Page 69 of Kiss Me

My heart twists inside of my chest because for the first time I’m not certain I believe my cousin.

CHAPTER 18

Tania

“Oh my god!” Liza says when I come through the door of our suite early the next morning. “I called you a dozen times and searched this entire property.”

A door opening from her suite startles me before I can answer. Out walks the tall redhead that’s been keeping my assistant company over the past few days.

“We searched everywhere for you,” Liza corrects, looking over at Keith.

That’s when I notice she’s holding two mugs of coffee in her hands. And I note her bloodshot eyes as if she truly didn’t get any sleep last night.

Keith clears his throat, relieving Liza of the mugs and setting them down on the counter.

“Are you okay?” he asks at the same time he moves to stand next to my assistant, his hand around her shoulders.

Watching them together causes my chest to tighten. It reminds me of what I had.

Correction: Of what IthoughtI had.

“I’m fine,” I mumble as I fully enter the suite, shutting the door behind me.

I plop down on the couch, not even bothering to remove the coat I ran out of here with last night.

“Where did you stay last night?” Liza asks, bringing me a hot cup of coffee.

I can tell she’s made one of her specialty chocolate-latte-coffee-thingys as she calls them.

Ordinarily, I would enjoy the coffee and chocolate mix. Not this morning, though.

“I got a hotel a few miles from here.” The damn thing cost me an arm and a leg to book last minute on Christmas Eve, but I was willing to pay the price. I figured my suite would be the first place Taehyun would come looking for me.

Sadness fills me as I glance around, noting that he’s nowhere to be found.

He probably got what he wanted. To embarrass me. Now, he won’t even bother to show up to apologize.

I shake my head to push those pitying thoughts aside. Of course he won’t show up. He set me up on purpose. He wanted this to happen.

“You weren’t answering your phone,” Liza says, taking a seat in front of me on the coffee table.

“Turned it off.” I pull my phone out of the pocket of my coat and show her the black screen. “Damn thing kept ringing.”

I toss it aside without bothering to turn it on. I received calls and texts from both known and unknown numbers. Friends, wanting to know if I was okay. Others wanting to know if the blog was true, was I really dropping out of next month’s X Games.

I hadn’t received a message from my dad but I’m sure he’d heard about it. He was likely somewhere doing damage control before he called me.

“Well—”

I hold up my hand. “We can talk about it later?” I look over at Keith who’s hovering over Liza, hand on her back once again. He’s got it bad for her.

“It’s Christmas morning. You should enjoy it. Not thinking about work,” I tell her. “I’m sure you would like to spend your first Christmas together,” I tell Keith directly.

“Actually,” he peers down at Liza, “I would,” he answers honestly.

“Good. Then go. I’ll hang out here in bed for most of the day anyway. Our flight leaves tomorrow evening. Take all the time you want.”

I rise from my seat on the couch and finally start to peel off my coat and snow boots.

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