While Snowbound
By Anna J. McIntyre
WHILE SNOWBOUND
Snowbound with the famous rocker might be her best friend’s fantasy, but it isn’t Ella’s. Nor is she impressed with the fact Brady Gates was voted sexiest man of the year – twice. Ella was looking forward to the isolation of her mountain cabin and the peace and quiet she needs to finish writing her book. Rescuing the careless celebrity in the midst of a blizzard and taking him to the safety of her remote cabin was not how she intended to spend her time on the mountain.
Weary of love struck fans climbing into his bed uninvited and the ever present paparazzi, Brady Gates had planned to take an incognito break from his hectic life and spend several weeks alone at a remote mountain cabin.
Finding himself stranded in a blizzard doesn’t bother him half as much as the fact the one woman he wants is the one woman who is the least interested in him.
Books by Anna J. McIntyre
SENSUAL ROMANCE SERIES
After Sundown
While Snowbound
Sugar Rush
THE COULSON SERIES
Coulson’s Wife
Coulson’s Crucible (Coming November 2013)
Coulson’s Lessons
Coulson’s Secret
Coulson’s Reckoning (Coming in 2014)
WHILE SNOWBOUND
By Anna J. McIntyre
Cover Design: Elizabeth Mackey
Editor: Suzie O'Connell
SENSUAL ROMANCE SERIES
PUBLISHED BY:
Robeth Publishing, LLC
Copyright © 2013 Anna J. McIntyre, B. Holmes
Robeth Publishing, LLC, All Rights Reserved
To Elizabeth, for always being my champion. This adventure wouldn’t be half as much fun without you by my side. Thank you for the never ending support, beautiful covers that captures the spirit of my stories and for being the best daughter a mother could ever hope for. You make me proud every day.
Table of Contents
Books by Anna J. McIntyre
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen - One Year Later
Excerpt from Anna J. McIntyre’s
Coulson’s Wife
THE COULSON SERIES
SENSUAL ROMANCE SERIES
After Sundown
Sugar Rush
Chapter One
“GET THAT WOMAN OUT OF MY BED!” BRADY GATES SHOUTED.
Those who knew him and heard the command understood he was pissed. Discovering a nude and shapely blonde sprawled provocatively atop the sheets in his hotel suite did not make Brady happy. The uninvited guest had pulled down the top coverlet of the freshly made bed before climbing in and waiting for his arrival.
Brady’s displeasure did not deter her. Leaning back on the pile of pillows along the headboard, she parted her thighs slightly, giving him a clear view of what she offered. Sliding her right hand down her inner thigh, her smile wavered, perplexed at his reaction.
Brady had entered his hotel suite alone, leaving his entourage lingering in the hallway, still engaged in some debate over a recent sports game. Since the band and crew were occupying the entire floor of the hotel, there was no reason to be overly concerned about disturbing other hotel guests.
After entering the suite, he went straight through the living area to the bedroom, en route to the bathroom. Upon entering he left the door leading to the hallway ajar. Brady never shared a hotel room with other members of his band or crew, yet his main bodyguard and personal assistant, Kevin Jones always stayed in the adjoining room.
How she managed to get into the private hotel suite could be explained by the silly grin now plastered on the bellboy, who was too busy thinking of the recent hand job the hot blonde stranger had given him to focus on the real possibility that he might lose his job over his recent indiscretion.
Her intent was clear. She, like countless women before her, wanted to have sex with the famous rock star. It didn’t matter to her that she had never met Brady Gates, or that they had never exchanged any correspondence. She had every confidence that once Brady found her willing and ready, he would climb on top and give her a ride to remember. After all, she had placed first in several local beauty contests, and just last week, won a hundred bucks in a wet T-shirt contest at her favorite pub.
Kevin, who was still standing in the hallway talking to several band members, responded immediately. After shouting, Brady stepped back into the living area of the suite and watched dispassionately as Kevin and several of the other bodyguards rushed past him and into the bedroom area. While pulling the intruder from the bed, one of the bodyguards ripped the top sheet from the mattress and tossed it around the woman before hauling her from the room.
“Get your fucking hands off me!” she screeched, no longer the coy and accommodating creature who’d been lounging uninvited on the musician’s bed just moments earlier. Brady calmly picked up the telephone in his hotel suite and called downstairs to hotel management as he watched the men evict his uninvited guest. He suspected by the time they reached the elevator they would be greeted by hotel security.
When Kevin first started working for Brady Gates three years earlier, he had wondered briefly if the rock star was gay. After all, why else would a healthy, heterosexual male have a problem with beautiful women showing up in his dressing room or hotel suite? Of course, not all the women were gorgeous. He had to admit some looked well used, and with those, he understood his employer’s objection. Wisely, he chose not to question Brady, especially considering the job paid extremely well. After a few months, Kevin understood the problem: even a seemingly good thing gets tedious and annoying if excessive.
