Winter Love

by Kennedy Fox

  Yeah, Sadie could see that. Aurora Haven, eldest Haven girl and demanding taskmaster, was definitely someone you did not want to cross.

  “Honestly, what good is it havin’ a local best friend if I can’t exploit him for my needs?”

  This time, Sadie didn’t bother trying to smother her laugh. “And that other best friend of yours?”

  “Asher—aka Mr. Hotshot—is on tour in Florida and scheduled to be in town in a couple weeks. And I’m not desperate enough to throw down our emergency word just to get him here early enough for the shoot. There’s gotta be someone in town who could—” Nat’s eyes widened as she glanced behind Sadie, a brilliant smile sweeping over her face. She fluffed her pink hair, perked up her boobs, and strode off without another word.

  Before Sadie could turn to look at who’d caught Nat’s attention, Mrs. Fischer walked up and plunked her empty mug on the front desk. “Oh, good, I was hoping I’d catch you,” the woman said with what sounded like a Midwestern accent.

  Sadie smiled. “Of course, Mrs. Fischer. What can I help you with?”

  “Could you tell me a little bit about the festivities happening in town this week?”

  “Yes, def—”

  “Bob and I are just so excited to experience everything your cute little town has to offer!”

  “And we’re excited—”

  “Do you know how we found Havenbrook?”

  Having been cut off enough times, Sadie simply kept her mouth shut and smiled, raising her eyebrows in a please continue gesture. Sadie had no idea if it was that or the fact that the other woman seemed to have a lot to say, but she continued on.

  “Well, I’m not sure if you know this,” Mrs. Fischer said, leaning in as if she were about to spill a secret, “but Havenbrook is on a list of the twenty best small towns in which to spend the holidays!”

  “Really?” That was just the kind of publicity they needed. Getting on a list like that could make their business boom. Especially if it was on a major site, like—

  “Oh yes! On Trudy’s Travel Blog. It’s a little hard to read with the bright green background and white letters, but I found a ton of good information on there.”

  Sadie grinned, though her chest deflated slightly. Havenbrook may not be on the map for the big leagues, but at least they were getting some representation, small as it may be. “Well, I’m glad you found us, however that was. Was there something specific you were hopin’ to do during your stay?”

  “We just want to experience Havenbrook at this time of year in whatever way you think is best.”

  Sadie spent several minutes discussing with Mrs. Fischer the options that were available in town. They wanted to spread out the events over the course of their stay, so Sadie suggested a few choices for them to select from. She also made a reservation for them at the restaurant downtown that gave the best view of the huge lighted tree in the middle of the Square.

  “You’re such a doll. Thank you for helping us with this!” Mrs. Fischer patted Sadie’s hand and squeezed before gathering up the brochures Sadie had offered and heading back to her suite, grabbing her husband from in front of the fireplace as she went.

  Sadie tucked her hair behind her ear as she closed out the browser windows she’d opened to show Mrs. Fischer the offerings before remembering herself, her head snapping up as she glanced around for Nat. She did a double take when her eyes landed on her cousin. The man she was talking to had his back to Sadie, but she’d know that careless blond hair, the crisp, expensive suit, and the wide breadth of those shoulders anywhere.

  “Oh, please no. No, no, no,” she muttered to herself. But either there was no deity listening, or they simply didn’t care to answer her prayer, because the man turned his head toward her, their eyes locking, and Sadie’s stomach bottomed out.

  Cole Donovan.

  Nat shot her a huge grin and a wink, giving her a thumbs-up before transitioning her hands into a completely inappropriate gesture. Sadie’s face flamed, her cheeks no doubt going scarlet. As soon as Cole turned back to face Nat, her cousin dropped her hands immediately and smiled up at him.

  Maybe he didn’t realize who he was signing up to be posing with. Surely if he did, he wouldn’t have agreed to this. As far as she could tell, their relationship, for lack of a better word, wasn’t comprised of one-sided animosity.

  Or…Lord. Maybe he intended to agree to it specifically because he knew it’d be a way to get under her skin. Hadn’t this whole week he’d been staying here when he’d always managed to be in the inn at three o’clock on the dot, just in time to devour her cookies very slowly, been proof enough that he enjoyed doing that? Enjoyed torturing her?

