Page 2 of Tempt
“Why didn’t you break it off sooner?”
“Because I felt sorry for him. His mom had recently died, his stepdad was out of the picture, he never knew his real father... He seemed so vulnerable.”
Winnie laughed. “This is your problem. You date lost puppies.”
“I can’t help it. Lost puppies are so cute. So loving and needy.”
“Too needy.”
“Ilikebeing needed. It makes me feel good.” Rolling onto my back, I sighed. “It’s just really frustrating that I’m thirty-two and still haven’t found the one yet. Honestly, I thought I’d have like three kids by now.”
“You don’t need a man to have a kid, Mills. You just need some genetic material, and I think there’s an app for that.” She giggled.
“Be serious,” I told her, although I’d secretly googledsperm banks near melike ten times in the last few months and then immediately deleted my search history.
“I am being serious. You’d be an amazing mom, and if that’s what you want, you should go for it.”
“I want afamily,” I clarified. “I want adadfor my kids, not just someone’s genetic material. And I’d like to grow old with someone. You and Felicity managed to find the one. Why can’t I?”
“Finding the one isn’t something youmanage, like a project or an event. It takes time. I might be younger than you, but I kissed a lot of frogs before I met Dex. And even he sort of seemed like a frog at first—twelve years older than me, divorced with two young daughters, grumpy as hell and positive he’d never want to be in a relationship.”
I snorted. “That didn’t last long.”
“No, but it wasn’t easy. And look at Felicity.”
Our middle sister had recently spoken her vows in the orchard at Cloverleigh Farms, after a whirlwind courtship that had involved a fake engagement to her best friend from high school—the one who’d loved her all along. “Thatshouldhave been easy, but they made it complicated.”
“Socomplicated,” Winnie agreed with a laugh. “But my point is, there are some things you just have to leave up to fate. You can’t rush them. And you can’t plan them.”
“So that’s it?” Cranky, I got off the bed and headed for the minibar. “I just while away my days waiting for lightning to strike? That’s not me, Winnie. I’m a doer, not a waiter.”
“But you keepdoingthe wrong thing. You just have a pattern—you choose guys that need fixing, you solve their problems, part ways with them, and then they go on to meet the love of their lives because you helped them get over their baggage. You need to get out of that rut.”
“You’re not helping,” I told her, perusing the tiny bottles of booze and overpriced snacks in the fridge.
“Want my advice?”
“Maybe,” I said, wondering if I had to feel bad that the little sister was the one handing out wisdom to the big sister. Wasn’t it supposed to be the other way around? Seemed like yesterday she was wearing footie pajamas and had syrup in her hair. It actually made me smile, thinking about those frantic school mornings where our dad, who’d raised the three of us on his own after our mother left, would scramble to get out the door on time.
We’d lived that way for a few years before he married Frannie, our amazing stepmom, who’d been more of a mother to me in every way than my biological mom. It was from watching my dad and Frannie that I’d learned to believe in real love, the kind that lasts.
I just didn’t know where to find it.
“My advice,” Winnie went on, “is to change your luck. Get off the hamster wheel.”
I shut the minibar door. “How do I do that?”
She thought for a moment. “Do something you wouldn’t normally do. I say you put on something cute, go down to the hotel bar, and flirt with a handsome, mysterious stranger.”
I laughed. “Are you nuts? It’s after nine. That’s my bedtime.”
“You need to get out of your routine, that’s the point! Listen, there must be other people stranded by the storm tonight, and odds are at least one of them is hot, single, and looking for a one-night stand with a bombshell blonde.”
“I’m already in my pajamas.” But I wandered over to my suitcase and opened it up, rifling through it for something cute. Maybe getting out of my room would help my mood.
“So change out of them! What if downstairs right now is the man of your dreams? One with piercing dark eyes, a chiseled jaw, and a magic dick?”
I laughed as I pulled out a black dress I hadn’t worn while I was here. “How am I supposed to spot a magic dick across the room?”
