Page 15 of Wrapped in Winter

She huffs a laugh and drops her head. She stares at the ground for a moment, and just when I think she’s going to give me a firm no, she looks up with a new resolve in her expression and says, “Okay. Dinner.”

I roll my lips inward, trying to play it cool. I take the delivery sheet from my pocket and hand it to her with a pen. “Sign this and print your phone number. I’ll text you later and we can make plans.”

“You’re awfully pushy, Drake. How do you know I’ll give you the right number?”

“I don’t know. But if you don’t, I’ll just come back here every morning until you do.”

Her eyes linger on mine before taking the sheet and signing it. She hands it back and turns to walk away, dismissing me where I stand. “And stop bringing my daughter cookies.”

I smile. “How about flowers?”

“Goodbye, Drake.”

“Bye, January.” I smile and watch her walk from the stockroom, a feeling of excitement coursing through me.

Chapter 8

January

Ispent the day checking my phone for a text message and that's when I knew I was in over my head, though I really should have seen the signs already. There’s something about Drake I like, but it’s definitely not my obsessive feelings toward him. Obviously his physical appearance drew me to him that night but there’s more to it than that. There’s something about him, and I can’t put my finger on it. But I want to know,need to know, what it is. I’ve never reacted to a man the way I did to him that first night, never felt such an undeniable pull toward anyone. That’s why I followed him into the bathroom and why I haven’t been able to get him out of my head since. And that scares me because I’ve never felt this way before and seem powerless to stop it.

I’ve never been one to act without thought for the consequences. Even as a child.

Growing up as the oldest girl, it left Lief and I as the role models. We still had a ton of fun and played the usual sibling antics that everyone hears about. Us girls would gang up on Lief, barging in on him kissing his high school sweetheart, Charlotte.Then we’d run through the house screaming about their tongues touching and rat on them to our parents. Of course, turnabout's fair play, and he’d do things like wait until we snuck down to the lake together and push us in. We’d have to explain why our clothes were soaking wet when we got home. I always accepted responsibility for things like that because I was the oldest of us girls, but it was great and those were the happiest times of my childhood.

Losing dad took that joy away. It broke our family, and I didn’t know how to handle it. So I ran and that’s where having to deal with big consequences began.

Courtney, Jack, and I settled in New York City; the three of us living in a one-bedroom apartment. Those two were so in love, and it was very hard tonothear how much and how often they loved each other. So I began going out, meeting men and hoping to find my own boyfriend. The club scene was like nothing I'd ever been a part of. And with that club scene came a party scene. I had heard about things like that, but I’d never seen it in real life. It was exciting, it was different, and it helped me to not feel. I could easily cover the grief, and most of all, it was something Montana January would never do. But New York City January was down for it all.

I didn’t want to be Montana January anymore.

The three of us had gone out dancing one night. We were asked to join a table in the VIP room. There we joined a beautiful group of people with a mysterious vibe. The typical nightlife scene of young kids with Daddy’s money was intriguing at the time. Alcohol and more was passed around and so were the women. We took it all in; wide-eyed country kids exposed for the first time.

There was one guy who I watched. He didn’t partake in anything more than alcohol, but he sat back and oversaw it all. Like he was the leader or something.

He was gorgeous and I was instantly drawn to him.

“My name is Sean.”

“I’m January.”

“January. That's very different, beautiful, like you.”

He offered me a drink and I took it. We sat at the VIP table while everyone else came and went, and we talked all night. He was charming and sexy. Alluring. His voice was deep and he touched me when he spoke but only in the most respectful way. I went home with him that night, despite the pleas from Jack not to. Courtney talked him into letting me go; she was just as enamored with Sean as I was. And looking back, that's probably why Jack left with her. Because if he didn't take her away, she may have stayed too long like I did.

Though I didn’t know it at the time, that was the second night of my life that changed everything.

“Why do you keep checking your phone?” Blossom comes up beside me, helping me unpack the last of the boxes that Drake delivered.

I pull out the newest sets of lingerie and carefully unpackage them before laying them on the table. “Mom has Lily, I’m just making sure they’re okay.”

“Nothing to do with the delivery we got today?”

“Nope.”

“You know I get a screenshot of the copy you signed for, right?”

I drop the lingerie I was holding and turn to her. “If you already know everything, why are you asking me questions?”