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She'll fall hard, and what's even better—I have a feeling that Will is going to fall too. Harder.
Because Katie's amazing. Any man would fall hard for her if given the chance. The thing is Katie rarely gives the chance. She's a one and done kind of gal. She's always been that way. I don't think she's ever had her heartbroken aside from the first time, and that's good—but I also want more for her. I want love for her.
And Will is flirty enough—determined enough—to break through her reservations and fight her cold shoulder.
Allie brings me back to the present as she takes another big bite of her stuffed French toast. “We're going to send him to his knees.” She nods to herself, like she's liking this plan a little too much. “We're going to make him beg.”
“Sounds like you have big plans.”
“Oh, oh yeah, I do. Big, big plans.” She swallows her toast. “Believe me, Nick needs it. He needsyou. He needs a woman who wants to bring him to his knees. He needs a woman who's going to make him feel like a man again.” She frowns. “Like he's wanted.”
“I don't get it,” I say softly, quietly. “Why would he feel like he isn't already a man worthy of desire?”
Allie's eyes lift from her plate to connect with mine. There's something there in the depths. Something that makes me a little uncomfortable, and I shift my seat.
“Allie?” I call.
She shakes her head. One sharp shake and drops her fork gently to her plate. “I want to tell you, Sadie, I want to tell you everything I know. But it's not my place. And if I do, I worry that I might destroy what you guys are becoming. So, I'm not going to do that. That's for him. Not me. I just hope that when he does, you listen, and you stick around.”
“Well, that's ominous.”
Her eyes continue to hold mine. “He's a good man. A really good man. And any woman who walks away from him, in my opinion, is a fool.”
I lift my coffee to my lips and take a long sip. And then I agree with a small nod. “I guess I better not walk away from him then.”
She smiles. It's big and bright and way too happy. “Trevor likes you for him, you know? Will does too.”
I raise a brow. “Will flirted with me all night.”
“Oh, I know.” She laughs. “He was testing you. Your loyalty to Nick.” She snorts in memory. “Totally pissed off Nick, and he liked that too.”
“He was?” I frown. I don't know how I feel about that, about being tested.
“Like I said, Nick is a good man. He has good friends. They want good things for him, and he hasn't had a lot of good things. So, they wanted to make sure that you're going to be a good thing.”
“And they think I'm going to be a good thing?”
Her grin turns cheeky again. “You’re going to be the best thing for Nick.”
I lift my own fork and push my toast around my plate, then my eyes lift to hers and my heart jolts in my chest. “You know I don't live here, right? I'm from Arizona.” I cast my gaze out the window to the skiers that ride the slope. “This isn't my life.”
“Who says it couldn't be your life?”
I lift a shoulder. “It's complicated. I have a home. I have things.”
“All of your things can move.”
“I have people.”
“That's a little harder,” she agrees, nodding. “But it's not like there aren't planes, and it's not like you can't take vacations.”
I can't look back at her when I say, “But Nick would have to ask me to stay, and we've only been doing this for a little over a week. It's crazy to be thinking about forever with a man I've known for a little over a week.” My pitch is rising. “I don't even know him. Not really, anyway.”
“Girl, you are sleeping in his arms every night.”
“But he doesn't talk. Not much, anyway. He's like a vault. And prying into him isnoteasy.”
She gives me a smile, but it doesn't reach her eyes. In fact, it's a little sad, a little guarded, and it makes the little hope that I have in my chest deflate. “You have time, Sadie. Make him talk. Make him let you inside that uncrackable vault and invade him with all the,” her eyes scan me. “Sunshine you’ve got going on.” I laugh and she continues, “It's up to you whether you're going to try and do that. I can't make you. I just hope that you do. Because I know he needs you. And I think,” she waves her fork at me. “I think you need him too.”
