gym. He was also a friend. But we rarely texted, which was the reason Grace was frowning again. She suspected I was keeping something from her. Normally, like Ginny, I was a straight arrow, an open book—to use all the clichés.
But this secret…it was going to stay hidden. It was going to stay mine. At least until I figured out what to do with it.
♫ ♫ ♫
It was after dinner before I finally got away. We’d worked on the musical for hours, finishing almost the entire list of items Dylan had wanted us to look back over, and then we’d eaten dinner with Mayson’s family. I’d heard plenty about Cam from Grace, but I hadn’t ever spent time in her presence. She was a ball of energy. Constant movement and a quick retort. Life as her child must have been interesting.
After, Mayson said we should go back to town and have a drink to celebrate the changes being done. We were one step closer to having our musical out in the world, but I declined the drink offer.
“I think the time change is finally catching up with me, because I’m exhausted. I’d rather go back to the hotel and veg in front of the TV,” I said.
“You don’t have to leave on our account,” Mayson said, as if I was really just trying to give them some alone time. Little did he know I needed my own alone time.
“I know, but really, I’d rather just get some rest.”
“I can pick up my bag then,” Grace said. “It seems silly to leave it there when I’ve been here the whole time.”
Darkness had settled in as Mayson drove back to the hotel. The snow was still coming down in large flakes, swirling in the car’s headlights. Suddenly, I was worried about Ginny driving in this weather in her little car. I wondered if I should just call the whole thing off.
The hotel door had barely clicked shut behind Grace before I was texting Ginny.
ME: I don’t like the idea of you driving in this. Maybe you shouldn’t come.
THE WITCH: (voice recording) Too late, I’m already almost there.
I paced. I fretted. I tried not to think about what it was going to feel like to have her in my arms again. And then she was there.
“Thank God,” I said, wrapping her in a hug.
She laughed. “City Boy, I’ve driven in snow plenty of times.”
“In your sports car?”
“I borrowed Mama’s SUV.”
She barely finished the words before I was kissing her. The snow from her jacket was melting into my long-sleeve T-shirt and jeans, but I didn’t care. We stood that way for a long time, lips savoring lips, until her coat started to actually drip.
She laughed and pulled away, hanging her coat on a hook by the door and taking off her boots. When she turned around, I realized she’d dressed up for me. She had on the same jeans as earlier, ones that clung to all her curves, but her top was all lace and skin. The green echoed the colors in her eyes that she’d surrounded in eyeliner and mascara, making those gorgeous kaleidoscopes stand out like paintings on a wall.
Her hair was down, long curls landing well past her shoulder.
My first thoughts about her were true. She was stunningly gorgeous. But it was magnified now. She was more than that. An unnameable beauty.
“What?” she asked, wrapping her arms around her stomach.
“I was trying to find better words to tell you how damn beautiful you are.”
She rolled her eyes.
I grabbed her hand, leading her back toward the beds. I had rented a movie, and it was on pause, waiting for her arrival. I pulled her up against the headboard with my arms wrapped around her, and I placed a kiss to her forehead. She leaned her head on my chest, arms tucked around me.
I started the movie, and we’d watched a few minutes of it before she spoke. “Cole… um, not that I don’t like the movie, but, well, this isn’t exactly what I expected.”
She sat up, pulling away from me a little, and I felt the loss heavily.
“What did you think, I’d be tearing your clothes off the minute you walked through the door?”
She blushed. She had thought that.
And hell, did I want that, but I wasn’t sleeping with her and then leaving. I couldn’t do that. She deserved way more than that for her first time. For her time with anyone, really. But as her face fell, I realized I