Adventurous Love

by Lea Coll

  “You look…”

  I turned to find Henry standing in the doorway of the bathroom, his expression a mixture of awe and desire.

  “Gorgeous.”

  “Thank you.” I don’t think anyone had ever said that to me before. But then, I didn’t go to a lot of fancy events.

  “You’re welcome.” Henry reached out, grabbing my wrist and pulling me into his body. I reveled in the sexy smell of his aftershave and the starch of his jacket against my cheek. “I have to be honest. I don’t want to leave this room.”

  The words rumbled against my ear.

  I tipped my head back to see his face. “Me either, but we’re the maid of honor and best man.”

  “You’re right. We’ll be missed.” His lips turned up.

  “Definitely.” I curled my fingers in the lapels of his jacket.

  “Can I kiss you?” he asked softly.

  I loved that I had this effect on him. He made me feel beautiful and sexy. We’d spent each evening this week talking about our day, over a glass of wine, on either the back porch of the lodge or on his private deck. He listened when I talked. He wanted to hear about my day. It was different from anything I’d experienced with any other guys.

  I felt like I could trust him, depend on him. I felt like I was important to him. It was a heady feeling. One I’d miss.

  He searched my face as if looking for something before lowering his mouth to mine in the barest of touches. “You can’t or we’ll never leave.”

  He stepped back until the back of his knees hit the bed. He sat. “I can wait while you finish up. To answer your question, we’re going to Allred’s.”

  “Sounds fancy.” I pursed my lips in the mirror, making a few last-minute tweaks to my hair and make-up. This moment felt intimate, a scene playing out between a real couple.

  “We’ll take the gondola to the top of the mountain.”

  “I can’t wait. I bet it’s beautiful at night.” I smiled wide, glancing over at him. Then turned back to the mirror to twirl this way and that to see the full effect with the dress.

  Hearing a noise, I paused mid-swing looking over my shoulder at him, “Did you growl at me?”

  He stood, stalking toward me, his hand splayed across my bare back as he turned me until I felt him from chest to thighs. His erection hardened against my belly. “This is what you do to me.”

  “Is it the dress?” I looked up at him innocently from underneath my lashes.

  “It’s you.” His eyes were glittering with lust.

  Hearing him say the words, feeling the proof of his reaction to me, did something to my insides, my legs buckled, my head felt light.

  “I want to turn you around, bend you over this sink…” His gravelly words ghosted over my lips.

  My core clenched at the image his words formed in my head as he slid a thigh between my legs.

  His free hand found the slit in my dress, his calloused fingers drifting up my thigh, pausing when he reached my garter. “Did you wear this for me?”

  “Yes.” Desire bloomed in my belly, spreading warmth outward until my skin tingled with the desire for him to touch me where I throbbed for him.

  His fingers skated over the scrap of lace covering my pussy. Sliding it to the side, his fingers slipped between my folds.

  My eyelids fluttered shut. “I think we have a little bit of time…”

  “Enough for this?” He slid in one finger.

  “Yes,” I drew the word out, tilting my head back so his lips could travel down the column of my neck, resting on the spot where my neck met my shoulder and gently sucked. Irrationally, I wanted him to leave a mark so everyone could see I was his.

  His finger fucking me while I wore an evening gown felt naughty. I wondered if anyone would be able to tell what we were up to at the party. The thought heightened my arousal.

  He whispered dirty things he wanted to do to me in my ear, like fucking me while I was bent over the sink. My nipples were hard as rocks, aching under the bodice, but he didn’t touch me anywhere but my pussy and my neck. He finally captured my lips with his, increasing the rhythm of his finger inside me, touching that spot inside that made my toes curl on the cold tile.

  I ripped my mouth from his, dropping my forehead to his shoulder as I crested. My hands curled around his shoulders, my weight resting against him.

  “You’re so beautiful when you come.”

  My legs still quaking, the desire to return the favor had me falling to my knees.

  “You don’t have to…”

  I looked up at him from under my lashes, his expression full of desire for me.

