Bunny Hills and Bikinis

by Heather Thurmeier

  “Have fun,” he said simply.

  “Thanks.”

  She turned and walked through the door before he could say anything else. She didn’t know if she should be relieved about William’s calm response or concerned at his lack of outrage that she had a date with Nate. Either way, it wasn’t the response she’d expected from him.

  She strongly leaned toward relieved and she planned on keeping it that way. She didn’t want anything to ruin her evening with Nate and that included worrying about William’s feelings. William was an adult and he was more than capable of taking care of himself.

  Tonight the only thing she wanted to focus on was Nate and the way he made her feel. He made her believe that what they had together was so much more than a one-night thing. She tingled with anticipation at the idea of being with him again—really with him this time.

  Chapter Eight

  Amelia buzzed around her hotel room, putting the finishing touches on her outfit and makeup. She wanted to be stunning tonight for Nate. She could only imagine and fantasize about where the night would take her.

  Unfortunately, when she’d gotten ready to come on this work trip, she hadn’t planned on partaking in a romantic weekend fling, so all she’d packed had been boring conservative workshop appropriate clothes. Luckily, a very helpful—and fashionable—girl at the front counter had told her about a great shop in town that sold dresses perfect for a night out to dinner with a super hunky guy.

  After an hour in town power shopping, she was now the proud owner of a new leopard print with lace trim bra and panties set that was sexier than anything she had back home hiding in her dresser drawer. It was just about as far as she could get from her usual style, but nothing about this weekend had been usual for her, so why should her panties be any different?

  To go with that—since sexy underwear alone does not make an outfit—she found a slightly suggestive but not too revealing little black dress, with jewelry and a small beaded clutch to match. She was prepared for anything the night might bring and her credit card was exhausted.

  A flash of excitement ran through her at the thought of exactly what anything could be. After her hot tub experience with Nate in public the night before, she could only let her imagination run wild with the possibilities of what could happen if they found themselves somewhere more private tonight. She was building a fairly comprehensive list of possibilities—or maybe they were actually wishes.

  Oh god, let us find somewhere very private…

  The ringing of her cell phone on the bed pulled her from her thoughts. “Hello,” she said quickly, suddenly feeling guilty, like she’d been caught for thinking dirty thoughts about Nate, but enjoying them all the same.

  “Why haven’t you called me?” her friend Melanie demanded from the other end of the phone.

  I forgot to call. I was so busy with Nate…

  “Sorry, Mel. I’ve been busier than I expected with the workshop. I meant to call.” She hoped the apology would ease her friend’s mood. Melanie was a great friend, but she often got her feelings hurt very easily.

  “Are you loving it in California?”

  “Maybe I would if we were by a beach, but somehow more snow just isn’t doing it for me.”

  “But you must be somewhere nice at least, right?”

  Amelia sighed. Sure it was nice, but it wasn’t the beach. She was sick of the snow and the cold of Minnesota and she didn’t have any desire to spend time at a ski resort. Well, unless Nate wanted to keep rescuing her on the mountainside. That might be okay.

  But it wasn’t really a great vacation. She should have booked time off from work like normal people do and gone somewhere she actually wanted to be. Who cares if the trip is free when it’s to somewhere terrible and freezing? Of course if she’d gone somewhere warm and sunny, she never would have met Nate. Hot sunshine and sand, or hot between the sheets?

  Sheets, definitely sheets.

  “I guess it’s alright.” Amelia tried not to whine too much. It was still a break from her ordinary life. Biting back a smile, she thought about Nate in the hot tub. Not everything was terrible this weekend.

  Then she thought of William. Some stuff didn’t change no matter where she was apparently. Some problems just seem to follow her everywhere. “Oh, and did you forget I’m stuck here with William of all people?”

  There was an inhalation of breath on the other end of the phone before her friend spoke again. “Oh, sweet, hunky William. What’s wrong with William exactly?”

