Holly Jolly Cowboy (The Wyoming Cowboy #7)(20)

“Say what?” Adam called after them.

“I’ll finish up here,” Carson said. “You two go on ahead.”

Adam looked horrified at the thought, but she didn’t care. She’d put up with him. Holly gave him her best pleading look. “Please, Adam. I know we’re not friends, but I need this. Please? I’ll make you a double plate of enchiladas tomorrow.”

He growled low in his throat, tossing aside his pitchfork. “Can’t believe I’m going to do this.”

“Yay!” She clapped her hands and raced out of the barn.





CHAPTER NINE





Adam was . . . well, he was sweating.

He scowled a little when she insisted on filling up the tiny back seat of his truck with plastic tote after plastic tote of goodies and bags full of things for work, she said. But he sweated even more when she came out of the kitchen with the biggest, prettiest cake he’d ever seen . . . and a look of intense pride and excitement on her face as she held it.

He couldn’t tell her.

He swallowed hard, thinking about how much salt and pepper he’d added to the components. How he’d thrown in whatever would blend. How he’d deliberately sabotaged her. She had no idea.

And now she was entering the damn cake in the local festival. A cake that she had clearly spent hours and hours on.

He felt the stirrings of guilt. It was one thing to sabotage a cake she was giving to friends or to Carson. Now he was going to make her look foolish in front of the entire town.

But she looked over at him and gave him a dismissive glance as she held the cake in front of her. “Are you going to open the car door for me or do you hope I’ll magically appear inside somehow?”

Okay, he felt a little less guilty after that. Adam moved to the far side of his truck, opened the door for her, and did a mock bow. “Your majesty.”

Holly sniffed haughtily and climbed into the truck, precariously balancing her cake in her arms. He was amazed she managed to get in without damaging the cake, but she settled in with the monster of it on her lap and he shut the door. Right. He’d ruined her cake in secret, but she was still a horrendous human being determined to make his life miserable.

Adam got into his truck on the driver’s side, only for her to give him a sour look. “I don’t mean to be demanding, but can you hurry? I’m on a tight schedule.”

“Didn’t realize I was your chauffeur,” he drawled, even as he started the truck.

“I just need to get this cake there,” she told him. “I’m sorry if I’m being short. It’s just . . . it’s really important to me. I know you don’t understand, but I don’t expect you to. It’s just . . . important.”

“Almost as important as good manners, clearly.”

She made a sound of disgust. “Why do I even bother talking to you?”

“Because you need my truck? And my goodwill?”

“I wish I didn’t.”

“Makes two of us, sweetheart,” Adam drawled.

They drove into town in silence. He glanced over at her whenever they hit a bumpy part of the road, but Holly cradled that magnificent-looking cake as if it were made of the most fragile glass. He glanced at her face occasionally, too, just because. She yawned once or twice, and he noticed that despite her normal perky ponytail and bow, she looked worn today. Tired. Given the amount of garbage she was bringing into town with her, he guessed that she’d been hard at work all day.

Yeah, well, he wasn’t going to feel sorry for her. The last thing Holly deserved was sympathy.

He parked the truck as close as he could to Main Street, which had been roped off for the festival. Adam glanced over at her. Despite the circles under her eyes, she was buzzing with anticipation. He’d never seen her so damn twitchy. It was still a ways to walk, and that cake was massive. “You need help with that stuff?”

Holly lifted her chin and he could tell from the look on her face that she didn’t trust him in the slightest. “Thanks, but no thanks. I’ll get the rest of it after I drop this off.”

He shrugged and got out of the truck, moving around it to open her door. “Suit yourself. What time do you want to meet up to get out of here?”

“I told my boss I’d work,” she answered, huffing as she carefully got out with the massive cake. Count on this difficult woman to make the biggest cake he’d ever seen for a damn town festival. “I’ll get a ride back with him.”

“Suits me,” Adam said dryly. He supposed that was what he got for being friendly.

Holly hesitated. “Thank you, by the way. I appreciate you giving me the ride into town.” She offered him a half-assed smile, then turned and raced down the sidewalk as fast as she could with that gargantuan white cake. People stopped and stared as she approached with it, and he could see her smiling even wider for them.

Man, he realized as she approached the baking contest entry table, she had no idea of the shit show that was about to happen. None at all. His neck prickled with unease, but what was done was done. He left the truck unlocked so she could return, and headed into the festival itself. The school band was playing Christmas carols—badly—and there were kids everywhere with their parents. There were booth games and crafts and snacks to buy, and Adam wasn’t into any of it. He halfheartedly strolled past a couple of booths, wondering if it was too early to turn around and go home.