Total pages in book: 105
Estimated words: 100202 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 501(@200wpm)___ 401(@250wpm)___ 334(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 100202 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 501(@200wpm)___ 401(@250wpm)___ 334(@300wpm)
“What?” Her brow knit.
“That’s what you said about the kiss. We can just forget it happened.”
“Oh. Right.” She shook her head and moved to step away, but I caught her waist, sliding my hand to the small of her back and pulling her closer. She inhaled swiftly, her hands bracing but not pushing at my chest.
“Did you like it?” I asked. I’d been clear as day where I stood on it, and I wasn’t about to be the only one on the ledge.
She locked her eyes with mine and nodded.
Instead of feeling relieved like I thought I would, my entire body tightened. “There are a few different things we can do about that kiss.”
“Such as?” The catch in her voice was so damn hot.
“Such as ignoring it,” I suggested. “Which is what we should probably do considering our living arrangements.”
“Right.”
“We can talk about it. We can address it. We could even reenact it, although I’m pretty sure that’s quite possibly the worst thing we could do to keep this house stable.” I needed to back the hell away, but I couldn’t get my hands to listen to reason, or talk my feet into moving, not when I had her in my arms, pressed up against me like there was nowhere else she wanted to be.
“That would be logical,” she agreed, swiping her tongue over her lower lip.
I groaned. “But I’m incapable of forgetting it ever happened,” I warned her. “I could live the rest of my life and recall every single detail. A week from now. A year from now, the time wouldn’t matter.” She swayed, and I shifted my grip to her waist, steadying her on her feet before forcing myself to step back just to prove to myself I had the control to do it. “Which is why I’m going to focus on making sure it never happens again.”
I walked the hell away and just hoped I’d be able to keep doing exactly that.
9
Callie
* * *
Having an assistant was great. Having an assistant who could shoot photos so I could take my first day off for personal time in years? That was fabulous.
I’d spent the early part of my morning taking a dozen new pictures—keeping the local gallery in mind—before grabbing breakfast with Halley, and then we headed back up to my house, my car loaded with decorations, snacks, and about fourteen different colors of nail polish.
“I can’t believe she’s already eleven,” Halley said as we carried everything inside.
“Right? Me either.” Sutton’s birthday falling on a Friday had been kismet, according to Sutton, who had invited six little girls over for a slumber party tonight, as our contract dictated. I smiled at the sight of Weston’s signature scrawling under mine—my real one, since I’d crossed out Sutton’s attempt at forgery.
“You sure you don’t want me to take off tonight and help out?” Halley offered. “I really don’t mind.”
“You’d miss out on Friday night tips,” I reminded her, pulling out the long, sparkly banner I’d bought to hang in front of the kitchen. If my girl was having a slumber party, then we were going full out.
“That is true,” she said with a little grimace. “But I’d do it for you.”
“Thank you. Just helping me set up is more than I could hope for. Ava can’t get away, and Raven has her hands full with the holiday week tourists.” We climbed up on the dining room chairs and used putty to hang the banner, the kind that wouldn’t peel off the paint when we cleaned up tomorrow. Weston was going to break into hives when he came downstairs in the morning, but I’d get everything back to normal by the afternoon since the girls were scheduled to be picked up by eleven.
Then again, it had been a few weeks since Weston had gone into intense cleaning mode. Maybe we were wearing him down. Or at least Sutton was.
As for me? He was heeding his own advice from last weekend and keeping his physical distance. Pretty sure he could’ve kept a full ski between us at all times this week.
That didn’t stop his gaze from tracking me whenever we were in the same room, or keep my pulse from rising whenever our eyes would meet. And if he smiled? Forget it, I was a freaking puddle. Now that I knew how that man kissed, I had a whole new level of appreciation for his mouth.
“And what about Weston?” Halley asked.
I stumbled but caught myself before I fell off the chair, climbing down with a little more grace. “What about Weston?” Was she reading my mind?
“He’s tall enough to hang this stuff without the chairs.” She hopped off hers. “I mean, not quite, but you get the point.”
“Oh. Right.” I blinked and shook my head. “He has skiers today. I’m pretty sure he’s flying and Theo’s guiding, but I don’t really keep up with their schedule.” Except that I remembered days where he walked in sweaty, tired, and content. Mostly because he went straight to the shower.