Whispers of Winter: A Limited Edition Collection of Winter Romances

by Nicole Morgan

  She pulled into her parking spot then killed the ignition before racing inside her cozy place.

  “Brrrrr.”

  She shivered as she locked the door then shrugged out of her jacket. Taking a glance at the thermometer, she turned the dial up a few degrees. She sat her jacket and purse on the couch as she continued through her apartment. She had a little time to kill so she was going to change into something comfortable and relax a little until dinner time rolled around.

  She changed into a pair of jeans and a comfortable sweater. Her friends were sure to give her a hard time about her state of dress, but she didn’t care. Not that the small town they lived in was a fashion capital or anything. It was more about how predictable her state of dress was. She’d actually been trying out a few different styles over the last couple of months and she hadn’t flubbed up as much as she thought she would. However, right now she was going for comfort so they could rib her all they wanted.

  Half an hour later she was back in the car, making the short drive to Yves’ apartment. She pulled into the closet parking spot she could find then raced to the front door. She’d barely knocked before the front door swung open.

  Trinity stood there with a glass of wine in her hand. “Hey, Ottavia. Come on in out of the cold.”

  She gave her friend a quick hug as she stepped inside. “Hi, Trinity. Where is Yves?”

  “In the kitchen.”

  “What? Why?”

  Trinity laughed.

  “I heard that, Ottavia!” Yves yelled from the kitchen. “You’d better hush if you want to eat tonight.”

  “With you in the kitchen, I’m not sure I want to.”

  Ottavia pulled off her coat and hung it up before making her way to where her best friend was. Yves stood at the counter, pouring a bag of salad from a colander into a bowl.

  “So you aren’t actually cooking anything. Whew! That’s a relief,” Ottavia murmured.

  Yves bumped her with her hip in response. “Behave. You know you love my Greek salad.”

  Ottavia reached for the bottle of wine on the counter. When she saw it was a Cabernet Sauvignon she grabbed an empty glass.

  “You’re right. I’ll behave.” She took a sip of her wine and sighed. “What do we have to go with the salad?”

  “Grilled chicken breasts, baby carrots and broccoli. Courtesy of Deke’s.”

  “You are the queen of take-out,” Trinity replied with a chuckle.

  “Thank you. Now that everyone’s here and everything is ready, help me set the food on the table.”

  A few minutes later they were all sitting around Yves’ table, passing around the serving dishes of food.

  “So, how was everyone’s day?” Yves asked.

  “Pretty interesting. Wayne officially had four new residents. We had four deliveries today. One was a set of twins.”

  “Wow,” Ottavia responded. “Sounds like it was a busy day.”

  “It was, but I like it that way,” Trinity retorted. She was a charge nurse at the local medical center. She loved her job. “What about you? Anything interesting happen at the library?” Trinity asked.

  “Ha! If you’re trying to be funny, it isn’t working. I had a very non-eventful day as I usually do.”

  “Well, I had a pretty interesting one. You won’t believe who stopped by the recreation center today.”

  “Who?” Ottavia and Trinity replied in unison.

  “Mr. Julian Ryder.”

  Ottavia dropped her gaze to her plate, remaining silent. She refused to take the bait, knowing exactly what her friend was up to. Since her strange run in with him at the library a few months ago, she’d done her best to avoid him.

  Julian represented pure temptation. He was the complete opposite of plain, simple and uncomplicated. She could remember her mother warning her to stay away from certain types of boys when she was in high school. Julian fit that type, but he was all man.

  A drop-dead gorgeous man.

  He had piercing blue eyes and brown hair a tad bit untamed when it wasn’t pulled back in a ponytail. She wouldn’t even get started on his body. He had broad shoulders and muscles that wouldn’t quit. Yes. He was dangerous.

  Still, she cleared her throat and tried to act as if she weren’t affected by the direction the conversation had taken.

  “I’m sure that proved to be interesting.”

  “He asked about you,” Yves murmured.

