“What would you like first?” she asked, forestalling him. She knew if she didn’t move fast enough, Max would be serving her again, and today, she wanted to give him back some of the care he had shown her in the past two days.
“You don’t have to…” he began, looking oddly uncomfortable, but Tina wouldn’t hear any argument.
“I know I don’t have to, Max, but I want to. So, coffee or broth? Crackers? Cheese?”
“Just coffee for me, please,” he said after a moment’s hesitation. “Peter sent the broth for you. He’s determined to see you well before you leave.”
“That’s very sweet of him. You’ve both taken such good care of me, and I’m very grateful.”
“It’s been a pleasure,” Max said, taking the mug she handed him.
She poured herself some broth and hummed at how delicious it was. “How long are we going to stay here?” she asked.
“Until you are properly warm again,” Max told her. “At least an hour. Why?”
Tina wasn’t about to admit that she was both anxious and excited to be completely alone with him in a romantic cabin built for two. They weren’t a couple. In fact, they weren’t even real friends. She had no business wishing she could slide over to cuddle against his broad chest, and snake her arms around his neck, and pull his head down to feather his lips with butterfly kisses. The very idea that he might guess how affected she was by him made her shiver with a kind of delicious dread.
“No reason,” she lied, but her response must have taken a tad too long, because she looked up to find his eyes boring into her with evident disbelief.
“Do I make you nervous, Tina?” he inquired. “Are you afraid to be alone with me?”
She couldn’t look away from his intense gaze, and she couldn’t lie, so she didn’t respond. He must have taken her silence for agreement, because he said,
“I will never hurt you, Tina. I want to get to know you. I want there to be something real between us. When we leave to go back to our homes, I want to be sure that you won’t forget me.”
Tina smiled then. There was very little chance of her forgetting the man watching her quietly.
“I’m not afraid of you, Max,” she reassured him. “You have been nothing but kind and gracious to me.”
“What makes you so sure that it means I am to be trusted? I could just be putting on a front, as your friend did before me.”
She shook her head, certain she was as right about him as she had been wrong about John. “What do you have to gain by faking it?” she asked.
“Perhaps I just want to go to bed with you,” he said, something whispering through his voice like a live thread of gold telling her that he had more to say than he was telling her.
“I’m sure you would have tried to seduce me by now if that was your plan,” she countered.
Max chuckled. “I’ve never had to seduce a sick woman before, and somehow I don’t think it would have been as satisfying as I would wish it to be.”
Tina laughed with him, glad of the light moment. She refused to think about the possibility that he really might wish to seduce her and that that was why he had brought her to the cabin. It wasn't something she wanted to address, mostly because she sensed that as her defenses were down, she would succumb more readily to any advances he made. And she didn’t want anything to spoil the utter perfection of being with a man without an ulterior motive for the first time in her life.
“Shall I be totally honest with you, Tina?” he asked, out of the blue.
And just like that, she was chilled to the bone, despite the cheerful warmth from the fire. What was he going to tell her? Dread washed over her, but she straightened her shoulders and took a heartening sip from her mug before she nodded, unable to speak.
“I’ve been with enough women in my life to know what I like in a woman. But I have never met anyone quite like you. And I want to know you in every way that a man can want to know a woman. Which includes having you in my bed. Yes, you arouse me,” he said, as though he could see the disbelief on her face, “but I am a patient man, and I’m willing to wait until we know and like each other well enough, so that when we lie together, it will be because a mutually overwhelming need for that connection has taken us there.”
He paused, and Tina tried to catch the breaths that kept escaping her in barely concealed pants. Before she could return her breathing to normal, he continued,
“I don’t sleep with unwilling women. When you come to me, it will be because you want me as much as I do you.”
Tina inhaled deeply, striving to calm her trembling body. How could a man’s words turn her on so much that she shuddered as though he were touching her? What kind of magic did this man possess that he seemed to control her responses like a puppeteer pulling her strings? She had to get back her cool demeanor. Draining the mug, she poured herself the rest of the broth, glad that she managed not to spill any since her hands were shaking. She couldn’t manage to hold the mug again, though, so she clasped her hands together to steady them before she replied. She could no longer avoid an answer.
“We’re both on holiday here, Max, and you’re not even from the States. It wouldn’t pay to get involved with me, anyway, as you have to leave in a few days. So I know I’m safe.”
“Are you saying I would not be able to seduce you before I went back to my country?”
Suddenly his voice was thick with tension, his tone crowded with meaning. Tina glanced at him before looking away, but there was nothing to tell what was going through his mind.
“I’m saying it wouldn’t be worth your while to try,” she replied. “I’m not in the market for a man, and you don’t strike me as the kind of man looking for a hook-up.”
