“That’s something I would love to see,” he said and she felt her cheeks flush. “So, now that you picked my curiosity, I have to ask,” he started and she nodded.
“Okay,” she said.
“Why did you come to the Swiss Alps?” he asked and she shrugged.
“Would you believe it if I told you that I was dragged up here?” she asked and he frowned.
“It’s a ten hour flight…or eight at least,” he said and she shook her head.
“Twelve hours actually,” she said, correcting him.
“So, I am supposed to believe that someone dragged you out to the Swiss Alps for twelve hours?” he asked. “Did this person slip you something?”
“Yeah. A guilt trip,” she said and he looked at her shrugging.
“This person must be really good.”
She rolled her eyes.
“My workmate Victoria. She is amazing when it comes to persuasion,” she said and Axel nodded. “So, yeah. I am not looking forward to this but Victoria promised to call security on me if I didn’t show up on this mountain. But honestly, I am not looking to do this again for the duration of my vacation,” she said putting up finger quotes to emphasize ‘vacation’.
“You don’t have to be scared. It’s a little scary when you think about it but when you actually do it, you are going to wonder why the hell you have never done it before,” he said and Trina shook her head.
“If you say so.”
“People always freak out about their first time but it is not such a big deal, believe me. You just have to be relaxed about it and before you know it, you will be a pro at this,” Axel explained as they walked towards the cable car station. She looked at him and shook her head. “Everything alright?” he asked.
“I just took a cable car up here,” she said.
“Yes and now we are going to take another one,” he said and she shook her head.
“This is ridiculous,” she said under her breath but loud enough for him to hear.
“Ridiculously awesome,” he said smiling at her making her take a long deep breath.
“Well you are the expert so I guess I have to trust what you say.”
“I am and believe me, you will never forget your first time,” he said in a soft voice and she turned to look at him, a frown on her face.
“Again, I just heard how that came out. I should have probably thought about this more before I said it,” he said and Trina nodded.
“Yeah, you probably should have.”
“I hope I will not be getting served later with a lawsuit for being a douche,” he said, smiling and she looked at him just as the cable car began moving up.
“Wait,” she said looking at him. “Have we met before?”
He shook his head.
“No. Why?” he asked.
“Well, I am a lawyer and unless you are some kind of stalker I don’t know how you would have known about that,” she started and he shook his head.
“No, it’s just a happy coincidence,” he said.
“Good,” she said smiling. But even as she stood next to Axel, she could not help but wonder if this was a very good idea. She still had her doubts but as she went up the mountain, she was excited that she had met this perfect man on her first day.
*****
Trina never realized how much time had flown until she went back to the suite where Victoria was seated watching television.
“There you are,” she said when Trina walked in. “I was about to send out a search party.”
“Sorry. I got carried away,” Trina said as she took off her jacket. She looked at the television and frowned. “This is the millionth time you are watching Slumdog Millionaire. Don’t you ever get tired of it?”
“You can’t blame me. It’s a great movie. But I don’t want to digress,” she said as she pulled herself to a sitting position. “What was that about you getting carried away? You hated the idea of coming out here in the first place.”
Trina nodded as she pulled her scarf off her neck.
“Well, it’s true. I got carried away…I mean…” she walked to the couch and sighed loudly. “After you threatened to get security up here to get me if I didn’t go up that damn mountain, I went up the mountain.”
“And?” Victoria asked. “What happened?”
“I went up to the cabin and met a cute instructor. That’s what happened.”
Victoria’s eyes grew wide.
“You met a cute instructor?” she asked and Trina nodded.
“I did and he is hot! I mean Calvin Klein underwear model hot,” she said excitedly.
“Wait. You saw him naked? In this weather?” Victoria asked and Trina shook her head.
“No. I didn’t. I just happened to see him…I mean really see him,” Trina explained.
“I am really trying to understand what you are talking about,” Victoria said.
“I spend all day, every single day with overbearing egotistic men who see me as nothing more than a ball buster…” Trina started and Victoria raised an eyebrow.
“A ball buster?” she asked.
“That’s what every single man thinks of women in law. The fact that you hold the power especially being in the court room handing their asses to them, what the hell do you think they say about us behind our backs?” Trina asked and Victoria shrugged.
“I just choose to consider myself a strong woman in a largely male dominated field,” she said as she pushed her hair from her face. “So, I didn’t travel all this way to just talk about work. Tell me more about the cute guy.”
“Well, his name is Axel. He has beautiful blonde hair and these eyes that seem to look right into your soul….” Trina explained in a dreamy voice and Victoria smiled at her.
“Are you hearing yourself?” she asked.
Trina shrugged.
“What?”
“You sound like a lovesick puppy,” Victoria said.
“Like I said, this is a man who actually spoke to me because he was genuinely interested in knowing who I was and not getting some dirt to gain one on me,” Trina said and she reached for Victoria’s glass.