  I made quick work of his buckle and zipper, pulling him out of his briefs before he could stop me. I licked the beaded pre-cum from the tip, circling the head before sucking him in.

  “You look so fucking sexy on your knees.” Henry’s hand rested lightly on my head, not pushing me away or pulling me toward him.

  The gentleness of his touch combined with the dirty words had me tightening my grip around him, sucking harder. I wanted to please him, I wanted to make it so good, he couldn’t be with anyone else without thinking of me. I closed my eyes against that image, trying to focus on the here and now.

  Tears pricked my eyes. This was more than good sex or a fun time for the past few days. Henry had gotten under my skin and there’d be no getting him out. He was part of me.

  “Christ. Kesley…I’m gonna…”

  I picked up my pace, wanting him—no needing him to come in my mouth.

  He tensed, throwing back his head with a low, guttural groan as his cock spasmed. I’d never felt more powerful and at the same time, vulnerable. Before anything happened between us, I vowed not to fall for him, but I never stood a chance.

  As he slowly recovered, he looked down at me, his expression filled with affection and something else—love?

  Tugging me up, he kissed me on the mouth. “We need to go.”

  I smiled to cover the lingering rawness left over from what we’d just shared. “We don’t want to be late.”

  Henry examined me carefully before deciding I was okay and stepping back. He sat on the couch again, my overheated body wanting nothing more than to join him on the bed, to strip off our clothes, feeling his skin against mine.

  We didn’t have time for that. I couldn’t do anything else with him, not when I felt like this—spread open—needy. The thought of my ex calling me clingy popped into my head helping me to steel my mind and spine against the warm and gushy feelings flowing like honey through my veins, making my limbs heavy and my heart full.

  I reapplied my make-up thinking of it as a mask for the night. No one would see—especially not Elle or Gray—how Henry affected me. That would be for me to dissect when I got home to New York. I’d have plenty of time to berate myself for allowing it to go as far as it had.

  He didn’t want more, and I shouldn’t need more.

  When I was finished, I slid on my heels.

  “Ready to go?” He stood, holding out his hand to me.

  “Yes.” Arriving at the gondola station in town, excitement filled me as I watched the cars lift into the sky, gliding up the mountain. “I wondered if we’d be by ourselves in the car or if we’d have to share it with other people.”

  I wanted to be alone with Henry as much as I wanted a buffer between us.

  He helped me step onto the slowly moving car with my heels, tucking me against him on the bench. It pulled away from the station without taking any more passengers. The gondola slowly lifted into the air, the glittering lights of the town moving beneath us. The skiers zigzagged down the mountain. With Henry’s arm around my shoulders and my head resting on his chest, it was the perfect moment.

  “It’s beautiful. I feel so alone up here, yet…”

  “Bigger than life somehow?”

  I lifted my head to catch his gaze. “Yes, that’s exactly it. It’s quiet too.” As if we were the only people on earth.

  He lowered his gaze to my
lips, kissing me softly. “You’re more beautiful than this view.”

  His words warmed my cheeks. It was the most wonderful thing anyone had ever said to me. I wanted to fold it up and tuck it away for later, pulling it out when I was alone on my narrow bed in my crowded New York apartment. “I’d love to capture this moment.”

  “They have snow globes in the village.” He pointed to the lights coming into view on the top of the mountain.

  “They can’t be as beautiful as this.”

  “Still. It doesn’t hurt to photograph it.” He pulled out his phone, holding it out for a selfie. At the last second, he kissed my cheek as the light flashed. Clicking through his photos, he showed me the best one, my eyes closed, his lips on my cheek.

  I wanted to tell him I’d cherish it always, but that was too much. “It’s a great pic.”

  The too-simple words felt hollow in my throat.

  “We’re here.” His lips brushed against my temple; my heart squeezed inside my ribcage.

