by K. C. Crowne
“That’s right, the one from The Shining. Forgot it was coming up so soon.”
“Leavin’ this weekend, in fact. And you should come with me.”
It was hard to figure out how I felt in that moment. Part of me was thrilled, excited as hell about the idea of being with Patrick on a trip like that. But another part of me wasn’t sure.
“It’ll be fun,” he encouraged, leaning in and giving my knee a squeeze as he seemed to sense my hesitance. “Place is only an hour and a half from here. We can go for a weekend, relax, see some sights, and be back in time for you to start the work week. Though I wouldn’t discourage you if you wanted to take that Monday off.”
I sighed indecisively. “I don’t know. It’s just…”
“Listen, if you’re worried about some maniac chasin’ you around with an axe, I can assure you right now they’ve got top-notch security. And only one of the Yelp reviews mentioned guys with axes – so the odds are in our favor.” He offered one of his charming grins.
I laughed and rolled my eyes at him, but I still wasn’t sure. All I could think about was how it might cut into my work time and my time with Mom, how I’d never done anything like that before, how I’d be alone with Patrick.
But the strangest thing happened as I sat there considering it. My mother’s voice appeared in my mind as surely as if she’d been sitting next to me, and all I could think about was her telling me to live a little, to get out of my comfort zone and spend a little time with a handsome man.
“Alright, I’ll do it.”
He grinned, leaning in and kissing me. “We’re gonna have the time of our lives, gorgeous,” he said. “And I can’t wait.”
Friday came faster than I’d expected. I was excited – more excited than I’d been for anything in a long while.
I’d left work a few hours early, my last appointment of the day having cancelled on me. I’d spent the afternoon getting ready for the trip ahead. When four rolled around and Patrick sent me a text to let me know he was there, I was so excited I could hardly think straight.
I grabbed my bag and headed out, the sky slate gray above, a few flurries of snow falling here and there. Patrick was out front, leaning against his truck, his eyes hidden behind sunglasses.
“You ready for the scariest weekend of your life?” he asked with a grin.
“You know ghosts aren’t real, right?”
He took my luggage out of my hands and placed in them in the backseat. “Tell that to all the people over the years who’ve seen them in the halls.” He gave me a knowing smirk, one charged with mystery and excitement.
He opened the door and I climbed into the truck, the interior toasty and warm. “But ghosts aren’t real, Patrick.”
Patrick picked up the conversation as he got into the truck and buckled his seatbelt. “You sure about that?”
“Don’t tell me you actually believe in ghosts.”
“You don’t? I mean, I’m a skeptical person – don’t get me wrong. But I’ve been around the world, seen a hell of a lot of strange things. It’s not the craziest idea I’ve ever heard.”
“Well, I’m doctor – I believe the evidence. And stuff people have said most definitely doesn’t qualify as that.”
He chuckled as he pulled the truck onto the main road that led to the highway. “We’ve got a little bit of a Mulder and Scully thing goin’ on.”
“Are those people?”
His expression fell, his mouth opening in surprise before he spoke. “You’re kiddin’. You don’t know who Mulder and Scully are?”
“They sound kind of familiar.”
“X-Files,” he said. “Only one of the best TV shows of all time.”
“Ahhh,” I remembered. “I wasn’t much of a TV girl growing up – more of a reader.”
“Well, the long and short of it is that Scully’s the scientist – a doctor, like you. She’s skeptical, likes to see the evidence. A no-bullshit kind of woman.”
“I like her already.”
“Mulder’s more open-minded, believes ‘the truth is out there’.” He made air quotes with his fingers.
“Alright, I’m interested.”
“I haven’t gotten to the best part,” he said.
“And what’s that?”
“The sexual tension.”
I laughed. “I think we’ve long broken that.”
“True. That’s where the similarities end, I suppose.” He placed his hand on my leg, and I didn’t even think before putting my hand on top of his. “Either way, we’re about to check out a paranormal mystery. Who knows what we’ll find?”
