When the doors of the cable car opened, Chris left a long lingering warm kiss behind her right ear. The temperature outside was freezing. Their breath created small clouds in the night air. He put his arm around her shoulder and drew her close to his side. Lost in the silence of their own thoughts, neither said a word on the way back to the hotel.
A smile spread across Sara’s face when Chris opened the door and she saw the champagne and chocolate covered strawberries that had been placed in the room. Way to go Alex. The seduction scenario was already in place. She had made her decision. She was ready to do this. It was what she wanted. A tumble or two between the sheets and she’d be able to put Chris Alex out of her mind and behind her.
Peering up at him through her thick brown lashes, she slowly unzipped her ski jacket and let it fall to the floor. Flirtatiously moistening her lips with the tip of her tongue, she told him, “I’m going to change. I’ll be back in a couple of minutes.” Closing the adjoining door, she took a deep breath. The heated look he’d given her had made her want to jump his bones immediately. For all her experienced bravado, she found her heart racing like some naïve school girl.
Quickly chastising herself for being overly dramatic, she pushed away from the door and went in the bathroom to take a shower. After she was done, she slipped on a short peach colored silk chemise and matching robe. Taking another deep breath, she opened the connecting door.
Chris glanced up and his eyes widened. Holy hell. Beyond beautiful, she was sexier than he could ever have imagined. Her complexion glowed without even a trace of makeup. Her short silk robe flowed over her skin like a lover’s caress, her long shapely tan legs beginning where the hem ended. Chris swallowed hard and his palms began to sweat. Watching her chest rise and fall with each breath, he wondered how he’d ever thought her boobs merely adequate. They were well rounded and perfectly proportioned. His body throbbed with need. “You look fantastic,” he said in a low voice, drawing out the words and hoping she didn’t notice his hands shaking as he peeled the foil wrapper off the bottle of champagne.
He’d showered and changed into a black cotton t-shirt and grey plaid pajama bottoms. His hair was still a little wet around the ends. Crossing the room, he held a chocolate covered strawberry up to her lips. She covered his hand with her own and took a bite. His eyes darkened watching her mouth as she consumed it. He tossed the stem aside and handed her a flute of champagne. As she tipped the glass back, her robe came open, revealing the plunging neckline of her slip.
“Damn, Sara.” He took the glass from her and set it down. Lifting her up, he laid her out on the couch. Leaning over, arms to either side of her, he brought a knee up between her legs and pressed against her in a way that made her moan. She gazed up at him with eyes that had turned a smoky grey.
Every nerve ending flared with heat. Her breath caught as he lowered his head and kissed the side of her neck. She was burning up from the inside out. His lips were warm and his tongue wet as he worked his way down, alternating between long lingering kisses and short licks with the tip of his tongue. Her body began to tremble with need. When he reached the space between her neck and shoulder, he stopped and pulled back to look at her.
Sara’s eyes were closed, her breath ragged, her lips parted, her hands fisted in his shirt. Chris had never seen anything sexier. “Sara,” he breathed her name and her eyes opened and focused on him. “I want you in my bed. I want to make love to you.”
She tensed. What he was asking for wasn’t what she was prepared to give. Love didn’t figure into the bargain she’d made with herself. She tried to shimmy out from under him.
His fingers tightened on her thighs. “Where do you think you’re going?” He lowered his head. “Relax, Beautiful. Give Papa a kiss.”
She gasped. His choice of words completely and instantaneously doused her desire. She shoved Chris off of her and jumped to her feet, swaying unsteadily.
“Sara. What the hell?” Chris grabbed for her arm, but she flinched and backed away. He stood there, arms spread in front of him in a placating gesture.
She shook her head, feeling ill.
Chris took a cautious step toward her
“I’m sorry Chris.” Sara backed up even further, putting her hand across her forehead. “I don’t feel good. I’ve got a terrible headache…the champagne.”
Chris’ eyes narrowed. “Sara, why are you doing this?”