  I turned in time to see Mountain Village spread out before us as we glided slowly down into the station. Patrons, bundled up against the cold, walked the streets. I didn’t want the moment inside the gondola to end. I wanted it preserved like that snow globe we talked about, paused in time forever while the snow slowly drifted down.

  As we stepped out of the gondola, the cold air clearing the warm feeling from the car, my stomach plummeted when I realized we only had two more days until I needed to leave. One of those days was filled with the rehearsal dinner and the other with the wedding. Then I’d have to pack to leave.

  Elle’s family had flown in today. They were invited to the dinner. I needed to put on my maid of honor hat and be there for her. There was no telling how her parents and her sister, Alice, would act today.

  “You okay?” Henry’s hand was solid on my lower back, propelling me forward when I wanted nothing more than to climb back in that gondola to ride the lift up and down the mountain all night with him.

  “Yeah, just thinking about our duties for the weekend.”

  “Ah. We’re no longer Henry and Kelsey.”

  We’d never be that. “We’re the maid of honor and…”

  “Best man. We have big responsibilities.”

  “Yeah.” He was talking about more than just tonight. He had the success of the lodge on his shoulders, and I had a promotion waiting for me at home. We both had big decisions to make. The difference was that his family relied on him, whereas my decisions only affected me.

  The snowflakes grew bigger, stinging my face as they landed.

  He paused in the street, people gliding past us on either side. “I’ll be there if you have any issues.”

  “Right back at you.”

  A slow smile spread over his face as he winked, maneuvering us forward away from the crowd.

  All too soon, we arrived at the restaurant where Elle rented a small room for the night, unsure if her family would come, but knowing her friends would.

  The hostess guided us up the steps to the second floor, the views of the snow-tipped mountains were showcased by the panoramic windows that stretched from the floor to the ceiling, wrapping around the room. I sucked in a breath. Each place I visited in Telluride was more beautiful than the last. “You can see the top of the mountain here.”

  It was so different yet the same, seeing each piece of Telluride felt like peeling away the layers of myself, from the outer layer of New York to the young girl in California, the one who thought I’d never have anyone to rely on. Each layer was the same but slightly different, hardened, shaped by my circumstances. Was it possible to go back to who I was before when I vowed never to trust anyone but myself? Could I form a new truth, one that allowed me to slowly open up to others, to lay my trust in them?

  “What are you thinking about so hard?” Henry wrapped his arms around me.

  “That I wished we didn’t have to play a role tonight, that we could just be together.”

  “Well, the last guest checked out this morning. There won’t be anyone staying in the lodge for the wedding, just you and me. The out-of-town guests are checked into the cabins and everyone else is local.”

  “That’s true.” But I knew it wouldn’t be the same. Our weekend would be filled with responsibilities and demands. There wouldn’t be any quiet time to just be together.

  His lips brushed my forehead. “And it starts.”

  He turned me in his arms so that my back was against his front.

  Elle was approaching looking radiant in a blue dress that brought out gold flecks in her eyes, Gray a step behind. “How are you guys?”

  “Good. I’m so happy for you.”

  Elle pulled me into a hug. “Me too. I never thought I’d have all of this.”

  She pulled back gesturing around us, meaning the town, the mountain, her family, and her friends.

  The back of my eyes stung as tears threatened. “Yeah. You’re so lucky.”

  “Happy. I’m so happy.”

  Was she saying there was no luck to it? She leaned in, whispering in my ear as the guys talked about logistics for the wedding tomorrow. “You can be too. You just have to be open to it.”

  Her words struck at what I’d just been thinking, peeling back the layers, getting back to the person who wanted to see the good in people, not expecting the worst.

  I smiled, covering my worries and doubts. “Tonight’s about you.”

  She smiled and I pushed away my worries. “I won’t even let my family ruin this weekend.”

  I placed an arm loosely over her shoulders. “As you shouldn’t. Now let’s go talk to them so we can get it out of the way.”

  “Is Alice behaving?” I asked as we made our way over to them.

  “So far.”

  I slid the best friend mask on. I’d stand between anyone who tried to mar Elle’s beautiful weekend.