  The fork that Ottavia had just picked up slipped out of her grasp. “What? Why?”

  “I don’t know. I had a minor emergency to take care of before I had the chance to interrogate him.”

  “Ha. Ha. Very funny. I’m well aware of what you’re doing and it isn’t going to work. Now let’s talk about this committee meeting we have coming up concerning the annual Christmas holiday party. I want to have some ideas to suggest so we aren’t at the meeting all night. The party is right around the corner. We have to get things finalized.”

  Silence met her suggestion and finally she had to look up at her friends. Both of them stared at her, the corners of their mouths twitching.

  Trinity was the one who ended up speaking. “We’ll let you change the subject now, but just know a day shall come when you won’t be able to.”

  The next morning, Ottavia stood in front of her bathroom mirror checking her outfit. She was trying something different today. While she’d mastered spicing up her outside of work clothes, her nine-to-five attire still needed a little boost. Her usual outfit of khakis and a cardigan were in the closet. Instead she’d donned a pencil and a button down blouse. She’d even taken the time to put her contacts in. Amazing what a few changes could do. Somehow she’d gone from drab library to smoking hot vixen with just a few changes.

  After one last glance, she turned and made her way for the front door, gathering up her purse and coat. A short time later she was at work. As usual, the day was pretty laid-back. People came in, returned and checked books out. She cataloged some new books that had been delivered to the library, either because they’d been ordered or donated by the authors who wrote them.

  When she returned from her lunch break, she began working on shelving some of the returned books. She’d just placed the last book on the shelf when she turned around and slammed smack dab into a solid wall.

  “Oomph!”

  The wall spoke.

  “Whoa! Steady there.” Strong hands clasped her upper arms to keep her from tumbling backward.

  She stiffened when she looked up and realized just who the wall was.

  “Julian Ryder? What are you doing here, in the middle of the day nonetheless?”

  One corner of his mouth twitched in clear amusement.

  “I just returned a few books for my sister. I asked about you and your assistant said you were back here.”

  Staring directly up at him, she found it hard to formulate a response. Until she realized he was peering down at her as though she were a mindless idiot. She cleared her throat.

  “What can I help you with?”

  “Actually, I was wondering if there is something I can assist you with. I stopped by the recreation center yesterday and Yves mentioned if I had the chance, I should stop by because you had something to ask me.”

  “What!” Ottavia instantly pressed a hand to her mouth to mute her loud outburst. She hadn’t meant to screech the word, but his comment caught her off guard. “I’m going to murder her.”

  Julian had the nerve to chuckle. “Please don’t. I don’t think an orange jumpsuit would look good on you. As a matter of fact, it doesn’t look good on anyone. Plus you’d ruin your flawless image.”

  “Ha!” She scoffed then frowned as she looked around. Fortunately, the library was still relatively empty. For some reason she couldn’t keep her volume down today. Turning her attention back to Julian, she released a pent up breath. “I’m not perfect in the least.”

  “Clearly you forget who stands before you.”

  She closed her eyes and mumbled some uns
avory words under her breath, before looking at him again.

  “I know exactly who stands before me, Julian. Yes, you’re four years older than me, but your antics are legendary. You’ve caused more hell than this town was prepared for at the time and you broke more hearts of girls in this town than fathers want to admit to.”

  “When you put it like that, I sound like the sort of guy every woman would want.”

  She laughed. “If you’re attempting to flatter yourself, it’s working.”

  He chuckled as he released his grip on her upper arms. Luckily for her, she didn’t sway. But her knees did knock when one of his hands cupped the back of her neck in a firm but comforting hold. She couldn’t stop the full body shudder that traveled through her. He could command her to do a lot of things as long as he held her like that.

  Her eyes widened and her spine stiffened at the wicked thought. It was out of the norm for her. She had to be under the influence of Julian’s presence. But she couldn’t succumb. It’d only lead to heartache. She had to get away from him before she did something she’d regret.

