With trembling hands, I grab for my cell and slip out of bed. I turn the flashlight on and creep out of my room, which is in the back of the cabin, and start down the hall.
All the lights are out, except for one in the kitchen, but even then, it reveals nothing. From the hall, I notice the back door leading onto the deck is closed, and when I look towards the other entrance into the cabin, it’s also locked shut—just as Grinch left it.
So, no one snuck in…or at least, I don’t think so.
Oh, God, what if he’s hiding someone in his room and that’s why he’s so pissed about me being here? And what if that someone decided to make themselves known?
Nowthatcould explain his earlier reaction. What if there’s a secret girlfriend? Or boyfriend?
None of it makes sense, and it definitely?—
I walk in on a shirtless Grinch and come to a stop, breath lodging in my throat.
Not because he’s one fine man, and definitely not because getting a midnight snack doesn’t make sense.
I stop because of the giant burn scar on his shoulder and running down the left side of his back.
The man turns as if sensing me, eyes dark. “Snow’s falling hard,” he says, pulling what I could only assume is ajust in case the power goes outpack. “Hope you didn’t have any plans. The road will probably be covered by morning.”
My stomach sinks, and Sunday family dinner seems like a far off possibility now that I’m trapped with this man.
Maybe he’s more of a mystery than I ever thought possible, not because I know nothing about him, but maybe because I now know too much.
And I have a feeling that this has just made things so much more complicated.
FIVE
CADE
The keys of her keyboard click ominously from where she sits at the island, bent over her laptop while I keep refreshing one of the better known tabloid sites looking for that photo.
Tobias refuses to take my call about it, and none of my other friends are being helpful.
Which leaves me endlessly scrolling through social media and refreshing sites I haven’t touched in over three years.
“I have pings set up for anything related to you—us,” Lydia says without looking up. “Stop stressing out.”
I stiffen, eyes narrowing on her. The light of her screen highlights her features in a way that makes her look younger, yet somehow sterner. “You don’t understand why I might be stressed.”
She sighs, almost like she’s done with my bullshit. And I guess she is, because she slams the lid of her laptop closed and crosses her arms.Good, I think. Let her run off. I don’t need her—and I don’t need whatever it is Tobias is trying to do for me. I don’t needher.
And yet, it feels like a lie just thinking about it.
“You’re right, I don’t,” she says softly, though that stern look doesn’t disappear from her face. “And honestly, I don’t know if Ishould care. I have a job to do, and that’s get you back in a suit and tie and on a plane to New York where you go back to being a big shot billionaire at some big shot company.”
My stomach sinks as I drop my cell to the counter and lean against it, a breath falling from my lips. “That is the last thing I want,” I mutter with a shake of my head.
“Okay,” she replies. “Good. Now you’re being honest with me.”
Our eyes meet, and any softness that might have been there before is gone. “So?”
“I can help you stay just as you are, if that’s what you actually want. I know both options you have: take back your position or become a figure head with all responsibilities handed down to someone of your choosing. Now that I know you actually want option two, we have somewhere to start.”
I scoff. “If you really think I have achoice?—”
“You do, Mr Abernathy, and I’m about to help you exercise that.”
I press my lips together, hating how she refers to me by my surname. The way she says it should mean she respects me, but instead it feels like another weight pressing down on my shoulders. “Call me Cade,” I say, heart pounding.
