by Elena Aitken
Before she could even get the filters out of the drawer, her cell phone started ringing. She looked at the screen and the caller ID. Perfect. The California office. And it was only nine, which meant it was only eight on the coast. Which meant only one thing; trouble.
With a sigh, she touched her screen. “Lois?”
“It’s Ryan.”
Megan’s heart stopped for a second and she sucked in a breath.
“Megan? Are you there?”
“Yes.” She swallowed hard. “I’m here. Sorry, I wasn’t expecting you…”
“To call?” Ryan’s voice was neutral but there was no way Megan could have missed the underlying tension. “Well, I thought maybe it was time we talked. Don’t you?”
Did she? The answer was no. She didn’t think it was time to talk to Ryan. What would she say to him? Sorry I broke your heart and left you because I couldn’t stand the thought of being with one man for the rest of my life. Especially when that man never once made me feel the way Gage Mitchell did with a simple touch.
Megan shook her head and frantically tried to clear her thoughts.
“Megan? Is it a bad connection?”
“Yes,” she said. “I mean, no. I just…I have a lot going on here and I—“
“That’s right,” he said. His voice had an edge to it. “You have to keep Gage Mitchell out of trouble. That’s quite a job.”
There was something in the way he said it that sparked Megan’s attention, but she ignored it. “Why did you call, Ryan? I don’t know what else there is to say.” Abandoning the coffee, she walked towards the window and stared outside. The mountains were reflecting an ethereal glow from the sun. It was stunning, and she lost herself in it for a moment.
He sighed, and she could imagine him at his desk, doodling circles all over the notepad he kept in front of him. It was his nervous habit, and she would bet money on the fact that he was nervous.
“I’m calling to get a status report,” he said after a moment. “There hasn’t been any mention in the tabloids about Mitchell being at the Lodge, so we can only assume they haven’t gotten wind of it yet.”
“Not that I know of,” she said.
“That’s good.” There was a pause. “So, he hasn’t spoken to anyone?” he asked.
It seemed like an odd question. Why would Ryan care? “Only his manager and sister,” she said, remembering the conversation from the night before. “But we don’t have him on lockdown, Ryan. Why would it matter who he talks to? Besides, his mother is sick. I’m not going to patrol his phone conversations.”
There was a pause and then, Ryan said, “Well, it’s pretty much an impossible job, Megan. It would have been hard for Brent to handle it, but—“
“Wait.” She stopped him. “What do you mean, it would have been hard for Brent?” Brent was the best damage control expert at the Grace Agency and the obvious choice for such a job. “Why isn’t Brent here?” she asked him after a few seconds. “Why me, Ryan? What do you know about Lois sending me up here?”
His silence was all the confirmation she needed. Ryan was never a good liar and his skills weren’t improved by long-distance telephone calls.
“What do you know, Ryan?”
“Megan, it’s not like I told her to do it.”
“Told her to do what?”
“But I was upset and she’s my mother and—“
“What, Ryan?” Megan was losing patience quickly. “Why did Lois send me up here? This isn’t normally the type of thing I do. There are a dozen people who’d be better suited to this.” The realization of it slammed into her, before Ryan even had to say it aloud. “Oh my God.”
“I didn’t realize she was going to…look, I was mad. I mean, you just left with no explanation.”
“First of all, I can’t believe she sent me here because you were mad at me. I told you why,” Megan said, her voice barely more than a whisper. “I couldn’t marry you. It wouldn’t have been fair.” She walked to the window and stared outside.
“It wouldn’t be fair to who? To you?”
Megan nodded, even though he couldn’t see her. That was exactly it. If she’d married him, she would’ve sacrificed herself. And wouldn’t it be worse for everyone involved?
“For you,” she said. “Ryan, it wouldn’t have been fair for me to pretend I could be happy forever. It wouldn’t have been right.”
“We could’ve been happy, Megan.” He pleaded with her. “We still can.”
