11. Chapter Eleven

Chapter Eleven

Kinsey kicked back on the private jet, her feet up, nothing but blue sky and fluffy white clouds out her window. On the low table in front of her fizzed a glass of real champagne. They'd been in the air for just over an hour and Kinsey wasn't sure she ever wanted to get off the plane.

"You're really taking to this, aren't you?" Cassidy said from her lounge seat opposite. She'd accepted the champagne only after Kinsey had insisted and instead looked deeply uncomfortable. Kinsey grinned widely.

"Look it's a little earlier than I expected it to happen but I always knew we'd get here eventually," she said.

"Ugh," Cassidy said, rolling her eyes. "Honestly this is so gross. The carbon miles alone. Seriously, she's such a hypocrite sometimes… donates to all these charities then flies this thing everywhere. We could have taken a regular flight just fine, but she insisted." Cassidy crossed her arms and huffed. "I'm so fucking embarrassed."

Kinsey couldn't stop laughing.

"Oh, I bet you fought her so hard. ‘ Please, Savannah, there's an economy seat on Spirit leaving at 5AM that may or may not make it to Vermont and I'm dying to be on it .'"

"Shut up and drink your literal champagne," Cassidy said, giving her a dirty look. Kinsey toasted her.

"Are you excited to see Lane?"

A real smile emerged from Cassidy this time. "Yeah. Also nervous? I don't know why."

"Because you looooove them," Kinsey teased.

"Mm." Cassidy smirked a private smile that was a surefire sign she was also thinking about getting laid. Kinsey was jealous, but not in the slightly twisted up way she had been before. She was jealous that Cassidy was about to spend her winter break getting hot and sweaty, while for Kinsey… well, it had been a while.

Cassidy drifted off into her own thoughts and Kinsey gazed out the window, thinking for approximately the eighty-thousandth time of the last time she'd had sex. Rosalie had thrown a spanner in the works before Kinsey had the chance to find out for herself if the heat of that green gaze and the confident sass of Rosalie's bedroom talk would have translated the way Kinsey imagined it would. The way Rosalie kissed had been potential enough.

Ugh.

"You good?"

Kinsey hadn't realized she'd said that last bit out loud until Cassidy glanced up. She shrugged and nodded and just like that, the jet landed.

Outside downy snow carpeted the ground and Kinsey tipped her face up, smiling as flurries kissed her cheeks. She loved Nashville, but last winter had made her itch for a proper frost or the sight of big fluffy snowflakes falling outside her window.

A luxury car waited for them on the tarmac and suddenly not even the snow could cool her nerves. They wound through a frosted forest, the car tires crunching over freshly fallen snow. Just outside of Burlington the driver took a right hand turn from a back road, to pause as an intricate set of imposing gates parted to allow them entry. When the trees finally opened up after what felt like several minutes of driving, Kinsey just about died.

The gorgeous dark stone mansion, glittered with white on the roof and sills, lush evergreen vines catching snow drifts up the walls. Warm light glowed through the windows as the afternoon sky turned to dusk. Behind the house Lake Champlain shone in the fading light and the snow-capped mountains stood sentry beyond.

The car stopped at the front door and Kinsey tumbled out behind Cassidy while the driver retrieved their bags. She shivered but smiled as she inhaled the fresh, icy air of true winter. Then she looked up at the house and her excitement turned back to nerves.

"Do I curtsy when I meet her?" she hissed and Cassidy rolled her eyes and marched forward into the house.

"Hey!" Cassidy straight up yelled as she walked into the foyer.

There was the sound of footsteps and by the time Kinsey had blinked, Cassidy was being bent back and kissed within an inch of her life by Lane and by the sound of her surprised gasp, enjoying every second of it. Kinsey stood by awkwardly for a second, then shuffled to their left, glimpsing gleaming floorboards and the warm glow of a log fire in the house beyond.

"I swear they're like this even when she's been gone for a day," came a dry voice and there, two feet in front of her, appeared Brynn Marshall, tall, dark and gorgeous and Kinsey nearly passed out.

"I'm Brynn," Brynn said, entirely unnecessarily and greeted Kinsey with a swift cheek kiss and an attractive grin. Kinsey found herself slightly too starstruck to say anything coherent but thankfully Cassidy and Lane had untangled so there were hugs and greetings all round.

