CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Blue
I’m deep in the latest celebrity gossip on my phone when someone leans over my shoulder. “I can’t believe Debney and Althea broke up,” they say in a shocked, high-pitched voice.
I startle, but I do not scream. Quickly, I shift to the other side of the couch, all my ice packs sliding to the floor.
A masculine laugh pops goosebumps on my arms before I look up and see Garrick.
He’s changed out of his ski pants and boots and is wearing jeans and sneakers under his winter coat. He looks good. Like he belongs here. Today, his jaw is clean shaven, and his thick, chestnut hair glows in the overhead lights. His cheekbones are cut and his hazel eyes are bright.
He looks wealthy even in his off-brand jeans. I don’t know how I didn’t see it before.
I know I look fabulous, because I’ve spent time in the bathroom fixing my helmet hair and re-doing my make-up. He’s probably just stepped out of his gear without even running a brush through his hair.
“Why aren’t you still skiing? Please tell me you didn’t come back because of me. You should have fun with your family.”
He grabs my hand and pulls me up to stand. “I was tired of skiing. I’m going to give you a tour of this place.”
It’s warm by the fire, so I’ve taken off my ski pants, leaving me in leggings. And not the cute kind. The long underwear kind. “I’m not exactly dressed for a tour.”
He scans me, his expression gathering heat as his gaze moves over me. “You look good to me.” He grins at my huff of annoyance. “But you can get something from one of the shops if you’d be more comfortable. We can just charge it to my parents’ account.”
My mother would be all over that offer and then some, but I’ve made it a point in life to be the opposite of my mother in every way. “I can buy my own sweatpants.”
“You’re our guest. My parents would insist on paying if they were here.”
I grab my coat, ski pants, hat, and gloves, doing my best not to drop anything. I returned my boots and helmet to the rental office as soon as we got off the slopes. “It’s fine. I’ll just wear what I have on. Where does the tour start?”
Garrick laughs. He takes my stuff out of my arms. “You head to the shops and I’ll stow this stuff in a locker until you need it.”
Before I can argue, he walks away. I pick up my used ice packs and drop them in the trash on my way to a cute little outdoor clothing boutique that’s just off the main seating area. I can look around without buying anything.
I lose myself in the colors, the textures, and the racks and racks of sporty, cute clothes. I might be a mayor, but putting together the perfect outfit is my first love.
“Those are nice.”
I look up from the rack of yoga pants with embroidered designs down each leg to see Garrick. He’s lost the winter coat and is in a Henley that clings to every one of his perfect muscles.
“Uh-huh,” I say. “I’m ready to start the tour.”
He chuckles. “We’re not leaving this store until you buy at least two things and put them on my parents’ account. I insist.”
I pop my hands on my hips. “Aren’t you on not great terms with your parents? What will they think of you spending their money?”
“You’re their guest. That trumps whatever’s going on with me.”
“Well, that’s too bad. I’m spending my own money.” I know the obligations that go along with taking money or favors from other people, and I want nothing to do with them. “Or I’m going as I am.”
Garrick doesn’t look happy, but I grab the leggings and head for a dressing room. If I didn’t love these leggings, I’d absolutely make do in what I’m wearing, but I’ve never seen yoga pants like this anywhere else. And I have money now. I sometimes forget that I can afford to splurge now and then.
The pants fit like a comfy glove. I pull the tag off and pay for them before Garrick has a chance to charge it to the family account. He probably just wants to do it to annoy his parents, anyway. It’s beyond clear his mother can’t stand me.
I stuff my long underwear in a plastic bag, thank the clerk, and head off to find Garrick.
“Ready to go.” I join Garrick, where he’s absorbed in studying ski goggles.
He looks up, clearly surprised. “Already? Did you pay?”
“Yep. What are you going to show me first?”
His eyes light and roam over me, and I heat in all the most wonderful places. I want everything he’s offering with that look.
He clears his throat. “There are so many things I want to show you, but let’s start with the balcony I jumped off of and broke my leg.”
He grabs my hand and pulls me from the shop. We make a quick stop at the lockers to stow my long underwear before continuing on. The lodge is a massive, sprawling two story building, and he takes me down the long hallways, telling me about every shop and eatery we pass.
He doesn’t actually tell me about what they sell or serve. He tells me about how it came to be, whose idea it was, what he shoplifted from there, or what dates he took there to annoy his parents.