  Nat squeezed Cole’s biceps and then strode directly toward Sadie, a huge grin stretching her mouth. She leaned an elbow on the front desk and turned her sparkling eyes on Sadie. “I mean, I don’t want to be a dick or anything, but you should definitely be thankin’ me for this. Did you see that man?” She waved her hand in front of her face as if she were overheated. “Holy fuck. Fortunately, he has a dark gray suit he can wear, because there’s no way he could fit into the one I’ve been loaned. He’s got to be packin’ some serious heat, if you know what I’m sayin’.”

  Sadie’s thoughts immediately flew to Cole’s assets before she snapped her eyes shut as if that would block out the mental imagery of what he might be hiding inside his pressed suit pants. She cleared her throat. “We’ve, um… We’ve actually already met.”

  “Really? Great! This might not be as difficult as I thought, then.”

  Sadie glanced toward the dining room, finding Cole still standing there, his piercing eyes burning into her. She could never tell his emotions from simply looking at him, but by the hard set of his jaw and the tense lines of his shoulders, it was safe to say he did not look happy. Yeah, well, that made two of them.

  “Actually, Nat, this might be worse.”

  Chapter Four

  Sadie hadn’t been sure what to expect on the day of the shoot or how she’d feel. Turned out, nerves. Just straight-up nerves.

  Nat had wanted to shoot in the light of the setting sun—something about the golden hour and the gorgeous glow it would cast over them. As if Sadie’s anxiety leading up to the session hadn’t been bad enough, now, thanks to the late session time, she’d had hours upon hours of early morning reflection today—read: anxiety daydreams—and she just wanted to get this nightmare over with.

  “How much longer?” Sadie didn’t even attempt to tamp down the hopeful note in her voice as she sat in a chair in front of the largest window in the room as Janine, the makeup artist, brushed and swept and dabbed various products on her.

  Fortunately, the inn’s honeymoon suite wasn’t booked until the weekend—Naomi and her new husband having just vacated the day before—so they’d been able to commandeer it for their purposes. It was the inn’s largest suite, with a bedroom, sitting room, and huge bath complete with multihead glass shower and claw-foot tub. Maybe she’d reward herself with a soak in there after this stressful day—Lord knew she’d need it. They were going to have to have the room cleaned again anyway. She might as well make the most of it.

  “The majority of the women I work on usually like havin’ this done, you know,” Janine said with a teasing lilt.

  “Yeah, well, my cousin’s not most women.” Nat hadn’t moved from her perch next to Sadie, no doubt so she could give constant input about the hair and makeup to make sure it fit her vision.

  They hadn’t allowed Sadie to peer into any mirrors, so, of course, she feared the worst. She’d been sitting there for nearly three hours already—what the hell were they doing? She wasn’t a vain person by nature, but she had no idea it’d take so much to make her camera-ready. She was terrified they’d turned her in someone else. Worse, what if Cole actually liked new, completely inauthentic her?

  Better question—why did she even care?

  “Okay, I’m just gonna apply the lashes…”

  At the blob of blac
k slowly invading her sight, Sadie jerked far enough back so Janine came into focus, said black blob pinched between the tweezers she wielded.

  Sadie held up her hand. “Wait…eyelashes? I…I have eyelashes, though.”

  Nat and Janine both laughed before Janine lowered the tweezers and rested a hand on her hip. “Relax. They come right off. Well…not right off because then they’d start flappin’ in the breeze right in the middle of the session, but they’re easy to remove. I promise.”

  Sadie eyed her skeptically until the other woman held up the non-tweezer-wielding hand. “Swear. I’m not even usin’ the fullest option. I just wanna accentuate what you already have.”

  Blowing out a deep breath, Sadie nodded, even though her shoulders remained stiff. As Janine placed the eyelashes, Sadie’s apprehension only grew. It felt like two caterpillars crawling on her eyelids—how could that possibly look authentic?

  “How do people wear these every day?” she asked.

