Love Fast

When the bus pulls up outside the cabins, I’m already on the front porch waiting for Rosey. The look of shock and confusion on her face today when I saw her at the elevators has been scorched onto my mind all day.

There’s no doubt that she will know by now that I’m the owner of the Colorado Club. Maybe I should have told her before. It’s just nice being the guy next door sometimes. Wherever I go in this town, I feel like I’m wearing a sandwich board.

The son of Mack Miller.

The kid from Star Falls who ran off to New York and never came back.

I guess I just wanted to be myself with Rosey.

She walks up to our cabins, avoiding my gaze.

“Hey,” I say when she gets near enough to hear me.

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 about having 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.

I’m a fucking idiot and I need to get a grip.

I take the steps down from her porch and head back to my cabin. It doesn’t feel good, but walking away is the right thing. It was just a kiss and it will all be forgotten in a few days. I need to keep my focus on my business—the stakes are too high to get distracted.

As I’m climbing the steps to my porch, the door to her cabin opens.

I freeze as she comes out.

“Frank was my boss,” she says. “And he had all the money and power, and I know we just shared a couple of conversations and an almost-kiss. It’s not like we’re getting married or even… having sex.” Her voice skyrockets on the last word. “I just can’t get into that. I can’t have someone be the boss of me like that again. I need to stand on my own two feet and not be so dependent on someone else for… everything.”

My insides curl up, hating that she felt so out of control and dependent on someone else. It’s exactly how I felt when my dad died and I discovered we didn’t own the farm anymore. That the loans were all being called in and we faced eviction. And even then we were left with the grief over a man who should have been a better father and husband. I ran away from Star Falls. She ran to Star Falls. But we both ran looking for the same thing—control over our own destiny.

She doesn’t talk about Frank badly. There’s nothing to suggest he abused his power. But it doesn’t mean it didn’t impact their relationship. I’ve never thought about the effect my money and power have on relationships. Partly because I’ve never been serious about anyone. I’m so thankful she told me—that she didn’t just walk away leaving me with a thousand questions.

“I get it,” I say. “I’m sorry I wasn’t more open with you.”

“We’ve known each other five minutes. It’s completely understandable why you might not want strangers to know.”

I’ve told her more than most, and I want to tell her more. What is it about this woman?

“Thank you for understanding. But I’m still sorry that it hurt you.”

We stand, looking at each other from our respective porches.

And then the cat jumps onto the porch railings in front of her, ruining the moment. Again.

Fucking cat.

“Looks like you got the pet you always wanted,” I say.

She laughs, stroking the cat along its back. “It’s like she’s adopted me. I have a day off on Saturday. If she’s still around, I’ll take her into town and see if anyone’s missing a cat.”

“There’s a vet practice on Main Street. You can see if she’s microchipped.”

“Good idea,” she says.

“I’m full of them,” I say.noveldrama

“I’m going to go to bed now before…” She pulls in a breath. “Before… before things get complicated.”

She turns and leaves, and I have to use all my willpower not to ask her to stay.