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“Oh, we will,” Leonard says with a smirk. “But not as good as the one you’re going to have.”
Nevil chuckles. “Just don’t fall in love, boy. Kay’s a local girl. She knows better than to get mushy over some flatlander. How do the kids put it these days, Leonard?”
“You’re here for a good time, not a long time,” Leonard says, taking a sip of his beer. “So don’t catch feels.”
I’m pretty certain no one says that, but I don’t want to waste time arguing.
Nevil nods. “Yep. Catch feels. That’s it. Don’t catch ‘em. Worse than a bad case of salmonella.”
Leonard grunts. “Amen, brother. Amen. Though not as bad as leprosy. You can catch leprosy from armadillos. Did you know that?”
It seems I didn’t finish the salmonella conversation after all. And somehow, that feels right.
“Sure did,” Nevil says. “That’s why you won’t catch me south of New York State. Damned armadillos moving farther north every year.”
Beginning to suspect I’ve been had—anyone who knows this much about armadillos absolutely had the 411 on penguins—I lift a hand and leave the men to their beer and troublemaking.
Outside, I stop on the snow-dusted sidewalk, my stomach flipping when I search the street and find not a single blue car or Volvo in sight. But a beat later, Kay pulls up from around the corner, waving at me through the open passenger window, “Bran, over here. I had to grab gas. I’m always running on empty.”
Same, I think as I jog over to slide into the car, though it’s not my car’s tank that’s the issue. For me, empty is more of a personal problem.
Back home in the city, I’m always running on empty, pushing myself to grow my business even faster, to prove to my older brothers that I can be every bit as successful as they are. But my chain of ski resorts is enjoying their most profitable year to date and my financial advisor is thrilled about the tax deduction I’m going to get for building the community recreation park.
Meanwhile,I’mthrilled for an excuse to spend more time in Vermont with my family and a certain redhead who gives killer kisses.
“Caramel popcorn, strawberries, and leftover pork roast okay for dinner?” she asks as we zoom out of town, up the road leading to the mountain opposite my family’s hilltop peak. “If not, we’re going to have to go to the store and you know that takes a minimum of an hour round trip around here.”
“Stale crackers and lint-covered raisins are fine for dinner,” I say. “As long as I get to have dessert first.”
Her sly grin makes it clear she understands exactly what—or rather,whom—I intend to have for dessert. “You can have as much dessert as you want. I’m hoping for seconds and thirds, myself. It’s been a long time since I’ve had dessert.”
“I find that hard to believe,” I say, brushing my thumb back and forth over the back of her hand as she drives. “You’re funny, charming, not to mention the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.”
Her smile slipping, she shoots a quick glance my way before her eyes return to the road. “You’re good. I actually believe you meant that.”
“I did mean it,” I say. “We sheep in wolf’s clothing always tell the truth. At least about things like that.”
Her fingers tighten around mine. “You’re doing things to me with the sweet talk.”
“Good things?”
“Very good things,” she says, “but just so we’re clear…this is a one-time thing. I don’t do long distance. I’ve tried it before, and it really wasn’t for me. I need someone close enough to sleep over on a regular basis, you know?” She exhales a laugh. “Not to assume that you want more than one night, I just…wanted to be honest.”
“Understood,” I say, ignoring the tight feeling in my chest. Leonard and Nevil warned me straight up not to get attached.
I’ll just have to make our one night together count and maybe talk her into some kind of friends-with-benefits arrangement whenever I’m in town. From there, who knows?
With that in mind, as soon as Kay pulls into the driveway of the cutest cottage I’ve ever seen—complete with white bric-a-brac around the red, Alpine-style structure and evergreen trees strung with pink heart lights out front—and shuts off the car, I make my move.
Leaning across the console, I cup her face in my hands and kiss her full out with no worries that bar flies might be watching. She returns the kiss with equal enthusiasm, clinging to my shoulders as she angles her head and strokes her tongue against mine. My hands roam down her back to her hips and a beat later, I have her out of her seatbelt and lift her into my lap.
She giggles as her head bumps against the roof of the car, but as soon as she’s settled across my thighs, she kisses me again. “I have an entire house, you know,” she says, as we continue to make out like teenagers in the front seat of her Volvo. “With a couch and a recliner and a very nice bed with extra quilts on it in case you get cold.”
“Thanks, but I run hot,” I say, squeezing her ass through her pants, loving the hungry sound that emerges from the back of her throat in response.
“You certainly do,” she murmurs, kissing me as she fumbles for the door. She finally finds it and pulls, letting in a blast of cool winter air. “Inside. I need my first helping of dessert—stat.”
Spilling out of the car in a tangle of limbs, we make a run for the front door, both of us grinning like kids on Christmas morning. But I suspect a night with Kay is going to be better than anything I’ve ever received for Christmas, a hunch she confirms by slamming the front door closed and leaping into my arms.
