Page 46 of Moonlit Colorado

Radical honesty here: I enjoyed his attention. Whenever I was around him, he made me feel…special.Alive.

Maybe I needed a little more of Dane’s particular brand of excitement. And that thought scared me. Not as much as someone robbing my house, but still.

Dane made me want things I was afraid of having.

THIRTEEN

Dane

The next morning,I stepped onto the elevator at the ground floor and swiped my keycard to head back to the seventh floor. I had a box of pastries and a couple of coffees balanced on top. I would’ve gone down to Main Street to grab breakfast from Silver Linings, because they had the best coffee in town. Way better than the mediocre stuff we were serving up downstairs in the lobby. I’d already made a mental note to ask where Piper sourced her beans.

But with Grace upstairs, I hadn’t wanted to take such a long detour. I also had a feeling that if I drove her into town, she might take off. She could leave whenever she wanted, technically, but I didn’t want to give her any excuse to cut our time short.

Especially after that asinine comment I had made last night. I worried she was already looking to make an exit.

Bringing up her childhood and what Ashford had said? Such a bad move. Not surprising she had been pissed about that. My point had seemed valid at the time, but I’d delivered it in exactly the wrong way. Hopefully these chocolate pastries would make up for it.

Also, I did have a thing about watching her eat. Whenever she bit into something delicious, she made this sexy little moan and closed her eyes like she wanted to savor the moment. That noise was turning into my guilty pleasure.

When I reached room 701, I did another balancing act to unlock the door and went inside.

“Dane?” she called out.

“It’s me. Brought breakfast.”

Her voice had come from the living room, so I headed there. Grace was curled up at one end of the couch, looking so cozy I wanted to snuggle in right beside her. She had her glasses on, her hair in a messy bun on top of her head, and a throw blanket draped over her legs.

“Comfy?” I asked.

“Very, actually. I’ve been admiring the view.” She swept a hand dramatically at the windows and the broad expanse of evergreens, along with swathes of red, orange, and gold from the changing leaves of the aspens. Once the season started, the hotel would offer the full ski-in/ski-out experience.

Grace lifted up her phone. “Also, I’ve been fielding questions about the break-in yesterday. Which is not as fun. Everyone in town seems to know.”

“Small-town rumor mill?”

“Exactly. I need caffeine to deal with all these busybodies.”

I set the food and drinks on the coffee table, then pulled sugar packets and creamer from my jeans pockets. Not fancy, but it would do for present purposes. “How do you take it?”

“One sugar, one cream.” She held out her hand, but I opened the lid of her coffee myself, doctoring it up and stirring it with a spoon I’d grabbed in my kitchen.

“Here you go.”

“Thanks. I could’ve done it myself.”

“Could have. But you didn’t have to.” I winked and picked up my own coffee cup. “While I was downstairs, I spoke to Tobin.”

“The manager, right?”

“You’ve got it.” The man worked long hours, and he’d been doing an excellent job. Another mental note. See about giving Tobin a raise. “I asked him to pull the security footage from the night of the grand-opening party and look for the three people you described. He said he would have it for us later this afternoon.”

“Good.” She fiddled with the lid to her coffee cup. “I also texted with Ashford. I told him about the break-in. And where I stayed the night. Well, it started as texting, and then he called all freaked out.”

“Ah.” I was surprised Ashford hadn’t written me, asking for an explanation. “Is he about to storm the ski mountain looking for you?”

“I don’t think so. I told him I’m fine and that you’re taking care of me.”

I smiled. “I hope I am.”

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