  “I don’t know. Maybe the fact that he’s crude and hits on anything with breasts.”

  “No. I think you’re wrong. He’s never hit on me and I’ve been at work everyday you have and I have perfectly lovely breasts, thank you very much. I think he just likes your breasts.” Melanie giggled into the phone. “Stop fighting him and just give in to the pleasure that is William. I would if he’d show any interest in me at all. Ever.”

  “No way. I’m not interested him, regardless of how much he likes my breasts better than the others.”

  “But he’s so hot.”

  “Yeah, and? There’s more to a guy than his looks.” Amelia shook her head. Nothing and no one, not even her best friend, was going to convince her to give William a chance. She wished he would leave her alone already and find someone else to annoy for a while.

  “You should give him a break. Nobody’s perfect.” Melanie huffed into the phone. “I’m not going to bother trying to get you to date William again, although I still think you should so that you can tell me all about those delicious abs of his. I could lick his sweat off of those abs any day.”

  “Eww. Really? That’s kind of disgusting. You do know that, right?” Amelia laughed at Melanie’s description. Amelia would never understand Melanie’s attraction to William and his cocky attitude, but Amelia wished that for her friend’s sake, William would leave her alone and pay a little more attention to Melanie instead.

  “Sure, like you’ve never wondered what his abs taste like.”

  She laughed. “Actually I can honestly say I have never once wondered that about William.”

  “If William doesn’t do it for you then who does?”

  Images of her clinging to Nate, fingers pressed into his naked back, groaning his name as he made her feel things she only dreamed about. She could easily envision licking his abs…maybe even somewhere a little further south if she decided to follow the trail of fine hair she was sure to find below his belly button.

  Whoa. Apparently Nate is what did it for her. And hopefully he’d do it in many different ways—many times.

  Her room was suddenly hot and stuffy. Maybe housekeeping had left the heat on too high. She’d have to remember to check the thermostat later.

  “I—I don’t know. I just know it isn’t Nate—William.” Her pulse galloped in her veins at her mistake. “I meant William. I just don’t think I’m into William but I don’t really know who I’m into.”

  There was silence on the other end of the phone as Amelia waited to see if her friend caught her mistake. Why did she care if Melanie found out about Nate? Why did she suddenly feel so nervous talking about him?

  “Who’s Nate?”

  Only the hottest man I’ve ever met with a voice that drips with sex appeal so thick I could pour it on ice cream and make a sex sundae with it. Yum.

  “No one,” she answered quickly. Too quickly.

  “Oh really?”

  Hearing the tone in Melanie’s voice, Amelia knew she’d been caught. Now she’d have to relive all the details about when she’d met Nate—how she’d met Nate. Amelia sighed.

  “He’s the guy running the workshop, that’s all.”

  Was that casual enough? Would Melanie let it go?

  “He’s hot, isn’t he?”

  Her mind flickered back to his messy hair, his dark eyes, and the broad shoulders she imagined hiding under his button-up shirt.

  “I wish I could lie to you, but I know I can’t.” She sighed again
, but this time it was with a hint of lust. “He’s hot. Really, really hot.”

  “You want to lick his washboard abs kind of hot? Or nice to look at hot?”

  “Cover him in chocolate sauce and I’ll pretend he’s an ice cream fudgesicle on a hundred degree day. That hot.”

  “Wow. That’s some kind of guy. So did you get to talk to him at the workshop or have you just been admiring him from afar?”

  Amelia cringed. “I wouldn’t say it’s been from afar. Up close and personal is more accurate. Oh and humiliating, too. They made us go skiing.”

  “Oh no.” Melanie laughed. “Why, what did you do?”

  It was just like Mel to instantly suspect that skiing wouldn’t have gone smoothly for Amelia. Mel knew her for long enough to know exactly how unskilled she was at all things athletic. “I may have fallen down.” Her voice trailed off, not really wanting to share the whole embarrassing story.

  “And what else?”

