Page 6 of One Snowy Seduction
“Because you never liked window shopping and you get bored easily.” Her reply was void of irritation.
He stuffed his hands into his pockets. “I rarely window shop anymore. Whatever clothes or shoes I need, I order online.”
She looked over her shoulder at him then. “Oh, so you’re buying clothes now. That’s a change. I remember you choosing to spend all the money you had left over from financial aid on computer supplies and tech magazines.”
There was a lot of truth in that statement. He nodded and continued to walk beside her. “And you immediately went to the mall searching for a complete outfit. You used to say if you had to pay the government back this money one day that you might as well get something for yourself with it.”
“Facts,” she continued leaning in closer to survey the lunchmeats that had been arranged to look like roses stuffed between fresh fruits on a particular tray. “You were okay rotating the same four pairs of jeans you possessed and those awful plaid shirts.”
Kendrick chuckled at that. “Those shirts were comfortable and you know it. Remember that time you spilled your chocolate sundae on your t-shirt and you refused to walk back to your apartment with that huge stain on it? You swore somebody would see you and start teasing you about being a nerdanda slob.”
She turned again and looked up at him. “You offered me the blue and gray plaid shirt with that one missing button at the bottom.”
There was a softness to her voice as she said those words and Kendrick fought to stay present. While he’d been the one to bring up the memory, he hadn’t realized that recalling her slim arms slipping into the sleeves of his shirt and watching her button said shirt over the sports bra that had cupped her palm-sized breasts, would bring about such an immediate physical reaction.
His throat was dry, so he cleared it and nodded hoping he didn’t seem like a total goof. “It was the least I could do.”
“You were always doing nice things like that for me. Those big brother type things. It filled a void at the time because LJ was back at home working with my dad.”
This wasn’t new. Teesha had often referred to him as her big brother or her bestie and years ago he’d accepted and adored the title. It meant they were close, that she cared about him like she cared about her family—namely her older brother, Lawrence Jr. Today, standing barely a foot away from her and watching her plump lips move as she talked, he no longer cared for those titles. No brother or bestie should look at their sister or friend the way he was currently looking at her. Nor should his body have reacted to seeing her again the way it had when he’d only been wearing that towel.
“You want one of those?” he asked and nodded toward the display case. A change of topic and a reason to get them out of this store and back out into the cold weather should be enough to calm the heat that had been steadily brewing inside him since their surprise meeting over an hour ago.
She shook her head. The hood on her coat had been lowered but she still wore the gloves. And he hadn’t been following her, at least not intentionally. If he’d subconsciously kept the puffy white coat in his range of vision while they walked through the village streets, he chalked that up to her being the only person in Méribel he knew. Even though, his entire reason for taking this trip was to get away from the people who knew him and who’d attempted to tell him how to fix the rest of his life.
“They said food was included,” she’d been saying when he shook himself free of his thoughts and tuned into her once more.
“What? Oh, yeah, the kitchen at the chalet is fully stocked. There’s even a personal chef on hand should we require him. When I checked in, I told them that wasn’t necessary.”
She was frowning at him again and he felt a pinch of aggravation because there was a time—before their argument—that Teesha had only looked at him with happiness or camaraderie.
“Were you planning to cook for however long you’re staying?” She tilted her head and he watched as her eyes narrowed. Her eyelashes were long and thick. If he hadn’t known her for as long as he had, he’d think she was wearing fake ones. But no, this was Teesha’s natural look. Amazing that he was just now realizing how very alluring that look was. “How long are you staying here?”
Someone bumped into him from behind and he spared the person a quick glance. It was a woman who was frowning as she stepped around him to make her way up to the counter. When she began speaking fluent French, rapidly giving the salesperson her order with a hint of annoyance, Kendrick scowled. Then he moved so that he stood on the other side of Teesha.
