The Beaumont Brothers: The Complete Series

by North, Leslie

  “Absolutely perfect,” Alistair murmured into her ear. “The hottest sex of the twenty-first century.”

  She swallowed hard, pressing her body to meet his at as many points as possible. Tiredness clawed at her, and the last thing she was aware of was Alistair’s warm hard stroking the top of her head.

  9

  Three days later, Alistair wasn’t sure he wanted the romantic getaway in Austria to end. Why should it, when it had become a relentless marathon of orgasms, laughter, and sweet touches? Work and home still seemed a distant reality, one that could be suspended to allow just a few more days of bliss. Just a few more days of this gorgeous reverie in which he and Jess were the only items on the to-do list, before they had to return to that mysterious company and workload he still didn’t entirely remember.

  Jess’s parents had cancelled their trip to Austria due to the logistical complications posed by the weather, and Alistair thought it was for the better. After their inaugural sex session, it was impossible to keep himself off her. It would have only been an embarrassment had they shown up. They’d have seen him defiling their daughter in the hotel hallways, in the corner of the restaurant, in the back of crowded elevators.

  For the last two days of their trip, Alistair planned a little getaway from their getaway, one night in a remote cabin the hotel offered as a sort of excursion package. They’d trek through the woods, gaze upon stunning vistas, and top off the day with a private log cabin all to themselves. What could be more perfect with his woman at his side?

  “I have a surprise,” Alistair said that morning after breakfast. “Let’s call it an engagement party, for just the two of us.”

  Jess grinned, wrapping her arms around his neck. When she looked at him like that, it left no room for doubt that he’d been deeply in love with this woman before the accident.

  “Okay. What’s the plan?”

  “It’s a surprise,” Alistair repeated, grabbing healthy handfuls of her ass cheeks. “But we’re going for a little hike. So we should dress accordingly.”

  She stilled, narrowing her eyes. “A hike?”

  “Yes. A winter hike. Which shouldn’t be any more strenuous than giving you all the sex you could ever want the past three days, so I think my doctor would agree it’s fine.” He sent her a sly grin. “I knew you were about to protest.”

  She laughed, but it sounded nervous. “Okay. What sort of…hike?”

  “A hiking hike,” he said, pulling his snow gear out of the closet. “You know, where you walk through nature and reach a final destination. We’ll spend the night there and then walk back the following day.”

  Jess tucked hair behind her ear, sinking onto the bed. “I don’t really have any hiking clothes.”

  Alistair turned to her, creasing a brow. “Surely you can borrow some from the hotel.”

  She nodded slowly. “Ah, right. Good idea.” A few moments passed, and then she blurted, “But they might not have my size.”

  “Which is why we can call and check, love.” He tugged his sweater off, replacing it with a thermal shirt. “This lodge is a ski resort; I’m positive they’ll be prepared.”

  Jess moved slowly toward the front room, her hesitance clinging to her like a cloud. She picked up the phone in the front of the suite, speaking briefly with someone. When she came back into the bedroom, she grabbed for her small, boxy suitcase, opening it on top of the bed. “They’ll be sending someone soon with some clothes.”

  He eyed her as she stuffed underwear into the suitcase. “But you can’t possibly take that suitcase with you.”

  She stilled, looking up at him with guilty eyes. “Why not?”

  “Hiking, my love.” He reached for her hands, bringing them to his chest. “You can’t trail that behind you for miles. Take a backpack. We’ve done this before, haven’t we?”

  She blinked dumbly up at him, then shook her head.

  Disappointment shuddered through him. How odd of him, at least what he knew of himself, to not have taken his fiancée hiking. He yearned for the outdoors, his bones nearly aching for the tang of wintry air and the scrape of chill across his cheek. And Jess had never once shared that with him?

  “Well, I promise this will be fun.” He pressed his lips to her forehead. “I don’t remember much, but I at least know that I love the outdoors, and we’re going to have a lovely, brisk walk.”

  She nodded, staring at the small pile of underwear. “Okay. I can do that.”