She walked past him, giving him a wide birth. “I’m going to go lie down.”
Chris watched dumbfounded as she slammed the connecting door behind her. Shit. Zero to sixty and then hard on the brakes. He scanned the room as if it held the answers to what had just happened. He had no clue. Frustrated, he ran his fingers through his hair. Sara Daniels turned him on like nobody’s business. He rubbed his hands over his face, a sigh escaping. He gave the closed door one last hopeful glance. Nope, definitely not gonna happen tonight. It was a date with the cold shower for him.
JR pulled into the front circle at the B&B. He jumped out and came around to open Sam’s door. She’d fallen sound asleep on the drive back. He stopped and stared at her for a moment. Her reddish brown curls formed a halo around her serene face. She looked like an angel. Well, maybe, a drunken one wearing a very provocative dress, just barely covering… His lips curved up in the dark, and he chuckled at the less than pious direction of his thoughts.
Pulling her toward him, he scooped her into his arm and carried her inside. She snuggled against his chest and sighed in her sleep. He squeezed her tighter. He loved her so much it hurt. How did he get a woman as sweet and beautiful as Sam to fall in love with him?
Lengthening his stride, he crossed the foyer and took the stairs. The door to her room was unlocked and slightly ajar. He brushed his hip against the door and pushed his way through. Sam stirred in his arms, and her eyes fluttered open when he set her feet down on the floor. She peered up at him, eyes glazed with desire. When she glanced at him like that she made him feel like he was some kind of superhero.
“Why don’t you stay with me tonight, John?”
JR hesitated, sorely tempted to do just that. She looked amazingly seductive right now with her eyes all sleepy and her hair disheveled. This was the woman he loved though, not just some random one night stand. He wanted the first time with her to be special and private, and he definitely wanted to get that ring on her finger. “You’re exhausted, Princess.” He gently kissed her parted lips. “I’ll see you first thing in the morning. Alright?”
Her lips formed a provocative pout. “Ok.”
When he softly closed the door, Sam unsteadily kicked off her shoes and unzipped her dress, leaving it and then her undergarments in a heap on the floor. Stumbling toward the bathroom, she stopped when she heard a knock on the door. She grabbed a robe out of the closet and pulled it on, belting it tightly. Opening the door, John’s name on her lips, she was surprised to find Danny standing there instead.
“Hey, we’re switching rooms, remember?”
“Oh, yeah. I forgot.”
“I already had your things moved into the other room.” Danny brushed by her into the room.
She gave him a questioning look.
“Yours is number one.”
She padded out on bare feet into the carpeted hallway. “Where am I going again?” she asked in confusion.
He guided her down the hall to a room at the very end and let her in. “Night, Samantha.” Under his breath, Danny whispered, “Tomorrow’s not going to be a good day,” and closed the door behind her.
Tired, Sam flopped face first down onto the bed. A shower would have to wait until the morning. She was wiped. As she drifted off, she felt vaguely uneasy, but the thought flitted around the edges of her consciousness and then slipped into oblivion.
A blood curdling scream yanked Chris from sleep. He sat up, disoriented, when a second scream emanated from behind the connecting door. Holy shit. It was Sara. His heart pounding, he bolted out of bed and threw open the door.
>
Concerned about a possible intruder, he quickly scanned the room, but Sara was alone. She was sitting in the middle of her bed with her head tucked down to her chest, her arms wrapped around her body. A creepy, weird-you- out keening sound was coming from her throat.
What the hell? Flipping on the bedside lamp, he made a more thorough examination of the suite, including the bathroom, but by this point he wasn’t expecting to find anyone.
Chris went back to Sara who was quiet now but hadn’t moved. She seemed really out of it and was rubbing her palms on her legs as if she was trying to wipe something off of them. Confused, he tilted his head to the side, totally baffled by her bizarre behavior.
“Why Papa? Why?” Sara whispered.
His brow creased. Apparently, there was much more to Sara’s past than she’d told him. It obviously involved her father, and whatever it was he knew in his gut, it was bad… real bad.
