“I’m sorry. It’s just still raw,” I said, justifying my chippy attitude.
“I’ll be in Colorado next month,” he informed me.
“What? I mean, why?”
“I need to sign off on your condo. My name’s on the lease. Yours is on the boutique.”
“Oh,” I said, realizing that gave me less than a month to get my things out of there—a difficult feat since I was too scared to even go there.
“Did you decide to stay?” he asked, sensing the trepidation in my voice.
“Stay? I haven’t been back there since that night.”
“Why?” he asked.
“The guy knows where I live, Gino. Remember? He threatened me and everyone I care about. I guess you’re lucky you live in Florida, or you might be in danger, too.”
There was absolute silence on his end.
“Tell me what you’re thinking,” I urged, desperately needing to know.
“When I’m there,” he finally said, “I want to see you. Ending things over the phone didn’t give me the closure I need.”
The hair on the back of my neck stood on end, as if I was suddenly scared of him. Was I? Did I doubt his innocence in all of this after all?
“Giselle?” he prompted when I hadn’t responded.
“Yeah?”
“Can I see you?” he asked.
“Why don’t you text me when you’re in town.”
“Sure,” he said.
“Okay,” I said, but I was far from it.
Thayer
I left my snowboard outside on a rack and climbed the steps into the ski lodge. I scanned the other snowboarders and skiers, thawing out and refueling. That’s when my eyes landed on the gorgeous brunette in the light blue sweater staring at me from her seat by the window overlooking the mountain. I willed her to stand and greet me, but that wouldn’t be G. The slight smirk on her face told me she’d much rather watch me come to her—either that, or she was envisioning me naked.
“Hey,” I said as I approached.
“Hey,” she said.
I eyed the empty seat beside her. “This taken?”
“Well, I was waiting on this gnarly snowboarder who’s getting ready to crush it in Steamboat,” she said, looking over my shoulder as if she couldn’t find him. “But I guess you’ll do.”
“Gnarly, huh?” I laughed as I sat down.
“The gnarliest,” she said. “You know, I didn’t need you to stop here to check in with me. I’m not a high-maintenance girlfriend.”
Girlfriend. If she even knew how fucking amazing that sounded to me, she would have thought I was a whipped pussy. Because I completely was. I snaked my hand into the back of her hair and pulled her toward me. Our lips were a mere whisper apart when I said, “I just wanted to see you.” I pressed my lips gently to hers, pulling back way too soon.
“Can’t wait to see what you’re working on,” she said.
“Yeah, me too.”