It became especially sensitive when the overly amorous groupie was underage. This was one reason Brady chose to be surrounded by his trusted entourage, giving any wayward teen little chance to be alone in a compromising situation with the famous star. Brady was determined to avoid the trap of a calculating bitch looking for an opportunity to exploit him for financial gain.
Since obtaining fame, Brady Gates had never engaged in sex with groupies. He frequently enjoyed the company of A-list socialites and stars. His only rule regarding sex—he chose his partners, and they weren’t random strangers who showed up in his bed or dressing room.
Just twenty-eight years of age, Brady Gates was used to having any woman he wanted. While he never pursued married women, he was confident in his ability to easily bring one into his bed, if that were his desire.
He had never been naïve and was fully aware of the dangers of unprotected sex and sex with multiple partners, so he was discrete, and always wore a condom. Unlike many of his fellow rockers, Brady never experimented with drugs, and while he enjoyed beer, he rarely became intoxicated. His state of constant sobriety prevented him from waking up in some stranger’s bed.
Kevin found Brady sitting at the bar in the living room section of the rock star’s hotel suite when he returned fifteen minutes later. Brady hadn’t changed his clothes and was still wearing black denims with a black silk, long-sleeved shirt tucked into the belted waistband of his tight-fitting pants. He’d kicked off his shoes and socks and sat on a barstool, drinking a bottle of impor
ted beer as he rested his elbows casually against the marble bar top.
Brady was obviously agitated. Unruly fans were a common annoyance, and typically, he brushed off the inconvenience and let his employees handle the situation. The uninvited nude blonde was not the primary source of his dark mood; it was just the incident that sent him over the edge.
“They’re sending up housekeeping to change the sheets,” Kevin explained as he grabbed a beer from the courtesy bar and sat at the barstool next to his employer.
Brady just nodded in response to the clean sheets. He didn’t ask where the rest of the crew went, assuming they had all gone back to their own rooms. He didn’t ask what happened to the nude girl. He didn’t care.
“I can’t work like this, Kev,” Brady said, downing the last of his beer. “I need to focus on my writing, and I can’t do that when groupies keep showing up in my bed.”
“You want to change hotels?”
“Why? We’ll just have the same problem. And no offense, but I want some space. I need to be alone.”
“And who’ll drag the women from your bed?” Kevin was only half-teasing.
“I need to get away for a while. Alone. But not sure how to do that anymore. I need to find a nice, quiet place, where I can think, work on some songs, and not have to deal with all this bullshit.” Brady set his empty bottle on the bar top. Exasperated, he combed his fingers through his dark hair.
The two men sat in silence for a few minutes, each pondering Brady’s current dilemma and how it might be resolved.
During the past five years, Brady had been living a nomadic life, moving from one luxury hotel suite to another with his band and crew. He’d considered purchasing a house, so he would have someplace to go when he wanted to be alone, like now. Yet, he never seemed to find the time to shop real estate or employ a suitable Realtor.
“I’ve an idea. How about you hide out for a few weeks at a nice, remote mountain cabin. Of course, you’ll have to cook for yourself, and you won’t have maid service, but I imagine you’d be willing to sacrifice that in exchange for some privacy.”
“Where, exactly, do I find such a cabin without tipping off the paparazzi?” Brady stood up and walked around the bar to grab another beer from the small refrigerator.
“I’ve a cousin who rents out cabins up in Shipley Mountain. There’s no snow skiing up there, so renters tend to be summer visitors who take advantage of the lake. During the winter, the lake freezes over and they close up the rentals. But I’m sure she’ll agree to rent you one.”
“Can we trust her to keep quiet?”
“Yes,” Kevin assured him, but decided not to mention that his cousin was a fan and would probably be as goofy as some of Brady’s groupies if she wasn’t already happily married and six months pregnant. “Of course, you’ll need to take a four-wheel drive up there. I don’t think they have snow yet, but being November, it can come at any time. You can use my Jeep, if you want.”
“I guess the crew can camp out here for a few more days, let people think I’m still at the hotel. Go ahead and make arrangements, but let’s keep this between you and me. I’d prefer the crew not know where I’m going, and if possible, I’d like them to assume I’m still here.”
“I don’t think that’ll be a problem. How long do you want me to rent the cabin?”
“I’d like it for the rest of the month. I don’t know if I’ll stay that long. That gives us December to work on the new songs for the New Year’s concert.”
“You want to stay through Thanksgiving? Alone?”
“Thanksgiving’s just another day for me. Plus, this will give the crew the chance to get home for the holiday. Let me think about it, how I want to handle this. You go call your cousin, and I’ll figure out what to say to everyone.”
“Oh, my gawd! Brady Gates… at one of our cabins!” Amanda fairly squealed into the phone. She closed her eyes and envisioned the famous rock star. Last year, Kevin had given her concert tickets, but she was disappointed when he wasn’t able to introduce her to Gates.
