by Shannyn Leah
His finger met her other hand at the zipper and his knuckle lingered against her knuckles a little longer before he freed the material wedged in the zipper track. Slower than he’d traced her skin, he started sliding the zipper up the back of her dress, watching her body straighten with his fluid motion. He stopped just below her shoulder blades and swept the fallen hair back over her shoulder so not to catch any in the zipper. Her body reacted to every spot he touched, and he regretted when the time came to hook the small clasp at the top of the zipper.
He covered her bare arms with his hands and leaned into the side of her hair. She smelled different now from the innocent, sweet strawberry scent of lotion she’d once used. She smelled older, with an almost nutty, tropical smell. He liked it just as much, maybe more.
He whispered in her ear, “All done.” He let his hands slide down her arms as she stepped out of his grasp. She didn’t face him right away, her shoulders rising and falling as if she were trying to control her breathing. Finally, she turned.
He saw was a mask of protection from the hurt he’d caused all those years ago. Damn it, he hadn’t meant to, but he’d been immature and stupid, lost in a world of who played the best, had the biggest house, the fastest ride, and hottest wife. He wasn’t proud, but that had been who he was then.
Her lips parted and, even with the distance between them, he could taste the sweet flavor of her mouth and wondered if she still used the same strawberry lip shine. Perhaps she tasted different now.
“What are you doing here?” Her tone sounded cold and reserved, nothing like her body’s reaction to his touch.
“I owe you an apology.”
“And you thought Valentine’s Day was the day to give it? Hey, sorry I slept with you and took off without a word.” She shot him a cold, hard stare with her sarcasm.
“I am sorry.”
“Or are you hitting the bottom of the barrel again? Had a bad fight with whatever wife you’re on now and thought to yourself, hey, Aspen was an easy lay. Maybe I’ll pop in there on the loneliest day for a single woman and get another piece of that easy ass.”
When had she become so vocal and angry?
He stepped toward her, and she boldly took two steps in his direction, her arms crossed, lips tight.
“Everything about that sentence was wrong. Bottom of the barrel, easy ...” He shook his head. “I’ve never thought any of those things about you.”
“I don’t really think you gave me any thought at all.”
That wasn’t true. She had no idea. He had planned to apologize and hoped they’d walk out of here civil, and ready to build a relationship.
“I haven’t stopped thinking about you since that night. If we’re being completely honest, you’ve always been in my head.”
Confusion flitted in her eyes.
“I didn’t have my shit together and I have no excuse for the way I left you or for not contacting you since. I’m sorry, Aspen.”
Her eyebrows drew together, causing a small wrinkle across her forehead. “That’s the most sincere thing I think I’ve ever heard you say.”
“I mean every word of it.”
“You should.”
“I do.”
Her tongue darted out and left a slick trail on her pink lips. “Thank you for zipping my dress.”
“You’re welcome.”
“They’re waiting for us.” She grabbed a black jacket and clutch from her desk.
Creed reluctantly walked to the door, greedily wanting to spend more time alone with her.
He opened the door. As she passed, he caught her arm. “I meant every word that night. I might not have been able to live up to what I said, but I meant it.”
She looked up at him, her eyes the darkest shade of intoxicating brown.
“Keep your distance tonight, Creed.” She waved a finger between them. “This isn’t going to happen.”
Chapter Three
THEY ARRIVED TO an empty table. Aspen heard Tess calling her from the front door. She was going to skin her friend alive. No amount of apologizing could fix sending Creed to her when she’d texted Tess. Some things were better left alone and she didn’t want to drag up that night again.
Creed pressed his hand on the small of her back as they walked through the restaurant. Did he not understand limits? Clearly her body didn’t because it melted right against him.
She ignored it all and picked up her pace. The second they had space, she moved away from him.
They found the group loading into the long bus limo.
“This is awesome!” Clark shouted.
Aspen caught Tess’s arm and pulled her aside. “What the hell was that?”
Tess’s smile dropped. “What was what?”
“I texted you. Not Creed. I don’t need you playing matchmaker between me and your brother.”
Tess dug into her purse. “I didn’t know you texted me. I’m sorry.” She pulled out her cell and swiped her screen, then abruptly looked at Aspen. “Wait, what do you mean matchmaker? And what does that have to do with Creed?”
She hadn’t told Aspen about the short encounter between her and Creed. She didn’t want to cause conflict or to make her best friend choose sides. Tess was more important than Aspen’s hurt feelings.
“Nothing. Never mind.”
Tess blinked at her before her eyes widened and then she grinned. “Where did you two disappear to?”
“Like I said, never mind.”
“If you hook up with him tonight—”
“I’m not hooking up with your brother.”
“Don’t act like its gross. You’ve had the hots for him our whole lives.”
“I’m not doing this tonight of all nights. This is a friendly, platonic group.” Aspen grabbed her friend’s hand and pulled her to the limousine.
“It was until Creed showed up.”
