“No. I mean, yes, I want to be with you. But it’s complicated. This article could be big for the lodge. For us. When I set up the interview, I gave Madison notes on you too—to feature the restaurant and your culinary expertise. She’s supposed to highlight you as well. This could be excellent exposure.”
“You told her about me?”
“When I booked the interview, of course I did. But that was before this weekend and us. Now, I worry Madison may not take the news well about our being together. She’s a little… temperamental.”
“A diva, I’d say.” Lilah rolled her eyes.
“Exactly. If she’s upset by it, she could derail the interview and ruin all the exposure we’d get from it appearing on Sports Network.”
“Would she really do that?”
“I don’t know.” I shook my head at the ridiculous position this put me in. “Look, let’s just get through the interview. Untilthen, I’ll hide away from her. Once the interview is done and she’s back in New York, I’ll tell her I’m off the market.”
“You’d do that? I want to trust you, Holden.”
“You can, Frosty.” I stepped closer, cupped her face and brushed her hair back. “You’re the only woman on my mountain that I see.”
Her breath hitched, with a hint of a smile. “You mean that?”
I claimed her lips with all the convincing I could muster, searing them, hoping, praying she’d believe me.
“I guess, interview first. Then you tell her,” she whispered on my lips.
“Done.”
“But Holden, please don’t turn into another Brad. I don’t think my heart could handle it.” It should offend me she’d lump me with him, but the pain and mistrust in her eyes resurfaced, thanks to thirty seconds with Madison ruining everything I’d built with Lilah over the past few days.
“You have nothing to worry about. I’ll set the interview up for tomorrow. Until then, I’ll have Mack, Charles, Cal, and Rita keep Madison busy with tours of the property. This will work, trust me. We’ll get our interview, get rid of Madison, and keep what you and I have started building.” I kissed her forehead, hoping I was right. “Because I don’t want to lose you, Frosty.”
“You won’t as long as you’re honest with me. Now go on. I have work to do.” She pecked my lips quickly and turned back to the shelves of food.
I could sense she only half froze me out, waiting to see if I’d let her down. But I wouldn’t now after everything we’d built in the middle of a storm. I wasn’t ready to lose her to a misunderstanding, or to my own mistakes. Now that I had her in my life, I intended to hold on tight.
After a long day,by the time I finally dragged myself back to my suite, I had to laugh at how toasty warm it was. The heating definitely worked. Mack had figured out earlier that I’d accidentally lowered the heat to the suites from my phone app on Christmas Eve. The generators were fine.
Meaning if I hadn’t been an idiot with technology, Lilah and I would’ve been sleeping in separate rooms all weekend. I would have missed out on melting her frosty ways.
Thinking of her, I needed to hear her voice. She’d texted me back once today, politely distant, which I took to mean ‘Give me space.’ I hated how we’d left things in the cooler, and especially hated the look in her eyes when Madison kissed me.
Common sense said to give Lilah the space she needed. I clicked her name anyway.
She answered on the third ring. “Hello?”
“Hey, Frosty. Are you back in your room?”
“Yes. Long day.” She sounded wrung out.
“Same here.” I sat on the edge of my bed, scrubbing a hand down my face. “I wanted to apologize again about the Madison situation.”
“You don’t have to.” She lied; I was sure of it.
“Yeah, I do,” I insisted. “That ambush in the lobby was on me. I should’ve remembered she was coming before she swanned in wearing a dead animal and kissing me like we were still a thing.”
An exhale came through the line that I interpreted as a laugh. “You attract chaos, Mr. Snowman.”
“I attract chefs who call me Mr. Snowman,” I corrected softly. “Which I like a hell of a lot more.”
She chuckled and then yawned in my ear.