“I was still drinking that,” she protested but Trina was already taking a long sip of what she soon found out was orange juice heavily spiked with vodka.
“Anyway, long story short. I had a good time,” Trina said. “What about you? What have you been up to?”
“Well, I haven’t really been doing much. I just skied for a few hours and then came back here and had a glass of orange juice,” she said and Trina raised an eyebrow.
“A glass of orange juice?” she asked.
“Well, I took a glass of juice. Several times,” Victoria said quickly. “But you can’t really judge me because it was either that or answer one of Ian’s calls.”
“He is still trying to get in touch with you?” Trina asked and Victoria shrugged.
“He knows I am out here with someone.”
“So he doesn’t know that the person you are out here with is me?” Trina asked and Victoria shrugged.
“Why the hell should I give him the satisfaction? The more he suffers in the alternate reality that I am out here with someone, the better the situation is for me really.”
Trina bit her lower lip. She was not sure what she was supposed to say to Victoria at that moment. The fact that they were not exactly close friends was not helping the situation. Plus she really wanted to talk all about the day she had spent with Axel. How he had made her laugh. How much he had been caring with her, holding her as he showed her the right way to handle the ski poles and even how to swing her hips to maintain her balance. She was normally the kind of person who cared a lot about people giving her personal space but on that particular day, everything was just fine. Even when Axel stood behind her and held her closely, literally showing her the ropes, she didn’t care. All she wanted was to spend more and more time with him and she could not even explain why.
Chapter 4
For some reason, all
Trina could think about was Axel. She had thought about him all evening as she listened to a drunken Victoria talk about how much she wanted to get back at Ian. But even though she seemed like she was listening, her mind was actually thinking about something else. About Axel’s arms around her. And quite honestly, she hated this person she had become.
The last time she had spent this much time thinking about a man, she had ended up heartbroken. Terribly, terribly heartbroken. And she knew one thing for sure, she was not falling for any of the men. She couldn’t possibly be. After all, she had just met Axel.
“But what is it that makes me feel so…drawn to him?” she wondered as she looked at the hotel ceiling.
It had only been a few hours since she saw Axel but she could not wait to get back out there and have another ‘lesson’. It might have been a lesson for him but for her it was just another excuse to spend time with him.
She craved to know more about him. Things like where he was from. What were his likes and dislikes, what he liked to do in his free time…if anything just to even the scales. He had found out a whole lot about her the day before as they spent time at the cabin before they made their way back to the hotel.
He knew she was a corporate lawyer.
He knew that she loved the color black.
He knew that she lived all alone and she liked it that way.
But she didn’t know much about him except for the fact that he was a tall anatomically perfect man with gorgeous eyes and an even more perfect smile.
She got out of bed and looked around. There was no sign of Victoria anywhere in the suite and for a minute, she was scared that she had gone on a drunk bender. Maybe even done something stupid.
“Vicky,” she called out as she walked to the living room area of the suite but there was no answer. She noticed a note on the coffee table before she could call out Vicky’s name again. “This girl really believes in communication,” she thought as she unfolded the note. Which was a good thing too especially considering how fragile she was at that moment. What with the break up and everything.
Hey. Headed out to the restaurant. I thought I would get the whole experience. I will be downstairs if you want to join me or maybe you would rather spend the morning with your ‘instructor’. Wink, wink.
Trina smiled as she put the note back on the table. At least Victoria was keeping her updated on where she was at all times. She sighed as she made her way back to the bed. She had half a mind to get back in and snuggle in the warm bedding but at the same time, she wanted to get out and see if she could casually bump into Axel again.
It had been a while since she met anyone who made her feel like he was worth her time and now that she had spent the better part of the day before with Axel, she was beginning to wonder why she didn’t find out which room he was in. If she knew that much, all she had to do was call but this was different. All she knew was his name and what he looked like. And so far, he was not only the perfect gentleman, but also the most perfect person she had ever known.
Her heart was racing as she looked at the phone. A part of her was telling her to make a call to reception and ask for an Axel Anderson. But at the same time, she was not sure it was a good idea to do it. Mostly because she didn’t want to make a fool of herself in case everything didn’t work out. She had been burned enough times to know that it was better not to simply put your eggs in one basket. The eggs in question being her feelings.
She was still spiraling when the phone in the suite rang loudly. She reached for the phone and leaned back on the headboard.
“Hello,” she said in a soft voice.
“Hi, is this Trina Crews?” the voice on the other end asked and Trina nodded almost as if the person on the other end of the call could see her.
“Yes. Who is this?” she asked.
“This is Sharon, from reception. I have a message for you from Mr. Axel Anderson,” the woman said.
Trina felt her heart skip a beat.
“Yeah,” she said, trying as much as she could to sound casual.
“He was wondering if you would join him in the reception if you are interested in going up the mountain.”