  Janine laughed. “You’ll get used to ’em.”

  “They’re so much heavier than I thought they’d be. And are they supposed to cloud half my vision?” There was no way she remotely resembled herself. Would her twin even recognize her?

  “You’re gonna forget all about that when you see how hot you look,” Nat said, brandishing a mirror in front of Sadie.

  She froze for half a second, terrified at what she’d find, but in the end, curiosity won out. She lowered her gaze to the large mirror, and her mouth dropped open.

  “Wow,” she breathed.

  They’d left her hair down, curled in loose waves not unlike she usually styled it, and though it felt as if she wore a pound of makeup, the effect was actually very subtle. Deep pink stained her lips—something she wouldn’t normally wear, but that she actually sort of liked—and her blue eyes popped thanks to the eye shadow colors Janine had chosen. And she’d been right. Sadie couldn’t believe that the massive clump that felt like it was taking up half her vision didn’t appear fake. The whole look was her, just kicked up a notch…or twelve.

  Nat raised a single eyebrow. “Good ‘wow,’ or what the fuck ‘wow’?”

  Sadie huffed out a laugh and lowered the mirror, turning to catch her cousin’s gaze. “Definitely good. I thought you were makin’ me up to look like a totally different person.”

  “Why the hell would I do that? You’re gorgeous. Now for the dress…” Nat’s eyes brightened as she strode into the bedroom where the gown had been hanging all day.

  “Have you seen it?” Sadie asked Janine as the makeup artist spritzed some sort of spray all over her face.

  “Yep, and all I can say is I’d kill to wear a dress like that.”

  Well, that sounded promising at least…

  Nat strolled back into the sitting room, the dress held aloft as a huge grin split her face. “Ta-da,” she said, flipping the gown around with flourish so Sadie could see.

  Sadie’s smile froze as she glanced at the article of clothing she’d be wearing for the next several hours. She’d coordinated enough weddings to know the vast range of bridal gowns, so she didn’t know why she’d assumed the one she’d be wearing today would be a ballgown. That was ludicrous, considering there were dozens of other styles. She now realized her assumption had been based in hope strictly out of self-preservation. Because at least a ballgown would allow for a safe distance between her and Cole. This—this full-lace dress with its plunging neckline cut clear down to damn near her belly button and see-through skirt that would tease nearly every inch of her—was anything but a ballgown.

  “What do you think?” Nat asked. “Gorgeous, right? I’m so glad you and Anne are the same size so you could wear this one! You’re gonna be stunning in it.”

  Sadie swallowed, the sound like gunshot ricocheting through her head. “Will I have a shawl or anything like that?”

  Nat snorted and hung the gown on the hook above the window, the light coming in behind it illustrating just how sheer the skirt was. “Course not. That’d cover all the best parts.”

  Yeah, it was all her best parts that she wanted to cover. Especially in front of Cole. At least the stylist had left her hair down, so she’d be able to use it as some sort of shield.

  But as Nat helped her step into the dress, the fabric clinging to every inch of her body, the lace design concealing only her most intimate places, she knew she could’ve had Captain America’s shield, and it still wouldn’t be enough.

  Sadie had been right. Her fears and apprehensions leading up to the shoot had materialized in front of her as soon as she stepped through the archway that led to the inn’s courtyard. They’d lucked out with a warmer day, the temperature hovering in the lower fifties. Definitely colder than she usually wore sleeveless dresses in, but it could’ve been a lot worse.

  Cole stood in front of the gazebo strung with lights and garland and surrounded by the leftover poinsettias, hand in his pocket and eyes fixed on her, looking for all the world like a gorgeous, imposing, pompous ass of a man.

  Nat broke off from Sadie, walking ahead and calling out to Cole with a wave, but she couldn’t pay attention to a single word her cousin spoke. Not when dormant butterflies had erupted in her stomach, fluttering around every inch inside her. Instead of listening to what were no doubt instructions from Nat, Sadie had to focus on shutting down her ridiculous body.

  What the hell was she doing getting butterflies over a man like this?