  “Of course you can, my Marigold.” He slapped her ass as he walked by, heading to the kitchen to pack some snacks. “And I can’t wait until you see this surprise.”

  * * *

  A few hours later they were knee deep in snow heading straight up a mountain. Alistair’s calves buzzed in protest from the iciness, but the views as they followed the thicket of trees upward was worth the slight discomfort. Jess, however, trudged along with a permanent grimace.

  “How much longer?” she asked, blowing onto the fingers of her mittens. Her cheeks shone rosy.

  “Oh, I don’t know.” He took a deep breath of the fresh air, his nostrils stinging from the cold. “Another day, at least.”

  She groaned. “Alistair, don’t mess with me. We’ve already been hiking for an hour and a half. When will we get there?”

  Alistair swallowed his growing frustration with her inquiries. Why wasn’t this as fun and invigorating for her as it was for him? She was like a damp towel after a shower. “Soon, love. It really shouldn’t be much longer. Let’s say…another hour.”

  Her voice came out shrill, almost piercing. “Another hour?” She stomped to a stop, looking up at the bright gray sky as though wishing a deity would rescue her. “I don’t know if I’ll make it.”

  “Marigold.” He cleared his throat, following his footprints back to her. He took her by the shoulders, squaring her to face him. “Is this really so taxing for you? If it is, we can turn back.”

  She avoided his gaze, emotions swarming her face. “We should keep going. I mean, at this rate…”

  “I didn’t know this would be so…traumatizing.” He straightened, squinting out into the valley to their left, absorbing the pine trees jutting up from the graceful arc of the snow-covered mountain. Every complaint she lodged against this surprise felt like another arrow into his chest, tightening his heart like a windup clock. It didn’t feel right. Something was off, and he couldn’t put his finger on it.

  Jess sighed, stabbing her walking stick into the snow. It leaned off to the side. “I guess I…I just don’t like surprises.”

  He sniffed, looking around, knowing that wasn’t the full story. “Okay. Let’s keep going.”

  They walked in silence for a while, long enough that the quiet between them had grown bloated and roaring. Other footsteps led the way as the path wound between trees, patches of dirt showing through the trampled snow. He glanced back occasionally to check on Jess, sometimes even stopping to allow her to catch up. This time, as she neared him, her face was ruddy and she wheezed.

  “Gotta take a break,” she said, and stumbled over to nearby log. She brushed it off before delicately sitting down, as if she was afraid it might stab her. She drew long, labored breaths, staring out at the brilliant, sunny ravine.

  Alistair leaned against a tree, contemplating the view as more questions circled inside him. His own fitness level was light years beyond hers. He could have run up this mountain and still wanted more. The feel of the crisp air in his lungs was almost as captivating as caressing Jess’s naked body. And based on Jess’s stories, he’d even trained to scale Mount Everest once. How did I end up with someone who can barely slog up a mountain path?

  After a few moments, Jess sighed. “Okay. I think I’m ready.”

  “Are you sure?” He walked closer, holding out his hand. Poor girl was flushed and miserable looking.

  “No. But I’ll survive. I think.” She averted her eyes, allowing him to help her up before adjusting her pack. “And if I don’t, well, just tell my
parents I loved them.”

  Alistair laughed but it rang hollow to his ears. He kept a slower pace on the last leg, taking the extra time to really absorb the features around him: the craggy peaks and swells of the distant mountains, the streaks of glittery sun that reflected off the white dappled landscape.

  Yet despite the beauty and the tranquility, Jess’s reluctance clung to him like a stench he just couldn’t forget. Maybe it was just the stress and astonishment of the last week and a half still lurking like a predator—waking up to no memories, suddenly engaged, at the helm of research and development for a company he still didn’t understand. It was enough to make anyone irritable. But even so, shouldn’t his fiancée share his passion? That, at least, seemed reasonable.

  What if you’d made a mistake proposing to her prior to the accident? He mulled over the possibilities. This trip could have been his getaway from a nagging and overprepared girlfriend. Or maybe he’d come here to clear his head, away from her, and decide whether to call off the wedding. Or what if this was simply his precious alone time, when he could count on the solitude of nature to be his sole companion?

