Winter Love

by Kennedy Fox

  “Text me when she does, okay?” Elise shrugged into her coat before capping her hot chocolate. “I wanna see ’em. That man may be colder than a popsicle, but there’s no denyin’ he’s fine as hell.”

  Sadie ignored her sister’s statement, instead focusing on what the hell she thought she was doing. “Where are you goin’?”

  “Helpin’ Rory with a house she’s workin’ on.”

  “What? No. C’mon, Elise. You can’t keep runnin’ off whenever you get an urge. It’s our busiest season, and I’m drownin’ over here.”

  Elise propped herself up on her forearms and leaned over the front desk, peeking around the computer monitor to view the schedule Sadie always had pulled up. “Looks pretty well taken care of to me.”

  Sadie had to bite her tongue to keep from snapping. Of course it was taken care of. Because if Sadie didn’t do it, it didn’t get done. She understood that Elise had been having a hard time since the divorce—even before that. Sadie had almost effortlessly fallen into her preferred profession, and Elise was still fumbling, trying to find her way. Which was why she tagged along with their cousins any chance she got, if only to feel out different careers and see if something stuck.

  “It’s taken care of because I made sure it was,” Sadie said, her voice hard. “But that doesn’t mean I don’t need you here, especially to help get ready for the Olsens’ wedding tomorrow night.”

  “And I’ll be back.” Elise grabbed her cup and lifted it toward Sadie. “In the mornin’. Still plenty of time to get everything set up.”

  As she watched her sister flounce off without a backward glance, Sadie stood there, jaw locked as she stewed in frustration and resentment that had been building for a long time. Thirty-eight months, to be exact. Every day since they’d been handed the keys to the Starlight. And she was so damn sick of it.

  It made her second-guess her restraint when it came to Cole. So what if her sister hated her for a little while? It wasn’t like the feeling wasn’t mutual at this particular point in time. And the attraction Sadie felt toward the man was hard to ignore. Actually, attraction may be too tame of a word. Her body burned for him, an ache so deep in her core, she wasn’t even sure he could reach it—and she’d felt exactly what kind of heat he’d been packing.

  Thankfully, in her world, mere attraction wasn’t enough to derail her plans. With Elise bailing every chance she got, Sadie had to put all her focus on the inn. Especially with the upcoming spread in Happily Ever After magazine. Soon, their bookings would be through the roof, and they’d finally become the destination wedding locale she’d dreamed of since their grandma on their daddy’s side had bequeathed the property to them.

  Besides, it wasn’t like she and Cole had anything in common other than plain old carnal lust. The local divorce attorney and the local wedding planner couldn’t possibly be less compatible.

  “Excuse me, dear, but would you mind telling me when the wedding events are startin’ tomorrow?” Mrs. Wilson, an out-of-town wedding guest, asked.

  “Not at all,” Sadie said with a genuine smile, grateful for the distraction.

  Of course, it was while she was tied up with Mrs. Wilson that her phone pinged with an incoming text. Despite urgency bubbling inside her chest, she ignored it until she’d printed out a schedule highlighting the important events. But she barely waited until her guest was out of sight before she pulled her phone from her pocket and read the text from Nat.

  I just emailed you some of my favorite shots. And giiiirl. They. Are. Hawt. You need to take that man for a spin if you haven’t already.

  Sadie’s face flamed as emotions swamped her, memories of that kiss overwhelming every one of her senses. That ravenous look in Cole’s eyes moments before he’d crashed his lips into hers. She could still taste him—smoky and sweet like bourbon and honey—and the scent of him had clung to her sweatshirt, even after she’d left his company.

  She shook her head to rid herself of those thoughts and bit her lip as she glanced around. The majority of the guests hadn’t checked in yet, so the main room was empty, and no sounds filtered in from any of the common spaces. It wouldn’t hurt just to take a peek, would it?

