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“Yes,” I breathe out as I close the distance and press my mouth against hers, kissing her deeply. Zoey bends into the kiss, her arm still behind her back, her hand in mine as she wraps the other around my shoulders and pulls me closer.
I trace her bottom lip with my tongue, gently biting before kissing her again.
“Hey, Zoey, you’re back! Oh, shit, I—”
Zoey and I both pull back to find Elissa standing in Zoey’s open office doorway, her eyes wide and her mouth open, a shocked look on her face.
“God, I’m so sorry!” she says, hands up in apology, a flush on her cheeks. “I had no idea you were both…you…ugh…”
Chuckling, I brush my lips against Zoey’s ear as I whisper, “I guess we suck at keeping things on the downlow.”
Zoey smiles. “Yeah, but Elissa’s a good friend. We can trust her.”
“I know,” I reply. “It’s all good. Guess I should leave you to it?”
She smirks now, smiling as she whispers, “Love you, might drop by later for ameeting…maybe…”
“Oh, you better,” I reply, grinning as I give her a quick kiss before letting her go. “Morning, Elissa,” I say as I turn to face her.
“Morning, Ethan,” she replies, her cheeks still pink.
Chuckling, I walk over to the door. “Have a good day, babe,” I say, glancing back over my shoulder at Zoey. She just smiles, a sexy little smirk on her face as she watches me go, closing the door behind me, but not before I hear Elissa say, “Holy shit, so you twoarea couple?”
CHAPTER14
ZOEY
Elissa is screeching like she’s calling dolphins after I admit to her that Ethan and I are in fact a couple. Obviously, the rumor mill spread that news all over Badger Creek rather than being concerned with me going missing. Sounds about right.
“Oh my god, would you stop!” I whisper-shout at Elissa, yet I can’t stop laughing at her response. She’s happy for me and I love that, but I also know she’s drawing attention to the whole thing. The detective did tell us to lay low until he figured out the link between all of this.
It’s not like we came in the front entrance of the lodge and flaunted it to every employee, but we certainly didn’t hide it.
“I can’t!” Elissa squeals, pulling me in for a hug. “I know I should be asking if you’re okay and shit, but I can see you’re okay and you’ve been holding out on me.”
“I haven’t been holding out on you,” I say, hugging her back, a huge smile on my face. It feels good to talk about something other than my abduction and the search for the people who did it. “Okay, maybe I have been just a little, but with the expansion and me taking on more responsibility, we thought it would be best to keep it quiet.”
“Yeah, I get that. This place loves to talk and you two would definitely be on everyone’s lips. Now hit me with it. How long has this been going on? How’s the sex? What does his house look like? Tell me everything. I have to live through you because well, you know,” Elissa says, her words coming out in a rush, shrugging her shoulders at the end.
“Haven’t heard from Nick?” I now ask, even though she tries to play it off like it doesn’t bother her.
“Don’t change the subject on me,” she bites back, smirking at me. “But no, I haven’t. It’s been two months, six days and several hours, not that I’m keeping track.”
As much as she’s trying to make a joke of it, I hate that he broke her heart. Elissa is always the one to give to everyone but herself. She stayed here in Tahoe to take care of her mom instead of going to college in Colorado. She agreed with Nick when he told her it would be better for both of them if they broke up. She hasn’t even gone for a promotion here at Badger Creek, claiming there are more qualified people. I’m waiting for the day that she puts herself first.
“I’m sorry. I know he’s thinking about you. He asks Max about you,” I tell her, but I’m not sure that’s what she wants to hear.
Elissa rolls her eyes, and I knew I shouldn’t have said it. It sucks that she’s stuck here at Badger Creek while Nick is off living his dream, a dream that was supposed to be theirs. Elissa was as good as Nick, if not better. She could have had an Olympic career too.
“Seriously, Elissa, I’m sorry,” I say again.
“Not your fault. It’s all good. But you’re ignoring my question,” she presses, her words a little more insistent this time.
“Don’t you mean your questions,” I say, accentuating the s on the end of the word.
Elissa rolls her hand in my direction, widening her eyes as she waits for me to answer. Elissa and I have been friends for a long time, meeting here when she started hanging out with Nick and Max when I was only twelve. She would never gossip about me, and she would never tell anyone about Ethan and me.
“It’s been a couple of months. We tried to keep things quiet, but after everything that happened, it feels silly to hide it.”
