Page 11 of Kiss Me

“Tell me your name, at least. It’s only right since you know mine.”

I pause before nodding. “Seems fair enough. Name’s Taehyun.” She’d know that already if she hadn’t turned me down in the first place.

We could’ve avoided all of these unpleasantries.

The last thing I want when it comes to any woman is messiness. But I’m not willing to let this one get away with blatantly turning me down.

“Taehyun,” she repeats carefully as if to get it right.

I ignore whatever the fuck it is that tingles down my spine after hearing her say my name. Probably an itchy tag in the new T-shirt I have on.

“That’s …” She pauses, her lips curling curiously.

“Korean,” I answer for her.

She points at me. “I knew it.”

It’s on the tip of my damn tongue to ask exactly how she knew it, but I bite back the question. My intent is to suss out why she’s lying, so I can hold it over her.

That’s it.

“Now you can answer my question. Why are you lying?”

She throws up her hands and tilts her head toward the sky.

Why my gaze falls to watch the up and down movement of her neck is beyond me. Even worse, an image of me trailing my forefinger down what appears to be very supple skin of said neck passes through my mind.

What. The. Fuck?

“Why does it even matter?” she asks, bringing my thoughts back to the question at hand.

“Because it does.” I’ll never admit it but that’s honestly the best answer I can come up with. I don’t even have an explanation for why I care so much.

She tilts her head sideways before responding, “I just am.”

“That’s not an answer.”

“Neither is ‘because it does’,” she throws back at me.

“I’m not the one faking an injury in front of the entire sports world.”

“I didn’t fake anything,” she comes close to yelling before she composes herself. Once again, she looks this way and that over her shoulder.

I don’t like not having her full attention. Without thinking, I take her crutch, wrap her arm around me, and start walking us to a more discreet part of the mountain.

“Where are we going?” She tugs her arm but I don’t release it.

“If you have any intention of keeping up the charade, I suggest you lean into me as if I’m helping you keep your balance.”

“I—” She stops herself and must reconsider whatever she was about to say. Thankfully, she takes heed of my warning and leans into me.

If anyone were looking at us, they would see what looks like a man assisting an injured woman.

“Is she okay?” a guy on skis shouts from a few feet away. The ski lodge’s name and logo on black vest mark him as an employee of the lodge.

“I-I’m fine.” Tania waves him off with the phoniest high-pitched voice ever. “My friend here’s just helping me go for a walk.”

I nod his way but don’t smile.

---