  Quickly, she navigated to her email app and looked for Natalie’s name, glancing up one more time to ensure she was alone. She held her breath as she opened the message, scanning Nat’s extremely brief note instructing them to let her know what they thought.

  As the first image popped up on Sadie’s screen, her previously held breath promptly left her in a whoosh. The picture was taken after they’d stepped close enough that she could feel every hard inch of Cole pressing into her backside. One of his hands wrapped possessively around her hip, while his other splayed wide across her stomach, his fingers just grazing the bottom swells of her breasts as he held her tight. Her head was turned toward him, her fingers wrapped around his wrist—when had that happened?—her mouth parted as if she were waiting for a kiss. Her forehead was pressed to his temple as he bent low over her shoulder, his lips just brushing her skin, and she could tell even through the screen that she’d been breathless then just as she was now.

  Each image was better—or worse, depending on how you looked at it—than the last. Not only did she and Cole look like a couple, but they looked like a couple who was insatiable for each other. A couple who was counting down the minutes until they could rip each other’s clothes off and get lost in each other’s bodies.

  And now that she’d seen them, just how, exactly, was she supposed to pretend everything was fine the next time she ran into him? Well, she was just going to have to keep up the hiding charade, because Lord her panties couldn’t weather another second in his presence.

  Sadie had managed to avoid Cole for a grand total of ninety minutes after cramming her eyeballs full of the might-as-well-be-indecent-for-how-hot-and-bothered-they-made-her images of the two of them.

  Elise had flaked on Sadie enough times that she’d stopped taking her at her word and had just started doing stuff on her own—probably something that was ultimately only feeding Elise’s irresponsibility, but that she did regardless, simply for her own peace of mind.

  Which was why she was attempting to rearrange the furniture in the front gathering space all by herself. She treated every wedding held on their property as if it were her own, and that was why her brides continued referring the inn to their friends. Thank the Lord all their guests were currently at the rehearsal dinner, and her grunts and groans were for her ears only. Why had she picked today of all days to wear her knee-high heeled boots and a short dress, even if it was festive?

  “Magic gliders, my ass,” Sadie grumbled as she attempted to lift one corner of the behemoth buffet that would house tomorrow night’s post-wedding, pre-reception hors d’oeuvres and wine. “There’s nothing magical about this.”

  “Need some help?” Cole’s deep voice rumbled behind her.

  She startled, hitting her head on the hutch on her way up. “Ow! Son of a—”

  As she rubbed her hand over the tender spot at the back of her scalp, she glowered at Cole, grasping at her irritation if only to override the overpowering lust he always seemed to awaken in her. “Didn’t your momma ever teach you not to sneak up on people? It’s rude.”

  He dropped his gaze to where she rubbed her head before shrugging out of his suit jacket and hanging it on the coatrack by the door. “She also taught me to help if someone was in need.”

  After loosening his tie and hanging it with his jacket, he undid the cuffs of his dress shirt and proceeded to roll up each sleeve to just below his elbows, his eyes on her the entire time.

  “Wh-what are you doin’?”

  Lifting a single brow, he said, “Thought that was fairly obvious.”

  Nope. It absolutely was not. Because she’d seen Cole do that exact move with his shirt sleeves enough times while he’d been staying there that it now starred in her fantasies. When she was alone in her room—or the honeymoon suite’s tub, as it were—and sh
e inevitably conjured up his image in her mind, it was this, exactly. Those eyes boring into hers as he made quick work of his shirt sleeves before cupping her ass in his large hands, tossing her on a bed, and burying his face between her thighs.

  “Sadie?”

  She snapped her eyes to his, ignoring how her breath had suddenly become more labored and her cheeks warmed at the memory of her fantasies. “Um, what?”

  He raised a brow. “Where do you want it?”

  “’Scuse me?” she squeaked, heart pounding like a bass drum in her ears.

  He studied her for long moments, his gaze seeming to read into every twitch and shift she made. Cataloging. Calculating. Finally, he said, “The piece of furniture. Where do you want it?”