  It was just hormones. It had to be. Crazy, unpredictable, inconvenient hormones. She was in the middle of a long dry spell, and her body was making her pay for it now.

  “All right, you two. Let’s see if we can fake some chemistry,” Nat said on a grin as she pulled her camera from its bag.

  “I’ll try to muster up some attraction,” Cole said, his tone flat, not an ounce of humor to be found. He dropped his gaze to take in Sadie, and it might as well have been his lips ghosting over her skin for how her body reacted to the look.

  Thank God he’d brought his jackass self with him, because his rude words were exactly what she needed to snap herself out of whatever hormone-induced stupor she’d fallen into.

  She hefted up the skirt of her dress and stomped toward him as carefully as possible, her ridiculous four-inch heels needed to offset their height difference making it difficult. “You’re not the only one who’ll have to work on that,” she snapped before turning her back to him. “You’re not exactly my type.”

  Sadie hated to lie, but when she did, she always grounded it in as much truth as possible, hence the second part of her statement. That, certainly, was true enough. She dated nice guys. Sweet guys. Safe guys. Cole was none of the above.

  “Okay, y’all, I’m gonna guide you to how to pose,” Nat said, “but I don’t want you to feel boxed in, all right? If something doesn’t feel natural, just move till it does. And feel free to talk while I’m shootin’. It’ll be more authentic if I can catch some real smiles.”

  “Oh, dang,” Sadie murmured, “I forgot to tell her that I don’t usually smile around jackasses.”

  “Not even if I found all your ticklish spots?” Cole asked from behind her, the heat of his body seeping into her as goose bumps swept over her skin.

  “You won’t get close enough,” she said, steeling her tone.

  “I’m gonna need y’all to get a little closer.” Nat flashed a smile. “Remember? You’re supposed to be a couple. Cole, just pretend you hiked up her skirt in the dressin’ room and had your wicked way with her before y’all came out here.”

  Sadie’s mouth dropped open in shock. “Natalie Haven! I cannot believe you just said that.”

  With a laugh, Nat lifted a single shoulder and waved a dismissive hand. “What? Gotta break this awkward tension somehow. My dirty mind is usually the way to go.”

  Sadie didn’t have the heart to tell her cousin it wasn’t awkward tension that was the problem—it was just plain old tension. It’d been a constant between her and Cole since he’d first moved to town
years ago. At the time, she’d actually wondered if it’d been attraction. But after they’d officially met during her sister’s divorce hearings, it was clear that tension was strictly of the hate variety.

  Nat was definitely going to have her work cut out for her.

  “I suggested ticklin’ her,” Cole offered unhelpfully.

  “Oh, good call!” Nat nodded, lifting her camera to her face and messing with the controls. Lowering the camera enough to meet their gazes over the top, she said, “For the record, her sides are the worst.”

  Sadie huffed out an indignant breath and glared daggers at her cousin. “I’m no longer speakin’ to you.”

  “We both know that won’t last.”

  “Don’t get mad at her,” Cole said to Sadie, the low timbre of his voice rattling her insides like an earthquake. “I’m the one who brought it up.”

  “You’d rather I direct my irritation at you, then?”

  “I don’t see how that’d be different from any other day.”

  “Well, unlike any other day, I’m now close enough to accidentally inflict some bodily harm.”

  Cole chuckled low, the sound shocking Sadie so much, she glanced back at him, her own lips curving up without permission. But by the time she met his gaze, his lips were once again in their standard flat line, though his eyes were twinkling in a way she’d never seen.

  “See?” Nat called. “Told you my dirty mind always works. Now, let’s make some magic.”

  Nat directed them into various poses, each one more illicit than the last, and Sadie tried futilely to control her reactions. Janine hadn’t needed to put on an ounce of blush for how heated Sadie had become, despite the outdoor temperature.

  “Good. Now, Cole, I want you to flatten your hand on her stomach, span your fingers wide, and pull her back into you. And then just do what comes natural.”

  Natural? Ha! Sadie was stiff as a board, had been this entire time. She could feel how tight her shoulders were, practically hiked up around her ears. She just hoped it wouldn’t be obvious in the pictures.