She glanced towards the hall where Gage’s door was still closed. “No,” she said. “No, Ryan. We can’t. I’m sorry.” She meant it. She cared about Ryan; he was a good friend and she’d never meant to hurt him. Her mind raced back to what he’d said earlier. “What do you mean she sent me here to fail? What does that mean?”
Ryan laughed on the other end of the line. “Come on, Megan. It’s Gage Mitchell. She sent you to keep him out of trouble. Why would she send you? He’s one of the biggest stars on the planet right now. At least until some new scandal is uncovered and his production company drops him from Tumbleweed. Word is they’re even more nervous that his reputation is going to tarnish their squeaky-clean image.”
“Any publicity is—“
“Not in this case,” he interrupted her. “They want the focus on the show and the other stars are complaining that Mitchell is stealing the limelight. It’s not going to fly, Megan. As soon as he screws up again, he’s out. And he’ll take out everyone around him.”
“He’s not going to screw up.”
Ryan laughed and the sound grated Megan’s nerves. “Yeah, right. He’s a train wreck. It’s pretty much a guarantee that he’ll self-implode. It’s a total suicide mission.”
“A suicide mission?” She sounded like an idiot repeating him, but she needed to be perfectly clear on what he was saying and even though she knew the answer before she asked the question, she asked it anyway. “Why would Lois send me instead of Brent if she thought it was hopeless?”
“You know why.”
Her stomach churned at his words, because hadn’t she suspected there was something else behind her trip to the Lodge? She didn’t say anything, though, because right then she noticed Gage standing in the hallway. “I have to go,” she said into the phone. Without waiting for a response, she hung up the phone and tossed it on the coffee table.
“You didn’t have to do that on my account,” Gage said. He walked into the room, and her senses filled with the smell of his aftershave mingled with the sharp tang of soap. At least he was wearing a shirt, she thought as he came to stand directly in front of her.
She stared at him for a moment. “I was done talking.”
“What’s a suicide mission?”
She silently cursed herself for not being more discreet on the phone, but didn’t say anything.
“What?” he asked. “It’s only fair. You heard my private call last night.”
“About that, Gage.” Thankful for the distraction, she quickly changed the topic. “I think we should talk about that. If your mom is—“
“We are not talking about that.” He held up his hand but it was the look in his dark eyes that stopped her. “Now tell me, what’s a suicide mission? You were talking about me, right?” He was asking, but there was no question in his voice.
Megan shook her head, and turned away. “It was a business call.” She needed a coffee. There was no way she was talking about her work dramas, or personal dramas, or whatever they were, with Gage.
“It was a call about me.” He was right behind her.
“No it wasn’t.”
“You’re a terrible liar.” He laughed, and she spun around so sharply she ran into his chest.
Gage grabbed her arms, and for a second, Megan forgot how to breathe. He was too close; she couldn’t think. Her senses returning, she took a deep breath and instantly realized her mistake as she inhaled his masculine scent. If he hadn’t been gripping her tightly, she might have fallen over.
“Megan?” Gage sh
ook her gently, which is exactly what she needed to bring her back to reality. She shoved away from him and tried to compose herself.
“It doesn’t matter what I was talking about,” she said with as much authority as she could muster and walked into the kitchen to make coffee. “It was a personal call.”
He grinned and shrugged. “Well, personal or not,” he said. “They were right. It’s a suicide mission and you know it, too.”
“What are you talking about?” The coffee filter slipped from her fingers and she fiddled with it a moment before shoving it into the machine.
“Megan.” He pulled out a bench and crossed one leg over his knee. “You know as well as I do that there’s no point. I’m going to screw up. I always do.”
“Why would you say that?” She poured a random amount of grounds into the filter and added water to the machine before flicking it on. “You didn’t mess up last night.” As soon as the words were out of her mouth, she wanted to pull them back in.
“You were checking up on me, were you?” He looked amused. They both knew damn well she was checking up on him. “And what did you find?”
