Busted.
* * *
Amelia regained her feet only to find William, staring at her wrapped in Nate’s arms. William didn’t seem very happy to see her and he definitely didn’t look like he thought their little mishap was as funny as she did based on the expression clouding his face.
Oh no. Not good.
“Hey, William.” She stood tall and pulled her robe tighter around her body. “Were you going to the hot tubs? The—um, water is really hot. Nice—really nice and hot.”
His jaw clenched before he finally answered. “No. I was looking for you,” he said flatly.
She smiled, trying desperately to appear innocent even though she already knew there was no way she could deny what was obviously going on between her and Nate. Especially since she was still wrapped in his arms, one of which was dangerously low on her waist.
“So, what did you need from me?” She made her tone as light and airy as possible.
The elevator doors closed, trapping the three of them together in a steel box of awkwardness. Nate punched the button for the fourth floor harder than necessary to make the light beneath it glow.
A little anxious perhaps? Maybe just eager.
Amelia noticed that Nate hadn’t pushed the button for the second floor where her room was located, and by the flash of anger passing over William’s face, he’d noticed it to. If any doubt remained in his mind about Nate and Amelia’s intentions, she was pretty sure it had been crushed into oblivion. Amelia and Nate were on their way to Nate’s room while wrapped in robes and each other’s arms. There was one reason they were going and Amelia already knew there was no quick explanation to dispel William’s assumptions. What could she say? His assumption was probably dead on.
“I wanted to see if you were okay after today. You know, not too bruised or sore. But I guess you’re already being taken care of, huh?” William sneered at Nate. “Looks like you offer a full range of services with your workshops.”
Why are these elevators always so frickin’ slow?
“Not usually, no. But there’s an exception to every rule,” Nate replied casually. He sounded more amused than upset at being caught by William.
Is he happy William found us in a compromising situation?
Amelia watched as William appeared to go from mad to irate in under ten seconds flat.
“Do you really think you can swoop in on the mountainside and save her one minute, and then she’s all of a sudden just going to jump into bed with you the next? You’re disgusting.”
“The last time I checked,” Nate said, holding his ground against William’s accusations, “I’m pretty sure Amelia was strong enough to make up her own mind about when—or with whom—she goes to bed. Besides, it’s really none of your concern what our plans are right this minute or any other minute for that matter.”
Finally, the elevator chimed and the doors opened. She’d never been so grateful to get off an elevator as she was at this moment.
“If you’ll excuse us, this is our floor.” Nate pushed past William and brought Amelia with him by the hand.
“I’ll see you tomorrow, William. Thanks for thinking of me,” she added quickly just as the doors closed again.
She stared transfixed as the numbers above the elevator descended back toward the first floor. “Well, that sucked.”
“Don’t worry about him. I’m sure his ego will be fine in a few minutes.” Nate pulled her into his arms again, pressing her body up against his. “Now where were we?” He kissed her neck and sent little shivers of excitement down her back.
As much as she wanted to be with him right now, and boy did she ever, she couldn’t stop seeing the angry expression on William’s face. The mood wasn’t broken exactly, but it definitely wasn’t what it had been in the sauna a few minutes ago.
She sighed internally. Who was she kidding? She couldn’t let herself go through with a one-night stand either. She’d done that once before and she’d ended up with a broken heart. One night wasn’t worth risking that again. She’d vowed never to let it happen again, and yet here she was in Nate’s arms on her way to his bed. She knew better than to do this.
“Sorry, Nate,” she whispered, tilting her head to the side so that his kisses slid down onto the exposed skin of her shoulder. “I’m not sure I can do this.”
He stopped mid-kiss and sighed. His breath was hot on her tender skin. “Because of William or because you’re having second thoughts about being with me?”
“Definitely no second thoughts about you specifically,” she said, planting a quick kiss on his lips to reassure him, “but I’m not sure I can willingly sign up for a one-night stand either.”
“Who says it has to be one night? We still have a couple of nights left before the weekend is over.” He kissed the crook of her shoulder and she could almost feel her resolve slipping away—until she remembered the look on William’s face.
“It’s just that William made a comment to me earlier today about me jumping into bed with him to keep warm this weekend and I totally ripped him a new one for it. Now, here I am jumping into bed with you. What I feel for you is a lot more than just a romp in the sack, but still. I don’t want to prove him right with my actions tonight.”
The vein on the side of Nate’s neck pulsed as he processed what she’d just said. “What exactly did he say to you?”
She paused, twirling a strand of hair that had come loose from the knot of hair piled on her head and tried to think of what she could answer that wouldn’t make the situation worse between Nate and William. “It was nothing.”
“What did he say?” he demanded.
She groaned, hating to rat out William again, even if he did deserve it. But she knew from the look of annoyance on Nate’s face that he wasn’t going to stop asking her until she finally came clean and told him. Or if she were really unlucky, he’d track down the source and find out exactly what was said on his own. She didn’t want William and Nate anywhere near each other, least of all when one of them was upset. Right now, she was pretty sure both of them were pissed and she was the direct cause.
