Page 99 of Hold Me Today

Her shocked laughter warms me inside out, and if it weren’t for Dom calling to check on our ETA five minutes later, I would have been perfectly happy to never leave our rickety mattress.

* * *

We spendmost of the day checking out the boutiques along Main Street. The snow holds off long enough for the three of us to feast on fudge from a gas station, of all places, and to stop in an all-in-one type shop directly across from our B&B. With walls made of wood and the furnace burning hot, it’s easy to imagine the two-story boutique as a log cabin in the middle of nowhere.

Then again, Bethel, Maine—beautiful as it is—isn’t exactly the center of civilization.

“I’m gonna check out the winter apparel,” Dom tells us when we step inside. “I’m hopin’ they might have something thicker than what I’ve got.”

I pluck at his rain jacket—fat lot of good that thing will do him tonight when it drops into the teens. “You’re not in California anymore, Toto.”

He flashes me the bird and heads off to the clothing section. “Asshole,” he calls out over his shoulder.

Laughing, I turn back to Mina. “Anything you want to look for?”

She smiles up at me, and if it’s not quite as bright as the ones she usually keeps in reserve for me, I try to keep the worry at the minimum. “How about we just browse around?” she says. “We’ve got time to kill anyway.”

We wander through the various sections, my hand linked with hers. This store has everything a person could ever need, from paintings and artwork to even a mini-special-gems exhibit. They sparkle under the glass cases, drawing Mina’s attention like a shooting star darting across the sky.

“Like them?” I nod toward the line of purple amethysts shining under the lamps.

“Lovethem.” With a little shrug, she ducks down to look at them head-on. “I remember going to the Museum of Science as a kid for school. At one point they had a gem exhibit and it was justamazing. I mean, some of them stood nearly as tall as me.”

I lean my ass against the case. “The dinosaurs got to me.”

She doesn’t bother to hide her chuckle. “Such a man,” she says, a teasing note the only undercurrent to her voice. Maybe she’s feeling better after whatever drove her to my parents’ house? I can only hope. “Let me guess, you were enraptured by the T-Rex.”

“Pshh.” I wave my hand at her. “Overrated. The Allosaurus has my vote.”

“Because it was bigger than the T-Rex?”

“Nah,” I murmur with a wide grin, “but it was faster. More vicious. Shouldn’t you know this, MissJeopardy?”

“Seems like I missed the dinosaur episode.” She bumps her hip with mine, and I instinctively curl my arm around her. Our coats get in the way, so I slip my fingers into the back pocket of her jeans. “Please tell me you’ve seenJurassic Park.”

“Of course I have.” She pauses, and then adds, “I mean, I’ve seen the Chris Pratt version. Because, Chris Pratt.”

Mock-groaning, I drop my forehead to her shoulder. “Way to let a guy down,koukla. ThatJurassic Parkdoesn’t count. We’re adding it to the list of movies to watch.”

“Are we?”

“Yup.” I let theppop, squeezing her ass through her jeans before stepping away and drumming my fingers on the glass counter. “Now, asking for a friend, which one of these gems is your favorite?”

* * *

Turns out, “dating games”is as much of a shit storm as we predicted.

The dinner plates have barely been swept away by the restaurant staff before Sophia launches up from her chair and proceeds to stand at the front of the room. “Thank you all for coming up to Maine!” Clapping her hands together, she does a little shimmy that coaxes some laughs out of this weekend’s victims. “We’re the last ones standing in our grade—single and ready to mingle!”

Mina elbows me in the side, hissing, “My nose is tingling. It’s a bad omen.”

I sling an arm around the back of her chair. “At least you know most of the people here. Dom and I are out of luck.”

This weekend’s shenanigans consist of twelve of us, including Dom. Although Mina seemed nervous when the others stopped by to say hello during dinner, she inevitably warmed up and relaxed. Or maybe it was the vodka talking. Either way, I’m two years older than everyone else—aside from Dominic—which means I may recognize faces but nothing more.

I’m going into this weekend completely blind, save for my partner-in-crime sitting beside me.

“I thought we could do a round of speed dating,” Sophia goes on, “but then I thought . . . screw it, we’re all adults! We should play a fun game.”

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