  As we approached, her parents turned. Her father’s black hair was peppered with gray, lines marked the area around his eyes and mouth. Her mother’s face was pinched as if she’d had the skin carefully smoothed out by a surgeon. Alice trailed behind them, her dark hair now dyed blonde almost as if she was trying to look like Elle’s alter ego―Giselle―on the reality show.

  “It’s nice to see you again, Mr. and Mrs. Carmichael.”

  If they were anyone else, I would have expected them to correct me and tell me to call them by their first names.

  Mrs. Carmichael nodded tightly, not offering her hand. No what are you doing now or so nice to see you after so long.

  Alice stood at the edge of the group, looking as if she wanted to be anywhere but here. The last time she was in town, she’d threatened to tell everyone about Elle’s past―her stint on a reality show―in a bid to force Elle to sign a contract for a spin-off show. The producers had promised Alice a role if she could get Elle to sign on the dotted line. Thankfully, she didn’t get further than telling Henry and Gray before she left town. I think Elle threatened their relationship if she took things further.

  I moved closer to Alice while Elle talked to her parents, introducing them to Henry. “How are you?”

  She looked up in surprise.

  “I’m Kelsey. Elle’s friend from high school.”

  She looked at me cautiously. “I remember.”

  “It’s good to see you again. I live in New York. I’m just visiting for the wedding.”

  “That’s nice.” Her tone sounded anything but nice.

  “What are you up to?” This was Elle’s sister. I’d try one more time for her. If Alice felt like she had a friend here maybe she wouldn’t cause any trouble. Although from how Elle made it sound, trouble seemed to follow her.

  Mrs. Carmichael turned to face us. “Oh, producers have promised her a role in a new show.” She waved a hand in Elle’s direction. “It has nothing to do with Giselle’s.”

  Alice shook her head, looking slightly embarrassed. “It’s not a guarantee.”

  “I go by Elle now, Mom,” Elle
interrupted her sister’s explanation, her tone tight.

  Mrs. Carmichael’s nose crinkled in annoyance. “I’ll call you whatever I want to. I named you after all.”

  The air was thick with tension.

  “Can I get you something to drink, Mrs. Carmichael?” I grabbed her elbow steering her to the bar, away from Elle and Gray.

  After I ensured she had a fresh drink, I left her complaining to Mr. Carmichael about how ordinary the whole affair was.

  I headed back to Elle wondering how anyone could think a gondola ride to the top of a mountain to eat at a restaurant was anything but unique. Elle stood with Gray, Henry, and Piper. “Are you okay?”

  “Yeah, it’s fine.” She waved a hand. “They don’t matter. This is my weekend.”

  “I think you mean our weekend,” Gray teased, pulling her into his side. “But that’s right. Put them out of your mind.”

  “It’s just hard.” Elle curled into Gray’s side as he squeezed her shoulder.

  “Family always is. I should be thankful my parents wouldn’t show up to something like this.” My eyes were scanning the room, making sure Elle’s parents were by the bar.

  “Your parents wouldn’t come to your rehearsal dinner?” Piper asked.

  The group was suspiciously silent, all eyes on me. My face heated, my stomach curled as I realized too late what I’d revealed. This is what I always tried to avoid at social gatherings. Saying something against the social norms―revealing how I was different.

  At a loss, my eyes met Elle’s. Hers were full of sympathy and understanding. She knew I’d give anything to have my parents show up.

  “I don’t know why I said that. I’m not even dating anyone—seriously anyway.” The awkward silence grew as I realized I’d put down Henry.

  “Do you think we should have the guests sit so we can eat?” Elle asked me.

  “Of course,” I agreed, grateful for the distraction.

  I picked up the mic at the front of the room asking everyone to have a seat. I sat at the head table with Elle, Gray, her family, and Henry.

  I sat next to Henry, my eyes on the table in front of me. I prayed he wouldn’t say anything.

  His arm settled behind me as he leaned in to whisper in my ear. “It’s okay.”