  A headache throbbed to life at the same moment he spotted the corner of the wood cabin around the bend. Jessica gasped. “Are we here?”

  He grinned back at her. Her eagerness to get out of the wilderness was cute, in a way. “Yes, love. We’re here. Your surprise.”

  As they neared, the dark wood cabin came into view, a stone chimney pumping bellows of smoke. Nobody was around, the only sounds their breathing and the twittering of birds. He approached the front door, sliding in the key the hotel receptionist had given him. The door unlocked with a groan. Inside, a cozy scene greeted them, an A-frame cabin with animal skin rugs covering the majority of the floors. Big, plush couches faced a fireplace. A loft was visible, where he’d been told a luxurious king bed awaited them. Jess drew a low breath.

  “Oh my God.” She stepped inside cautiously, her cheeks bright pink. “We hiked for three hours to come here?”

  “Well, yes.” Alistair stomped the snow off his boots near the door and then stepped inside, pushing the door shut. The smell of pine and incense reached him. “Do you like it?”

  Jess gaped around at the cabin, then turned to him with a sad smile. “I do. The walk up was rough, but the destination is worth it.” She placed a small kiss on his lips and then breezed past him, unzipping her coat. “Time to veg out!”

  He smiled after her, the same niggling feelings returning. “That’s quite a metaphor for relationships, don’t you think?” He bent down to untie his boots.

  “Rough but worth it?” She sunk into a couch, sprawling out. “Yeah. It sure is.”

  Alistair smiled to himself, her words cycling through his entire body in a visceral way, like the words themselves were blood.

  The walk up could be rough. But was any relationship really worth it?

  Alistair wasn’t sure anymore. And the one person who did know—his own damn self—couldn’t even remember.

  10

  Jess spent a long time in the bathroom, staring at her reflection, trying to quell the wave of tears threatening to destroy her.

  Sometime in the three hours trudging through the woods, she’d realized this had all been a horrible mistake.

  You aren’t right for him, and he isn’t right for you. This is a ruse, a farce, a mistake that is going to bite you in the ass harder than you can even imagine. Why would you pretend to be engaged to a man who lives and breathes adventure, when all you want to do is stay home and study?

  The truth was crippling, in a way she couldn’t have imagined two weeks ago. Back before she’d known to weigh these facts like nuggets of gold. Back before she’d made the mistake of allowing her heart even an inch in the game.

  “Marigold, are you quite all right in there?” Alistair’s voice drifted in from great room of the cabin. She cleared her throat, forcing the emotion to recede.

  “Yeah, I’m fine.” She released her iron grip on the edge of the counter, knuckles white. “Just recuperating from our marathon climb.”

  His easy laughter rippled through her. “Oh, was that a marathon? I’ll show you what a marathon is later tonight.”

  She smiled sadly into the mirror. This was what dating was about. Learning about the other person, finding out the ways in which people fit or didn’t fit together, like poorly cut puzzle pieces with missing segments, or like specifically engineered motors that hummed and whirred in unison.

  Jess felt like the jagged shard of a torn puzzle piece. She couldn’t fit into Alistair’s personal life no matter how hard she tried to ram herself in. The chemistry was great, but it wasn’t enough. They had a work relationship that could pose, temporarily, as an intimate relationship during a bout of amnesia.

  This will be over soon. Enjoy it while it lasts.

  She repeated that to herself a few times, squeezing her eyes shut, digging deep for her reserves of willpower. This would be a lovely little getaway, even if she had to force herself to withstand the unpleasant sensation of a wet, foreign sock clinging to her cold foot. Tomorrow, they’d be back to civilization. And the day after that…on their way to Seattle.

  Where the real shit show would begin.

  She breezed out of the bathroom, trying to appear calm and collected. Like she hadn’t just whined and stomped her way up a mountain worse than a teenager. Alistair was in the kitchen, boiling a kettle of water.

