Falling for Santa's Son

I must be insane.

I went in too hard and too fast. But I'm not stopping and Nick wasn't pulling back?

My eyes were still closed so I was purely relying on my other senses. Nick had wrapped an arm around my waist and his free hand, tilting my chin so I was facing him.

It was so hot. I felt the heat between us, my body temperature rising and his lips...

A siren was going off in my head right now. My brain was telling me to pull back while my body was saying to go further.

My hearing finally kicked in and I was reminded where we were and who was watching. I immediately opened my eyes as the same hand which grabbed Nick pushed him away.

I turned away, my face feeling hot as I covered my mouth. There were so many loud cheers and noises, even more than before.

"Well, that was one hell of a reward," Nick said as he wrapped an arm around me. "If this is what I get for winning, I think I should enter more competitions. So..." he leaned down to whisper in my ear, chills running through my body.

"Is this something we'll be doing more often?" He said softly, for my ears only.

I inhaled sharply, releasing my bottom lip because I'd been biting it.

"Don't be crazy." I said as I looked up at him, and as soon as we made eye contact, I felt it again; my heartbeat felt like it was pounding loudly and fast.

I glanced at his lips for a brief second and looked away just as fast.

"I did it for the crowd." I leaned my throat. "To erase any rumors of us not being a real couple," I said quietly enough not to be heard by others around. A logical reason but a lie nonetheless. That was our first proper kiss!

More people were beginning to surround us and I pulled away from Nick and grabbed his hand instead as I stood beside him.

"Congratulations on winning, by the way." I said to him, smiling, genuinely happy about his win.

"Right, thanks." He answered nonchalantly, lost in thought. I was about to ask him if anything was wrong but someone came up to us, one of the other competitors—I think his name's Chris? Grace's partner.

"You must be the famous Caroline." He held out his hand for me to shake as he introduced himself. "My name's Chris. One of the racers who lost to your guy right here."

I shook his hand, smiling. "That's right. It's nice to meet you." I replied. He seemed nice, unlike his partner.

"You drove the crowd wild earlier when you... congratulated Nick." He said with his eyebrows raised, smiling.

I laughed awkwardly as I tugged on Nick's arm, signaling him to get in the conversation, but he still seemed out of it. Seriously, what was he thinking about?

"Is that so?" I began. It seemed like I'd have to handle this myself.

"I was just so excited to see him. I couldn't help myself, sorry." Well, I wasn't lying.

He shook his head frantically. "No, no. There's nothing to apologize for. Everyone seemed to love it." He said as he gestured around.

I looked around, and all the cameras, which were all everywhere earlier, were now surrounding us. Some people were holding back people who, I was guessing, were reporters or fans because they kept screaming out Nick's name, followed by questions.

"I didn't realize this many people were surrounding us," I said as I began feeling a bit self-conscious. "Nick." I tugged at his arm and he seemed to snap out of whatever daze he was in when I called his name out for the third time.