Page 32 of Bad Boy Bachelor Christmas
“I told you not to walk the fields alone,” he said.
I smelled gunpowder.
CHAPTER15
NORTH
Winter stood frozen in place, her knees pinched together in fear, her honey-brown eyes wide with terror. The echo of my gunshot had long since ceased echoing off the cliff, but clearly, it was still ringing in her ears.
I should have known she wouldn’t have heeded my warning about walking alone. The girl had a tendency to only hear what she wanted. Maybe the rifle shot would clear her ears out.
“S-sorry,” she stammered, finding her voice after what felt like several minutes. “I… erm… shit. I was stupid.”
Huh, maybe there was hope for her after all.
I rested the gun on my other shoulder. “Some just have to learn the hard way. You going to be all right?” I nodded down at her pinched knees. She looked like she was about to pee herself.
“Mhm. I’ll be fine. Just having minor heart palpitations. I don’t know what was scarier, the prospect of being attacked by a rabid coyote or the gunshot.” Her gaze fixed on the rifle. “Probably the gun.”
“Sorry,” I said, deciding that if she had the guts to apologize, so did I.
“Don’t be. You saved my hide.”
“True.”
A smile curled her lips. “Quite humbly too.”
Less true.
I tipped my head back in the direction we’d both come, toward my house. “Have you eaten dinner yet?”
She shook her head and straightened up. “No, I was about to warm something up in the cabin. I just got back from Justin’s heritage house. Things came together pretty nicely. You should go take a look at it when you get the chance.”
“Maurice was just about to put out dinner. Come join me.”
Her eyebrows raised. “Really?”
“What? I can’t invite my intern to join me for a meal?”
She hurried over like the coyote, eager and low to the ground. “No, no, I’d love to. I’m sure whatever Maurice whipped up is better than what I was going to make. Lead the way.”
We walked side by side, Winter occasionally kicking the toe of her boots through frozen blades of grass. She told me all about her day and how Justin’s nerves had almost gotten the better of him.
“He wasn’t convinced I knew what I was doing,” she said, glancing up ahead as my house came into view. She shivered almost excitedly, anticipating the warmth as we both spotted the crackling living-room fire through the window. “But I think by the time I left tonight I had him rightfully convinced. Not a fan of color, that one. Or risk. If he had his way, he’d have made me decorate everything in different shades of gray. Boring.”
“Some people like gray.”
“Modern homes look great with gray. If people are chasing a minimal aesthetic or a baseline, then that makes perfect sense. But when you have a house like that with so much character?” She shook her head as if repulsed by Justin’s preferences. “It’s blasphemy. Total blasphemy.”
We pushed into the house. Winter let out a happy little sigh and did a shimmy on the mat before slipping out of her boots.
“It’s so nice in here,” she cooed. “And it smells heavenly.”
“Maurice’s schnitzel. Ten out of ten every time.”
“I’m drooling already.”
In my humble opinion, schnitzel paired best with a rich German red, so I poured us each a glass and we made ourselves comfortable in the dining room while Maurice put the finishing touches on dinner. Winter peeled off more layers of clothing until she was down to her white long-sleeve shirt and black leggings. Her socks had snowflakes on them, and she looked quite cute sipping her wine in the massive dining-room chair my father used to occupy at mealtimes when he was still alive.