Aspen ignored Tess’s comment as she climbed into the limousine. Loud music boomed and flashy lights made her stop at the top of the stairs and blink until the bus’s interior came into focus. The bench seats wrapped around the perimeter so the passengers all faced each other. Clark manned the bar counter fastened to one side of the bus, pouring and handing out drinks.
Aspen chose an empty bench and Tess plopped down right next to her. “I told the driver to take us to Main Street so we could see the Valentine lights on the beach, maybe get a warm drink and see what events are going on.” Aspen refrained from rolling her eyes at the events designed around couples. “Until we know what we’re doing,” Tess said, as if sensing her friend’s reluctance.
Living in a small tourist town meant they celebrated every occasion, big or small. She’d read in the paper they’d lit the trees along the boardwalk with red and white lights at dusk. Aspen had been working the last three years and had missed the lighting, since her restaurant wasn’t located on Main Street. She still participated in the town’s small business events, but, quite often she didn’t get to see or attend them.
Creed held three glasses of wine for them. Aspen took the glass and swore he purposely stroked her hand before he let it go. He sat down on the other side of her, again rubbing his side against hers when he had plenty of space on his other side.
What was he up to?
“What’s the mission?” someone yelled.
“Where are we going?” another person shouted.
“Get out the scotch!”
Aspen dug the envelope out of her clutch and waved it in the air. “Who’s ready for tonight’s events?”
Hoots and hollers echoed over the music.
“Open it. Open it,” they chanted.
Aspen briefly forgot Creed wedged beside her, until, briefly, the smell of his cologne played wonderful games inside her.
Aspen ripped off the top of the envelope and dramatically tossed it on the ground.
The cheering increased.
She pulled out a folded piece of paper, unfolded it and read, “Thank you for purchasing your group event with Singl
e Status. Tonight, your theme is a ‘can’t say no’ scavenger hunt. You’re on the clock and absolutely never is the word no to come from any of your mouths until after the stroke of midnight.”
Random shouts came from the crowd but with the blinding strobe lights she couldn’t make out where they’d come from.
“Let’s get pizza!”
“Let’s go to the bar!”
“Let’s hit up the strippers!”
“Booo!!!”
“I could think of a few things I’d like you not to say no to,” Creed whispered close to her ear in order to be heard over the loud music.
Aspen shook her head at him and cursed the smile tugging at her lips. He’d always been a charming sweet talker who knew precisely the exact time to say what would get him where he wanted to be.
Aspen held up her hand. “There’s more.” She continued reading. “And to spice it up, pass out the small pieces of paper included in this envelope. Each of you is to write three things to do for the scavenger hunt. Be creative. Mix all the missions together and each of you will randomly draw out three missions. Take pictures of your accomplished missions.”
Aspen passed out the papers and Clark grabbed some pens to share with the group. For a few minutes, the limousine fell quiet as each person concentrated on creating unusual missions. Aspen jotted her ideas down: find a street name starting with the letter F, find someone walking a dog, and find a sale sign in a business window. She folded her paper up and glanced down at Creed’s.
He hovered over his paper and pen and tilted his body to hide his missions from her. He glanced over his shoulder at her with smoldering dark eyes. “No peeking.”
“We need something to put them in.” Tess held up her papers.
“Here, use my purse.” Clark emptied the contents of her purse into Aspen’s and passed her empty purse around for the ballots of missions.
“This could be fun,” Tess said. “It’s not exactly what I thought, but hey, a surprise was the idea. And platonic.” She winked and looked behind Aspen at her brother.
Creed made a grunting sound and Aspen turned back to him. “What was that?”
“What was what?” He played innocent too well.
She mimicked his sound.
“Every guy in this limo thinks he’s hooking up with one of these girls tonight.” He continued to scribble down his ideas, their legs still, unnecessarily, pressed together. When Clark stopped in front of him, Creed dropped his papers into the purse.
“Look at that guy.” He nodded across the limo at Jones. “Who’s he?”
She shook her head. He was so arrogant he didn’t even remember who he’d attended high school with.
When she didn’t answer, he said, “It doesn’t matter. Look at the way he’s checking out my sister.”
She wanted to laugh at him because Tess and Jones had been friends too long to look at each other any other way than platonic. Only, when Aspen looked at Jones his eyes were locked on Tess with a hint of desire that Tess didn’t notice ... yet.
Oh great, single night out her ass.
“And that guy ...” Creed nodded to Matt, but Aspen didn’t even offer his name knowing he’d never remember. “Clark is going to be all over that tonight. She’s applying her lipstick right now because they’ve been sharing looks for the last ten minutes.”
After a quick glance at Clark, Aspen realized she might be the only one not thinking about hooking up. What a load of crap.
Aspen shifted her look to Creed and his beautiful dark eyes. Magnets of beauty and lust she only dreamed about—only to scold herself in the morning after what he’d done to her.
“And you, Creed. Who do you plan on hooking up with tonight? Jenny? Maybe Allison.”
His grin could melt glaciers. Slowly, he bent closer to her, like he carried the largest secret in the limousine, stopping mere inches from her face. He smelled delicious. His warm breath kissed her, reminding her of that night. She knew her cheeks would be flaring shades of red, and thankful the lights around the limo would make it a challenge to see.