“So, research is kind of my thing, and I did a little on the hotel.”
“That right? Let’s compare notes.” A bolt of lightning crackled in the darkening clouds ahead.
“I found out this wasn’t the hotel where they filmed The Shining.”
“Right,” Patrick nodded. “They used a lodge in Oregon for the exterior shots. But this is the hotel the movie was based on. Stephen King stayed there with his wife right before the place closed for the season. He and his wife had nearly the entire wing to themselves. Got him thinking about what it would be like to stay there when no one was there at all.”
I was impressed – he’d done his homework. “And yeah, there are rumors that it’s haunted. Ghost sightings all the time, people saying they see things in the halls.”
“And what’s Scully’s take on that?”
I flashed him a wry smirk. “Scully’s take is that it’s a huge place, probably with lots of dark areas perfect for people seeing things in the shadows. You take that and people primed by the history of the hotel, and it’s an easy recipe for false sightings.”
“Hmm.”
“And it’s a positive feedback loop – it gets the reputation of a haunted hotbed, which means more people thinking they’ve seen something. And that feeds into more people seeing things, and so on and so on.”
He nodded, processing what I’d told him. “Okay, okay – that sounds perfectly reasonable.”
“What’s Mulder’s take?”
“Mulder’s take is that if he can get a real picture of a ghost, it’ll make his career. So I’m choosing to strategically believe for the sake of a good story.”
I couldn’t help but laugh at that.
We drove on, taking the highway up north to Estes Park, the town where the hotel was located. And as we drew closer the scenery grew more and more dramatic, the highway winding through the sheer mountain faces, the clouds darkening around us.
“Weather’s looking bad,” I commented, tilting my head and getting a look at the clouds above.
“Supposed to be a snowstorm tonight. Possibly some thundersnow. Figure we get in this evening, relax for the night, and then start the hunt tomorrow. We make a day out of it – check out the hotel, do some exploring in the woods around the place, and take breaks for meals when we need to.”
It all sounded pretty darn fun – I had to admit.
When we finally arrived at the hotel, I let out a gasp as it appeared in the distance. The Stanley Hotel was huge, a colonial revival style with a pearl-white exterior, the roof a deep burgundy. In the center middle of the roof of the U-shaped building was a tall chapel, the very top plated in stunning gold. The massive building was nestled in the mountains. However huge it may have been, it was still dwarfed by nature.
My eyes remained locked on the place as we pulled up in front, a valet stepping out and taking our bags, then the car.
“This is really something.”
“You’re gonna have a blast. I booked one of the best rooms, and everything’s already taken care of.”
“You’re kidding. You didn’t have to do that.”
“I didn’t have to, but I did anyway. Now, let’s do this.”
We headed into the lobby, which was as gorgeous and huge as I would’ve guessed from the exterior. The furniture was leather, floors hardwood and covered in massive tapestries, the ceilings high and wood be
amed. Fires crackled in several different fireplaces. The room struck me as a wonderful combination of a Victorian study and an alpine ski lodge.
I loved it, and from the moment I stepped inside, I was pleased as punch with my decision to come.
Patrick took my hand and led me to the front desk. We checked in, and in a flurry of activity, the staff led us up to our room. We walked down the long hallways through the third floor, and I could see instantly what Stephen King had been inspired by.
The room was something amazing, too. It was a massive suite in keeping with the alpine lodge style, the tall windows looking out over the nearby mountains.
As soon as we were alone, there was only one entity in the room that had my attention. And the look in his eyes let me know he felt the same way.
The clouds crackled with more lightning as Patrick turned on the fireplace, the room filling with warmth soon after. He stepped over to me, wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me close. I noticed his erection, the feeling of his length against me making me wet enough to soak through my panties.
“Thanks for bringing me,” I said, my hear racing faster and faster by the second.
