Page 18 of Kiss Me

“I can’t believe you invited me to a private dinner with the entire Townsend family.”

I glance around.

“There’s no one else out here. You don’t have to whisper,” I reply.

She pushes out a sigh of frustration making her nostrils flare. “You’re utterly impossible.”

A chuckle spills from my lips. “Strangely, my mother used to say the same thing.”

“I bet. Did she also tell you how much of a pain in the ass you are?”

I ponder for a bit. “Once or twice.”

“Ridiculous.” She shoves away from me. “This is what you have planned for the rest of your time here at the resort? Making me pose for pictures or whatever you have in mind?”

“Hm, I hadn’t thought about the picture thing just yet.” I lift a shoulder. “Then again, I’m not much of a social media guy. My sister’s always getting on me about it. According to her, I have a face that Instagram would love. She claims it’d bring in even more traffic to our clubs.”

I turn my face away, giving her an image of my profile.

“What do you think?”

“I think you’re worse than the time I belly-flopped on an easy backside alley-oop in front of my first crush.”

I whistle low. “That bad, huh?” I give her another shrug. “Well, at least it’s not as bad as the backside quad you failed to land which cost you the X Games’ gold medal two years ago.”

“You son of a—” She huffs. “It was a backside quad one-eighty. Do you know how difficult those damn things are?”

Another chuckle inadvertently falls from my mouth. It’s a genuine laugh, too. Not one of those put on chuckles I give while in the middle of one of my negotiations.

“I tried once,” I admit.

Tania’s eyebrows spike. “You snowboard.”

“I’m no Tania Casey but I can hold my own.”

Again, I find my eyes lingering on her lips because for the first time she gives me an honest smile. The muscles of my stomach tighten.

I want to keep seeing that smile on her face. My heartbeat begins to pick up at this realization.

“Are you guys coming in?”

I turn to see Kennedy waiting expectedly.

Tania takes a step, but I stop her with my hand on her waist. I lean in. “You shouldn’t move so quickly on a sprained ankle.”

She peers up at me and her expression is almost thankful.

This is the moment I probably should start panicking because, again, I want to keep that expression on her face. As long as I’m the one she’s giving it to.

CHAPTER 5

Taehyun

“Hyung,” I greet as Dae approaches.

“What the hell are you doing?” Dae asks in Korean.

I hold up the two cups of hot chocolate with marshmallows. “Looks like I’m delivering hot chocolate to my date.”

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