His lips parted and she had to keep herself from biting down on her own, or reaching out and kissing his. The one, sole, sexy and firm word that came out of his mouth drowned away everything in the limo and swooshed away her good sense.
“You.”
She would’ve slapped him if they weren’t surrounded by her friends.
“Is everyone ready?” Clark held up her purse.
Aspen was ready to put some distance between her and Creed. He may have apologized for that night, but it didn’t change her lack of trust in him.
“Let’s pair up!” Matt shouted and then added with a smart-ass grin behind the glass in front of his lips, “Can’t say no.”
And with those three words everyone started pairing off. Jones was next to Tess and Clark practically jumped on Matt. Before Aspen knew what happened she was paired with Creed, and they’d been given six random papers with missions to perform as the limousine pulled over on Main Street, alongside the beach. Everyone climbed out.
Aspen took a moment to enjoy the lights that brought back memories of her childhood years when she’d dreamed someone would one day take her on a date to the lighting. She realized now the events were promoted to get the town and tourists to Main Street to spend money on the local businesses. Even knowing that, the crowd around the bandstand watching the live band and the campfires along the beach, all lit with lights, had a romantic feel to it.
Clark stood next to Matt on the stairs of the limousine. “Take pictures of your missions as proof and we’ll all meet back at Aspen’s restaurant by midnight to determine who wins.”
“It’s not a contest,” Aspen shouted at her.
“Let’s make it a contest!” Matt shouted. “Can’t say no,” he added. If he hadn’t been standing on the bus stairs Aspen would’ve punched him.
“Since I paid for the limo, I think it’s only fair I get it.” She blew Tess and Aspen a kiss before the door swung shut and the limousine drove away with only her and Matt.
Creed cleared his throat. “Looks like someone didn’t have to wait until tonight to get laid tonight.”
She ignored him, still not sure how she’d ended up pairing with him.
“We’re going to grab a cab and head to our destination.” Tess folded her paper and slipped it in her bosom.
At least Aspen had good old Tess. “Okay, let’s go.”
Tess touched her arm. “We’re pairing off. You teamed with Creed—”
“I didn’t team with anyone.” Aspen didn’t care that Creed stood closer than necessary beside her. This whole night was going down the sewer.
“I’m with Jones. We’ll see you guys at the restaurant for a nightcap.” Tess began walking backwards before Jones caught her hand and pulled her around. Tess’s laughter carried down the boardwalk as Aspen watched her friend abandon her.
Aspen looked around the remaining group to find everyone departing. Some caught a cab, others walked away, but more essential was the fact Aspen was stuck with Creed ... on Valentine’s Day.
She turned to face him. His lopsided grin matched his cocky, relaxed stance.
Did he always get what he wanted?
“Do not use this game as a means to get a kiss out of me. No touching. I will not be sleeping with you tonight. There’s a limit to these rules. Just because you say kiss me, I certainly won’t be. Understood?”
He made an X motion over his chest. “Aspen, I don’t need a game to make you kiss me. By the end of the night you’ll be begging me.”
That answered her question from earlier: he certainly thought he always got what he wanted. Not this time.
Chapter Four
CREED ROLLED HIS eyes at the lack of effort that had gone into writing their first mission: take a picture in front of the town’s pet grooming store.
Too easy.
But since they’d turned tonight’s “can’t say no” into a race, he felt the adrenaline to win
pumping through him. It was the same adrenaline he felt on the field, and it had been a long time since he’d felt it. Too long.
It was eight o’clock now, and maybe the lame mission would give them an advantage to winning, although he’d always loved a good challenge. He evaluated their competition. Clark and Matt would no doubt be too busy shacking up in the limousine to carry out all their missions in record time, cutting them out of the running. With Jones eyeing up his sister, the two of them would likely drag out the night to spend as much time with each other as they could. Two teams down. If he’d been paying better attention, he would’ve known exactly how many teams had paired up. He thought back and recounted who had been in the limo.
He didn’t know any of the others by name, but he could remember them by details. One of the women had been wearing a red dress and one of the guys had a scar above his eyebrow. He continued the list in his head until he came up with fourteen people including Aspen and himself. That made seven teams. With two down, that left only four to beat. Once the calculations were in his head, he turned to Aspen, but found she no longer stood at his side.
“Aspen?”
Couples, hand in hand or using the cold weather as an excuse to snuggle together, passed him on the boardwalk, but here were no signs of Aspen down either side. He also didn’t see her walking along the snow-covered shoreline where groups huddled together around blazing campfires. Willow Valley was well known for winter campfires along the beach.
After a glimpse across the road along the sidewalk in front of businesses and still no Aspen, he finally spotted her multi-shaded brown scarf in a small lineup at a food truck. The name Urban Mood was printed along the top of the pink and white retro exterior with today’s special advertising “Hot Chocolate Love Potion.” This town had always gone far and beyond to make every event more memorable than the one before. Creed caught up to her. “What are you doing?” He stopped beside her. “We have to find Backstage Pet Grooming shop.”