Winning my Best Friend's Girl - Piper Rayne Page 0,82
The dark hair and those eyes might have thrown me for a second, but you’re not my son.”
“No, ma’am I’m not.”
Kingston blows out a breath and shoots Tim an apologetic look.
“Now I’m leaving you in charge.” She pinches Kingston’s cheeks. “This is my grandson, and if he doesn’t return to all of us in one piece, you’ll have us to answer to.”
Tim nods. “I’ve listed all the risks to both Kingston and Corey.”
It still takes me a second to realize Corey is Tank.
“I don’t care.” She shakes her finger at him again.
Kingston puts his hand over hers, lowering it to her side. “Thanks for the concern, Grandma, but we’re all set and we’re going to head up now.” He kisses his grandma’s cheek. “You should go to the lodge and get a hot chocolate. I’ll come once we’re done.”
“Silly, I’m going to hang with Stella.” She slides her arm through mine.
Kingston mouths sorry to me. “Well, I’m going to steal her away before I leave.”
“That’s okay, I want to talk to Tim some more. And what happened to Ethel?” She looks behind her, but there’s no Ethel.
Dori walks toward Tim and Kingston puts his arm around my waist, pulling me to the other side of the small shop where there are no prying eyes.
“You good?” he asks.
“Yeah,” I lie.
“It’s okay to say you’re not.” He looks down. “I wish you would’ve opted to ski today to get your mind off it. We’re doing a few black diamonds before Tim takes us up in the helicopter.”
I nod, my stomach ready to throw up the coffee I drank this morning. “I’m going to shop. I’ll keep Dori busy. But the minute your feet are on the ground again, I want word, okay?”
He inches closer to me, one arm resting above my head. “Okay, boss.” He kisses my nose.
I grab his jacket and pull him toward me. “Now really kiss me this time.”
“Yes, ma’am.” He gives me a kiss that makes my knees weak and ruins me for anyone else.
“Kingston!” Tim hollers.
Kingston kisses me one more time. “I’ll be back before you know it.”
I smile although I know it doesn’t reach my eyes. I remind myself of my mom’s words—I’d rather have him like this than not at all.
He winks, the cocky side of him that scares me making an appearance, and he disappears out the door.
I close my eyes, inhale a breath, and follow him out, watching the three men putting on their skis. Kingston waves to us and skis over to the chair lift. I look at my watch. I have four hours to kill. Great.
Allie throws away her wrapper. “Come on, let’s do some shopping to get your mind off it. Don’t worry, he’ll be back in no time.”
“Yes, dear, we saw a cute knitting shop Ethel wants to go to,” Dori says.
I nod, following them but glancing back to where he was. Where I last saw him alive.
Thirty-Two
Kingston
After a couple runs down the double black diamond, Tim okays us to go up in the helicopter.
On the way up, he leans forward although we’re all equipped with microphones in our ear so that we can communicate up there. “Listen, I’m going to give you instruction through the radio. If I tell you to do something, you do it. Understand?”
We both nod.
“Everyone thinks this is easy, and you guys are more educated than my normal clients, but that doesn’t mean things can’t go wrong. Even with the most skilled skiers, all you need is to become distracted for one second and disaster strikes.”
“Thanks, Dad.” Tank elbows me, laughing.
I see the anger brewing in Tim’s eyes at Tank’s lack of care. I feel like there’s something Tim’s not telling us.
The helicopter drops us at the top and we all climb out. Tim double-checks our gear and we wait for him to get his own equipment ready before we ski off the mountain. Another group is going down without parachutes next to us, all watching us with vast interest.
Tank makes a growling sound like he does right before he jumps from the plane when we’re smoke jumping. I’m not going to judge what gets one man’s adrenaline going. For me though, I keep my excitement inside.
Once Tim gives us the okay, we ski. I feel the lift of the parachute until my skis only lightly touch the snow. I’m not prepared for the butterflies, or the way I have to go one way or another. Tim’s in my ear, giving more direction to