Trina wanted to scream a loud ‘Hell Yeah!’ but again she was trying to sound as casual as she could.
“Sure. I’ll be there in twenty minutes,” she said in a soft voice and hung up.
She rushed to the bathroom, her heart racing as she prepared to go downstairs. She hated that the feeling she had was almost like a teenage girl on prom night. She took a quick shower and slipped into a ski suit and boots before she put on a jacket. She held her hair in a puff ponytail and as she looked at her reflection she thought that she should have taken the time to straighten her hair out but then again, she didn’t care. At least not on this particular day. She grabbed a pair of ear muffs and made her way to the elevator. But as soon as the elevator began to move, she began second guessing herself.
Maybe she should have just stayed in the hotel room.
But if she did, she might have never got to spend time with Axel as much as she wanted to.
In the few minutes it took her to get to the ground floor, she had thought of everything and nothing all at the same time. Her heart was racing as she walked to the reception where Axel was waiting for her and he looked even more handsome than she remembered. He smiled as soon as he saw her and stood up.
“Good morning,” he said as he looked at her.
“Good morning,” she echoed.
“Did I interfere with your plans?” he asked and she shrugged.
“I hadn’t really thought of what to do,” she said. “So, staying in and binge watching some TV was what was on my list.”
He forced out a laugh and put on his beanie hat.
“So I was probably right to get you out, huh?” he asked and she nodded.
“Probably,” she said.
“Good. Let’s get going, then,” he said before he led her out of the resort.
*****
Trina didn’t know why but for some reason, she was more scared to try skiing again than she had been the first time. And Axel could see it too.
“Are you alright?” he asked as he walked around her and put his hands on her hips.
“I am scared,” Trina said, simply.
“But you did so well yesterday. You’d think the second time around would not be as scary,” he said and she shrugged.
“I don’t know….I am a little uneasy today. Maybe it’s the weather.”
Axel looked around as they rode in the cable car.
“Yes, the weather today is quite windy but it is still safe,” he said in a soft voice. “And in case of anything,” he took a step forward and stood close to her. He was standing so close, she could feel the bulge of his cock on her ass even underneath the thick jeans. “I’m right here.”
“You’ve said that,” she said in a soft voice.
“And what? You don’t believe me?” he asked and she forced out a laugh.
“In my experience, people who are always making such promises don’t always follow through,” she said and he took a step around her so that he was standing right in front of her.
“What do you mean by that?” he asked.
“Well, it’s quite simple really. People lie,” she said simply.
He was looking right into her eyes but it felt like his hazel eyes were looking right through her. She could tell that he was yearning for her to tell him more. But it was not like she could just speak of something. It was not in her.
“People lie,” he echoed and she nodded.
“Yup. And as a lawyer I can tell you, I know that better than anyone.”
He nodded.
“Okay, so do you base all your judgments on your career?” he asked and she shrugged.
“To be honest, I never used to do it before but I know better now.”
He smiled as the cable car came to a stop.
“Trust me when I tell you, I got you.”
He opened the
door for her and she walked out before he followed her. She felt a chill rundown her spine when the wind hit her cheeks as she looked around. It was a little windier than the last time she had been here and she could not help but feel a little scared as she looked around. Her heart was pounding and not with excitement. She just didn’t understand how people would still be okay with sliding down a mountain with the weather being as windy as it was.
“It’s not snowing yet,” Axel said. It was almost as if he was reading her mind. “And I checked with the meteorological department. This is going to pass.”
Trina shook her head as she looked around.
“Are you sure?” she asked.
“Well, these people wouldn’t be here otherwise.”
Trina forced a smile and followed him to the cabin. To say that she was unsure of this whole situation was far from the truth, she was scared out of her mind. She wanted nothing more than to go back to the hotel. Her heart was beating even harder by the time he began his lesson but this time it was not excitement. And it was not the fact that she was back on the mountain with the same man that had made her think of nothing but his touch all night long, but because of fear.
Everything was fine until the wind suddenly picked up. Axel didn’t need to look into her eyes to tell that she was scared. She had tightened the grip around his hand and she was breathing harder.
“Hey…hey…” Axel said as he stood in front of her. “I am going to make sure you get back safe. Okay?”
Trina wanted to nod but she just couldn’t. Her whole body was paralyzed by all the hypothetical scenarios she was playing in her mind. He took her hand and began walking her back down the mountain even though she knew that he would rather ski down. And suddenly, she didn’t know what it was.
It might have been her nervousness.
Or her thinking so much more of the wind than what it actually was but all of a sudden, she was no longer walking down and her hand was no longer in Axel’s. She was tumbling down and just as panic set in, everything went dark.
*****
To say that Axel was scared as he watched Trina going down that mountain would have been a gross understatement.
The Billionaire's Big Beautiful Bride (BWWM Romance Book 1) Page 4