  “Time for tea,” he said, “And then our next adventure.”

  Her stomach sank again, but she was determined to be a better sport about it. This was so far outside of her comfort zone she couldn’t even remember what her comfort zone looked like. Surprises were one thing…but being forced to trek endlessly through the cold and open air with no real destination in sight? Basically her definition of a nightmare. Even the gorgeous vistas couldn’t temper her Type A need for control.

  “I was just about to suggest we put on some tea,” she said, easing onto a stool facing the countertop range.

  “But you never drink the tea, I’ve noticed,” Alistair murmured.

  “Well, no. I’m not a tea fan. I just remind you because you love it.”

  He smirked. “Always so thoughtful and attentive.”

  A few moments of silence went by, broken only by the snapping and crackling of the fire. Alistair readied a mug, dropping a tea bag into it. “So, love, I was thinking about what the trip back to America will look like.”

  “Yeah?”

  “I’m going to have to clue some people in if I don’t regain my memory by then,” he said.

  Her stomach cinched. “Like, tell them you don’t remember anything?”

  “Right.” His eyes looked gray and cloudy as he glanced up at her. “I can’t imagine going into work and fielding all sorts of questions and comments when I don’t truly remember.”

  She nodded, drumming her fingers against the countertop. “I get it. You wouldn’t be able to pretend for long, at any rate.”

  He nodded, switching off the burner when the kettle whined. “But I’m sure people will be understanding. And then life will go on, normal and boring. And then we can begin planning our next adventure.”

  She forced her lips into a smile. “Next adventure?”

  “I was thinking Peru.” He squinted at her. “The jungle.”

  She swallowed hard. All she could think of were mosquitoes. Terrible, enormous, red bug bites. And the heat. Humidity. Sticky skin. Hair clinging to the back of her neck. “What do you want to do there?”

  “I don’t know.” He poured the kettle gently over his mug, a fine arc of boiling water hissing against the tea bag. “I was thinking we might do one of those jungle excursions. Like spend two weeks paddling down the Amazon. Live like a local. Kill a jungle rat for sustenance, that sort of thing.”

  She wilted, biting back a groan. She couldn’t even act like she wanted to do that. “Man. I don’t know, sweets. I think my version of a vacation would be
sitting in a cool hotel room, looking at the jungle.”

  Alistair clenched his jaw, nodding. “So maybe we go somewhere else.”

  She stuck out her jaw, trying to fend off the swell of emotion again. Maybe she should run back to the bathroom. Claiming hiking-induced illness, or something. “Like where?”

  He tilted his head back, squinting up toward the vaulted ceiling. “Survival camp.”

  She widened her eyes. That sounded equally as bad as rafting down the Amazon. “Oh, God. I already won’t survive, I can tell you that much.”

  He tutted. “But Jess, you haven’t even tried.”

  “I don’t need to try to know I won’t like it,” she blurted, her neck flushing with the admission. There. She’d said it, admitted the sorry truth that hung between them like a rank cloud since the second he’d sprung their surprise hike on her that morning. “I’m not as adventurous as you.”

  Her words hammered between her ears. Alistair dipped his tea bag a few times, staring at the drink.

  “Well, I’m positive you’ll like the next adventure for today,” he said, his words sounding hollow. Or maybe she was just fearful of him confirming the dark truth that she already knew: he wouldn’t want her as she was. He could never actually love her, because they were too different. She’d committed the classic mistake of mankind: allowing herself to fall for someone she knew she shouldn’t even bother with.

  “I’m excited,” she forced out, meeting his gaze. And she could be, if she searched deep down. But more than that, she was sad. All of this—the intimacy, the quiet moments in the morning, the heated glances at any hour of the day—she had to give it all back. Say goodbye to the tender trappings of being with someone, a delicacy she’d never allowed herself to taste. And now she knew why. The taste was far too sweet and addictive for her own good.

  “Let’s have a bite, and then we’ll head out.” Alistair rummaged in the fridge, pulling out some containers. As he reheated what looked like rice and vegetables, she creased a brow.