Better to get this conversation back on safe ground, and away from the heat that she could feel building between them, one that had little to do with the fire snapping away cheerfully in the grate.
“You’re right, I am not that kind of man. But you are wrong if you think any time spent seducing you would not be worth it to me.”
“Even if you failed?” She knew her voice was sharp with skepticism. She barely managed to stop herself from rolling her eyes.
He smiled. It was a wolfish spreading of his lips away from his teeth, and the sight made her shiver. There was knowledge and intention in that smile, and she wondered if she had pulled the tiger’s tail. Max was still too much of a stranger to her for her to be risking setting him off on some quest to prove his manhood or whatever at her expense.
“What makes you think I would fail?” he asked, watching her like a hawk watching its prey.
She had to defuse the tension before she exploded. “Arrogant much?” she asked, feigning nonchalance.
Suddenly, he was right next to her, one arm around her shoulders turning her to face him, the other hand pulling her chin up so he could look her in the eyes.
“Confident,” he assured her quietly. “And I am ready to prove it to you now, since you are so willing to doubt my abilities.”
She tried to pull away, but he wouldn’t release her, and a frisson of fear skittered up her spine. What if she were wrong? What if he were as bad, or worse, than John? She was screwed if he wanted something she wasn’t prepared to give him. He was a big man, bigger even than John, and she had some idea of how strong he was. She didn’t have a chance against him if she tried to fight him off…
“Tina, relax. I won’t hurt you, okay? I promise.”
His voice dispersed the haze of panic that had been swamping her senses. Of course he wouldn’t hurt her. But she couldn’t hide the trembling in her limbs.
“You haven’t told me everything about what happened with your date, have you?” he asked, making her gasp.
“Why do you say that?” She was feeling defensive, especially since he seemed to be so easily able to read her. And she had no intention of baring her soul any more to him.
“You don’t seem to be a fearful kind of woman, and yet just now, I could almost feel
the waves of fear rolling off you when you thought about what I could do to you here, with no one to see. If not your last companion, someone else must have done something to hurt you deeply, and to leave you with such fear.”
This time, when she pulled away, he let her go, and Tina stood up, needing to walk off the shaky feeling in her body. And if she were honest, she also needed to step away from Max before she proved him right about his ability to seduce her by falling into his arms and begging him to lay one on her. It was just too soon to be so bowled ever.
“It’s not something I dwell on,” she said dismissively. “Water under the bridge.” She turned to face him from the relative safety of the other side of the coffee table. “I’m sorry I over-reacted. I do know that you wouldn’t hurt me, Max. And I’m sure if you wanted you could seduce any woman who wanted you to do that. I’m just not ready to be seduced by anyone. Including you.”
“Fair enough,” he said, leaning back in his seat. “Now, come and sit down and finish your soup.”
Tina went back and sat on the edge of the sofa as far from Max as she could, and finished the broth. She no longer wanted the crackers or cheese, but she also didn’t want to offend Peter, so she took one of each and nibbled on them. Max leaned forward and took a couple, finishing them in two bites. When she was done with hers, he picked up another cracker, placed a slice of cheese on top and held it to her lips.
“I thought we might go a little bit faster going home,” he said, watching her, “and I want you to have enough sustenance in you for the return trip.”
“How much faster?” she asked, opening her mouth and taking a bite.
“Not fast enough to cause an avalanche, I promise.”
He laughed and she remembered her earlier objection to speed. “That doesn’t tell me how fast, though.”
He brought the rest of the cracker and cheese to her lips, and when she took it, her tongue touched his thumb accidentally. A jolt of sensation flashed through her body and she moved away as though his hand were a flame that burned her.
“Just enough to make you feel the wind in your face a bit. I promise, not too fast at all.”
Tina eyed him doubtfully, but she was a practical woman. She had no way of getting back to the chalet without him, so however fast or slow he decided to go, she might as well be fine with it.
“I don’t have much of a choice, do I?” she asked.
He fed her another cracker with cheese and was about to give her a fourth, but she stopped him. She wanted nothing more than to lick his fingers each time he put them to her lips, and it would absolutely not do one bit.
“Thanks, I’m good now.”
He ate another, and then sat back. The silence was unnerving to Tina, so she ended it. “Whose property is this?”
“It belongs to a friend of mine,” he said. “Actually, he is a friend of my American family.”
“Why aren’t you staying with them, instead of on your own in a huge chalet?” Unless he was hiding out and didn’t want to be recognized as he would be if he stayed with family. But why would he need to do that?
“Our friend offered us the use of the chalet for the overflow of family who came for the funeral. Everyone else left almost immediately after. I stayed for a bit of a holiday.”