He sank down on the mattress beside her. Her grey eyes seemed unfocused, and her face was wet with tears. He cleared his throat. “Sara. It’s ok. I’m here.” He scooted behind her and pulled her back against his chest. He wrapped his arms firmly around her. Murmuring more reassurances in her ear, he stroked her hair.
After what felt like an eternity, she peered over her shoulder at him. Her expression was guarded. “I’m ok.” She leaned forward in an apparent attempt to get out of his embrace.
Chris hauled her back. He was sick of her running away from him every time he got close. Whatever the hell this was, he was sure that it was the key to everything.
He turned her toward him, cradling her head against his chest. He rubbed her back the same way he had on the gondola ride. “Stop fighting me, Sara,” he whispered.
For a while, she didn’t respond, but eventually her body relaxed against his. She buried her head deeper into his shoulder and nestled her hands softly against his chest. He interpreted the simple movement as proof that she was letting down her guard with him if only just a little. Now if only he could get her to trust him enough to open up.
Sara’s breathing became regular and for a moment Chris thought she’d fallen asleep, but then he felt her hand sliding down his chest. Her palm was warm against his bare skin and he flinched when she slid her hand beneath the waistband of his boxers. “No,” he said, grabbing her wrist to prevent her from going further. “Sara. Stop. What are you doing?”
“What do you think I’m doing? I can feel you, Chris. You want this. It’s why we’re here, right?”
He shook his head. “No. Not right now. Not like this when you’re so upset. I want it to mean something. I’m not looking for casual sex.”
He felt her muscles tense right before she shot out of the bed. He immediately felt the loss of her heat.
“Well, that’s all I’m offering.” Sara stood at the foot of the bed with her arms crossed over her chest and glared at him. “You can take it or leave it. But I guarantee if you don’t, it’ll be your loss.”
The tension grew as they stared at one another. Sara was the first to look away, but not before he saw a tear track down her cheek. The woman was a walking contradiction. Tough as nails on the surface, but fragile as a china doll on the inside. “I’m not giving up on having more than that with you.” He moved to her side and put his hands on her shoulders. She stiffened again but didn’t pull away. He gently brushed the back of his fingers across her wet cheek. “Oh, Sara, beautiful Sara…what happened with your father?”
She was out of his arms in a flash. One minute she was there and the next she stood in the far corner of the room, glaring and closed off again. She had one arm around her waist like her stomach hurt, and with the other she pointed at the door. “Get out, Chris. Leave me alone. I want you out of my room.”
“I’m not leaving you in this state.” Expression hard, Chris shook his head and started toward her.
“Go. I’m telling you…” She trailed off as he reached her and threaded his arms around her waist.
“No.” His eyes locked on hers.
“Please,” she begged, bottom lip trembling.
To his ears the word sounded less like a dismissal and more like a plea for help. Her eyes were huge. She seemed spooked as shit. No way was he leaving. Even though both her arms still hung limp at her sides, Chris drew her closer. “I’m not going anywhere. Shh, Sara,” he soothed and lifted her up and carried her back to the bed. “Just sleep. Rest. We can talk when you’re ready.”
JR bounded up the stairs to the B&B at seven the next morning. He had the ring in his pocket and couldn’t wait to see the expression on Sam’s face when he proposed. With the tour coming up, he’d be away for days and even sometimes weeks at a time. He’d never been a possessive guy before but readily admitted he was where she was concerned. He wanted all the other guys to know that she was his and unavailable. He also wanted her to have a tangible symbol of his total and complete commitment to her. He hated how his reputation worried her.
At her door he stopped, surprised to find it cracked open. He entered and immediately spotted the dress she’d worn from the night before crumpled in a heap on the floor, a lacy black bra and thong panties on top of it. His eyes widened. He wished it had been his hands instead of hers peeling that sexy lingerie off last night. Soon. JR shook his head. Very soon.
It struck him as a little odd that she’d left them there. She was kind of a neat freak. He must have underestimated how tired she had been.
