Page 15 of The Princess and the Pizza Man

Will chuckled. Winter obviously hadn’t caught Bells bouncing around from man to man. He was sure she was just in that other room, either sizing up her competition or descending upon her next victim. The only reason he wasn’t up in the suite taking advantage of the amenities was because of his moral obligations. Heck, if he had a choice, he would’ve packed up the minute he heard the words “murder mystery.”

Yeah, he was a total party pooper. But he was gonna keep all those thoughts to himself.

Winter gasped and then pushed her hand over his mouth, urging him up against the wall behind the ficus. Will held back a laugh at her attempts to stay inconspicuous; the ficus couldn’t hide him any better than a bean pole.

Michael rounded the corner, and when he caught sight of Will, his face scrunched at the hand over Will’s mouth that seemed attached to nobody.

Will nodded, and Michael returned it, then went back to his conversation with Velvet and one of the other guests Will didn’t know the name of.

“You know people can still see me, right?” he asked, his voice muffled behind her hand.

“I know they canhearyou,” she said as she dropped her arm and playfully rolled her eyes.

“Monroe’s aren’t known for their stealth.” He shrugged and slowly slid out from behind the ficus. “Better run before I blow your cover.”

“Yes, yes.” She bent back into the plant as more guests started filtering out from down the hall. A few were in bathing suits. Were they nuts? It was nice out, but it was false advertising—the wind made it feel like below zero.

Will shook his head, letting his eyes linger on Winter and her short frame trying—and failing—to stay hidden. Most guests saw her, but only gave the plant a look before returning to their conversations, just as Michael had. Guess Will was the only one brave enough to actually ask what she was doing.

Was it part of the act? He supposed everything was, but he never could tell with her. What if the real Winter—if that was her name—was someone he hadn’t met yet?

This place was gonna mess with his head.

The ficus leaves jostled, and he was impressed that he hadn’t even noticed Winter moving until he caught a glimpse of her camo pants as she rounded a corner. She sure was taking her guess work seriously, if that was what she was really doing. He didn’t really buy it—spirit of Eros, people falling for each other within a week, all of that. He believed in love, but he didn’t believe in love that fast.

His eyes widened, something in his brain clicking.

Winter was running a business, and Will knew firsthand that word of mouth was the best form of advertising. If his pizza place was rumored to be haunted by Cupid, he’d dive headfirst into that money pit.

His brow furrowed, and he trailed behind her as stealthily as he could. He just had to keep his trap shut, since the volume button on his voice was busted.

Winter hopped from plant to vase to chairs, and Will had to hold in his laughter. She was a spritely thing, he’d give her that, and while the camo was doing great things for her… ahem… assets, it was not so effective in invisibility. Luckily for her, it seemed like he was the only person who cared what she was up to. Everyone was chatting or invested in the thrills of being in a mansion they basically had the run of.

Winter stopped and squished herself behind a desk that was in the corner of the recreation room, only her platinum blonde hair peeking out from underneath, right between the pair of burly legs of the guest sitting there and taking advantage of the wifi.

“Oh!” Will heard next to him, and his skeleton jumped right from his skin. Bells’ perfume hit his nose at the same time the flip of her red curls did. She gave him a smile. “I’ve been lookin’ for Garreth all mornin’.” Her hands were all over, fixing her dress, smoothing her brows, pinching her cheeks. “This look okay?” She circled a finger around her face.

“You’re good,” he said.

“Your words are so encouraging.” She stuck a tongue out at him before clacking across the room and letting her fingers drag along the desk Winter was perched behind. Will couldn’t hold back his grin as Winter’s face popped out, her mouth dropping open as if she’d had an epiphany in the three seconds since Bells had walked over.

Will’s eyes bulged as well. Epiphanies must come in pairs, because he just had one, and if he was gonna survive this trip, he was definitely gonna act on it.

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