Brady Gates was not only one of the hottest commodities in the rock world; he had been voted sexiest man of the year—twice. She once asked her cousin if Brady wore tinted contact lenses, since his eyes were such a striking shade of sapphire blue. Kevin only responded with, “Don’t be lame. They’re just blue eyes.” It left her wondering if the photographs of Brady were tinted to bring out the extraordinary color, which would account for her cousin’s comment that they were just blue eyes. Maybe they were, in person. But since she had never seen him up close, she had no way of knowing.
He was about her cousin’s height, standing just under six feet, and appeared very athletic and fit, as if he worked out on a regular basis. She imagined all that dancing around on stage kept him fit. He wasn’t scrawny, but neither did he have a bulky physique.
“Well, not if anyone’s standing with you in your office and just heard that outburst.” Kevin said with mild disgust as he shook his head. Alone in his hotel room, he looked out the window as he spoke to his cousin on the cell phone.
“No, no, I’m alone. But can I tell Chad, please?”
“Do you always tell your husband details about your tenants?”
“No, you know he isn’t involved with the rental business.”
“Then please, Mandy, this once, don’t say anything to Chad until December. Or we won’t rent the cabin.”
“Gee, you don’t trust Chad?” Amanda asked with a pout.
“It’s not a matter of trust. But you tell Chad, then he mentions it to someone he thinks he can trust to keep a secret—and then that person does the same, and the next thing we know, we have paparazzi and horny groupies crawling all over the mountain.”
“You know, they’re predicting snow this week. I imagine it will keep the paparazzi at bay.”
“Trust me, cuz, not when Brady Gates is the target. Come on, do we have a deal? Will you rent me a cabin and keep it secret? You can tell the world in December. Of course, if Brady likes the cabin, he might return next winter, if his secret retreat remains a secret.”
“Oh, that would be so cool!” Amanda said excitedly. “Yes, Kevin, I promise. I won’t say anything to Chad. I’ll give you the Cooper Cabin. Unlike some of my owners who use their cabins during the holidays, I know the Coopers aren’t able to come up this winter and will be thrilled to have a renter. They don’t have to know who I rented it to. But I’ll need to get up there and check on the firewood, and give the cabin a good cleaning.”
“If you’re going up there anyway, can I get you to stock the place with supplies, groceries?”
“Sure, no problem. I’ll even put fresh sheets on the bed and wash the towels, so they aren’t all musty.”
“You do that for all your guests?” Kevin asked with a laugh.
“No, but we are talking about Brady Gates! Normally, tenants are responsible for putting their own sheets on the bed, and washing linens and towels.”
“I’ll send you a grocery list, and some money to cover the expenses. Can you get everything done by Friday?”
“No problem. I’ll have the cabin in order for your boss before the weekend.”
Kevin’s build was similar to the rock star, making it easy for him to purchase clothes for Brady’s mountain trip. When asked why he was buying all the winter gear, Kevin fabricated a tale about a Christmas ski trip. Instead of taking the packages directly to Brady, he brought them to his own room and used the interior adjoining door to enter his boss’ suite.
Just twenty-four hours had passed since dragging the naked woman from Brady’s hotel suite, and already Kevin had booked the cabin and purchased clothes for his employer. Brady was anxious to be on his way. The idea of spending the rest of the month at an isolated mountain cabin was very appealing. He could not remember the last time he had been alone, without some bodyguard, roadie or groupie underfoot.
That evening, Brady met with his road crew to make the announcement.
“I need
to focus on my writing, and I’m having a difficult time doing it with all these distractions. I need to finish before December if we’re going to introduce the songs at the New Year’s concert.” Brady explained. “I don’t want to be disturbed. Kevin will be bringing me meals over the next few weeks. I don’t want any of you to freak if I don’t leave my room for the rest of the month. All I ask is that you keep the damn groupies away from me, and help Kevin do his job. I see no reason why most of you can’t take some time off now and visit your families. Kevin has already agreed to help me out, so you guys coordinate this with him. Since I plan to stay close to my room, I don’t see security as a significant issue.”
Chapter Two
“I have to tell you a secret, or I’m going to burst!” Amanda said excitedly the moment Ella Lewis walked into the rental office.
“Well, we wouldn’t want you to burst. That would be messy.” Ella chuckled. She gave her friend a welcoming hug after closing the door behind her, shutting out the frigid November day. The two friends stood in the middle of the office as Amanda hopped up and down excitedly, reminding Ella of a child who needed to visit the bathroom. Considering Amanda’s state of pregnancy, it was entirely possible that was the reason for her hopping about.
The rental office was situated at the base of Shipley Mountain in the quaint village with the same name. It was a traditional log cabin, not a pre-fab structure, and well over fifty years old. Braided throw rugs covered its wood floors, and a raging fire in the stone fireplace along the far wall provided heat. Although it was clean and dust free, it had never been updated or refurbished. The office furniture consisted of an oak roll top desk - a reproduction - and three oak file cabinets pushed along one wall, also reproductions. A vintage brass coat rack stood near the door, and a couch faced the fireplace.
While Snowbound (Sensual Romance Series) Page 1