  Amelia sighed. “On Nate.”

  Melanie choked on a laugh. “You fell on the super hot workshop presenter? Really fell on him?”

  Amelia couldn’t help but smile at the memory of Nate’s body pressed against hers, warming her despite the cold snow that had gotten under the collar of her ski coat. “Yep, on him. Full body contact, well, except for the layer of ski gear between us.”

  “If nothing else, I gotta give you credit for having an uncanny ability to get into some interesting situations. Oh, and having great aim, even if you are incredibly accident prone.” Melanie laughed again.

  “I’m such a moron. Why does this stuff always happen to me?”

  When Melanie regained her ability to speak without giggling, she answered. “Because you are a magnet for trouble, and you have a knack for getting yourself into situations no one else would ever end up in. So, what happened when you fell into the hunky, workshop guy?”

  “His name is Nate.”

  “Oh boy. I can hear it in your voice already. You really like this guy, huh? What the hell happened on that mountain that you’re already sounding dreamy and love-struck when you say his name?” Amelia heard the curiosity rising in Melanie’s voice.

  “Nothing.”

  She wished she could kick herself in the shin for opening her big mouth so fast and for being too obvious. She tried to cover her tracks and keep her voice even. “Nothing really happened. I fell, um, on him, and then he helped me up.” Amelia held her breath and Melanie was quiet on the other end of the line.

  Finally, after a seemingly endless lull in conversation, Melanie spoke again. “You know I can always tell when you’re lying to me, right?”

  Damn.

  “Okay, fine.” She sighed, giving up. She would just tell Melanie a teeny tiny bit to get her to drop the subject and move on to something else. “We had a few problems getting untangled after my fall and I think he was going to kiss me. In fact, now that I think about it, I’m positive he was going to kiss me since he did later in the sauna.” She slapped her hand across her mouth.

  What are you doing? Idiot. Oh my god, shut up!

  Amelia didn’t want to hide things from her best friend, but she also didn’t want to share every little detail about her experience with Nate either. She wasn’t ready to examine everything that had happened already this weekend. Right now, she wanted to let things take their natural course. Maybe later, when she’d had a chance to figure out her feelings for Nate, she’d be ready to answer all of Melanie’s questions, but not yet. So why couldn’t she stop talking?

  “There’s a sauna kiss and you weren’t going to tell me,” shrieked Melanie, her voice a few decibels higher than before. If it got any higher, only dogs would be able to hear her. “Details. Now.”

  The feeling of Nate’s hands on her body in the hot tub flooded back to her mind. Instantly, she could feel the heat surrounding her body all over again. She closed her eyes, savoring the memories as they came back to her, each one a little more alluring than the last.

  “No time for details, we’re going on a date tonight. In fact,” she said, glancing at the alarm clock on the bedside table, “he’ll be here any second so I should really let you go and finish getting myself ready.”

  “You’re just going to leave me hanging about the kiss?”

  “I’m afraid so.” Amelia giggled. She could hear the frustration in Melanie’s voice, but some things didn’t need to be shared between friends. It wasn’t like she was in college anymore, comparing notes about guys. Nate wasn’t someone she was going to share any piece of, not even with her best friend.

  “You certainly are having a good time there aren’t you?”

  “It’s been—interesting so far.” The excitement for tonight built inside of her.

  “I really should have volunteered to go,” Melanie mumbled. “If they’d told us there were hot guys involved, I would have signed up in a heartbeat.”

  “You can always volunteer for the next workshop.”

  Just then a thump on the door sounded through the small room.

  “Listen, I have to run. He’s here to pick me up.”

  “Call me when you get back. I don’t care what time it is. Call me,” Melanie yelled as Amelia hung up the phone.

  She switched her cell phone ringer to silent and shoved it into her handbag. She didn’t want to hear it ring and possibly interrupt anything that may or may not happen with Nate tonight, but she couldn’t leave it behind in her room either.