By the time we reach the atrium, with a sparkling indoor fountain, and he’s pointing up at the wood-beamed ceiling and the balcony from which he leapt on a dare, I’m beginning to side with his parents in my surprise that he started his own successful business.
“And what did you get for completing this dare, other than a cast and grounded?” I ask, staring up.
He grips my chin and tilts my head down until I’m looking at him. Then he releases me and points at the scar on his top lip. “I got this.”
Never in my life have I wanted something more than I want to kiss this man right now. “Anything else?”
He shrugs. “Bragging rights and twenty dollars.”
“Twenty dollars?” I shake my head. “You almost killed yourself for twenty fucking dollars?”
“It was fun until I hit the ground.”
“Uh-huh. You’re an idiot.”
He laughs. “There might have been a girl I was trying to impress.”
I snort. “Now it all makes sense. I hope she also told you you’re an idiot.”
“She never talked to me long enough to tell me anything.”
He grabs my hand again. His palm is calloused and warm and I lace my fingers through his, laughing as we hurry down another hall, where he promises to tell me about the time he got to second base with a girl in front of an unexpected audience of his parents’ staff.
After he takes me through the lodge, we grab our coats and gloves and he takes me outside. He shows me around the small village at the base of the mountain and points out the town below that.
At the edge of the resort village, at the base of the mountains, is an outdoor skating rink. There are a handful of skaters moving gracefully around on the ice.
Tears spring to my eyes. The last time I was at a skating rink was with Peach. She was eight, and she was terrible, but she loved to skate.
I miss her so much. She’s set up a website for the wedding and I’ve been checking it and then searching out all the details through as many online searches as I can manage.
We’ve been texting, but I miss the sound of her voice and her smiling face.
Why won’t she let me be there for her?
If Peach had a mean bone in her body, I’d think this is some sort of revenge for something I did, but that’s not Peach.
I don’t want to admit it, don’t even want to think about it, but I’m afraid I’m losing my sister to Nick.
Maybe I need to accept my little sister doesn’t need me anymore.
The thought sends a pang through my chest so sharply I gasp.
“You okay?” Garrick asks.
I swallow hard and look out at the view, letting the cold air push back my tears. “I’m just worried you’re going to make me get out on the ice. I can promise you my balance on skates is no better than it is on skis.”
He chuckles. “I think we both have enough bruises for one day. I’ve got something better to show you.”
He points to a path that winds around the rink and up into the forest. “Taking me into the woods to kill me?”
With a worried glance back, he takes my hand and leads me toward the path. “You still think I’m your enemy?”
“Aren’t you? I’m no good to you as the mayor when the council does the opposite of everything I support or propose. And I’m no good to you as a fake girlfriend since I can’t ski. You could solve all your problems by burying me in a snowbank.”
“Huh,” he says. “I wasn’t planning to make you disappear, but when you put it that way…”
I laugh, as I’m sure he intends, but it feels awkward. This whole thing feels awkward. We both know a different mayor would be better for him and his business.
He must sense the tension I’m feeling, maybe in the way I’m squeezing his hand so tight, because he smiles down at me. “I’m not going to kill you, Demon. You’re way too much fun to torment.”
“Uh-huh. So what torment can I expect in the woods?”
He doesn’t answer, and I don’t run away. Wrong or right, I trust this man not to really hurt me.
And I’m beyond curious to see what he wants to show me, and to find out more about his life here. I never would have thought I’d ever be happy to spend time with Garrick Evergreen, but today has been one of the best days. Even with all the bruises, I’ve had fun.
I’ve had dates take me to fancy restaurants and the hippest clubs and been bored out of my mind. What is it about Garrick Evergreen that makes even something as torturous as skiing fun?
I’m about to ask how much farther we have to go when we step into a clearing. Above us is a small but beautiful waterfall. Parts of it are frozen and glittering in the afternoon sun streaming through the trees, but there’s a good flow of water and I swear it tinkles musically as it falls over the rocks and the ice.
What the hell has this man done to me that I’m hearing water tinkle musically?
“This is gorgeous,” I say. “I can’t believe there’s not a crowd here.”
Garrick swipes snow off a bench and takes a seat. “It’s not advertised and there’s no signage. Only the truly curious find it.”
I sit next to him, the cold of the wood sinking through my leggings immediately. I shiver, but I don’t get up. It’s so pretty here, it’s totally worth a cold ass.
“You brought girls here to make out with, didn’t you?”
