Snowbound

by Ravenna Tate

  “Alex said this was always your favorite,” said Cameron. “Is it still?”

  Alex handed her a glass. “This will help take the chill off.”

  Alex had told Cameron her favorite Christmas movie? Why would he do that? Why would Cameron care? She took the drink, taking a large sip, and her stomach rumbled again as waves of hunger swept through her.

  “I’ll check on dinner,” said Cameron, heading out of the room.

  “I haven’t eaten all day,” she said, immediately wishing she hadn’t. She’d just given them a reason to persuade her to stay.

  “Neither have I,” said Alex. “I’ve been saving it for Cameron’s cooking.”

  Nina sipped the drink again. It was delicious, but the taste brought back too many memories for her to deal with right now. The frustration at being lost started to melt away as Alex’s eyes bored into hers. A rush of warmth spread through her, followed by fear. It shot through her like hot pokers. Had he put something in her drink? Was he hoping for a repeat of three years ago? She eyed the door, debating whether to run.

  “Your face is flushed. It’s really warm in here. Let me take your coat.”

  She stood. “I have to go.”

  Alex closed the gap between them, and Nina sucked in a sharp breath at the tenderness in his eyes. “I hate that you’re afraid of me. I swear on my father’s grave we mean you no harm. Please stay for dinner. We made a ton of food because we thought we’d have a houseful of people, and you can’t drive home in a blizzard.”

  What was it about those eyes that had always held her spellbound? And was she completely out of her mind to be wondering such a thing? These two had used her and then nearly ruined her career. She handed her glass to Alex, shook off her coat, then took back the drink. “First tell me what Cameron meant by that statement. That all three of us were set up.”

  Cameron poked his head around the corner. “Dinner’s ready.”

  Alex frowned. “Eat something first. We’ll explain everything. I promise.”

  He tucked her arm in his, the gesture reminding her of old movies. Men didn’t do that anymore. She bit back the urge to yank her arm away because the whiskey was already going to her head. She’d better eat something before she got drunk and repeated her mistake from three years ago.

  Nina slid into a chair and surveyed the feast in front of her. It looked like a spread from one of those cooking magazines. In the center of the table was a wicker basket filled with pumpkin bread. That must have been what she’d smelled while standing on the porch.

  “Dig in,” said Cameron.

  She tasted the turkey and dressing. Maybe it was the hunger, or the Southern Comfort, but she’d never tasted anything so delicious. “I had no idea you could cook so well.”

  Well, of course she didn’t. She hadn’t really known him at all. In addition to the turkey there were sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, and real cranberries. Alex kept her glass filled with more Southern Comfort and Diet Coke.

  “You always did know how to mix this just right,” she said.

  Both men smiled, making her pussy contract. Hellfire. She put down the drink. She would not go there again. But even as that thought raced through her mind, another one took its place. A memory of what it had felt like to have their mouths on her clit, licking it until she came, over and over again.

  She took another forkful of green beans. Then after swallowing it, she asked again what Cameron had meant.

  Cameron put down his fork. “The deal was a set-up. There was never any project in Columbus. Bronson and Carruthers were trying to steal all three of us away from McCormack Brothers. It was a sham, Nina.”

  “What? But the article … it mentioned your names and talked about the project.” She’d read it shortly after moving to Chicago. A very detailed article that laid out a sweet project she was supposed to have been part of. She’d cried for hours all over again at the realization she’d been used so easily.

  Cameron shook his head. “Planted. It wasn’t true. Not one word of it. We didn’t find out that the whole thing was a set-up until after…” He glanced toward Alex for a second with shame on his face, and Nina opened her mouth but nothing came out. This was real. He wasn’t lying.

  “We didn’t find out until after the night you spent with us. And we didn’t know that Josh had nearly fired you the next day until after you quit.”

  A rushing wind sound took up residence in her ears. This couldn’t be true, and yet she saw the sincerity on both their faces and heard it in Cameron’s voice. “What does Josh have to do with this?”

  “Your former boss was a crook,” said Alex. “We trusted him, and he set us up. Bronson and Carruthers had put together a fake project, and Josh was knee-deep in it. He’d been offered a nice sum of money plus a house to bring all three of us to the firm. The plan was to get us down to Columbus, and then tell us the shopping and condo complex deal had fallen through. But it was never on the board to begin with. They had no funding for it. They faked everything from permits to the stories they planted.”

  “But why?” She couldn’t wrap her head around this. It was too much rushing at her.

  “Remember Dave Simmons?” asked Cameron.

  She nodded. “He was fired from McCormack shortly after I started. Something about losing a huge contract in…” Her voice trailed off as the pieces began to fall into place. “In Columbus.”

  Alex and Cameron both nodded. “That’s right,” said Cameron. “Only it wasn’t a contract he lost. It was a corporation he set up that eventually became Bronson and Carruthers, and Dave’s boss found out about it. Dave was feeding this corporation company secrets from McCormack, so he was fired. Bronson and Carruthers was built on the backs of others’ work, and on lies. They were nearly bankrupt when they set up the fake deal to try and get funding for it.”

  “Are you fucking kidding me?”

  “I wish I was.”