“I’m here for the week and I was really just trying to be alone. I get enough of people moving about at my office and in my home. I wanted some peace and quiet.” And he hadn’t really meant to reveal so much about himself this quickly. The way Teesha lifted a perfectly arched brow with curiosity meant he’d definitely said too much. “Anyway,” he hurried to say before she could ask another question. “We can get one of these to take back with us. And still have dinner at one of the restaurants here.”
She glanced toward the door. “I really did plan to ski this afternoon. But I guess I’ve got all week for that.”
“You have all week and the ease of ski in/ski out access. If we head out the back door of the chalet, we’re in walking distance to one of the lifts. Or, the village is a ski-through base, so, in the morning we could come here again, grab some breakfast and then get the lift up to the mountain.” He snapped his mouth closed when he felt like an infomercial. Without waiting for her to speak again, he turned and gave the salesperson his order, in perfect French. The irritated woman still standing at the counter glared at him, then turned away holding her chin in the air dismissively. It wasn’t the first time he, a young Black man, had shocked someone with his well-spoken tenor and in today’s case, knowledge of another language, and he was certain it wouldn’t be the last. He refused to let the fact that the world chose to pre-judge him dictate how he would live or feel about himself.
In the meantime, Teesha had made her way out of the shop while he was stuck waiting for his order. He hadn’t hurried out to catch up with her recognizing that doing so would only add to the appearance that he was following her. And it wasn’t that truly, it was just that she was the last person in the world he’d expected to see here this week. At the same time, the moment he’d laid eyes on her he’d known she was exactly the person he needed to see at this point in his life.
There’d never been anything he couldn’t tell Teesha and at one time she’d felt the same about him. They’d been each other’s sounding boards about everything in life, from class schedules to boyfriends and girlfriends. Not that either of them had entertained that many personal relationships while they were in college. They’d been too busy studying and planning how they’d take the technology world by storm with their amazing ideas. Kendrick had never doubted they’d both do that, together. He’d been wrong.
* * *
She was a coward.
No, she wasn’t. She was smart. Self-preservation had kept her from making any number of mistakes that would’ve only compounded the awful last year she’d had. Being frank with herself about what she did and did not need had been a wise first step. Maintaining had been tough but she’d managed. And she would again.
Just as soon as she stepped out of the dressing room in the clothing shop, she’d hurried into after leaving the deli. She hadn’t run from him in the deli and she wasn’t hiding now. She’d actually tried on four sweaters and a turtleneck that had almost choked her as she’d tried to get it off in the limited space.
She’d also brought in a few pairs of pants and a multi-colored scarf, none of which she had any intention of buying. Two very cordial women had greeted her when she came in. Their “bonjour” followed by bright smiles made her think they worked on commission. So, to avoid a flurry of questions, she’d hurriedly gone over to the racks near the back of the store and started grabbing stuff. One of them had happily unlocked the dressing room door so she could go in. That same salesperson was probably currently waiting right outside the door for Teesha to appear again.
With a heavy sigh, Teesha dropped own onto the bench across from the mirror. What the hell was she doing? She wasn’t the type to back down from anything. LJ had taken a lot of time and effort pushing her around as a lesson to teach her how to stand up for herself, and she’d learned well. She’d had to because children could be an awful species and there was always one or a group of them trying her patience with their jokes and criticisms. She’d been relieved once she arrived at college where nobody knew her and she’d decided it would be okay to keep it that way. Until the middle of freshman year, when she was at the library and her laptop battery had died. The closest socket to plug it in was in the Douglas room of the building, beside the chair where Kendrick had been sitting. They’d been inseparable from that moment on.
Now, she was sitting in a dressing room, trying to get away from him. That wasn’t smart. Eventually, she’d have to make her way back to the truck so he could drive them up to the chalet for the evening. He wanted to have dinner here in the village, but she didn’t want to sit and take a meal with him. That would seem too polite, too normal, too much like they’d used to be. But there was no going back to that time. She’d told herself that a million times in the past years. It had been nice while it lasted, but they’d had to go their separate ways, to do their own thing. There was still a slight sting at that memory of Kendrick’s actions that had made that split for them.