“He may have commented about how me and the girls back home gossip about the guys in the office and how he thinks I actually want to be with all those guys we joke about. Really, it wasn’t that bad. He could have said a lot worse.”
“He said those things to you because you turned him down?” His voice strained as he said the words.
She hesitated, not wanting to make Nate anymore pissed off than he already was. “Basically. But listen, Nate, don’t worry about it. I put him in his place and it’s all fine now.”
“What if he’d come to find you tonight to start up with you again about going to bed with him? Would you brush off those inappropriate comments again?”
She put her hand on his chest in an attempt to calm him. She could tell he was getting really worked up about the whole thing and she didn’t want him going off on some quest to make it right on her behalf. Nothing had happened, so there was nothing to be done.
“I didn’t brush off the comments the first time and I wouldn’t the second either. I put him in his place like I always do, so don’t worry about it. I can handle William, I just don’t want to prove him right tonight.”
And I can’t be a one-night stand girl again. I won’t.
She held Nate’s face in both hands, forcing him to really focus on her next words. “Promise me you’ll forget what William said to me and leave him alone.” She tried her hardest to come across as stern. “He’s not the kind of guy who would do anything to me because I turned him down. He just made those rude comments because he was upset, that’s all. Please, just forget about him.”
“I can’t promise that.”
“Nate, this isn’t your problem. I’ll deal with William. I know you’re concerned, and that’s really sweet, but there’s no reason to go off half-cocked on him. Got it?”
“You know that guy’s a total jerk, right?”
“Yep. But h
e can also be really nice and considerate too. Once in a while.”
“And you know that if I wasn’t the guy running the workshop, I would totally take him out back and show him what I really think of him and his comments, right?”
“I know you would, but I’m glad you can’t. William is my problem not yours, but thank you for wanting to protect me.” She smiled and stroked her hand across his cheek gently.
Nate’s stare penetrated deeply inside her, like she could feel him searching for any hint of a secret she could be hiding about William. Finally, he spoke. “Fine. I’ll leave him alone this time, but if he so much as sneezes around you in a disrespectful way during the workshop, I’m going to have to deal with him. Got it?”
A thrill coursed through her at the fact Nate was willing to stand up for her so wholeheartedly after only knowing her for about a day. She’d always wanted a little excitement in her life and a guy who made her feel special. She had no idea at the start of this trip she’d find both of those things in Lake Tahoe on a weekend retreat for a silly workshop.
She grinned at him, her heart swelling at the loyalty he showed her even though he barely knew her—for the respect he thought she deserved. Maybe a night with him would end differently than the last time she had a one-night stand. “Got it.”
* * *
Amelia shifted back in her chair and rolled her neck in a poor attempt to ease the stiffness. Between her mishap skiing the day before and being hunched over the conference room table planning out team building strategies for the company with William all day, her body hurt and called for a little relief from the pain. If only she could jump back into the hot tub right now…
Don’t go there. Fantasizing about Nate won’t help you get through your day.
William sat back in his chair too, rubbing his eyes with the heels of his hands. He looked just about as tired as she was. Maybe he hadn’t slept well last night either.
All night she’d tossed and turned, startling herself awake from her dreams. The dreams were either so hot and steamy she’d wake up sweating and almost begging for Nate to satisfy her, or she’d wake up feeling distraught and upset about what had happened with William. She much preferred waking up to the first kind of dreams.
William and Amelia hadn’t said much about anything other than work the whole day. She’d tried once or twice to start small talk with him, hoping to smooth over the tension she could feel radiating off of him. But it never did any good. He always steered the conversation back to work and the task at hand.
She should have been happy about that. She wasn’t really interested in reliving her moment with him on the elevator, but she hated having tension with anyone, let alone someone she had to work closely with for the next couple of days.
“Guess we’re finally done for the day, huh?” he asked, breaking into her thoughts.
“Looks that way.” What else should she say? She didn’t want to invite him out for drinks or anything, but this was a weird way to leave things.
“I’m going to get another coffee. I’ll see you later.” William got up from his seat and crossed the room to the refreshment table that had been replenished sometime after lunch with fresh coffee and pastries. A few other people mingled around the table.
Maybe one of them will invite him out for drinks tonight. Then I’ll be free for…whatever.
Amelia glanced back to her own table and found Stacy from Orlando staring at her with sympathetic eyes. Amelia smiled nervously, unsure of what she’d done to earn that reaction from her tablemate.
“Oh, sugar, did you two have a fight?” Stacy shook her head and clicked her tongue. “That’s such a shame. You two just make the cutest couple always having your little tiffs, but today is different. You guys seems so cold and distant from each other. Was it a bad fight?”
Amelia stared at her for a moment with unblinking eyes. “Um, what?” She couldn’t manage to articulate anything else. What was Stacy from Orlando talking about?
“A fight, honey. It’s okay if you need someone to talk to. I don’t want to intrude on a lovers’ quarrel, but I just hate to see such a nice young couple fighting. And on such a romantic weekend away, too.”