  “Look, Julian, I’m sorry, but Yves was mistaken. I assure you I don’t have anything to ask.”

  He studied her for a moment then released her. The loss she felt rendered her speechless. Now she could see why the other women couldn’t resist him. But she wouldn’t be one of them.

  “In that case, I’m going to head back to work, but if you find you do have something to ask me, you know where to find me.”

  Chapter Two

  Julian Ryder exhaled heavily as he entered his office and sat down. His brief encounter with Ottavia Wilkerson had left him a little off-kilter. He didn’t remember a lot about her from his younger years. To begin with, she was four years younger. While hanging out with girls had been one of his favorite ways to pass the time, he’d only noticed girls his own age. Not to mention by the time he’d entered high school, he’d only had one goal: to get out of Wayne.

  Fortunately, he’d excelled at football. With his decent grades and high college entry test scores he’d managed to get a full scholarship at University of Iowa. The change in environment had done wonders for him. He’d settled down and started thinking about his future. The one thing that hadn’t changed was his popularity with the women.

  But they’d been totally different than one’s from his hometown. By the time he’d earned his bachelor’s in finance, the Julian who’d left Wayne was different than the one who returned. When he’d settled back in, Ottavia still hadn’t been on his radar. She and her friends were heading off to college.

  The first time he’d really noticed her was four years later after he’d become assistant manager of the bank. Her friend Trinity had come in to open up an account since she’d returned to town for good. The two things he’d really noticed about Ottavia at that time was she had a pretty smile and big inquisitive eyes she’d hidden behind nerdy like glasses.

  After that point, he’d made an effort to be more cordial to Ottavia, but those times had been far and few in between since she’d still been in school at the time, working on her Master’s. Then she’d finally returned to town and he’d paid attention to her on occasion from afar. The one thing that immediately captured his attention was the fact she was different from any woman he’d dated in the past. Yes, he’d dated outside his race before. When it came to women he didn’t discriminate. From what he knew of Ottavia, she didn’t either. One of the guys she’d dated for a little over a year was white. So he was certain that wouldn’t be an issue. Wayne was a small town, but majority of the people there were progressive minded.

  Still, he’d needed to stay far away from her and he had. But when he’d spotted her in the grocery store a few months back he’d nearly swallowed his tongue. Instead of the prim and proper clothes she usually wore, she’d donned a pair of form fitting jeans and a button down shirt unbuttoned to reveal a silky undershirt underneath. Her shoulder length hair had been styled a little differently, full of curls instead of the simple curled on the end look she normally had. He’d nearly run into a display from his inability to look away. It was then he’d realized just how beautiful she was and wanted to punch himself for not realizing it before that moment.

  Today he’d almost been struck speechless by her attractiveness. Her jet-black hair was cut in a sassy style perfect for the oval shape of her face and her creamy cocoa brown skin. She was short and curvaceous. The way her skirt hugged her hips so snuggly left him feeling jealous.

  He shook his head to clear it, rubbing the back of his neck tiredly. It was clear he was wasting his time lusting over Ottavia. He’d only seen her date two guys in the past eight years. Both guys were the complete opposite of him. When he thought about it, he knew he didn’t stand a chance with her. But that didn’t stop him from lusting after her. So yesterday when he’d run into Yves at the recreation center and she informed him Ottavia had something to ask him, he’d been shocked. Then he’d realized the potential opportunity before him.

  Thankfully, his sister had provided the perfect reason for him to stop by the library. As embarrassing as it was, he’d never had a library card. It was a small fact that wouldn’t be unknown to Ottavia. So returning his sister’s books was the perfect ruse.

  It was too bad it hadn’t worked out the way he’d hoped. There was no denying he was interested in her. Now he just had to get her to admit the feeling was mutual.

  Ottavia was still grumbling over her run in at the library as she walked to her car after work. She couldn’t believe Yves had set her up. Julian was so unlike any guy she’d ever been involved with in the past, she couldn’t believe her friend would even assume she’d go for him.

