“Of course I had fun with you,” she replied with a smile on her face. “But I hope you don’t think this gets you out of playing in the snow.”
“Not at all,” he said as he nestled against her.
“Good, then let’s go outside and play before it gets too dark and the streetlights come on,” she joked.
“They had streetlights in Guam?” Solomon asked with a laugh.
“On the army base where we lived, yes, and my mom didn’t play with me getting in the house late. She had rules and regulations,” Kandace said. “But she didn’t apply those rules to her own life all the time.”
“Was it hard growing up on an army base?”
Kandace nodded. “It seemed like as soon as you made friends, they left. That’s why Alicia, Serena, and Jade are so important to me. A lot of friendships don’t last past college, but we all needed different things and found it all in each other.”
Solomon nodded and got a far-off look in his eye. “Yeah, I know what it means to have someone who has your back.”
“You’re thinking about your friend?” she asked.
Solomon nodded. “Danny would’ve loved you,” he said. “He wouldn’t have believed that I’m so into you.”
“You’re so into me?” she asked.
“Very,” he said, kissing her on the cheek. “Otherwise, I wouldn’t be getting ready to get out of this very warm bed to play in the snow. The extremely cold snow.”
Kandace stroked his cheek, wishing she was brave enough to tell Solomon that she felt as if she was falling for him. But the fear of his reputation and the distance between them kept her mouth closed. What if she did tell him how she felt only to turn on E! in a few days and see him kissing another supermodel? How did she know it was even safe to entertain being in love with him? Carmen was still out there and she was obsessed with him.
“Well,” Kandace said. “I guess we’d better get dressed.”
Solomon stopped her from getting out of the bed. “What’s wrong?” he asked.
“What do you mean?”
“I told you how I felt about you and I got the silent treatment,” he said.
“Solomon, we can’t know that anything will happen…”
He placed his index finger to her lips. “I don’t want to hear that anymore. I can make anything happen and we’re not over when your vacation ends.”
“Please don’t disappoint me,” Kandace said as she swung her legs over the edge of the bed. “I’ve seen and had enough disappointment in my life and I don’t want anymore. I don’t know if I could take it.”
“I’m going to tell you something that I’ve never told another woman. I would never do anything to hurt you. You opened up something inside me and I care about you.” Solomon stroked Kandace’s back. “I’m not going to let you down.”
Kandace turned around and faced him. “Don’t make promises that you can’t keep.”
“I don’t make promises. If I say it, it will be done,” he said as he pointed his finger at her chest. “What about you? I got a heart too.”
“I told you, I’m not a heartbreaker,” she said. Solomon pounced on Kandace, pushing her back on the bed.
“I hear you, but prove it to me,” he said, then kissed her on the neck.
“I will, as soon as we get outside, now get off me!” she said as she pushed against his shoulder.
“All right, all right.” He laughed as he rolled off her.
After they were dressed and bundled in their coats, hats, and gloves, Solomon and Kandace headed over to the beginner’s ski mountain. While some more advanced skiers had taken to the slopes, Kandace and Solomon were basically alone in the snow. When he wasn’t looking, Kandace made a snowball and tossed it at his back.
“Hey, that’s not a snow angel,” he said as he turned around armed with his own snowball. He threw it at Kandace and she ducked out of the way of the first one, but Solomon’s second shot hit her in the midsection.
“I’m going to get you,” she said as she rushed toward him and pushed him. Solomon fell and pulled Kandace down on top of him.
“I think I got you,” he said as he rolled over on top of her and kissed her. Kandace wrapped her legs around his waist as he brushed his nose against hers. “Are you wet yet?”
“This suit is incredibly warm,” she said with a laugh. Solomon rolled over on his back beside Kandace.
“All right, let’s do this,” he said as he extended his arms and began making a snow angel.
Kandace followed suit and laughed like a little girl as she watched Solomon. She rose to her feet at the same time that he did. “I think my angel looks better,” she said.
“That’s because she has a cute little figure,” Solomon said. “Let’s build a snowman.”
“Who’s the kid now?” she asked with a sweet laugh.
“Still you, because you’re the one who started throwing snowballs when we got out here,” he said as he started rolling snow for the base of the snowman.