  Nina nodded. “So they thought they could save it by bringing us in. And of course, if they brought us in, they’d have all our clients, too.”

  “Exactly,” said Alex. “Dave recruited Josh with big promises, but there was no backing behind them. He set his sights on the three of us because we were the best damn architects that McCormack Brothers had and we produced results. Once Alex and I found out the project was fake, we refused to play ball.”

  “And when Josh found out that you spent the night with us,” said Cameron, “he decided to get revenge on you. Apparently he’d asked you out at one time and you’d turned him down.”

  Nina shook her head. “Oh my God. That was years ago.”

  “Well, he was still pissed off about it. But instead of letting it go like an adult would, he undermined that bridge restoration you were overseeing to try and get you fired. He suddenly didn’t want all three of us in Columbus because he thought you were seeing both of us. He thought he still had a chance with you until you spent the night with us.”

  “Holy shit.” Nina’s head began to spin. This was too much to take in at once. “And you say you can prove all this?” She didn’t need proof. No way would they make up something like this. She knew they weren’t lying.

  “Sure can. We have internal memos saved, just in case. Nothing was ever made public. We went to the CEOs as soon as we found out the deal was fake. Josh was fired, and the folks at Bronson and Carruthers were threatened with legal action. But the damage to you had already been done. You were gone, and we didn’t know where to find you.”

  “I thought you two had used me and then tried to get me fired.”

  “We realized that too late,” said Alex.

  “Josh told me you two had done that to my files. Had sabotaged them to make it look like I’d fucked up because you didn’t want me to join the firm in Columbus.”

  “We know that now,” said Cameron. “But that was a lie.”

  “So Bronson and Carruthers lied to all three of us, and Josh lied to me.”

  The men nodded.

&n
bsp; “And when I quit and left, you two tried to find me?” She’d quit McCormack Brothers the same day she’d been shown the sabotaged files. She had no explanation for what had happened, and Josh had made sure she wouldn’t go straight to Cameron and Alex by fabricating the story about them using her. “I didn’t think I had any allies left. I couldn’t see the point in sticking around.”

  Alex reached across the table and took her hand. “We know that now. I’m so sorry.”

  “I moved to my sister’s in Chicago. I had to get away from everything. And that’s where I met Matt. I was working at a firm for less than half of what I’d made in Cleveland, but I thought it had been fate because…” She sighed out loud. She didn’t want to use the L word about Matt, and especially not in front of these two. “Because I fell for him hard and fast.” It wasn’t love. It was rebound, and of course she knew that now.

  She also didn’t want to tell them how much time and energy she’d spent fantasizing about them, way before they’d seduced her that night. And she especially didn’t want to tell them how, despite what she thought they’d done to her, she hadn’t been able to get them off her mind. It would make her sound like a fool.

  But now that she knew Alex and Cameron had been set-up along with her, and that the bullshit Josh told her about them sabotaging her files was a lie, maybe the reason she’d never stopped thinking about them was because she’d been meant to discover the truth?

  She had left without a way for them to find her. She’d never confronted them about what she’d been told they’d done. But she was here now. She had a second chance. Was that what had led her here? Was this way more than a bizarre coincidence?

  Alex squeezed her hand. “We know that, too. Nina, we are so sorry for what Matt did to you.”

  “I guess you heard about it on the news.”

  “Yes.”

  She pulled her hand away from Alex’s, not because she didn’t enjoy the warmth of his touch, but because there were too many memories floating around in her head right now. “One more question. That night … I have to know this. I know I was drunk. But I need to know that you didn’t simply use me. I’m not sure what I’m trying to ask.”

  Why had she stopped here? She could be home right now, watching TV, waiting for the ball to drop so she could say she’d stayed up until midnight, not reliving two of the worst days of her life. And you’d be completely alone.

  This time, Cameron reached for her hand. “I wish I could take that back. Not because I didn’t enjoy it, but because it caused you so much pain. And the timing was shitty. But I swear to you that Alex and I had no idea what Josh was doing with Bronson and Carruthers, or that he’d stoop that low and sabotage your project. If we had, we’d have kicked his ass from here to Pittsburgh.”

  “Talk about lousy coincidences,” she said.

  “Yes, I agree. But that’s all they were. Coincidences and misunderstandings.”

  She stared into Cameron’s dark eyes and saw the truth. There was no need to see saved memos or any other tangible proof they had. All this time she’d been wrong. They hadn’t merely seduced her for sport. They hadn’t set her up to be fired, and they hadn’t negotiated a deal then shoved her out of it after fucking her. She’d jumped to a lot of conclusions at the time, which was understandable given the circumstances, but she’d been wrong about these two. Completely wrong.

  “I don’t know what to say right now.”

  Cameron stroked her arm, and Nina had to bite back a moan. “You don’t have to say anything. Just say you believe us. We’ve waited three years to hear that.”

  “I do believe you.”

  They exchanged a glance so full of relief that Nina had to blink back tears again.

  “Thank you.”

  “Thank you, Nina,” said Alex. “I’m so glad you saw the lights on this house and came here. We didn’t know you were back in the Cleveland area, or we’d have tried to find you and explain.”

