Oh, sure, just let me try to guess your phone number.”

“Wait, you don’t have my phone number?” he asks, a crease to his brow.

“Nope. Just your email address. Remember? Pen pals.”

“Jesus, okay.” He takes my phone from my hand and sends himself a text of the picture. I have free International roaming, which will make sending photos to each other easy. “There, now you have it. Feel free to abuse it as much as you want.”

“Watch what you say, Hollywood.” Nodding toward the nuts, I say, “Want to try these famous nuts? See what all the talk is about?”

“Can’t say I’ve ever been excited to get my teeth wrapped around some nuts before today, Allen.”





“You okay?” Crew asks, walking up behind me as I stare down at the Christmas market.

“I can’t stop thinking about the nuts.”

He chuckles, the rumble of his chest feeling like the beat of a bass drum, shaking my bones. “Want me to run down and get you some more?”

“You’d do that?” I turn to find him in nothing but athletic shorts. God, this man’s chest. It’s unlike anything I’ve seen in person, having only seen similar on the covers of health magazines and romance novels. Thick in his pecs, defined in his shoulders all the way down to this waistband. Swallowing hard, I add, “You’d go down there wearing that?”

“It would bring a new level to cold, but I do need to make shit up to you, so if Twigs wants more nuts, she can have more nuts.”

“Why does it feel as though when you say nuts, you’re talking about a man’s balls?”

“Uh . . . because apparently you’ve become perverted over the last few years.”

“I guess that’s what happens when you lose your virginity, huh? You unlock a perverted side.”

“Ah, I was perverted way before that.”

I pat his chest and instantly regret it as my palm is met with rock-hard muscle. “Different for boys.” In my pink silk pajama top and matching shorts, I walk over to the bed just as he snags my hand and twists me back toward him.