Wrapped Up in Christmas Joy - Janice Lynn Page 0,90

much to her so quickly.

And oh, how amazing he looked in his uniform as he said, “The rest of the donations.”

“These were at the firehall?” Sophie asked, stunned. Where had Cole and the crew gotten all the gifts?

“They’re from the fire department,” Andrew clarified. “There was a flurry of new items right at the end, thanks to a friendly rivalry on getting donations.”

Sophie fought choking up with emotion. The guys had bought these? Thank goodness Cole had tossed out that challenge, then. She wanted to hug them all.

“Perfect,” Maybelle praised, never having looked overly worried.

“This is wonderful,” Rosie clasped her hands together. “There’s more than enough for all the Triple B Ranch kids.”

“With extras in case we have last minute requests.” Ruby beamed at her grandson.

Sophie’s gaze stayed on Cole. He hadn’t looked her way, but she knew he was aware of her, was aware that she was watching him, that she couldn’t pull her eyes from him.

Seeing him was almost as wonderful as seeing the gifts they’d brought in.

Eventually, he met her gaze. Sophie smiled, holding her breath in hopes he’d smile back.

He gave a slight nod of acknowledgement, then looked away.

No. He couldn’t do this. He couldn’t push her away.

She stopped what she was doing, marched over to where he stood with the other firemen and wrapped her arms around him.

“Thank you so much, Cole.”

He was so stiff in her embrace that Sophie thought he might freeze into place.

When he didn’t respond in any other way, she inwardly sighed, ignored the giant crack forming in her heart at his continued rejection, then stepped over to hug Andrew and thank him. He was almost as uncomfortably stiff as Cole. Ben hugged her right back, though.

“No problem, Sophie,” Ben said, his expression proud. “We were glad to help.” Sophie smiled back, thankful for the friendly face. “But for the record, next year, Andrew and I will win our competition.”

Sophie’s gaze cut to Cole, but he was studying something across the room and didn’t say anything. She’d assumed Ben and Andrew had collected most of the remaining donations. Apparently not.

“Where did all this come from?”

“Cole got a big donation.”

“Can’t Cole talk for himself?” she asked, then wanted to slap her hand over her mouth.

“Children,” Maybelle scolded, clearing her throat to get everyone’s attention. “Snap to it. We’ve more toys to wrap. Lots more toys, thanks to the fire department.”

As they usually did when Maybelle spoke, everyone got to work, including Sophie, although her gaze strayed over to the firemen who’d help carry the items in. One in particular.

Whereas the others were talking to various people, and several had jumped in to help wrap gifts, Cole quietly helped carry toys over to the table to be sorted and wrapped.

Cole kept his eyes and his hands on the toy he wrapped, taking care to make each fold precise and each piece of tape perfectly sealed.

“For the record, we’re already plotting our new strategy,” Andrew told Sophie from where he wrapped presents next to Cole. “We won’t be outdone again by you and this holdout who came through at the last minute.”

“Who was the donation from?” Sophie asked.

“Nobody knows,” Ben supplied. “An anonymous cashier’s check came made out to Cole with a note to buy things for the toy drive on behalf of the fire department.”

“Wow. That’s awesome.”

Sophie’s gaze cut to Rosie. Did she think Rosie had donated the check?

“Good of them,” Maybelle said, then gave Cole a nod of approval. “And of you for doing the right thing, since the check was made out to you.”

Cole felt a little embarrassed under her eagle-sharp gaze. Something in her stare clicked, and although she didn’t say another word, just turned from him and started talking to one of the other Butterflies, Cole knew.

Maybelle had sent the check. It made no sense, but he was sure she had.

Which meant the woman had wanted Cole to come to the rescue. Which only made sense if…

Blasted matchmaking Butterflies.

But in this case, he’d take it without arguing since it had meant more than enough toys for the kids.

The firemen volunteered to help deliver the presents, so they stuck around until every gift was wrapped, labeled, and tucked in a bag tagged with where it would go.

“Cole?”

He’d used every ounce of strength in him not to respond to her sweet hug. Had dug deep for even more strength to keep from looking at her, especially when he’d sensed her gaze on him.

He reached inside and hoped he had enough strength