I shrugged. “I watch a lot of movies. Especially the good ones. And if you can play the piano, then I definitely found my Goose.”
“Not your Maverick?”
I felt like that might be a bit of a test. “Let’s see if I get the best of both worlds then.” I opened my door and he sighed. I leaned back in. “What?”
“I can’t even be a gentleman for a moment.”
“Oh, that’s so cute.” I nodded to the Hummingbird’s Nest. “I’ll race you to the door.” I slipped a bit on the snow, but almost kept my footing. Until Mr. Helpful hooked his arm around me and we both went down like a pair of children.
Rory’s face was covered in the cold, fluffy snow, and I couldn’t stop the screeching laughter.
“Again, thwarted.” He pushed himself up and almost lost his arm in the deep snow. I rolled him over with a laugh. His eyes were dancing as he looked up at me. “You do know it’s like two in the morning...” He raised his hand out of the drift and checked his watch. “Make that three.”
“Hmm. You telling me to be quiet?”
“I don’t give a fuck. I just want to keep hearing that laugh. Even if it’s at my expense.”
I lowered myself on top of him. “Do you understand the difference between with and at?”
“I do.” He pushed a few loose bits of hair out of my face. “My best mate definitely laughs at me.”
I curled my hand around his wrist. “Then you should know this is definitely with. Sex should be fun. Especially the pre-sex stuff.” I kissed him again, our lips slick and cool from the snow still falling around us.
Before it could get too out of control again, I rolled off of him into the snow and quickly opened and closed my legs to make a snow angel. I looked over at him. He seemed confused as he rolled up onto his elbow.
“Fun, LC. Remember?”
He sighed and dropped onto his back and followed suit.
Content to stare up at the sky and watch the snow globe level snowflakes swirling in the sky, we both stayed there for a few minutes. I looked over and he had a crooked little smile on his face.
DANGER!
Do not fall in love with this man!
A red flasher in the back of my head tried to turn on, but I stomped it out. I was wearing four-inch platforms. I could do such things.
I didn’t want to hold anything back. There would be no tomorrow. Tonight was just us being us, no matter which way the dice fell onto the table. I found his cold hand in the snow and pulled him up with me. “Time for you to warm me up, LC.”
The night sky matched his hooded eyes. He was actually looking at me as if I was a sexual creature capable of inciting desire. Me, with my braids and crazy sixties’ outfit. August’s little sister who had a little fence around her when it came to some guys.
Do not cross.
Do not mess with August’s little sister.
Luckily, Rory Ferguson of California didn’t know such things. And I was going to use that knowledge to the fullest. No holding back.
“Should I be worried about that expression?”
“Maybe.”
“Queen fairy indeed.”
I took his cold hand and dragged him behind me to the front door of the Hummingbird’s Nest. He fumbled the key out of his pocket behind me and we both tumbled into the foyer. It was empty and silent. A note on the desk said no one would be there until morning—well, a few more hours since it was well past three at this point.
Rory steered me away from the desk to the stairs. I talked to Sage now and then, but I wasn’t quite in her circle of people. Of course I talked to everyone since I worked at the diner, but Sage was always at the bed and breakfast, so she didn’t come by that often.
That and she had her hands full with her husband and child.