Free Ice Moon by Lisa Kessler Page B

yes, you wouldn’t want all of Lake Tahoe whispering about you dating your contractor.”
    I smiled. “You did a lot of thinking.”
    “I had a few days while someone was avoiding my calls.”
    I laughed before I could stop myself. “I wasn’t avoiding you, I was trying to figure out what to do.”
    He shook his head. “I’m not ready to talk about that. Let’s start with pizza first.”
    “Smells great.” I peered in the bag. “Garlic bread, too?”
    He nodded and turned on the engine. “First we’re going to the cabin.”
    My smile faded. “Cabin?”
    “Yeah, my family has a big one up here. We all have keys. It’ll be quiet so we can talk, and it’s got a dynamite view of the lake.”
    I shifted in my seat, staring out the window. He had to understand now why I didn’t like to be touched. It wasn’t even that I didn’t like it, so much as I didn’t want to hurt anyone. In fact, if I was being honest, kissing Jared had been…hot. To say the least. And being with him only made me yearn for more.
    Silence blanketed us for the rest of the drive. He finally pulled into a mammoth multi-level log home on the lakeshore. To call it a cabin was doing it a huge injustice.
    “Some cabin.”
    He chuckled, turning off the engine. “Maybe, but calling it an estate or something like that sounds pretentious.”
    I opened the door and got out, balancing the bag on top of the pizza box. Jared came around and traded me the keys for the food. I unlocked the door, then followed him inside. A massive staircase sat across the entryway, to the right was a den, and on the left was a spacious living area with a vaulted ceiling and an impressive oversized fireplace.
    “Inside or outside?”
    His voice jarred me from my inspection of the property. “Inside.”
    “You got it.”
    The industrial-sized kitchen was finished with gleaming stainless steel appliances. “Wow. Your family must do a lot of entertaining.”
    He shrugged, placing the food on the counter while he took down a couple of paper plates. “Our family is big and it keeps growing, so if we all want to get together, this place can hold all of us at once.”
    I pulled out a piece of pepperoni pizza and a slice of garlic bread. Jared went into the living room and sat on the curved leather sofa. I took a spot a few feet away.
    He chuckled. “I’m not going to bite.”
    “And I’m not going to take any chances.”
    He raised his large hands in mock surrender. “Fair enough.”
    The second my teeth sank into the warm, melty cheese, I almost moaned out loud. It had been way too long since I had pizza. “Are you going to tell me why it was so important that we have dinner?”
    “Because when you started dodging my calls I realized something.”
    I swallowed. “What’s that?”
    “You didn’t mean for me to find out about the Pyrokinesis, but my shirt spilled your secret without your consent.”
    Good thing I hadn’t taken another bite yet, or I would’ve choked on my food. “Perceptive.” I raised a brow. “And you must have Googled.”
    He nodded with a gentle smile. “I did a little research.”
    I set my plate on the coffee table, my appetite gone. “Are we here to discuss a fee for you to keep your mouth shut?”
    “You have got to be goddamned kidding me.” He tossed his plate on the table, his gaze pinning me to my seat. “You seriously think I brought you here to blackmail you? What have I ever done to give you such a lowlife opinion of me?”
    Nothing. He’d been professional, polite, and amazing to my son. I cleared my throat and stood up, breaking free of his heavy stare.
    “You haven’t done anything, but life has taught me people can turn on a dime and I’m always ready to pivot.” I crossed over to the fireplace and sat on the stone bench in front of the empty hearth. “So why are we here exactly?”
    “I wanted to level the playing field.” He pulled his hair back from his forehead. “But maybe you don’t give a shit