“Thanks for coming,” he replied with a wicked grin.
Nothing else needed to be said. We kissed long and deep, stripping out of our clothes and heading to the rug in front of the fireplace. By the time we were there, we’d stripped one another down to nothing, Patrick putting his hand on the small of my back and laying me down in front of the fire.
I wrapped my legs around him as he grabbed his cock and placed the head between my lips. My hands fell onto his ass, and I pressed down, guiding him into me. I closed my eyes and sighed as he pushed into me, my pussy stretching and clenching around his cock.
He kissed me along my neck and down to my breasts as he moved inside me, bringing me quickly to my first orgasm, the one that had been building during the entire drive with him. Patrick thrust into me hard as I came, and when it faded, I was soon on the verge of another.
The next one came after he turned me over to take me from behind. I gripped the rug hard as he drove into me, the second orgasm even more powerful than the first. It faded and I moved on top of him, my legs over his hips as I bucked back and forth.
We came together for the final orgasm, Patrick grunting hard as he released into me, my orgasm so intense that the rest of the world melted away as the pleasure ran through me, hot and lusty.
When we were done, the two of us laid together in front of the fire, his hand on my hip and my head on his chest.
“Glad you came with me, gorgeous,” he said, planting a kiss on my forehead.
“I’m glad too.”
Outside, the snow had begun to fall hard. Part of me hoped we might get snowed in, that we might have a chance to ignore the rest of the world for a time, he and I together.
Love.
My eyes widened as the word popped into mind. It scared me, made my blood run cold.
But it was the only word that fit how I felt in that moment.
I pushed it aside, focusing on the flames.
Chapter 21
PATRICK
The snow came down hard that night, continuing well into the morning. Lola and I ordered room service, only throwing on robes long enough to answer the door. Over a feast of burgers and fries, we sat before the fire and watched the snow fall.
And when we were ready, we climbed into bed together, holding each other close as we drifted off to a deep sleep.
I woke up the next morning feeling happy. When I opened my eyes to say good morning to Lola, she was gone. I sat up, and in my sleepy grogginess I wondered for a moment if I’d imagined her coming with me, wondered if I was actually alone.
“Lola?” I asked, putting my feet on the floor and getting out of bed.
“Bathroom!” she called out, her voice carrying into the bedroom.
I grabbed my robe from the ground and threw it on, heading into the bathroom. Lola was soaking in the huge jacuzzi tub, bubbles all around her, one of her legs hanging out of the side, her skin glistening with water.
“I got up to go to the bathroom earlier, and when I saw this tub, I couldn’t resist.”
“Hell, I don’t think I can resist.”
“Then don’t.” She smiled seductively at me.
I undid the sash of my robe and let the thing fall to the ground. I stepped into the tub, the hot water feeling so damn good that all I could do was let out a long “ahhh” of contentment. Whatever tension remained in my muscles from the drive, the water took care of them.
“So,” she said after a few moments of soaking. “What’s the plan for today?”
“Skiing. I want to take the tram up to the top and snap some pictures all the way down.”
She raised her eyebrows. “You’re not messing around.”
“I never do.”
She chuckled. “Well, you do – but in a good way.”
I knew what she meant by this. The tub was so big that it took me a moment to get to the other side where she was. I wrapped my arm around her body, Lola’s skin warm from the water.
“There was somethin’ I was hopin’ to do when we woke up this morning. But imagine my disappointment when you weren’t there.”
“Hmm, and what might that have been?”
“You’re a bright woman. I think you can guess.”
“Give me a hint.”
“Gladly.”
I moved in for a kiss, one she happily accepted. It didn’t take long for the kiss to turn into something more, Lola moving to sit on my lap, her legs wrapping around me.
When we were done, we lounged in the post-sex afterglow, the water bubbling all around us. We made the decision to order a big, room service breakfast of pancakes.
