Page 12 of Kiss Me

“You can go now,” I say reflexively.

“Rude much?” Tania questions once the guy skis off farther down the mountain.

“Liar much?”

She raises the goggles from over her face and rolls her eyes. “Whatever.” She shakes her head and brushes some imaginary snow out of her braids.

She leans around me, reaching for the crutch, but I hold it away from her grasp.

“Let’s get this over with. How much?”

My head juts backwards in surprise. “Excuse me?”

“You found out my secret and are threatening to out me. I assume you heard of my most recent sponsorship deal, so you must want money.”

I have in fact heard about the lucrative seven-figure brand sponsorship she recently landed.

“Money? You think that’s why I’m interested?”

She holds out her arms to the side. “Isn’t that what everyone wants? How much?”

Why does her question strike a chord in my chest? And why does the intonation in her voice tug at part of my emotion that I reserve for very few people in this world?

On the outside, I present the world with the charming, at times funny, easy-going business maven who can easily land a deal. I let my cousin, Dae, play the hard-ass grumpy business tycoon.

Yet, real, genuine emotion is reserved for a handful of people in my life. My mother when she’s around. My sister, when and if the situation calls for it. And Dae, who’s more like my brother than my cousin.

Even with them, I rarely get too deep, too often.

“Do you know where I was before I got on a plane to come to this damn resort?”

“Of course I don’t since I don’t know you,” she saucily replies.

“In a meeting with the CEO of one of the most luxurious hotels in Korea. My company is in talks to open an exclusive nightclub in conjunction with his hotels. And I have every intention of that deal going through.”

Her eyes squint. “Why are you?—”

My voice hardens as I cut her off to say, “What I’m telling you is that while your recent brand deal is cute … the last thing I need or want is your fucking money.”

“What the hell do you mean bycute?”

Maybe it should annoy me that ‘cute’ is the only word she picked out from my comment. Yet, the offended inflection in her voice, the way her eyes narrow to slits, along with the sneer of her lips, lights something in the pit of my stomach.

Oddly, something I haven’t felt in a long, long time overcomes me.

Genuine interest in a woman.

“Is there a definition of the word cute that I’m not aware of?” I pull out my phone and look up the definition. “Generally appealing in a pretty or endearing way.” I nod in approval. “Sounds more or less how I would define cute.”

I stuff my phone back into my pocket.

“Why? Did you have a different one?”

“You’re absolutely hideous. Do you know that?” Tania crosses her arms over her chest.

I rub the palm of my hand over my cheek and grin. “I’ve been called a lot of things, but hideous?” With a shake of my head, I answer my own question. “Never.”

“There’s a first time for everything.”

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