  “Oh, right. Of course.” She straightened and brushed a hand down the front of her dark green velvet dress, attempting to collect herself even though her brain had boarded the runaway express to Trouble Central. “Ideally, over there,” she said, pointing to the east wall. “If you can move it that far.”

  Cole ran a hand down the whisper of scruff along his jaw and shook his head. “Do you have trouble sleepin’ each night if you don’t get in your quota of insults?”

  She played back her words and cringed, for once not meaning them as they’d come out. She held up her hands. “Believe it or not, I didn’t intend for that to be an insult.”

  “Then you’re on your game more than usual tonight.”

  Breathing out a laugh, she shook her head and glanced at the floor, unable to meet his gaze as flashes of their images flipped through her mind. Ever since she’d opened that email, had borne witness to the chemistry she and Cole so very obviously shared, she’d been so far off her game it wasn’t even funny. “I am definitely not that.”

  He only offered her a grunt of acknowledgment as he squatted down and lifted a corner of the buffet without strain, sliding one of the round magic gliders under the wood. “You always dress like that for manual labor?”

  She glanced down at herself, feeling stupid all over again. She had no idea why she’d worn this today, considering she’d known she’d have to prep the inn for tomorrow—and do it all, more than likely, by herself. No, that was a lie. She totally knew why she’d worn this. Because the rich emerald green set off her complexion, and she’d received enough compliments on it paired with the boots that she knew it was a killer outfit. A date outfit.

  Except the Starlight wasn’t a date locale.

  Nope, she’d worn this with the sole intention of catching Cole’s eye, should they happen to cross paths. Had been doing the same thing all week, despite hiding from him as best she could.

  “Not my smartest choice,” she finally admitted.

  Cole didn’t respond as he made quick work of the other gliders, placing them into position before standing to his full height and turning the weight of his gaze on her. He drank her in, his eyes sweeping over her body so viscerally she felt it straight to her core.

  “I wouldn’t say that,” he murmured before turning away from her and easily moving the piece where she’d instructed.

  Once it was situated in place, he removed the gliders from beneath it and handed her the stack of them.

  “Thank you.” It was, quite possibly, the first nice thing she’d ever said to him, and how sad was that? After all, her anger toward this man stemmed entirely from the loyalty she had toward her sister, who didn’t seem to return the sentiment.

  “Why’re you tryin’ to do this all by yourself anyway?” He held up a hand and stopped her when she’d opened her mouth to snap back at him. “I’m not sayin’ you can’t, just that it’d be a lot easier with two of you.”

  Sadie lifted a shoulder as they strolled back into the great room. “Elise helps me”—rarely—“but she ducked out early.”

  He hummed in acknowledgment. “I see. I suppose that means you haven’t had a chance to look at the email Nat sent.”

  She rolled her lips between her teeth and quickly diverted her gaze, focusing everywhere but on him. If she met his eyes…well, she had no idea what would happen. She may spontaneously combust—Lord knew it was hot enough between them that it wasn’t completely out of the realm of possibility.

  “No, I didn’t,” she said, willing her voice not to shake as she lied her ass off—a new habit she’d picked up while in his presence. She stepped behind the front desk and focused on the computer, closing down each program for the day since it was nearing nine.

  “Really.” His tone was flat, disbelieving, and that only sparked her irritation.

  “Yes, really,” she snapped. “Is that so hard to believe? Can’t imagine a woman not trippin’ over herself just for a glimpse of you on her screen?”

  “Trippin’ over herself, huh? You speakin’ from experience?”

  “Absolutely not,” she said stiffly, ignoring Cole’s close proximity as she exited out of their calendar app…realizing too late that she’d pulled up the email on the desktop to see the images on a larger screen. And there they were, for all the world—or at least Cole—to see. The one currently showcased was after they’d turned to face each other, his hands cupping her cheeks and hers fisted in the front of his shirt, their lips a mere breath apart.