  Don’t jump him the second he opens the door. I owe it to my credit card to at least wear this dress through dinner. Then it can spend the night in a crumpled heap on the floor where it properly belongs.

  She pulled open her door and tried to conjure her most casual “I’m not nervous” voice mixed with a slight hint of sexy. “Hel—” she trailed off. Standing in front of her door wasn’t Nate, but William instead.

  Amelia didn’t know what to say as William stood in her doorway, taking in her outfit. She suddenly felt naked and exposed in the intensity of his gaze. “William. Hi. What’re you doing here?” She crossed her arms in front of her chest like a shield of protection from William’s gaze.

  “I had to see you before—before your date with Nate. Can I come in?” He peered around the crack of her open door into the room behind her.

  Hell no.

  “My room’s a total mess. Let’s chat out here instead.” She let her door fall closed behind her with a solid click. Thank goodness she already had her room keycard tucked safely in her clutch, which she had gripped in one tense hand. “Why did you want to see me?”

  He scratched a hand across his forehead, his fingernails leaving trails of bright pink skin behind, as though he struggled to find the right words.

  “I wanted to apologize,” he said simply. “I’m sorry for the things I said to you the other day. I was joking about keeping you warm, and all that other stuff, but it didn’t come out that way. I actually don’t think you’re the kind of girl to jump into bed with every guy you meet. I guess it was wishful thinking on my part that maybe you’d want to do that with me, or anything with me for that matter. Even getting another hot chocolate would be nice.”

  “I’m sorry I overreacted the other day, too. I totally jumped on you when I shouldn’t have.” She smiled and gave his hand a quick squeeze, intending to drop it again, but he held on to it firmly, not letting go. “So we’re good now right?”

  She glanced down at her hand in his. Um, you can let go now.

  He kept holding her hand, squeezing it gently like he was afraid of letting go. It wasn’t unpleasant, but it wasn’t what she wanted either. “No, there’s more.”

  “Oh,” she replied softly, dreading whatever was coming next.

  “I really like you, Amelia. I have for a long, long time.” He stepped closer to her, shortening the gap between them to only a couple of inches. It was way too close for her liking and she was ready for him to step back and give her some space.

  Personal boundaries. Use t
hem.

  “Sure, we’ve been friends at work for a while now. It’s cool, I like you too, William.”

  “Not like that. Not like friends. I’ve been trying to become your friend at work because I wanted an excuse to get closer to you so you’d finally see how much I care about you. But I don’t want to just be your friend. I want to be so much more than that. I’ve been waiting to ask you out for a long time, and now I feel like I missed my shot because of that workshop dude. Did I?”

  “I don’t know if any time would be right for us. I just don’t think I have those feelings for you. I’m sorry.” She tried to step back and put a little more distance between them again, but her heel banged into her closed door behind her. She cursed herself for having let it shut so she couldn’t slip back through it and out of this awkward situation with William.

  “Give me a chance to take you out before you say that. Give yourself a chance to have feelings for me, then decide how you feel.” He bent his head toward her, staring into her eyes intensely. “Break off your date with Nate tonight and come out with me instead. I promise I’ll show you what life could really be like for us together.”

  Amelia grew more and more uncomfortable in this conversation by the minute. She didn’t want to tell him no again, but she wanted him to get it through his head that she wasn’t interested. What did she have to do to make him see that?

  “No. I’m sorry. I don’t feel that way for you.” She stared him square in the eyes, trying her best to hold her voice steady so he wouldn’t hear how nervous she actually was. “I need to finish getting ready now, so goodnight.”

  She reached into the little clutch still gripped in her hand and fished for the keycard to her room. William stared at her with anger in his eyes. A shiver of pinpricks went down her spine under the intensity of his gaze. Her eyes darted around the empty hallway before succumbing to the realization that she was very much alone with William. She didn’t want to be out in the hall with him anymore. She didn’t want to be anywhere with him.