“When I heard you talking with Cole about what your options were at the end of the year and a day, I knew you were planning on leaving. Hell, I would have left me, too. Rather than put us both through that humiliating ordeal, I left. It was easier that way.”
Dash let his eyes slide closed. He breathed in through his nose and out through his mouth, using the warm weight of it to ground him. It was either that or give in to the pounding need to scream at the universe.
When he thought his emotions were back under control, Dash opened his eyes and stared straight into Elle’s churning gaze. “I had no intention of ending our marriage, sweetheart. But I thought you might. Especially after you screamed that our handfasting was a mistake.”
He tried to keep the ache of her words from his voice, but didn’t quite succeed.
She gasped. “I didn’t...” Her words trailed to nothing. He could see the memories as they flashed back across her mind. The moment she remembered saying the words to him in a blinding fit of angry tears.
“I didn’t—” she tried again, but the statement didn’t come out any clearer the second time around.
Her throat worked hard as she tried to swallow. Soft hair whipped around her face as her head jerked back and forth in denial.
The third time went better. “I didn’t mean it.”
With a sad smile tugging at his lips, Dash closed the space between them. She stared up at him, her eyes filled with a jumble of emotions so tangled up together he couldn’t pull one from another. He knew exactly how that felt, to be so tied up in knots that you didn’t know what the hell you felt.
Running the pad of his finger down her cheek, he whispered, “Apparently you did.”
* * *
Noelle stared at the computer screen on her desk. There were words and numbers. Information she was supposed to be absorbing and managing. She didn’t see any of it.
The only thing she could see was the expression on Dash’s face right before he’d walked away from her last night. As if she’d ripped out his heart and fed it to a reindeer.
Her own chest still ached with the realization that she’d hurt him.
And right now, she had no idea what to do with that knowledge. What did it mean? What did last night mean?
Could they go back and start again? Was that even a possibility? Would he forgive her for leaving, and could they work out the issues that had driven a wedge between them in the first place?
What about the life she had back in D.C.? And while everyone else seemed to accept her presence here, there was still a part of her that didn’t feel like she belonged. Not when she was struggling with the simplest requirements of her job.
She could direct her personnel, devise security protocol and implement diversionary tactics with no problem. But that wasn’t all the Winter clan needed from their head of security.
Eventually they were going to figure out she wasn’t qualified for the job.
And then what?
“Baby girl.” A loud booming voice echoed outside her office door. Well, actually, it was his office door.
“Daddy,” she said, a smile lighting her up inside. The sight of him always made her happy. Especially after the scare of almost losing him.
He was the only parent she had left. The only family, really, since she wasn’t close with any of her Summer relatives.
Pushing up from her desk, Noelle allowed herself to be wrapped inside the warmth of a crushing hug. Her father was tall and broad-shouldered. Silver was finally starting to thread the dark, burnt-toast-brown of his hair.
He was her rock and always had been. Bigger than life and indestructible. Getting the phone call that he’d collapsed had nearly sent her to her knees.
Although he was definitely looking better these days.
She almost offered him the chair she’d been sitting in, but before she could he dropped onto the hard chair across from her. He settled back, the plastic creaking ominously beneath the bulk of his body.
“How’s my gorgeous girl today?” he asked.
“Good. Fine. How are you?” she asked, trying not to put unnecessary emphasis on the words but failing miserably.
The doctors kept telling her that he was going to make a full recovery. Sure, he’d have to make some lifestyle adjustments, but that was typical after suffering a massive heart attack that required emergency open-heart surgery. At least his skin no longer had a sallow look.
He gave her a weak smile. “Good. Just came back from physical therapy in the village. Those are some sadistic bastards. I thought I was going to puke right there on that damn treadmill.”
Shaking her head, Noelle said, “They’re trying to make your heart stronger, Daddy. Do what they say.”
Frowning, he grumbled something beneath his breath, but she couldn’t hear it. Maybe it was better that way.
Pushing up from the chair, he leaned across her desk and touched his warm lips to her forehead. “Just wanted to check on my girl since I was walking through. I’m going back to the lodge to take a nap.”
Flipping her hand in goodbye, Noelle watched her father disappear back out the door.
She wasn’t happy. Not once did he ask her about work. And he hadn’t since the day she’d agreed to take over for him. At first she’d thought it was simply because he didn’t have the strength to think about it. Now she wasn’t so sure.
Growing up, work had been his life. It bothered her that he didn’t seem to care about it at all anymore.
But she wasn’t quite ready to push him on the issue.
Shaking her head, she turned back to the spreadsheet open on her screen. At least his visit had accomplished one thing—she’d stopped thinking about Dash and last night.
Although the reprieve was short-lived. A couple hours after her father’s visit, the walking distraction himself breezed into her office.
Noelle looked up, startled. She’d been back for months, and Dash hadn’t come into her office in all that time.