Megan sighed in defeat. It’d been an exhausting morning already and she hadn’t even had a cup of coffee yet. “Look, it’s my job to make sure you’re behaving yourself, okay?”
Gage got up slowly from the bench and stalked towards her like a cat to his prey. His eyes were dark and dangerous and heat flared there. “And what if I don’t want to behave myself?”
Megan reflexively backed up until she bumped against the counter. He was so close she could feel the heat from his body radiate off him. Her body reacted instantly to his nearness. Her nipples peaked against the blouse she wore, and her panties grew damp. No. She could not react to him. He was her client and more than that, she was irritated with him. Not turned on.
That was a lie. A very big lie. “Gage.” Her voice came out as a lust filled whisper. “You have to…” Her words trailed away as he closed what little gap was left between them and pressed his lips to hers in a hard kiss full of promise.
“I really don’t want to behave anymore,” he whispered roughly.
Keeping her pinned to the counter with his hips, one hand found her breast and tweaked her hard nipple through the cotton of her blouse. His other thumb moved back and forth lazily over her other nipple; shock waves sizzled through her, directly to her core. Megan knew she was putting her job at risk, but in that moment she really didn’t care. All she cared about was feeling Gage’s skillful touch on her body and the way it was making her feel. Because, damn, she hadn’t felt like that before. Not in a very long time.
“Tell me you don’t want me to behave.” Gage continued his merciless assault on her nipples, and the tension in her belly grew stronger. Damn, if she didn’t know herself so well, she might think she could climax just from his touch alone. But…no. She’d never…
“For this moment.” Megan squeezed her eyes shut and focused on the intensity in her core. “I really…don’t want you to behave.”
“I was hoping you’d say that.” The moment the words were out of his mouth, one of Gage’s hands left her chest and slid past the waistband of her pants. One finger pushed the elastic of her panties aside. “You are so hot,” he whispered gruffly as his finger pushed inside her. “Now come for me.”
No sooner was the command out of his mouth than Megan felt her body tighten. His lips crushed hers while his fingers continued their dance on her hot spots, until soon she couldn’t control herself. She pulled her mouth away from his, tilted her head back and moaned her release as she shattered around him.
It took her a minute to come back to reality. And in that time, Gage had detangled himself from her. It was a soft kiss to her neck that made her open her eyes again to look at Gage.
“I don’t…” she started. “I mean, I…”
His slow, sexy smile spread across his gorgeous face. “No need to say anything. I didn’t want to behave and you looked like you could use a little misbehaving yourself.”
She did a double take at his words. Confusion and a little anger that surprised her swirled through her. “I did,” she said. “I mean, I…” Megan straightened up and smoothed her blouse down. “I shouldn’t have done that. I have a job to do and—”
“You’re still telling yourself that?” He cocked an eyebrow and stared into her eyes, challenging her. “That this is still just a job?”
What an arrogant asshole. Wasn’t he the one who’d just done…well, done what he’d done? Dammit. Megan turned away, unable to look at him. Heat and anger washed through her. But who was she really angry at? It wasn’t a hard question to answer.
“Are you kidding me?” She finally managed to force out the words through clenched teeth. “It’s my job to keep your dumb ass out of trouble. And despite what just happened, what shouldn’t have just happened,” she amended quickly, despite the fact that she didn’t believe it herself, “our relationship is purely professional. Period.” She spat out the last word and turned away from him.
He was so quiet Megan thought he must have left. She couldn’t decide whether that would be a good thing or not. She poured herself a cup of coffee, cursing her hand for shaking the pot and spilling over her hand.
She knew the moment he walked away to retreat back to his stool at the eating bar. The air around her felt empty, missing something. Megan wiped her hand off, and took her time to add cream and sugar to her coffee and waited for him to say something.
Finally he spoke. “How do you know?” His voice was calm, but there was the same hard edge she’d heard in him the night before when she’d interrupted his call.