Amelia stared in confusion before the realization suddenly hit her in the face like a Mack truck. “Oh, no. William and I aren’t fighting,” she started, trying to correct Stacy’s misguided sympathy.
“Oh good. I’d hate to think of all the nice time you two would miss snuggling inside where it’s warm if you were fighting this weekend. It’s so much nicer to snuggle than it is to fight.”
Stacy got up to leave the table and nodded over toward where William was now engaged in some heavy conversation with a few of the other workshop attendees. “You keep that boy close. You don’t want to risk someone else snagging him away from you.”
“But we’re not—” Amelia stuttered, as Stacy walked away from the table before she could finish, “—lovers.”
Great. That’s just frickin’ great.
Now apparently everyone at their table believed she and William were lovers and she’d been too confused and surprised to tell Stacy otherwise. Somehow, Amelia didn’t think this new development would help her reinforce to William that they did not belong together.
She sighed, rubbing her fingers in circles against her temples. Maybe Stacy’s little warning about William would actually come true. Maybe if Amelia ignored him long enough, someone else would come and steal him away from her. That would be more than okay with her.
Amelia sat alone at the now empty table for only a moment before Nate sauntered up and sat himself in William’s empty chair. “Hey you,” he said.
“Hey, yourself,” she replied. She peered over Nate’s shoulder at William who was now watching her and Nate together with disgust on his face. Why hadn’t she told him that she and Nate hadn’t slept together last night? Then maybe he’d stop glaring at her.
Why is it any of his damn business? Let him think whatever the hell he wants to.
“So, I know today’s workshop was intense and all that—I hear the guy who runs it is a real dick by the way—but I was wondering if maybe you’d be interested in dinner later tonight.”
She laughed. “He is a total dick. He’s rude and belligerent to the women in class. Ugh, it’s awful. And, I’d love dinner. A girl’s gotta eat, right?”
“Absolutely. No other reason to go out with me than just plain old human survival. It has nothing at all to do with the possibility of carrying on from where we left off last night.”
“Well, when you put it that way, how can I resist? I have my human survival to think about. This is strictly survival. I’m one hundred percent sure it has nothing to do with reliving the hot tub scene in my dreams all night. Nothing at all.” Her skin flushed just thinking about it.
“Great.” He grew quiet before continuing. “I couldn’t stop thinking about you all day. Every time I glanced over here, I’d get stuck on you and I’d have to force myself to go talk to the others. I couldn’t stop thinking about being with you last night and then I’d start to imagine what being with you tonight could be like.” He laughed. “Let’s just say, I could have taken about five cold showers today and still been too hot to concentrate on this stupid workshop.”
“I know the feeling. Longest day ever.” She giggled.
“I’m so glad today’s workshop crap is done. Now if I can get everyone to leave, I can go get ready for a date I have with this really hot chick I met.”
“I wouldn’t want to keep you from your hot date tonight. Maybe I should get up and leave so the others will follow. No one ever wants to be the first one to leave something like this, but once the first person goes, it’s a free pass for everyone else.”
“Good plan. I owe you one. I have a few workshop things to take care of before I’m free. I’ll pick you up tonight at eight. What room are you in?”
“214. I’ll be waiting.” She would be waiting all right—and tonight would take forever to get
here. “Thanks for the great workshop today. I’ll see you tomorrow,” she said loud enough for people at the surrounding tables to hear as Nate got up and left her sitting alone again.
She glanced around, wondering if anyone had taken the hint that it was okay to leave. She noticed a few people casually checking their watches, probably making sure they’d stayed their required amount of time. Then she spotted William a few tables away and he was headed back toward her.
Good time to leave.
“I’m beat. I’m going to call it a day. I’ll see you tomorrow, William.” She stood from her chair and grabbed her sweater and handbag.
“You’re not doing anything tonight? You’re going to bed at four in the afternoon?”
He sounded suspicious. Maybe he’d overheard her conversation with Nate. Should she lie and hope he didn’t know the truth or tell him the truth and hope he didn’t get upset about it?
“Oh, well I actually have dinner plans later, but for now I’m going to go take a nap. I didn’t sleep well last night.”
“I bet Nate didn’t let you sleep much at all, huh?”
Crap.
“No, that’s not what I meant. I just woke up a bunch of times from weird dreams. You know, not sleeping well in a hotel bed and all that.”
“Sure. I know exactly what you mean. Maybe you should try sleeping in your own bed tonight.”
“I told you, it wasn’t like that. I didn’t spend the night with Nate, not that it’s any of your business.” She felt her defenses go up.
Why did she have to explain herself to William? He was just her colleague and workshop partner, nothing more. She shouldn’t have to tell him anything about her personal life if she didn’t want to and however she decided to spend her time after the workshop ended for the day definitely qualified as part of her personal life.
“Sure you didn’t.” William scowled. “So you’re going to dinner with Nate tonight?”
“I am.”
He didn’t say anything at first and she started to wonder if he was possibly suffering from some kind of stress-induced paralysis when he finally spoke again.
Bunny Hills and Bikinis Page 9