  No, she wouldn’t deny the man was gorgeous as all get out, but that didn’t mean she wanted to date him. Yet, she couldn’t deny when he’d gripped the back of her neck, his touch had awakened something within her.

  Images of them naked while he held her like that had raced through her mind and, frankly, it’d scared the crap out of her. While she wasn’t a virgin by any means, wild, rampant thoughts of sex racing through her mind was out of the norm.

  She made the short drive home, quietly contemplating what she’d have for dinner. It’d definitely be leftovers, because she didn’t have the strength to cook.

  A short time later she walked into her apartment and changed into comfortable clothes. She made her way into the kitchen with spaghetti on her brain. Once she’d finished eating, she settled down in front of the television only to have her thoughts drift to Julian.

  If she wasn’t mistaken, he’d looked at her with interest today. To be honest, she’d almost stretched up on her toes and pressed her mouth against his. Julian wasn’t extremely tall. He stood at just about six feet, but that meant he towered over her five feet five inches.

  She released a pent up breath as she flipped through the channels. Why in the heck was she so aware of him now? He wasn’t her type. Sure, Julian didn’t appear to be the heartbreaker he used to be, but that didn’t she’d give him the opportunity to prove her wrong. Yet, she couldn’t deny how fast her heart raced earlier when she’d been in his presence.

  For the past several hours she couldn’t stop thinking about what would’ve happened if she hadn’t stopped him. Would he have lifted her up into his arms so she could wrap her legs around his lean waist? Would he have lifted her skirt above her waist and thrust his hands between her thighs?

  She sat up straight as the thought entered her mind. What was wrong with her? It was as if her hormones were raging out of control. She sighed wistfully. It’d been a while since she’d been intimate with anyone. Maybe that was the issue.

  She thought back to the conversation she had with Trinity and Yves last night. In brainstorming ideas about what to do for the town’s annual Christmas party, they’d asked each other what they wanted for Christmas. None of them had come up with definitive answers.

  At the time she honestly couldn’t think of anything to tell Trinity a
nd Yves because she had everything she wanted. They’d both pitched in and purchased the new high definition e-reader she’d been coveting on her birthday, along with a one hundred dollar gift card. She still hadn’t finished all the books she’d purchased so far, but being a librarian ensured she never ran out of reading material.

  Perhaps she had the answer to what she should ask for as a Christmas gift. More importantly, who. The question was would Julian go for it. If the way he’d held her today was any indication, he probably wouldn’t have any objections. But what would he think? Would he place her into the category with the women he’d been involved with in the past? Would it matter?

  Letting out a frustrated groan, she turned the television off and headed for her bedroom. It wasn’t late, but she needed something to do to take her mind off Julian. Getting involved with him on any level was sure to lead to a disaster. So she had to stop thinking about him.

  She walked over to her closet and began flipping through the clothes. The shopping trip to Omaha with Trinity and Yves had done wonders to her wardrobe. She pulled out the form fitting navy sheath dress and her cream colored blazer that stopped at the waist. Peering down into the bottom of her closet, she found her pair of sensible pumps that matched her jacket and pulled them out. The outfit was perfect.

  She hung the outfit up on the hook on her closet door, placed the shoes within reach, then went and took shower. A short time later she sat on the edge of her bed, toweling off. Her thoughts went right back to Julian.

  She recalled the first time she’d met him. It’d been the day Trinity had moved back to Wayne. One of Trinity’s first stops had been to Bank First to open an account. Julian had been the assistant manager at the time.

  The first thing Ottavia had noticed was his hair. He’d had his brown mane pulled back and secured with a band at his nape. The next thing she’d noticed was how well his suit fit. The dark suit had looked as if it’d had been tailored to fit his body. She’d been surprised, especially when she’d realized who he was. By the time she and her friends had reached high school, Julian was off at college, but he’d left behind a reputation a few other guys had tried to live up to and failed.