"Come through, they're in the kitchen," Brynn said and they traipsed after her.

Kinsey wanted to photograph the living room as they passed through it. She'd add it to a Pinterest titled ‘Cozy but Luxurious' and when she was a zillionaire she'd hire Savannah's decorator for sure. The gorgeous, black, Steinway grand piano in the corner drew her eye before Brynn led them through the expansive dining room and into the kitchen.

Copper light pendants glowed golden against the gloom of the winter cold outside. The room looked straight out of a lifestyle magazine, except that it was clearly in full use, flour everywhere, the oven on, something bubbling on the stovetop that smelled delicious. And pausing in the middle of pulling out wine glasses was a small blonde woman in jeans and a sweater, and a face that had been on a poster in Kinsey's room since she was fifteen.

"Hey!" cried Savannah Grace, her face lighting up. She pulled Cassidy into a hug. Then, just like that, she was hugging Kinsey too. On a cold winter's day she smelled like summer; honeyed with a hint of jasmine. Savannah pulled back and looked at Kinsey, with what were now ridiculously familiar blue-gray eyes, sparkling in the soft gold light. "So lovely you could join us," she said, her voice warm. "Do you weary travelers want a wine?"

"Well it was a hard trip," Kinsey managed and felt approximately twelve-feet tall when Savannah laughed. The singer handed her a glass of something red and she took a grateful sip. She wasn't any kind of wine expert but it sure as hell wasn't the house red at her local bar.

Brynn excused herself to check on the children and Lane, Cassidy and Kinsey all leaned against a section of counter to sip their wines, Lane's fingers curling around Cassidy's hip. Savannah went to the fridge and pulled out various fancy cheeses and started to grate them.

"Why are you cooking?" Cassidy looked disturbed and Savannah snorted like some kind of regular goofy mortal.

"Luis needed a night off to see his mom, so we thought we'd try and recreate his amazing pizzas." She gestured to the four big trays of homemade dough rolled out and covered in toppings. "I can cook you know. I'm actually really good at it." When Cassidy remained doubtful Savannah rolled her eyes and looked for a second very much like someone's older sister. "Don't worry, I'm being supervised," she sighed."Ros is here."

"She is?" Cassidy's eyes lit up. It was wild seeing the two of them in the same room, Kinsey's cute bandmate and her sister the megastar.

"Yeah, she's braving the cold to go find us fresh herbs like some kind of hunter-gatherer." Savannah turned to Kinsey. "My best friend is staying," she explained.

Three seconds later, the back door opened and cool air swirled into the room. Kinsey's brain stuttered to a halt. Stepping into the kitchen, her cheeks flushed with cold, was Rosalie.

She was every bit as beautiful as Kinsey had remembered, perhaps more so, dressed down in a pair of leggings and a loose cotton shirt. The denim blue made her hair seem redder, her sea green eyes sparkling and her hands full of fragrant rosemary. Kinsey swallowed, feeling slightly dizzy. What in the world ?

"Hey!" Rosalie's voice was bright as she saw Cassidy. A split second afterward her eyes fell on Kinsey. The moment their eyes met, Rosalie flushed intensely, incriminatingly red. It wasn't the kind of blush you could ignore, her creamy skin changing shades so dramatically that everyone in the room looked at her curiously.

"You good?" Savannah asked her, with a slight frown. Rosalie blinked.

"Totally!" She dragged her eyes quickly from Kinsey. "Just warm in here after the cold outside." She dropped the herbs on the kitchen counter, before coming to give Cassidy a hug, her smile slightly fixed.

"This is Cassidy's bandmate, Kinsey," Savannah said. "Kinsey, Rosalie."

"Nice to meet you," said Rosalie offering her a handshake, her eyes uncertain and Kinsey couldn't help her smile.

"We've met," she reminded her, gently grasping her hand. Rosalie's blush deepened.

"Oh," she said, "of course." Kinsey's eyes narrowed a little. They both knew damn well she'd not been forgotten. Rosalie tugged her hand back and Kinsey caught the moment that she swallowed, hard.

