“Wait. Do I know you?”
My head jerked up as I grabbed for my laptop, pausing my plan for a hasty retreat. The man tilted his head to the side, taking me in with a puzzled look on his face. At a second glance, it was a very familiar face.
“Blister?”
Chapter 2
Instantly, I no longer felt physically afraid; but in that one word, I was fourteen again—in all of its pimply, gangly, braces, frizzy haired glory. I wasn’t sure which was worse.
No way.
Noway.
Only one imbecile on this earth would call me ‘Blister,’ and I refused to accept that the pair of incredulous eyes staring at me belonged to him. Then it opened its mouth again.
“Blister! What are you doing here? You scared the crap out of me.” Good gracious, why was he looking at me as though he’d been given bacon and eggs for breakfast when he’d ordered oatmeal?
“It’s Penny.”
“What?”
“My name. It’s Penny.” I spoke slowly, so as not to confuse him.
“Right,” he said, his eyes roaming over me. “Sorry. Old habits. I haven’t seen you since… When was it? Matt and Gina’s wedding?”
Of all the things I was not in the mood for at that moment, rehashing the last time I saw Chase Riley was at the very top of my list. No matter that he looked like some sort of Greek God standing before me without his shirt on. Eyes up, Penny.
“What are you doing here, Chase?” I folded my arms, trying to look more in control of this situation than I felt.
His eyebrows rose as he leaned against the wall. “Me? I was taking a shower. Inmycabin”
“No, no.Mycabin. Gina gave me permission to use it this week.”
He shrugged. “Matt gave me the keys.”
“No.”
He held up his hands and spoke slowly, as if trying to calm down a psychotic animal. “I paid Matt two weeks ago, when he gave me the keys for this week.”
“I talked to Gina…” My voice trailed off as my mind exploded. No. No. No.
I strode to the window and peered through the blinds to see the winter snow warning up close and personal. I imagined myself grabbing my bags, tossing Chase a wave, and stalking out toward my car in a very confident huff. I considered the pros and cons between a Bigfoot encounter or staying in the same cabin as Chase. Bigfoot was hairy and gross enough for the two of us, he would probably never think to call me a dog. Bigfoot would have never known that, after an unfortunate incident in the ninth grade, my nickname in some circles at school became Blister. On the flip side… Chase probably wouldn’t eat me. Although, to be fair, I’m not really sure what Bigfoot does beyond just making people crap their pants at the sight of him. Does he eat people?
Wait. Why was I worried aboutme? Chase should be the one leaving. This wasmycabin for the week. Besides, all my fake bravado aside, not even Chase Riley could make me leave at this hour and traipse down the mountain to my car, which was probably buried in snow.
“I’ll call her.” My fingers itched for something to do to make this all go away. I pulled my phone out of my pocket; Gina would not stand for this. Surely, she would kick Chase out, maybe give him a free stay another week.
“Don’t bother. There’s no service. And they’re on their cruise, so they wouldn’t be able to answer. My guess is that neither one told the other.”
“You think, genius?” I stared at my phone, begging it to magically make Chase disappear.
“You look different. Your hair is darker.”
He had a hint of a smirk on his face, as if he were reliving a funny memory. Guaranteed, some memory I had no interest reliving at the present moment. Presently, I needed those abs out of my face, and him fully dressed.
“Listen, I know we need to figure this out, but could you go put some clothes on?”
He arched a teasing eyebrow. “Driving you wild, huh?”