Hearing muffled singing in the shower, he lifted his hand to knock on the bathroom door when he heard a clattering sound behind him. Swiveling around, he was surprised to find Danny standing in the doorway behind him with a breakfast tray in his hands. His brows turned down. What the hell was going on? For a moment, like an idiot, he didn’t get it. He glanced at the pile of clothes and then at Danny. The truth smacked him like a cement wrecking ball.
She’d slept with Danny last night. The thought of Danny’s hands on her undressing her, touching her naked skin made him shake with jealous rage. Every muscle in his body tensed. A wave of anger engulfed him. To think he’d turned her down last night, wanting to preserve her innocence. What a fool he’d been.
“You piece of shit!” JR turned toward Danny, eyes blazing.
“Hey, we’re all consenting adults.” Danny set down the silver tray, hands held up defensively in front of his chest. “You don’t own her, JR.”
JR felt like he was going to be physically ill. He’d really fallen for Samantha. Hard. He had thought she was so different from all the other women he’d been with. He’d bought into her naiveté, but obviously he’d been duped. Who knew the countless number of men who’d already had a piece of her? She was probably just as big a player as her sister.
His fingers itched to punch something… someone in particular. He advanced toward Danny with a menacing growl.
“Now wait a minute, JR. I didn’t realize you two were that serious.”
“Bullshit! I told you the night at the Rickshaw to keep away from her,” he shouted, shoving Danny into the wall with a forearm under his chin. One of the pictures fell off and crashed to the floor. The water in the shower shut off. JR jerked his head around. He was so angry he didn’t know what he would do if he saw her right now. He gave Danny another hard shove. “I suggest you stay the hell away from me or I just might have to go ahead with my first instinct and separate your head from your body.” Tossing one last heartsick glance in the direction of the shower, he turned abruptly and stormed away.
Sam had been gripping her cell phone so tightly that her palm bore an indentation from the plastic cover. Pointlessly, she checked again to make sure the ringer was on. JR hadn’t called and wasn’t responding to any of her attempts to reach him. It was nine thirty. He should have been here two hours ago. Desperate for information, she decided to go ask Danny.
No one answered when she knocked on his door. Tears began to burn her eyes. Nagging fears and doubts exponentially grew and multiplied. Like a hydra from Greek mytholog
y, each time she severed one, two more rose up to take its place.
Back in her frilly white on white themed bedroom, she tried to think who else she could call. Her hand shook as she hit redial on Sara’s number again, but it went directly to voicemail like all of her previous attempts. Scrolling through her contacts, she located Keith’s number. With a resigned sigh, she hit send. He answered on the first ring.
“Geez, Samantha what were you thinking?” Keith demanded in an accusatory tone.
“Huh? What do you mean?” she stuttered, twisting the chenille bedspread self-consciously. “Is JR there with you?” Dread made her stomach feel like it was filled with ice. “Can I talk to him please?” she managed to ask.
“Sorry, Sam. He doesn’t want to talk to you and I really don’t blame him. I mean, what’s there to say, anyway? Listen I gotta go. Don’t call him anymore, ok?”
Her hands trembling, she dropped the phone. Tears she’d held at bay began tracking down her face one after the other. She was at a total loss. One thing was absolutely clear, though. It was over.
JR didn’t want her. Remembering how her turned her down last night, she wondered if he ever really had. Maybe she wasn’t pretty enough. More likely her inexperience had been a big turnoff for him. She couldn’t believe how badly his rejection hurt. Her skin burned and her abdomen ached like she’d done too many sit ups. Curling into a tight ball, she buried her head in her pillow.
The sun on her face woke her up several hours later. Looking out the window, she guessed it to be around noon. Her cell phone buzzed on silent mode. Momentarily hopeful, her heart fell when she glanced at the caller display. It wasn’t him. She pressed her lips together, chastising herself for getting her foolish hopes up. If she did that every time the phone rang, she’d quickly become a nervous wreck.
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