Kandace started piling snow and shook her head. “You know, I had the VHS tape of Frosty the Snowman and I remember telling my mom that I wanted to build a snowman and bring it to life. She said if we ever got snow in Guam, it probably would come to life.”
“I bet,” he said. “We never played in the snow in New York. Richmond was too busy sitting in front of the fireplace reading Shakespeare when it was snowing outside, and my parents wouldn’t let the nanny take me out because she said I’d probably pound her with snowballs. So, I was stuck in the house with my brother.”
“Were you and your brother ever close?” she asked as they raised the midsection of the snowman on top of the base.
“Not really. Richmond always wanted to tell me what to do and I don’t follow orders,” he said.
“I’m so surprised to hear that,” she said sarcastically, then broke out in a fit of laughter.
Solomon stood back and looked at their handiwork. “This snowman looks like he would ride a short bus to the North Pole.”
“Maybe that’s because it doesn’t have a head?” she said.
Solomon shook his head. “We suck at building a snowman,” he said as he rolled a ball for the head.
Kandace cocked her head to the side and looked at the pile of snow. “I guess you’re right,” she said. “That is one ugly snowman.”
“It’s probably going to scare the kids, too.”
“So, the great Solomon Crawford can’t do everything,” she said with a laugh. “I wish I had a camera.”
“I’m glad you don’t,” he said. “You probably have a Facebook page that you would post this picture on.”
“Actually, we have a Facebook profile for the restaurant and I’m pretty sure the page hasn’t been updated since I’ve been gone,” she said.
“Were you all work and no play before this vacation?” he asked as he leaned on the snowman.
“According to my friends, yes. And, honestly, I was. I’d work nearly thirteen hours a day because I didn’t have anything else. Jade’s a newlywed and a new mom. Serena’s trying to pretend she’s not falling in love, and Alicia is trying to make everyone who didn’t believe in her see that she is everything that they said she’d never be.”
“Wow, you don’t seem to be the kind of women anyone should take lightly.”
“We’re not, but people make that mistake all the time,” she said as she crossed over to him.
“If you have a snowball in your hand, it’s on.”
“What if I was coming over here to kiss you?” she asked with her hand behind her back.
Solomon met her in front of the snowman and she tossed her snowball at him. “Dirty,” he called out as she hit him in the stomach with her hidden snowball.
“I’m done, I’m done,” she cried out as Solomon lifted her in his arms and spun her around.
“But I’m just getting started,” he said, then captured her lips.
Carmen fought tears as she watched from the woods and saw how happy Sol
omon looked as he played with Kandace. She’d never seen him act that way and she knew there was something different about the way he felt about Kandace. But he was giving his feelings to the wrong woman, again. Just like the woman he’d almost married, Kandace wasn’t good enough for him. Her friends wanted to use him and they’d probably sent Kandace to the resort to seduce Solomon, get him to come down there, and bring national attention to that business crap the other woman was talking about on the phone. Carmen swore that she wasn’t going to let those bitches hurt the man she loved. More than that, she wasn’t going to stand by and watch Solomon fawn all over this woman who didn’t know him or love him the way she did. She inched closer to the line of trees next to the hill where Solomon and Kandace were. As he kissed her, Carmen dug her nails into her hand and fought the urge to scream. He should be kissing her, frolicking in the snow with her, and smiling at her the way he did with Kandace.
I hate her. I hate her! she repeated in her mind over and over. Reaching for her blanket, the gun she’d been carrying fell on the ground. She ran her finger across the cold black steel. “I could kill her right now,” she muttered. “She deserves to die.”
Carmen picked up the gun and pointed it at Kandace’s back, but before she pulled the trigger, Solomon spun her around and dipped her as if they had been dancing. Carmen dropped the gun as she saw that firing it would strike the man she loved. “Solomon, why won’t you give me a chance?” she whispered.
She took off toward the resort and crept around to the employee entrance. Luckily for her, the door was cracked open. Earlier in the evening, Carmen had discovered that her pass key card didn’t work. She pushed the door open and walked into the locker room. She glanced around the corner, making sure no one was inside to see her. Carmen grabbed a pass key card from one of the housekeeping carts and headed to the stairwell. Resting against the wall, she took a deep breath. It felt good to be inside, but she knew she had to move fast before someone saw her. Carmen wondered if Solomon and Kandace were staying in her suite or his. This was going to end tonight one way or another. Carmen checked her waistband to make sure the gun was still there. As she was about to walk up the stairs, she heard the door open. Carmen quickly ducked underneath the stairs as she heard two housekeepers walking up them.
