Winter Interlude (12 page)

“Let me assure you,” he said with a self-satisfied smile
,
“
t
hat despite being a
Californian who
se dad rarely took long weekends, I don’t feel I
missed out on anything
.
James and I had a damn good upbringing.”

“Of course you did
.”

“My parents are great.”

“I didn’t mean to suggest otherwise
.”
She exhaled a long breath
.
“Maybe I should just keep my mouth shut and stick to playing Angry Birds
.
I promised Judith I’d be nice and I can’t do that if you’re going to find fault with everything I say.”

“I’m not finding fault.”

“Yes
,
you are
.
If you didn’t like my suggestion about playing games, you only had to say so.”

“Is that what we’re doing,
Kate
?
Playing games
?”
The
words
just popped out of his mouth
.
He wished he could take them back when he looked over and saw her stunned face.

Eventually
,
the shock wore off, but she still didn’t respond right away
.
Instead, she took her time, clearly weighing her answer
.
Finally, her gaze pierced his and she said, with a voice full of challenge, “I don’t know, Paul
.
Are we?”

His bark of laughter filled the air
.
“Okay, the ice is broken
.
Now you can tell me about your
game
,” he parried back

“Oh, shut up
.”
She crossed her arms and glared out the window
.
“I’ve changed my mind
.
I’m not playing any games with you
.”

Paul
looked over and watched her for a moment
.
He always thought of her as pushy and obnoxious, never silently subdued like now
.
She was kind of cute when she stewed
.

Figuring he’d gone a little too far, he decided to strive for amicability
.
“What I mean is, tell me about
T
wenty
Q
uestions
.”
H
e
had
promised Judith to behave
.

The silence was deafening as
she completely ignored him
.

Long
minutes went by before he tried again
.
“Come on, it just slipped out
.
I’m trying here, but you never make it easy.”

Her entire body stiffened and color infused her face
.
“Oh
,
now I’ve heard everything,” she huffed
.
Her tightened jaw jutted out
.
“So tell me
!
Why do I make it so hard?”

“God, you tempt me,” Paul replied,
and shook
his head, totally unprepared for the though
ts streaking through his brain that allowed
the comment to just slip out
.
Damn his quick, twisted mind
.
How in the hell could he even think of saying that to someone other than Judith
?
The fact that it was
Kate
was a double whammy.
E
ven though her words had taken him by surprise, he found he couldn’t let them go
.
“And here I promised to mind my manners
.”

He caught the exact moment realization hit
.
Her face went from blushing pink to beet red
.
She moved to stare out the window, without saying another word.

“So I guess
T
wenty
Q
uestions
is
out
?”
Paul asked a little while later, risking another quick glance at her
.
He grinned, holding on
to a chuckle
.
She’d crossed her arms and legs again, closing up like a hedgehog with quills, steadfastly refusing to acknowledge him any further
.

Laughing at this point wouldn’t be wise
.
He resisted the urge to toss out a snide comment, determined to honor his word
.
A
t the same time, he couldn’t help feeling a twinge of satisfaction that
,
despite her barbed exterior, he was getting under her skin, digging his way
in
as easily as an earthworm plows through moist dirt
.
W
hy that gave him so much enjoyment, he had no idea
.
The thought stopped him cold and he threw her another sideways glance
.
Since when had he started thinking of sparring with
Kate
Winters as entertaining?

~

A
s
Kate
fumed, she
wished Paul could fall into one of the potholes in the road and be swallowed up
.
Of course, her wish included him leaving his car behind so she could drive it the rest of the way
.

This ride wasn’t going the way she’d planned
.
At all
!
Her reaction, not his words, was the real problem
.
For some idiotic reason, their limited conversation had been fun in an invigorating, almost naughty fashion, which totally threw her off
-
kilter
.
Anger was the only way to regain even a little bit of balance
.
He was her enemy, not someone to find exciting
.
She needed to remember that for the rest of the trip
.
She reached for her cell phone and retrieved the app for Spider Solitaire, deciding it best to ignore him from here on out.

“I need a diversion
.”
Paul’s voice broke into her thoughts a half hour later.

When she spared him a brief glance, he smiled
.
“Tell me about
T
wenty
Q
uestions.”

She gave a disbelieving snort, ignoring the butterfly wings flapping inside her tummy at his teasing voice
.
“Like I’m going to touch that remark
?”
His silly expression wasn’t about to lure her in either
.

“Touché
!
You’ve won round one
.”
His grin spread, drawing her focus like an invisible force
.
It was Jame
s’
smile, but so much more infectious
.
“Come on,” he pleaded
.
“Tell me and we’ll play
.”
His eyebrows rose up and down several times.

Kate
couldn’t withhold her laughter any longer
,
completely destroying her resolve of not engaging
.
She shouldn’t want to respond, but why deny herself when he looked so innocent, yet full of mischief.

So with her own gleam and innocent smile forming, she shot back, “Okay, but let me warn you, I’m not someone who’s easy to take down
.
Don’t forget
, I’ve been dodging your verbal blows for years.”

“You always got in a few good punches
,
if my memory is correct,” he countered, still grinning like an idiot
.

“You left me no choice
.”
Her smile died, as memories of all his jokes came back
—
one by one
—
allowing her good sense to return
.
Looking at him like this, she couldn’t imagine he was the same man who’d hurled so many insults her way
.
She couldn’t help asking, “Why do you hate me so much?”

He stiffened and his glance went from her to the road and back again
.
He definitely hadn’t expected the question
,
considering the expression that settled over his features
.
Remaining silent, he refocused on driving, as if he couldn’t find the words to answer her question
.
A
drawn
-
out moment
passed
before
he said quietly, “I don’t hate you.”

Confused,
Kate
shook her head
.
“Then what have I ever done to you to deserve such venom?” she blurted out, unable to halt the words because she really wanted to know.

With all of her defenses lowered, she couldn’t erase the hurt from her voice or keep pain from showing on her face
.

Unfortunately, Paul chose that moment to glance over
.
When he swore under his breath and resumed staring at the road ahead, she groaned inwardly, dying to disappear
.
Why had she opened her mouth
?
She’d probably never hear the end of this.

He drove for several miles before offering in a contrite voice, one that was totally
de
void of his usual mocking tone, “I don’t know
.”