Snowbound with a Billionaire

by Jules Bennett

  “You’re not?”

  Shaking his head, he slid his hands up her arms. “Not at all. Maybe this is fate’s way of making us talk, forcing us to settle this rocky area that’s been between us for years.”

  Raine glanced down to their socked feet, so close together. Now he wanted to talk? What about when he’d left? What about sending for her and the promise of them starting their lives together? He hadn’t been so keen on talking when he’d left her behind, pregnant and alone.

  She looked back up, catching a sliver of pain in his eyes as he watched her. “We can’t change anything about the past, Max. And you aren’t staying in Lenox any longer than you have to. I heard you on the phone. I know you have a big deal waiting for you in L.A., and that’s great...so opening up about what happened between us years ago won’t solve anything. It won’t bind us together, and it won’t erase all the hurt.”

  “No,” he agreed. “But it may make this tension between us easier to live with.”

  Raine laughed. “Tension? We have tension from so many different angles, Max.”

  Those strong hands curved around her shoulders, pulling her against his solid, hard chest. Raine had to tip her head to look up at him.

  “There’s a way to get rid of some of this tension,” he whispered against her lips a second before claiming them.

  She curled her fingers into his sweater, knowing that letting him sink further into her life was a vast mistake, but she couldn’t help herself. Leaning against Max, being in his arms again, felt like no time had slid between them. No pain, no hurt.

  He teased her lips as his hands slid down to the hem of the long-sleeved shirt she’d slept in. When his chilled fingers hit her bare skin, she sucked in a breath, but he continued to explore farther beneath her shirt.

  His hands encompassed her rib cage. Max skimmed his thumbs along the underneath side of her breasts. She’d not bothered with a bra this morning, and she was so glad she hadn’t. Not that her barely B cups needed confinement anyway, but, like a fool, she had wanted that extra connection with him. She wanted to feel his skin against hers.

  And she’d known the second she’d seen him in her house yesterday that she wouldn’t be able to resist him on any level.

  Before Raine knew it, her shirt was up and over her head. Wrapping his arms around her waist, he lifted her and strode toward the stairs.

  Raine tilted her head back as Max’s mouth traveled from her lips, down the column of her throat and to her breast. She gripped the side of his head, trying to hold him there, silently begging for him to never stop.

  He held her against the thick post at the base of the steps, pulled back slightly and released her. “Tell me to stop,” he said, his voice raspy. “Tell me this is wrong, because I can’t even think when I’m with you. All I know is I want you, here...now.”

  Raine palmed his cheek. “I want to tell you to stop. I know this is wrong, but right now, I want nothing more than to be with you.”

  In no time Max had shed his clothes and was jerking down her bottoms and panties.

  “It’s really cold down here,” she muttered between kisses and sighs. “Let’s go upstairs.”

  In a swift move, he lifted her and carried her up the steps and into her bedroom where Abby was sleeping soundly in the warmth of her Pack ’N’ Play pen.

  Max continued on into the bathroom and eased the door shut with his foot before carefully placing Raine back on her feet.

  Light spilled through the small window on the far wall and the sight of Max gloriously naked nearly sent her trembling knees buckling. Over the years he’d filled out in all the right places, but that scar stemming from his chest to his shoulder gave her pause.

  She reached out, her fingertip lightly traveling over the faded red line. “Does it still hurt?” she whispered.

  He grabbed he hand, kissed her fingertips. “That was long ago.”

  She knew when it was; she also appreciated the fact he wasn’t about to let their past come into this room with them.

  He kissed her deeply, wrapping his arms around her waist and arching her back. Raine had to clutch onto his shoulders and hold on for the ride.

  As he gripped her tight, his lips left hers and continued their descent, making a path of goose bumps and trembling nerves down her throat and toward her breasts.

  “Protection?” she panted.

  He froze, rested his forehead against her chest. “I have nothing with me. I wasn’t exactly planning on being stranded here.”

  “I’ve never been without protection,” she said. “I know I’m clean, and I’m on the pill.”

  Lifting his head, his heavy-lidded eyes met hers. “I’ve always used protection, too, but it’s your call, Raine.”

  In silent response, she tilted her hips into his and smiled.

  Max lifted her, and she wrapped her legs around his waist. He turned and eased her down on the edge of the marble vanity. Raine couldn’t wait another second. She maneuvered her body, pushed with her ankles and enveloped him. Then she stiffened. It had been so long since she’d been with someone. But this was Max...well, she wanted it to last. Silly and naive as that may sound, she never wanted their time together to end.

  For this moment, Hollywood didn’t exist, her problems didn’t exist. Right now all she knew was Max, and that was more than enough to satisfy her.

  Max’s hands slid up her sides, palmed her breasts, as her hips started moving, slowly at first and then faster as he kissed her, explored her.

  Raine held on to his shoulders, using him for leverage as she pumped her hips.

  “Raine,” he rasped. “I...”

  Whatever he was about to say died on his lips. Which was just as well, because right now all she needed was release. She wasn’t doing this for sweet words, wasn’t with him for the long-term. They both knew that.

  Max grabbed the back of her head and slammed his mouth onto hers, his other hand reaching between them to touch her intimately.

