Page 43 of One Little Kiss
But that’s a lie. I knew it the second I laid eyes on CC again. The moment I touched her, my body knew what my heart desired. When Winnie focused those clear gray eyes on mine, I had the overwhelming urge to fix her. To hold her. To love her.
“Do you, ah, do you believe in love at first sight, GG?”
She crosses her arms with a knowing smile. “Oh, Pan. I wouldn’t have married my Benny after a couple of months if I didn’t, would I?”
“No, I guess not.” Even as fear grips my every sense, a small smile forms on my lips.
“It’s not gonna be an easy road, Pan. You’re in for the fight of yer life. Think ya can handle that?”
“GG, if Winnie gives me a chance, I have a feeling I’d burn this world to the ground before I let her go again.”
Her bushy brows raise with skepticism. Her small, knowing smile grows broader on her thin lips. By the time I leave GG’s lodge with a handful of cookies and armed with information, I’m ready to battle my way to the car through at least a dozen camera crews.
Fucking hell.
Thankfully, I parked behind the garage, where they don’t have access. Sprinting behind the old, converted barn, I find Halton leaning against my car. It’s late April, but there’s snow on the ground, and he’s standing here in a sweatshirt. I really shouldn’t say anything since I’m the one in tights, but I know he has to be freezing his balls off.
“What the hell, Halt? It’s fucking cold out here. Why are you just standing there like that?”
Pointing in the direction of the lodge, he shakes his head. “Preston’s going to be pissed. You can’t just come and go like this until we get the vultures to back off.”
I know he’s right, but it was an emergency, and I tell him so. “Yeah, well, I had to talk to GG.”
“I know. Rylan was eavesdropping, but don’t tell her I told you.” He tosses me his keys and nods his head at the black SUV with tinted windows. “I’m not putting on your fucking costume,” he barks, “but if we leave at the same time, they won’t be able to tell who we are. I’ll take your car to Ashton’s and walk home from there. Keep the SUV for a while. Unless someone sees you get in it, they’ll assume it’s me. It should buy you a couple of days, anyway.”
My body propels forward, and I wrap him in a Westbrook special. “Thanks, Halt. I … you know I’m sorry about everything. I really didn’t do it. I’m not the fuck up everyone thinks I am.”
“I know. We’ll figure it out,” he promises, then heads to my car. “You really going after the girl dressed like that?”
Glancing down, I frown. “Nah, I’m just going to drive around for a bit. I’ll go see her tomorrow.”
He chuckles, then gives me the finger. “Good luck with that, Colty. You ready?”
“Yeah, and thanks for this,” I say, holding up his keys, but he’s already climbing into my car.
I follow him around the barn, and at the end of the lodge’s driveway, he turns right to head around to the backside of the mountain. I take a left and head toward town, already knowing my destination.
Forty-eight Hill Street is a small, craftsman-style cottage set back from the narrow road. And when I say small, I mean there may be two bedrooms at most. It’s white with black shutters and matching window boxes. The never-ending snow in this part of the country has kept any flowers from blooming yet, but they’re full of Easter decorations, and it gives the place an almost cheerful appearance even when everything around it is still dead from the long winter.
I hope she’s happy here.
Putting the car in reverse, I back up until the detached garage comes into view and that foreign frown forms yet again. If the house is small, the garage is downright miniature, and it sets off all kinds of protective feelings I’m not sure what to do with.
GG told me she and her brother live in an apartment above the garage, but there’s no way this is the right place. It’s a one-car garage and the apartment above it can’t have more than a single room.
My forehead wrinkles, and I find myself pulling on my bottom lip as I watch the buildings from the darkness of the truck. Rolling my neck, it cracks, easing some of the tension building there, so I roll it to the other side then have to brush the hair out of my eyes.I really need to get a haircut.
Tapping my ring fingers on the steering wheel in time to the music playing over the speakers, I debate what to do. I know I can’t go see her right now, but I can’t bring myself to leave either.
“What are you doing in there, Winnie Darling?”
GG had also given me her last name. I like it more than I should. Winnie’s sarcastic smile pops into my mind just as Nine Inch Nails comes on my playlist like a sign.
My chest constricts when I turn back to face her place and unease settles deep in my bones as Winnie walks down a sketchy looking staircase on the side of the garage. She’s holding a garbage bag in one hand and hanging onto the railing with the other.
Fuck it.I’m here, and there she is. I exit my car and lean against it as I wait for her to return from wherever she’s dropping the trash. After a couple of minutes, I pace. After five minutes, I huff. Closing in on the ten-minute mark, I let impatience get the better of me. Pushing off of the car, I stomp through the slush to find her.
CHAPTER13