  He stepped into the tight space behind her and braced his hands on the desk on either side of her hips, leaning forward until the length of his body pressed against every one of her curves. “You might wanna call someone about this. Looks like you’ve been hacked,” he said into her ear, his voice nothing more than a low rumble.

  Oh, sweet baby Jesus, she didn’t have enough willpower to resist this man. It was one thing when she’d hated him silently from afar before they’d ever had a conversation. But this…this push and pull with him was getting to be too much, turning her brain to ash.

  “Or maybe…” he continued, “you thought these were just as fucking hot as I did, and you spent all afternoon forcin’ yourself not to look at ’em again. And again. And again.” He punctuated each sentence with a sweep of his lips against the side of her neck, and she had to grip the counter just to keep herself upright.

  Her breaths sawed in and out of her, her nipples tight and peaked, her pussy so wet, he could bend her over right there and slide inside with ease. Fill her completely and steal her breath once and for all.

  “So, which is it, firecracker? You can tell me that someone hacked your account and pulled up this email, I’ll head to my room, and we won’t ever have to talk about this again.”

  Heaven help her, but she couldn’t stop the single word from leaving her lips. “Or?”

  He splayed a hand across her abdomen, nearly identical to how it’d been during the photo shoot, and pulled her back against him, ensuring she knew exactly how invested he was in her answer. “Or we see if the chemistry between us is just as potent in the bedroom as it is outside of it.”

  Chapter Seven

  Cole was either about to get a knee to his groin or have the best sex of his life. There was no in-between, no middle ground. There never was when it came to Sadie.

  She was quiet so long, her body frozen in front of him, that he feared he’d read the situation all wrong and his balls were about to pay the price for that error.

  But then she dropped her head forward, her fingers curling over the edge of the front desk, and she breathed out a simple plea. “Or.”

  That single word might as well have been a shotgun for how Cole sprang into action, gripping her hips and spinning her around to face him, not even waiting until she’d gotten her bearings before cupping her face and crashing his lips down on hers. He groaned as she allowed him entry into her mouth, reveling in her sweetness, subtle hints of chocolate and peppermint on her tongue as she teased him. Before the night was through, he hoped to God he’d get to find out where else she tasted as sweet.

  He dropped a hand to her thigh, trailing his fingers along her soft skin and not stopping until he encountered the lace hem of her panties against her ass. With a groan, he gr
ipped a handful of her lush curves and lifted her up against him, encouraging her to wrap her legs around his waist. Desperate to get her closer, to hear her soft whimper when he nipped her bottom lip just like she’d done the other night. Sadie complied without hesitation, the skirt of her dress bunching around her hips and allowing the full heat of her lace-covered pussy to taunt his cock.

  “Sadie…” he said against her mouth, barely able to pull back enough to whisper her name. Christ, he couldn’t get enough of this woman. Hadn’t been able to stop thinking about their first kiss since it’d happened. She drove him out of his mind most days, but since their midnight encounter, it had become damn near painful to be in the same vicinity as her and not have her lips against his, her curves filling his hands, her scent in his lungs.

  She whimpered, tightened her legs, and ground down even harder against him. He had no idea how she managed to completely eviscerate his self-control—something he prided himself on, but which he was woefully lacking while in her presence—but he probably should’ve been more concerned about what that meant than he was.

  While he’d love nothing more than to fuck her right there in the open, possible audience be damned, he figured the other guests might frown upon that, and he didn’t want to damage Sadie’s reputation within her own establishment.

  He forced himself to pull away, an astonishing feat considering how tightly she was wrapped around him, her fingers threaded through his hair and her lips hot and urgent against his. “My room?”

  “Yes,” she said, without an ounce of hesitation, her tone breathless and urgent.

  Her confident response only fueled the fire already raging inside him, licking against his skin. He couldn’t bring himself to pull his mouth from hers for even a second as he guided them down the hall to his guest suite. Fumbling blindly with the keypad on his door, he swore against her lips until it finally unlocked after the third try.