  Clever man that he was knew exactly what to do to her...he’d never forgotten.

  Within seconds Raine’s body shivered as wave after wave of ecstasy rolled through her. She tore her mouth from his, needing to somehow break that bond before she was pulled any deeper under his skin.

  Max gripped her waist with both hands as he held her as far down as she would go when his own body stilled. For a second their gazes locked, but Raine had to look away. As his climax came to an end, she wondered what she’d seen in those baby blues, but, she knew if she delved too far into what had just happened, she’d be even more hurt when he left this time.

  And she wasn’t about to make the same mistake twice.

  Eight

  Well, hell. Awkward, party of two? Your bedroom is now available.

  Raine pulled her robe from the back of the bathroom door and shoved her arms into the sleeves. Without a word, she opened the door to the bedroom and left. And Max watched her walk away without a word.

  She’d done her best to distance herself during sex, she’d even avoided eye contact as much as possible, but he knew she’d felt something. And try as he might to deny it, he had, too.

  Couldn’t people just have a good time without feelings getting all jumbled into the mix? Ostensibly they couldn’t. All that past between them, the current sexual tension and the fact he kept feeling this pull toward her. Maybe he felt the need to protect her because of her obvious vulnerability with the baby, the old house falling apart, her apparent financial crisis.

  And what she’d done with tens of thousands of dollars from her trust fund was beyond him, but she clearly hadn’t poured it into this place.

  Max sank to the couch and slid his wool socks back on. At some point he would have to wash his clothes and take a shower...that shower probably would’ve been a good idea before the sex, but he hadn’t been thinking. He hadn’t been thinking of much other than Raine since he had stepped foot back in Lenox and came face-to-face with his past.

  Obviously he h
ad to go down to the freezing first floor to retrieve his clothes because he only had the ones he’d worn over here yesterday.

  When he got downstairs, Raine was picking up her own clothes and trying to get into them without removing her robe. Okay, so she was plainly not comfortable with what just happened.

  As if they needed another layer of tension.

  Raine’s cell chimed. He glanced around the room and saw it lighting up on the end table. She rushed toward it, pulling her shirt over her head and over that damn robe. Max shook his head and went to gather up his own clothes from around the room.

  Scooping up the phone, she answered it. “Hello.”

  Max didn’t make a move to leave the room once he had his things—if she wanted privacy, she could walk away. Yeah, he was in a mood and had no one to blame but himself. He’d been selfish. He’d wanted Raine, and he hadn’t given a damn about the consequences or the fact that he’d have to stay here afterward and actually cohabitate until this damn storm passed.

  “No, Marshall, I’m still fine.”

  Marshall? Who the hell was that? Max made no attempt to hide his curiosity as he pulled on his boxer briefs and jeans while staring across the room at her as she continued to talk. She kept shaking her head, glancing up to the ceiling, sighing...didn’t take a genius to figure out she had no interest in talking to this Marshall person.

  “My friend Max is here, and he’s helping with anything I need.”

  Friend? After what they’d just done, he sure as hell felt like more than a friend. But what would she tell the dude on the phone? My ex and current lover is here?

  Max felt he was more than friend status, because, well...because he just was. Although his exact title was rather iffy, and he wasn’t altogether certain he wanted to delve too deeply into that area.

  So, okay, friend it was.

  “Yes, he’s a good friend,” she continued. “No, we’re not dating. We dated as teenagers... Yes, Marshall. It’s Max Ford, the actor... Yes, I know how famous he is.”

  As she spoke, her gaze caught his, and then the smile that spread across his face. Raine merely raised a brow as if she dared him to say a word.

  Max knew he was famous but hearing her discuss his celebrity status with another man only made him smile wider. Had Raine watched his movies? Had she seen when he’d won an Academy Award?

  He found himself wanting to know more and wanting to share that aspect of his life with her.

  Share his life? Yeah, sex muddled the brain.

  “I don’t really think that’s any of your business,” she said into the phone as she crossed the room and rested her shoulder on the windowsill. “I need to go, Marshall.”

  She barely got the words out before she hung up and clutched her phone in her hand. With her back to him, she sighed, and he could see her shoulders tense up. Max closed the distance between them.

  “Problems with your boyfriend?” he murmured as he came to stand directly behind her.

  Raine threw him a nasty look. “Marshall is not my boyfriend, no matter how much my mother and father want him to be because of his political aspirations. We went on one date, and I’m still trying to block it out.”

  Max slid his fingertip along the side of her neck, shifting her hair aside so he could taste her. He couldn’t get enough. Raine was one sexy woman, but, all fired up like this, he was finding her irresistible.

  “Sounds like he doesn’t know what to do with a beautiful woman,” Max muttered against her skin. “His loss.”

  Raine trembled beneath him, and Max grinned as he allowed his lips to gently roam over her neck. She tilted her head to the side with a slight groan.

  “What are you doing?” she asked on a sigh.

  “Taking advantage of this situation.”

  Her head fell back on his shoulder as he slipped his hands around her waist and pulled her against him.

  “What just happened in my bathroom wasn’t the smartest move we could’ve made,” she said, but made no attempt to free herself from his embrace.