She turned slowly. “Pardon me? How do I know what?”
He looked her square in the eye and said, “How do you know I didn’t mess up last night? Just because you didn’t find her here doesn’t mean a thing.”
His words, combined with the cold delivery, the meaning loaded behind them and the aftermath of what they’d just done lingering in the air, hit her square in the chest and she took a step back, sloshing more hot coffee on her hand.
“Screw you, Gage Mitchell.” Megan slammed her cup down, ignoring the coffee that splashed across the counter. She wiped her hand on her sweater as she stormed out, only remembering to grab her cell phone at the last minute.
It took her at least thirty minutes to walk off the steam that had built to the exploding point. She’d purposely steered away from the pathways that led to the main buildings and the village with the shops. She didn’t want to run in to anybody. She’d only barely cooled off when she realized she was on her second loop of the wooded path. Megan knew she should go back. It wasn’t professional to blow up at clients. Especially huge, important ones. Of course, it wasn’t professional to have inappropriate feelings about clients, let alone act on them. She never should have done that, or let him do that, or…whatever. It didn’t matter if it felt good. More than good. God, it had been so long since— No. It didn’t matter. Her job was on the line and she’d never crossed that professional line before. And no matter what she was feeling for Gage Mitchell, it wasn’t worth it. Especially considering he clearly didn’t feel anything and was a first-class asshole.
She kicked at a clump of dirt and wished it was Gage or maybe Ryan. Or any man who had somehow managed to screw things up for her in the last seventy-two hours. But it wasn’t their fault. Not if she was really being honest with herself. She knew exactly who Gage was and what he was like, and allowing herself to forget that, even for a moment, was stupid. And she wasn’t going to let Ryan and his hurt feelings ruin her career. It wasn’t a suicide mission. They’d been at the Lodge for almost two full days and Gage hadn’t done anything the tabloids would care about. Not even Lisa would rate much more than a few lines in the gossip column. So far, Megan had managed to steer him away from scandal. And as long as she could hold on for a few more days, everything would be fine. She’d keep her job and she could handle Ryan later.
/> She turned around and headed back the way she’d come, back to the suite. All she had to do was keep Gage out of trouble, out of her head and far away from her body.
As far as Gage was concerned, there was no way he was going to be there when she got back. He’d been a total asshole. It’s not as if he’d meant to. Well, he’d definitely meant to kiss her and touch her and make her lose control—oh yes, he’d meant to do that. But he really hadn’t meant to be a total jerk afterwards. Dammit. He liked Megan, a lot. And that pissed him off because there was no way that could happen.
Immediately after Megan stormed out, he’d grabbed a jacket and taken off, careful to go in the opposite direction. He had no idea where he’d go; after all, it wasn’t like Castle Mountain Lodge had a ton of options.
He stalked through the trails, heading away from the main building, and when he got to the village with its cute little stores and cafes, he shuddered. He was trapped, and for the first time since he’d arrived, he actually felt that way. Megan had made the Lodge and the mountains seem like an adventure and climbing the day before had been amazing. Maybe if he found Bo, he could convince him to take him out again.
A sign for staff lodging caught his attention. “Perfect.”
He only had to walk for a few more minutes, down a much smaller pathway, clearly designed to keep guests from wandering down it. When Gage arrived at what looked to be a small compound, with low apartment buildings built in a circle around a common courtyard area, he smiled. With the fire pit, the horseshoes, and the basketball net hanging off the front of one of the buildings, it actually looked like a fun place to live and maybe if he was younger, and not Gage Mitchell, he would have liked to live there.
A different lifetime, he thought and headed across the lawn to a small group of people who were perched on a picnic table, enjoying the morning sun.
“Good morning,” Gage said. “Sorry to interrupt.”
He saw the looks of recognition on their faces as they turned around at his voice. One of the girls giggled and a blond man jumped up and stamped out his cigarette as if he’d been caught doing something he shouldn’t.