all worries about school, my future with Christian, and life slipping away as I breathe in the refreshing mountain air and let it soothe my soul. We finally reach the top and a quaint little log building comes into view.
Christian kills the engine. “You must be starving?” he asks as he removes his helmet. I fuss with mine, unable to get the clip to snap open and he shoos my hands away and easily removes it, much the same skill with which he always removes my bra. It comes with experience, I guess, and I am not going to think about that for one more second.
The scent of fresh coffee reaches me and my stomach growls. “They have a coffee shop here?”
“Amazing food too.”
We head inside, and customers and staff alike greet us like we’re all a part of one big family. We take a seat by the window and order the soup and biscuits, and coffee. I peel my heavy clothes off, the fire in the hearth washing over me, creating a warm glow inside my body. I glance at Christian, and I can’t seem to keep the ridiculous smile from my face.
“I really love it here.”
“I’m so glad.” The server comes with our coffee, and I pour a bit of milk into mine. “I’m not sure if you were watching or not, but I ran into Cynthia on the hill.”
“Yeah, I thought I saw you with someone,” I say casually. “Did you finally beat her?”
He laughs. “Hell no, she’s too good, and like I said, I think she cheats.” He reaches across the table. “I forgot to tell you, she invited us to have dinner with her and her family tonight.”
“Oh, how nice,” I say a bit disappointed because I really just wanted a quiet night with Christian. We don’t have too many of those left. He angles his head and arches a brow like he’s waiting for some light bulb to go off. “What?”
“Did you forget her father is the dean of the law department at Harvard?”
I gasp. “Ohmigod, I can’t believe I forgot that.” Then again, I’m so wrapped up in Christian, I can’t seem to concentrate on much else.
Maize, you’re having dinner with the dean of the law department!
My nerves jump as I think about sitting down with him and his family. While this might be a dream come true for most, I’m not one to schmooze, and don’t even know what I’m supposed to say in a situation like that. God, I really am out of my realm here. “I can’t…I’m not prepared.”
He gives a small wave of his hand, like it’s nothing, but it’s not nothing. It’s something big and he knows it too. “You don’t have anything to prepare for, this is just dinner, and a networking opportunity.”
“Christian, did you do this? Did you set this up for me?”
“I wanted you to meet him, but Cynthia is the one who put the invite on the table.” He gives me an apologetic look and adds, “I might have mentioned something about eating at the restaurant tonight. But Cynthia liked you. She wants to get to know you.”
“That’s nice,” I say absently as I swallow, hard. Opportunities like this don’t normally present themselves to a girl like me. I’m so used to doing everything on my own, the hard way, but Christian here is changing all that, putting me in situations I wouldn’t normally find myself in and making it easy for me to forget I come from the wrong side of the tracks. None of that seems to matter to him. I wouldn’t be here and he wouldn’t be introducing me to his friends if it did matter, right? Unless of course, somewhere deep inside him, he needs the girl he’s been spending time with to be a Harvard student, because only then would she be good enough.
But Christian isn’t like that. We only go to restaurants far outside of Kingston because they’re his favorite, and taking the back door to Wolf House was all about my injured ankle.
Right?
19
Christian
I glance at a very tired Maize as we take the late flight back to Kingston. She’s trying so hard to stay awake, but she keeps drifting off, a cute, contented smile on her face. It makes me happy to see her like this. She damn well deserves to be worshipped, and treated to a relaxing weekend. I’d love to take her back here. I really wasn’t kidding when I put that offer on the