  “Maybe not, but it was inevitable.”

  A low cry came filtering through the house from the strategically placed baby monitors.

  “Does this mean playtime is over for the adults?” he asked as Raine stepped around him and headed for the steps.

  She gripped the newel post and stared at him from across the room. “I think maybe it shouldn’t have started,” she whispered.

  Max watched her ascend the steps to the second floor and couldn’t help but laugh. Her words held no emotion, and he knew, in her mind, Raine was saying what she thought the situation called for.

  But he’d felt her come apart in his arms, when he’d held her, kissed her, tasted her. She had allowed that wall of defense to come down, and she’d let herself feel.

  Through the monitor he heard her consoling the baby. She was such a wonderful mother. He wondered, if she’d have come to L.A. when he’d tried to contact her, would they have had a family of their own? Would their baby have Raine’s earthy nature and his creative side? Would he or she have Raine’s soft green eyes or his bright blue ones?

  Max wasn’t one to get caught up in domestic bliss, but just being in her home one day and seeing this whole new side to her made him think. They’d shared the same dreams once, and she’d fulfilled the majority of hers—so had he for that matter, but at what cost?

  Max glanced into the kitchen where bottles vertically sat in the drying rack, a can of formula beside that, a stroller folded up in the corner of the living room, a bouncy seat over by the window.

  All of these obvious signs of a baby had him trying to picture his immaculate home in West Hollywood. Yeah, he didn’t think all this brightly colored plastic would go with the black-and-chrome features his interior designer had meticulously chosen.

  Raine came back down the steps cradling Abby against her chest. The sight of her fresh after intimacy and holding a sweet baby tugged at his heart, and there wasn’t a damn thing he could do about it. He didn’t want to play house with her; he didn’t want to get swept into this crazy world of organic foods, overly friendly goats and diaper changes.

  He wanted to get the hell out of Lenox once his mother’s treatments were over, and he wanted to start working with Bronson Dane on this film that would launch his career to another level. But the pull he was feeling toward Raine was growing stronger and stronger by the minute.

  “I’ll put more wood in the fireplace in your room.” Max went into the kitchen to retrieve the forgotten bucket of wood. “Mind if I grab a shower?”

  He watched as Raine used one hand to jiggle the baby and one hand to mix a bottle. The woman truly was a natural mother. Another tug on his heart had him pausing.

  Max’s own biological mother had abandoned him, and the Fords had taken him in. Elise had been the best mother he could’ve asked for. She’d been patient, loving and so nurturing.

  Max saw those same characteristics in Raine.

  “Not at all,” she told him. “Use my bathroom. If you want to leave your clothes on the bed, I’ll wash them real quick for you. There’s another robe in there hanging by the shower. It’s big and thick, and shouldn’t be too bad for you to wear for a couple hours.”

  “Um...okay. Thanks.”

  “I’m going to get a large space heater I have in the garage. We can see how well it does down here,” she added. “It’s not like we can keep staying up in the bedroom.”

  No, wouldn’t want to tempt fate any more than necessary.

  “When you’re done, I’ll grab a shower if you can watch Abby for a few minutes.”

  Babies didn’t necessarily make him uncomfortable, but he wasn’t quite ready to play nanny.

  Although getting up to feed Abby had been...nice. Holding someone so precious and innocent had flooded him with a mix of emotions...namely love. Falling for Abby was not the smartest move.

  Max shook off the impending feelings and concentrated on the here and now. This first floor was tur
ning into an icebox. He needed to call someone about that furnace and have them look at the fireplace, as well. His mother surely knew enough people around this town that they could get a reputable name to come out as soon as the roads were clear.

  “Sure,” he said. “I’ll be right back down.”

  After he showered, he’d call his mom and check in and get that name. Max knew his mother was in good hands, but he still wanted to keep touching base with her. The plow trucks should be coming through, and hopefully he wouldn’t be stuck here much longer.

  Because he had a sinking feeling that the longer he was here, the more he’d slide into that life that he and Raine had planned out. A life they were meant to have with kids and a house and him fulfilling his acting dreams.

  Yes, they’d had their lives all perfectly drawn out like a blueprint. And they’d each gotten what they’d wanted out of life, but they were technically alone. So much time had passed that Max wouldn’t know what to do if he were to be in a committed relationship. He had never made time for one, so he’d never really thought much about it.

  For the past couple years his main goal had been career oriented, and getting that directing job with Bronson had been at the top of his priority list. But now, being with Raine really opened his eyes to his personal life...and the lack thereof.

  So, yeah, getting the hell out of here would be the best thing for both of them.

  * * *

  “Not one word.”

  Raine had to literally bite her lips to keep from speaking, laughing, even cracking a smile. She totally failed on the latter.

  “There was no thick robe hanging by the shower, and I didn’t think to look to make sure it was there until I was out of the shower, at which point you’d already nabbed my clothes.”

  Across the room, Abby swung in her baby swing, and Raine was looking toward the doorway where Max stood with bare feet, bare legs and a silky, floral robe that barely came together in the middle. He was gripping the material together with both hands in an attempt to keep his goods hidden.