There was nothing in his tone or demeanor to indicate that he was uncomfortable with her questions, but Tina still felt as though he was keeping something from her. She supposed she couldn’t be upset about that given that she remained determined to keep her own walls up. It was better that way for both of them, so she would let him keep his secrets. Another awkward silence descended between them, and Max seemed disinclined to break it. This time, Tina held her peace, letting the warmth in the room soothe her agitation. Eventually, he spoke.
“Are you ready to go back, now?”
“If you are, sure.”
He took the tray back to the kitchen, repacked the lunch bag and came out as she was pulling her snow suit up over her thighs. He got dressed for the ride back and helped her again with her boots and helmet. Then he put out the fire, making sure it was completely out before locking the door behind them. The day had brightened even more, and the sky was a clear, cloudless blue. To look at the beautiful day, no one would have thought that two days ago there had been a blizzard.
“It’s breathtaking, isn’t it?” she whispered, afraid to disturb the peaceful silence.
“Indeed,” Max replied.
Something in the way he answered made her turn her eyes to his face. He was looking at her, not the scenery, and the raw admiration in his gaze was like a lightning strike against her skin. She watched him lower his head, knew he was going to kiss her, and did nothing to stop him. His lips were warm and soft, his kiss gentle, until she sighed. Then it intensified as he stole into her mouth and tasted her. Tina swayed in reaction, her tongue touching his own briefly. He pulled away just when she was ready to collapse against him, steadying her with a hand at her waist.
“Breathtaking indeed,” he repeated hoarsely.
The ride back to the chalet was fraught with awareness and tension. He did go faster, but not so much as to frighten her. Rather, she felt the speed like liquor in her veins, heightening her consciousness of the breadth of his back, the solidness of his muscles, the heat radiating off him even through the layers of clothing he wore. She could feel him in a way she hadn’t earlier, and she fought against the urge to slide her hands over his thighs and up his chest, and to lean her ear against his spine so she could hear his heart beating. A line had been crossed, and she was in more peril from her attraction to this man than she had ever been in the blizzard.
Chapter 7: First Date
“Tina, I’d like to take you out to dinner this evening.”
Max spoke into the intense silence that had reigned between them since that kiss outside the cabin earlier. He could still taste her on his tongue. Tina was spicy and sweet, and the desire that had slammed into him when she had tasted him as he did her had been hard to resist. He had somehow managed to control the urge to back her up against the snowmobile and kiss her thoroughly, the way his body wanted him to do. Instead, he’d helped her get on and steeled himself to bear her touch for the ride back.
Now, all he wanted in the worst way was to kiss her again, to shove her up against the garage door and have his way with her. The time they had spent on the snowmobile and in the cabin had only whetted his already growing appetite for her. He was a man accustomed to getting whatever he wanted whenever he wished, but he knew that with Tina things would be very different, and that he needed to exercise more than the usual restraint where she was concerned. He shouldn’t have given in to the desire to kiss her. He should have kept his distance, and let her keep her walls up. But he wasn’t sorry he hadn’t left well enough alone. He would never be sorry for giving himself the pleasure of kissing the woman who was even now watching him with extra wariness.
“Why?”
Such a bald question, a testament to her extreme agitation, to how unsettled he had made her with his kiss.
“Why does a man ask a woman out?” He would not let her avoid what was growing between them. He wanted her to admit that she knew his attraction to her was real, that hers was as deep as his own.
“We only met three days ago. You don’t know me, Max.” The words were wooden, stiff and practical.
“Is there a timetable for when a man may ask a woman out? And is there something I should know that will make me not want to take you out to dinner?”
His tone was light, almost teasing, but he had never been more serious in his life. He didn’t wait for her to answer, but continued.
“I read the story you sent me.” She looked puzzled at his abrupt change of subject. “Do you remember the scene where the hero catches sight of the heroine through the window for the first time? What did he think?”
He waited for her to recall her story, and saw when she realized where he was going with his comment.
�
�Yes, but Max that’s just a story. Things like that don’t happen in real life!”
Her protest sounded hollow to him, and he knew she was reaching for explanations to support her refusal to acknowledge the growing chemistry between them.
“Do you honestly believe that, Tina? Do you think there is some proper time for people to know there is an attraction and to act on it?” When she didn’t answer, he shook his head. “How can you write romances if you don’t believe in what has to be one of its central tenets? If people can delay their attraction, where is the romance?”
“Are you saying you’re interested in pursuing a romance with me, Max? Because that makes no sense logically. Why would you want to do that with a woman you won’t see again after I leave?”
Max gestured for her to precede him in through the door from the garage into the kitchen. Once inside, he put the lunch bag on the counter and greeted Peter, who was waiting for them. After helping her shed her snowsuit and boots, he removed his own outerwear and turned to his butler.
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