He chuckles. “Nah, my siblings came here all the time, and I did not want to be caught by one of them. They would never have let me live it down.”
I shift to look at him. He’s staring out at the waterfall, his expression more at ease and happy than I’ve seen it before. “You really love it here, don’t you?”
He shifts to face me. “I do, but I love Yuletide too. I just love being outside. And I’m better with some space from my family. They can be overwhelming.”
“I guess I can see that. Do you ever think about moving back here?”
He wraps an arm around my shoulders and pulls me to his side. “You’re shivering. Want to head back?”
“Not yet.” I really don’t. There’s something so peaceful about this place, almost reverential. It’s been so long since I’ve had any peace in my life, but I don’t think I realized until this moment just how stressed I’ve been. “I’ll be okay.”
He lifts me and pulls me into his lap. I’m immediately warmer.
“Better?” he asks.
The part of me that hates to need help from anyone wants to argue, but it’s very comfortable on his lap and I love his arms around me. I can enjoy this for a moment and still be a strong, capable, independent woman.
“Much better.” I shift to look at him as I speak, and his face is closer than I expected.
So close I could accidentally kiss him and no one on earth would suggest it was purposeful.
“I really want to kiss you right now,” he says in a low, rough voice.
“We agreed that’s a bad idea.” Sometimes I hate being the voice of reason.
He lets his forehead drop against mine. “Pretty sure we both have an affinity for bad ideas.”
He’s not wrong, but I’ve been trying so very hard to be good. I’ve been trying so hard and what has it gotten me? A job I can’t do in a town where everyone hates me and a sister who’s shut me out of her life. “What happens on vacation stays on vacation?”
He lifts his head to study my face and his smile blooms slow and sultry. “It will definitely make our fake relationship more believable.”
“Just promise me, this will end when we get back to Yuletide.”
He grins. “I promise not to become bewitched by your magic vagina.”
I reach up to slide my hand through his hair, but forget I have a glove on and end up batting him in the back of the head instead. He doesn’t seem to care. He tilts his head down and kisses me.
Just like the last time he kissed me, the outside world disappears.
It just feels so damn good.
There’s none of that awkwardness of first kisses, of figuring out how the other person moves and adjusting, or trying to force them to switch to my method with subtle hints.
He kisses me and all the built up attraction, mixed with months of animosity and annoyance, pops off like a toaster dropped into water. I’m lit up from the top of my head to my toes, and I just want more.
More of this feeling. More of this man.
But my fingers are encased in puffy gloves and I can’t do more.
“I want to touch you,” I gasp against his mouth.
Somehow, he gets his hands free and slides a warm palm under my coat, sweater, and long underwear shirt until we’re skin against skin.
I can’t even think straight enough while I’m kissing this man to figure out how to get my damn gloves off.
He moves his hand up higher, lifting my layers, and ice cold air blasts the warmest, coziest part of me at the small of my back.
I let out an unholy shriek and try to burrow away from the cold and into him.
He laughs and pats my layers back down. “This isn’t the best place for this.”
“Maybe the real reason you didn’t use this as a make-out spot?” I ask, from my place cuddled against him. I really like it here. Too much.
“This may shock you, Demon, but there wasn’t a lot of making out or a lot of girls in my mis-spent youth. I was too busy looking for new trouble to cause to make much time for dating or making out.”
I tilt my head and look up at him. “Shocking.”
The fondness in his gaze when he looks down at me makes my chest go tight with a feeling I do not like at all. “I wasn’t always this good looking or this smooth, Demon.”
That does surprise me. I figured he’d been born charming. “You’ll have to teach me your secrets. Maybe if I’m smoother or as charming as you, the council will accept me.”
He presses a kiss to the cold tip of my nose. “You couldn’t be any more charming if you tried.”
I snort. “That’s not what you were saying a week ago.”
“No, but I was thinking it. I was having to fight really hard to remember all the reasons you were my enemy.”
“You’re just saying that because you want to get laid.”
“Speaking of that. We should get out of here.”
I hop off his lap, and he grabs my gloved hand. His are still bare and his gloves are nowhere to be seen. Did he actually take them off and manage to shove them in his pockets while kissing me?
Clearly, my kisses don’t have the same effect on him as his have on me.
Which is a very good thing. I don’t want him to fall for me in any way, not even physically.
No matter how sad it makes me to think about us going back to being strangers in Yuletide. Or, even worse, enemies.