  “Really?”

  “Yes, of course. But you’re here now. That has to mean more than sheer dumb luck.”

  She laughed softly. “Yeah. I was thinking that, too. Talk about coincidences. And I guess I’m stuck here a while.”

  “You really shouldn’t try to drive home in this blizzard.”

  “I know.”

  “Let’s finish dinner,” said Cameron. “There’s a lot of food here.”

  “You really are a good cook.”

  “Thanks.” His grin was as charming as she remembered it. Nina returned to her meal while she thought about everything these two had just told her. All these wasted years… But she couldn’t have known they were looking for her, or that everyone had lied to the three of them. She’d even changed her cell phone number, and they hadn’t known she had a sister who lived in Chicago. She and Alex had only gone out on a few dates before all that happened. And then she’d run away and left them with no way to find her.

  But she was here now, stuck for the night at least. There was time to get to know them both again.

  Chapter Three

  After dinner, Nina went out to her car to get her bag. The snow was at least six inches deep and still coming down. Chances were high she wouldn’t have made it back home. Once she was inside the house again, Alex showed her to one of the guest rooms so she could put her bag in there. He lingered for a few seconds in the doorway, his gaze cutting from her to the bed. Nina turned her head so he wouldn’t see that her thoughts had gone there, too.

  She returned to the dining room and removed the last of the dishes from the table, then took them to the kitchen. Nina handed a platter to Cameron and watched as he and Alex rinsed the dishes and loaded the dishwasher. When she glanced outside, the spotlight she’d glimpsed from the road illuminated the snowfall. She crossed to the window and looked out over the deck and back yard. If it kept up like this the roads would be impassible until plowed.

  “I haven’t seen it snow this heavily in a long time.” Cameron was right behind her. She could feel the heat coming off his body, and his voice washed over her like warm honey. “Let’s go watch the rest of the movie.” When he took her hand, a jolt of electricity shot through her. She looked into his eyes, dark and welcoming. She had to be very careful here. It would be so easy to repeat what she’d done three years ago.

  She took a seat between them on the sofa and watched Jimmy Stewart and Donna Reed dance the Charleston while the gym floor opened behind them to reveal a pool. This was one of her favorite scenes. “Why aren’t you watching the New Year’s Eve celebration?”

  “We’ll switch to it closer to midnight,” said Alex. “Do you still love this movie?”

  She smiled. “Yes.” It touched her that he remembered so much about her likes and dislikes.

  “Why do you love it so much?” asked Cameron, grinning in a way that made her want to shove her tongue into his mouth.

  “Everyone loves this movie. It’s about how your life means something to the people in it, even if you can’t see that. It’s about accepting who you are, and playing the hand you’re dealt.”

  “No, it’s not,” said Alex.

  “What?” She turned to face him, her breath catching in her throat at the look in his eyes. Lust mixed with adoration. It was too much to deal with. Matt had looked at her that way for the first few months of their marriage, until she began to suspect something was very wrong.

  “It’s not about that at all. It’s about passion. Here. I’ll show you.”

  He picked up the remote and fast-forwarded to the scene in Mary’s home when Sam Wainwright calls her from New York. Nina watched, mesmerized by the tremor in Donna Reed’s voice and the turmoil on Jimmy Stewart’s face as he tries one last desperate time to resist his feelings for Mary. Why had she never noticed the depth of emotion in this scene before?

  “See what I mean?” Alex’s voice was heavy with that same passion. “That’s the focal point of this entire movie. When they finally shed their fears and give into their true feelings for
each other.”

  His face was so close all she’d have to do was lean forward a couple of inches to kiss him. The compulsion was so strong it frightened her. To realize she’d never lost her feelings for either man confused and aroused her at the same time. So much had happened, but in a few short moments they’d rendered moot the convictions she’d held in her heart all these years. She’d been wrong about them using her, and she’d been wrong about them having a hand in trying to sabotage her career.

  But was it possible to go back? Could people really do that when there was so much water under the bridge?

  Cameron put his arm around her, and she leaned against his body, drawing strength from it. Her dress felt too tight, and her clit throbbed again. Images of sliding her tongue over Cameron’s body filled her head.

  “Is this okay?” he asked softy.

  “Yes.” Her gaze roamed over Alex’s button-down shirt. Did he still look as yummy naked as she remembered? She sat up. “No. It’s not okay. This isn’t a movie scene. I’m confused. I don’t know what to do.”

  She was slightly drunk, extremely horny, and two delicious-looking men that she’d once had a passionate, decadent night with were sitting too close for comfort. But instead of frightening her, the realization filled her with a peaceful slipping sensation, as though she could fall into their arms and be perfectly content to stay there for the rest of her life.

  A sharp sliver of fear tried to force its way in. They had put something in her drink. She pushed away the thought as soon as it took shape. That was ridiculous. They weren’t going to hurt her, and this wasn’t a repeat of three years ago. That night had been totally consensual on her part. She remembered every detail of it. They’d seduced her, and she’d said “yes” in every possible way.

  But this was different. She knew that from the look in their eyes and the tender way Cameron now stroked her arm, sending shockwaves of desire straight to her soaking wet pussy.