Page 25 of Love Fast

She looks up and the disappointment in her eyes is like a sharp punch to the chest.Did I cause that?

“Hey,” she says back. “I’m super tired. It’s been a long day. I’m gonna head inside.” She pulls her mouth into a small smile, but it doesn’t reach her eyes. All the promise has seeped away.

“Rosey,” I say, standing, but I don’t know what I’m going to follow it up with.

She shakes her head. “Everything’s fine. I’m just tired is all.”

I can’t force her to stay and talk to me. I watch as she takes the steps up to her front door and lets herself inside. The lights in her cabin glow from the windows until, one by one, she shuts the drapes, snuffing out the orange glow.

“Fuck!” I kick the post at the end of the porch railing in frustration.

The post seems to respond with a yowl and a hiss. I turn and see the white cat that appeared yesterday has reappeared.

“Don’t spit at me,” I say. “I haven’t done anything wrong.”

The cat arches her back and shows me her teeth—like a snake about to bite. Last night with Rosey, the cat had been all cuddles and purring. Now it looks like she just found its prey—me.

“Go find Rosey if you want her.”

The cat turns back, almost with a shrug, and marches along the railing, hopping off at the end and heading to Rosey’s cabin like it understood just what I was telling it to do. It jumps up, leaning on its hind legs, scratching at her front door. In a few minutes, Rosey appears. She doesn’t look over to me, she just bends down to greet the cat and lets her inside.

Lucky fucking cat.

Maybe I need to try the same tactic.

I go back inside and heat up some milk on the stove. If Rosey won’t come to me, maybe I need to go to her. With a peace offering. Not that I did anything wrong. Okay, so maybe I failed to tell her I owned the place where she worked. But she can’t be mad with me forever about that. Can she?

When the hot chocolate is ready, I head over to her place with two mugs and knock on her door. I consider purring to get her to open the door, and then remember who the fuck I am.

She answers wearing pajamas. Pajamas with cats all over them wearing different kinds of hats.

“I made you some hot chocolate.”

I wait the couple of beats of silence it takes for her to respond.

“Thanks, Byron.” She takes the cup from my hand, our fingers brushing as I let go of the mug. I feel her warmth course through me. I don’t know if it’s the frigid air or the woman in front of me, but just being near her shifts every atom in my body.

I set my cup down on her porch railing. “Are you mad I didn’t tell you about the Colorado Club?”

Her gaze flashes to mine. “Oh, you mean the part where you’re my boss?” She doesn’t deliver the words with any spite or venom. It’s the resigned hopelessness in her tone that breaks me, and I feel awful.

“If it’s any comfort, I don’t even know who your boss is.”

“Byron,” she says, chastising, and her words echo in my chest.

I hold up my hands. “You’re right, I’m your ultimate boss and I didn’t tell you that. I wanted to be your neighbor. Not your boss. And I wanted to kiss you, and then I didn’t because I…” God, I just rewound fifteen years and became an awkward teenager talking to girls for the first time. What the fuck is the matter with me?

I don’t know why I said it. Why mention the kiss? Except I’ve thought about what kissing her would be like every second since I last saw her. We should both forget about it. Move on. But it’s like there’s a special kind of gravity in her, pulling me toward her. I’m helpless against it. I just can’t step away.

She closes her eyes in a long blink, and I want to pull her close and make everything better. “I need to sleep,” she says. “It’s been a really long day.”

She doesn’t feel the pull like I do. She can’t if she can shut the door.

I nod, accepting her decision. I might not want her to go, but I can’t deny that it’s for the best.

The last thing I need is to have a relationship with a member of the Colorado Club team. The gossip around Star Falls is bad enough, but no doubt it would spread like wildfire around the Club. It wouldn’t work. And if it’s not going to work, then why not cut things short now, when it’s easier to walk away?

I push my hands through my hair. Why am I even thinking abouthaving a relationship? I haven’t even kissed this woman and I’m fast-forwarding. At the pace I’m going in my head, I might propose tomorrow night.

---