She wanted to berate him for interrupting her concentration, but the words died in her suddenly dry throat. Gone were the work clothes he’d had on yesterday, replaced by the kind of brilliantly tailored clothes the citizens of Gingerbread expected from the VP of Evergreen Enterprises.
The man could fill out a suit. Maybe it was knowing just how hot and sweaty he could get beneath the veneer of civility the expensive material provided, but Noelle felt like she was about to start drooling.
It didn’t help when he reached behind him and closed her door. He leaned heavily against the wood, his intense gaze running across her from tip to toe. Her body responded, going all liquid and needy.
After he’d walked away from her last night, she’d expected him to go back to pretending she didn’t exist. Apparently, that wasn’t the plan anymore.
“What are you doing?” she asked, her voice much more breathy than she’d meant it to be.
“Look, we could throw accusations at each other all day. The reality is there’s plenty of blame to spread between both of us. We were young. We made mistakes. But last night proved there’s still something there.”
She’d be lying if she said the heat that flared inside his eyes didn’t kindle something deep in her own body. Those blazing green eyes sent a flood of tingles ripping across her skin. He could make her a puddle of mush with nothing but a glance. Had always been able to get to her like that.
At one time she’d seen her response to him as a weakness. Another power that tied her irrevocably to him and made her vulnerable.
Now she recognized it for what it was. The kind of physical connection that was rare in the real world.
“I don’t know about you, but I’m not willing to ignore it.”
Pushing away from the door, he stalked across her office. Spinning her chair, he planted hi
s hands high on the arms, caging her in.
“I can’t keep my hands off you, Elle. And I’m tired of trying.”
Tipping her chair backward, he let the springs take her off center. Her feet left the floor, and the world felt like it was falling out from beneath her.
The hard length of his thighs bracketed her own. She stared up at him, unable to do anything else. Her heart thudded desperately against her ribs.
Licking her tongue across her lips, she watched as Dash groaned. His eyelids slid closed. A pained expression crossed his face, and his entire body shuddered as if he’d been punched in the gut.
When his eyes opened again she was the one gasping. Heat and savage need filled her, spilling over her in a shower of sparks. No man had ever looked at her that way—not even Dash when they’d been together before. Now he looked as if his world might end if he wasn’t buried deep inside her within the next sixty seconds.
All the doubts she’d been harboring fled, at least for the moment. How could she think about anything else?
Never in her life had she felt so beautiful and perfect and...necessary.
Fisting her hand in his crisp white shirt, she wrapped her legs around his hips and used her leverage against him. She jerked and had him tumbling against her body. The chair creaked in protest, but she didn’t care. Not when his hot mouth found her and seared a path up her throat.
He was crushing her, but she still wanted him closer. She couldn’t breathe and felt a little light-headed.
They tore at each other’s clothing. She shoved his half-opened shirt away from his chest and leaned up to sink her teeth into his shoulder. He grunted and then groaned when she licked the tiny dents she’d left behind.
“Wicked little hellcat,” he breathed, retaliating with a nip at her earlobe.
She laughed, the effervescent sensation bubbling up through her chest.
His hand was slipping up her thigh, pushing it relentlessly toward her waist. She was panting. Desperate. Her body raw and aching.
The door burst open behind them.
“Holy shit,” someone said.
Instincts and training kicked in before Noelle’s brain could pause long enough to consider what was happening. With a heave of her body, she shoved Dash away from her. Her hand was at her side and the gun from her holster pointed at a wide-eyed Cole before she could blink.
“Holy shit,” he said again, holding up his hands in the universal sign of surrender. His eyes were wide, but mirth glittered dangerously inside them anyway. For the briefest moment, Noelle contemplated the merits of shooting him. Not to hurt, just to wipe the knowing smirk off his face.
However, she was intelligent enough to realize firing on her boss wasn’t smart, not even if he was her pain-in-the-ass ex-brother-in-law.
She watched his eyes travel from the dark barrel of her gun down to the man lying at her feet.
Dash’s bemused expression would have been comical if it wasn’t also accompanied by an edge of irritation. She wasn’t sure whether it was directed at her or at his brother. Probably both.
Holstering her weapon, she held out a hand to help him off the floor. She realized her mistake about five seconds too late.
Instead of bringing them palm to palm, his hand slipped higher, wrapping tight around her wrist. And it was his turn to tug. She probably could have stopped it, although not without possibly hurting him.
She sprawled against him, sending them both collapsing to the floor. His hard body cushioned hers, absorbing the shock and giving her a safe place to land.
One hand tangled in her hair while the other clamped around her hips, holding her hard against his still aroused body.
“What do you want, Cole?” he growled without taking his eyes off her.
“Uh...” Cole shifted behind them. She couldn’t see him, but could hear the scrape of his feet against the deep green carpet.
“You have about sixty seconds before you’re going to get an eyeful you probably don’t want,” Dash warned.
“Never mind,” Cole finally said.