“Now,” she said when we were dressed in our robes, the amazing breakfast spread on the table in the main room of the suite. “I got an email this morning – turns out one of the ophthalmologists that Pitt Medical hired for one of the clinics in town is on the newer side. Duncan asked if I could be on call for a few hours while she worked through her Saturday half-shift.”
“Boss is riding you hard, huh?”
“Not as hard as some of my patients do,” she joked, surprising me.
I grinned, my cock stiffening to attention at her cheeky comment. I was liking this woman more and more by the day.
“Anyway, I don’t have to be locked at my computer or anything – just nearby if she happens to call.”
“Meaning, no skiing.”
“Unfortunately, yes. So, I think I’ll spend the morning bumming around the hotel while you go out and have fun.”
“Not a chance,” I replied.
“Excuse me?”
After stuffing another bite of blackberry pancake into my mouth, I stepped over to my briefcase and slipped out my laptop. A few clicks here and a few keystrokes there, and I did what I needed to do.
“What’s going on over there?”
“Oh, nothing – just put you in for a spa morning.”
“You’re not serious.”
I returned to my seat at the table. “I’d never joke about a mani-pedi. You relax and take in the luxuries this place has to offer, and I’ll brave the bitter cold. Then we can meet up for lunch and decide how we want to spend the rest of our day. Sound good?”
She opened her mouth, as if wanting to protest, to tell me she didn’t need a spa day. But then she thought better of it, closing her lips and forming them into a smile. “Sounds good. And thanks. I never treat myself like this.”
“And that’s why you of all people need to take some time to relax. We’ve got all weekend, and I want to make it one to remember.”
We finished our breakfast and dressed for our very different mornings. Once I was ready and bundled up, my camera bag slung over my shoulder, Lola met me near the door wearing a comfy outfit of jeans and that cable-knit sweater I liked so much.
“Ready to do this?” I asked.
“
Ready.”
I opened the door, and we made our way to the lobby. The place was packed with people, some dressed in sweaters and jeans for a day of relaxing, others bundled up in parkas and boots for outdoor adventures. Before we went our sperate ways for the morning, a strange, serious expression crossed her face.
“Hey, Patrick?” she asked, turning to me.
“What’s up?”
“Be careful out there. It’s freezing and we got a ton of snow last night.”
I couldn’t help but smile at her concern. “Trust me – I’ve dealt with worse than an upscale ski lodge before.”
Her frown softened somewhat, but I could tell she was still concerned. “Just be careful.”
“I will. And I’ll text you as soon as I’m done.”
“Sounds good.” Her eyes glanced down at my coat, focusing on a little addition I’d made to it years ago – a strip of neon green tape pulled around it. “What’s the deal with the tape?” she asked with a grin. “Going to a rave afterward?”
“You laugh, but when you’re out in the snow you need all the visibility you can get. Trust me – I’ve been stuck in my share of blizzards.”
She tugged on the tape gently before meeting me with her eyes. “Well, see you soon.”
“See you.”
I leaned in and kissed her on the lips, her mouth tight as I did. That tense expression was still on her face when I pulled back. Rather than say anything, I winked and headed out Really, it was cute. Lola was looking out for me in her own worry-wart sort of way. Hell, I was flattered.
Fresh, crisp air hit me as soon as I left the hotel, the sky a brilliant, clear blue ahead, fresh, white powder covering the mountains all around me. The scene was enough to make me pause and appreciate this amazing part of the world I’d very nearly decided to call my home. And, of course, I pulled out my camera to take a few dozen snaps of the bustling scene in front of the Stanley Hotel.
Once I was satisfied, I tucked my camera away and headed to the ski lodge, which was packed with hotel guests eager as I was to get up on the slopes. After renting my skis and waiting in line, I was packed onto a ski lift with a small group of three twenty-something girls. They all gave me flirtatious eyes as I slid into my seat, the bar closing on our laps. I wasn’t interested – how could I even think about any other woman when Lola was waiting for me?