"I'd almost forgotten about that," Lane butted in, "Kinsey led a class for me at the center a couple of months ago, when I was sick that time."

"Oh?" Savannah shot her an interested look, her gaze focused. "What did you teach?"

"Songwriting," Kinsey managed to say, not sure she could even use that word in front of someone with that many Grammys.

Her head spun. Rosalie was Savannah Grace's best friend? Rosalie was… staying here? Here in the house that Kinsey was staying at? She couldn't stop looking at her. Rosalie turned away to pour herself a very solid glass of wine. Her blush was only just starting to fade, her beautiful hair tumbling over her shoulders, her curves still unmistakable under her casual outfit. Kinsey swallowed. Who'd have thought there was a person in the world who could steal Kinsey's attention from the fact that Savannah Grace was three feet away, cooking her dinner?

"That," Savannah said, pointing at her now with a small slice of red pepper, "is an excellent idea. Ros, we should absolutely do that as a regular session, the kids must have loved it."

"They did," Rosalie confirmed briefly, taking a large gulp of her wine. She very carefully kept from looking at Kinsey at all.

"You should invite her back," Savannah suggested. Rosalie looked into the middle distance, taking another sip of wine, clearly lost for an excuse.

"You should," Kinsey agreed, with a shrug. Rosalie's gaze flickered to her, her eyes narrowing slightly before she turned back to Savannah with a little frown.

"Well I would if I was allowed to run my own damn center," Rosalie said, her voice light. There was a slight bite in her tone but Savannah only smiled.

"You will be," she said easily. "After you lose that stick up your butt."

As Kinsey listened to the tease between them she faintly remembered Rosalie telling her she and her best friend had created the center. She drew a quick breath. Savannah Grace was quietly bankrolling a service for queer kids in Tennessee. Her celebrity crush went up another eight notches. It also explained why the center didn't seem to be hurting for cash and owned great guitars.

"You're taking a break, Rosalie?" Cassidy asked, leaning back against Lane's body. Honestly, those two were ridiculous.

"Your sister literally kidnapped me," Rosalie told her flatly and Savannah huffed.

"Thank god for the tranquiliser gun," she said, "or I'd never have gotten her on the jet."

Kinsey couldn't stop the small laugh that bubbled out of her. Rosalie's eyes jerked to her with that slight reprimand Kinsey liked so much and her stomach clenched. She didn't drop her gaze. Rosalie looked pointedly away but Savannah gave Kinsey a smile so big it was like a blaze of light.

"She's a handful," Savannah said.

Kinsey swallowed a large gulp of wine. "I'm sure she is."

Savannah's housekeeper, Lucille, arrived and offered to show Kinsey to her room so she could unpack and get ready for dinner, whatever that entailed. Lane towed Cassidy out to see their room too, though there wasn't a person in the kitchen who didn't know a euphemism when they heard it.

Kinsey was sure as hell that there were eyes on her back as she exited. She barely took in the gorgeous surroundings as Lucille led her up the stairs, along a broad white corridor filled with black and white framed prints and opened a door for her. She thanked the housekeeper and closed the door behind her. Immediately, she collapsed on the giant white fluffy bed and stared up at the ceiling.

Rosalie. Her brain hurt. As if it weren't flabbergasting enough to be staying in a house with Savannah Grace and Brynn Marshall; she'd barely had three seconds to adjust when Rosalie walked in. Kinsey flung her arm over her face, swallowing a groan. The woman had been taking up far too much of Kinsey's brain space for someone who just wanted to be a one night stand, and suddenly there she was being dangled right in front of her again. For how long? Kinsey was supposed to stay for two weeks. Was Rosalie here for a couple of days? Or longer? How in the world would she cope?

It was clear from Rosalie's blush and her clear confusion as to how to act that she was just as thrown as Kinsey was. But it was equally clear from the way their night together had ended that she was uncomfortable with both their age gap and Kinsey's proximity to Lane, two issues that would only be exacerbated now, with her and Cassidy and Lane all jumbled up in each other's lives and Rosalie right there in the mix. Kinsey almost wondered if Rosalie was going to straight up flee or at least try to avoid her altogether.

One thing was for damn sure though. Seeing Rosalie again had only made it painfully crystal clear: Kinsey still wanted her. Badly.