“By the time I knew about the others, I was relieved for an easy out. I was pregnant and knew I couldn’t stay with him and keep my sanity. He’s been really inconsistent with Chloe, but he’s trying to do better now. That’s why I was in California. He’s living there now and wanted to spend time with her. Usually I stay close, but I had to be back for a meeting tomorrow afternoon.”
“Which is where I come in,” he says, smirking.
“Exactly.” I smile back.
“If I do nothing else to win you over tonight, hear me when I say that any man who cheated on you has got to be the most idiotic man alive.”
I choke back a laugh.
“Seriously,” he says. “I want to meet him just to thankhim for his stupidity. Otherwise, we wouldn’t be here tonight, and I wouldn’t be holding your hand, counting down the seconds until I can kiss you.”
I think I whimper, and his eyes dilate.
“Check, please,” he says, even though the waiter is nowhere to be seen.
When we step outside, the wind is gusting around us, and he wraps his arms around me in a hug, blocking the chill.
“This weather is wrecking my blow-you-away-with-my-kiss plans. I don’t want to compete with the cold to make you shiver.”
I laugh. “You or the cold…I don’t think it’s a competition.”
He pulls back and smiles down at me, and our lips meet in the middle. It’s the softest, sweetest kiss and is the most perfect thing I’ve ever felt. When his tongue touches mine, I melt into him and forget all about the cold. It’s over way too soon, leaving me wanting so much more.
He puts his hands on my face and looks at me intently. “I have a feeling my life changed forever today.”
I feel my heart in my throat. I can’t say anything because I’m so overwhelmed. I feel the same way too. Like everything prior to today was before Dylan.
Which is exactly why I need to go home. This is madness.
“Breakfast tomorrow? I’ll text you my address.”
I nod, still dizzy from our kiss.
The valet pulls around with my car, and Dylan is the one who makes sure I get in safely.
“Good night, beautiful. Sweet dreams” is the last thing I hear before he shuts my door and I float home.
CHAPTER FIVE
SNOW-PAVED INTENTIONS
DYLAN
I got up early to go grocery shopping because I was too excited to sleep. I’ve got Grandma Nancy’s Swedish pancake batter made, the lemons and powdered sugar are ready to go on top, the vegetables are chopped for the omelets, the light roast is brewed, and I’ve squeezed some fresh oranges for our orange juice. I even have champagne, should we decide to do mimosas.
I love the house where I grew up. It makes me miss my mom more than ever, but I like being near her things. She always loved pretty dishes, and I’m using her colorful little bowls for all the ingredients, and her favorite china is already on the table. I have never done this for a girl.
My brothers would give me so much shit right now. I’d give myself shit if I weren’t so excited to see Dahlia today. Being the baby of the family and not as, shall we say, talented, as the rest of my siblings, I could let it get to me. But I don’t. They claim I’m the best-looking one of thebunch, and my family is insanely good-looking, so I’ll take what I can.
And let’s be honest, I’m not suffering.
But I’m not breaking records and winning awards like they are.
One of my older brothers, Camden, who had a Michelin-starred restaurant in Colorado, has moved to Windy Harbor and opened a new restaurant named Elm & Echo that’s already creating a buzz in the culinary world. My oldest brother, Noah, has been the head contractor and project manager involved in creating the amazing ideas Goldie and her fiancé Milo Lombardi have dreamed up. He’s incredibly skilled. Goldie is an interior designer and artist, and Milo is a world-renowned architect who fell in love with my sister and began pouring all of his creative energy into Windhaven. My brother Tully and I are the last ones to get to Windy Harbor. Tully and Goldie are twins. Tully plays hockey for the Minnesota Fierce and was willing to drop everything when we found out Dad was sick, but my dad put his foot down about any of us uprooting our entire lives to be with him. He wanted us to be on board with Windhaven if we chose to be, but it wasn’t until we realized how sick he was that we felt the urgency to get there. Now it hurts every time I leave him.
I see both of my parents all over this house. I cannot lose my dad too.
Dahlia comes right on time, taking me out of the melancholy that was coming on, thinking about Dad. She looks like a goddess in a sweater dress that fits to perfection and tall boots that make my head swim.