“Smart man.” How could eyes smolder and twinkle at the same time? Noelle had no idea, but somehow Dash managed to pull it off.
Before the door to her office could close, Dash said, “By the way, your head of security is taking the rest of the afternoon off. And so am I.”
There was a pause. Noelle felt it more than heard it, could practically taste the tension wafting off Cole.
“Whatever, man. I hope you know what the hell you’re doing.”
She tried not to let the disapproving edge in his voice bother her. But it did. Cole didn’t approve of what was going on between them. But then, what was new?
While none of the Evergreen family had ever said anything, there were plenty in the Winter clan willing to voice their dissatisfaction with the match. Dash was an Evergreen and could have any girl he chose.
No one wanted him with a half-Summer witch.
She tried again to scramble away, but his hold hadn’t loosened. Cole was long gone when Dash leaned forward and whispered against her cheek, “I know exactly what I’m doing.”
Chapter 5
Dash had spoken some big words. Now he just hoped he could back them up. He’d stormed away from Noelle and his hot shop last night, furious and hurt all over again. It had been a defense mechanism easily deployed. But the moment his temper boiled away only misery was left.
He couldn’t do it. For months he’d been walking around this place trying to pretend it wasn’t killing him to see her, talk to her, smell her damn perfume whenever he walked down the hallways. It was a lie, and it wasn’t getting him anywhere.
It certainly wasn’t saving him the agony.
And touching her, tasting her, losing himself deep inside her again only made it worse.
Somewhere in the early morning hours he’d realized he had no intention of making this easy on her. She wanted him, responded to him, just as fiercely. He was going to use every weapon in his arsenal to convince her she belonged with him, with her clan.
And he wasn’t above engaging in a few dirty tactics, namely of the physical variety. He hadn’t been completely kidding when he’d threatened to handcuff her to his bed naked. If he wasn’t half-convinced she’d know how to escape...
His body was still humming from the frantic release they’d found together on the floor of her office. It hadn’t been nearly enough. The next time they were together it would involve a bed and uninterrupted hours that he’d use to explore all of her.
However, when he’d whispered that plan in her ear she’d gone from pliant to ramrod-straight in his arms. The afterglow hadn’t lasted long before she was shoving him away again and ordering him out of her office. She had too much to do to leave right now.
He’d wrung a compromise out of her. They’d have dinner alone together in his apartments.
Which meant he had hours to fill until then. Striding through the enchanted tunnels that led from the lower levels of Evergreen Industries up the mountain to the lodge and elf village, Dash turned a corner and came up short.
Gabriel Frost was hunched over, his wide shoulders practically bowed halfway to the floor.
Dash’s first instinct was to rush forward and help the man. The last thing he wanted was to tell Noelle her father had suffered another heart attack. But his brain quickly dismissed the fear as his eyes registered just what he was seeing.
Three elves huddled close to the man. Dash recognized them immediately. They were part of Gabriel’s trusted team. No, they were part of Noelle’s trusted team. What the hell were they doing powwowing with her father in the tunnels?
Sensing something was off, Dash slowed his steps and hid in the shadows.
“There are no problems?”
“You mean aside from K
ris’s midlife crisis, Merry’s snit, Cole’s hacker discovering our secret and Ethan going toe-to-toe with Lark DeWynter on television?”
Gabriel sighed, his shoulders lifting as he pinched the bridge of his nose. “But those issues have all been handled. Well, all except Kris and Merry, but that will run its course eventually.”
One of the elves grunted. “Kris is demanding he take the Corvette instead of the sleigh.”
The three glanced at each other, exchanging the kind of look that carried the weight of shared agreement.
“When are you coming back, sir? Noelle is struggling. She’s had trouble with several of her spells, although so far she’s been able to hide it. But that can’t last forever. And when the Evergreens learn she isn’t capable of performing the job...” The tiny voice trailed off ominously.
“Not yet,” Gabriel growled. “She isn’t ready to admit this is where she belongs. Until she is, she’ll leave again the minute I return to my duties. I won’t let her do that.”
Dash gasped, the full extent of what was going on finally hitting him.
All four heads jerked around, the shadows not strong enough to hide him from their direct gazes.
The three elves shrunk backward, dropping their eyes to the ground.
Straightening from his slump, Dash moved into the light. Grasping for the mantle of authority laid across his shoulders at a young age, he strode forward.
Sweeping the three with a heavy stare, he said, “What kind of trouble is she having?”
One of them stubbed his toe into the packed ground, his mouth tightening in the kind of sealed line that indicated he wasn’t saying a damn thing. Dash appreciated the man’s loyalty to Noelle, although it wasn’t helpful at this precise moment.
The other two exchanged a glance. Through silent agreement, one stepped forward. “They’re minor issues. We thought at first it was simply because she’d been away from us for so long and needed to get reacquainted with her power. But it’s been several months, and she’s still having issues.”
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