“It’s a shame about Anita,” one of the women said. “And the police still don’t know who did it.”
“I miss that bossy woman,” the other woman said. “Whoever killed her should just come forward and confess. She never bothered anybody.”
Oh please, shut up. If that woman hadn’t gotten in my way, she’d be alive, Carmen thought as she listened to the women walk up the stairs. When she finally heard the door close behind them, Carmen came out from underneath the stairs and dashed up to the fifth floor. She entered the Wonderland Suite and saw that it was empty.
“I should’ve known she moved into his suite. I bet she’s been telling him how she’s so afraid and needs him to protect her,” Carmen muttered. “Well, no more. I’m getting my man back and she’s just going to have to deal with it.”
Kandace sighed as she sipped a hot latte in the café with Solomon. Her hair stuck to her neck as the snow melted from all the rolling around they’d done on the hill. “I had so much fun,” she said as she leaned over the table and touched the back of his hand.
“Fun? You wore me out,” Solomon said. “You’re worse than a kid.”
Kandace smiled. “I know you’re not one to talk about wearing someone out. You’ve been doing that to me since we met.”
“Whatever,” he said with a grin. “I dare you to say that you didn’t like it.”
She stroked his hand. “I never said I didn’t. But, I need to get out of this suit and wash my hair.” Kandace sopped up water from her neck.
“I told you, incredibly wet,” he said, then tweaked her nose.
“Let’s go upstairs so that you can take my clothes off and warm me up even more,” she said with a wink.
Solomon dropped a few bills on the table to pay for their drinks, then he and Kandace quickly headed up to his suite.
Once they made it inside, Solomon kicked off his boots before turning to Kandace and unzipping her ski suit. He pushed the garment off her shoulders and kissed her neck as he continued to take the suit off. When she was standing there in just her thermal underwear, Solomon sighed. “You seriously have on too many clothes.”
“Did you really think I was going to roll around in the snow in just the ski suit? I’ll be naked when I get in the tub if you get it started now,” she said. Solomon winked at her as he pulled his clothes off and headed into the bathroom.
Kandace slipped out of her thermal underwear and followed him into the bathroom, where he was filling the whirlpool tub with water and bath oil. She slipped behind him and kissed him on his neck.
“What did I do to deserve that?” he asked, turning around and smiling at Kandace in her birthday suit.
“Everything,” she said. “I had a lot of fun with you and…”
“It’s not over,” he said. “I was thinking that I should go back to Charlotte with you at the end of the week.”
“Don’t you have work to do?” she asked.
“I’m the boss. I work when I want to,” Solomon said as he pulled her into his lap. He dipped his hand in the tub and sprinkled water on her stomach. “After everything that’s been going on, I don’t want to go back to New York right away.”
Kandace wrapped her arms around his neck as he turned the water off. “Are you all right?”
“Sometimes when I sit down and think about Danny and Carmen, I can’t believe how things have changed,” he said. “I don’t want to get caught off guard again. I want to live in the moment and spend many of those moments just like this.”
“Naked on the edge of a tub?” she quipped.
“With you in my arms, yes,” he said, then kissed her cheek.
“All right, then, I’d love for you to come back to Charlotte with me, but I have to warn you, my friends are going to give you a hard time because they can be pretty tough,” Kandace said as she slipped off his lap and into the tub.
Solomon turned the jets on low and climbed in behind her. “Ever made love in a hot tub before? I’ve dreamed about doing this with you since the first day I saw you in the lime green bathing suit in the grotto,” he said as he dipped down underneath the water and between Kandace’s thighs.
“Solomon, you’re insatiable,” she said when he came up and rested his head between her breasts.
“I know,” he said as he took her hand and placed it on his throbbing desire. “But you’re the cause of this.”
“Oh, you would try to blame me,” she said with a smile.
“Can I help it that you’re the most desirable woman that I’ve ever met and when I see you naked all I want to do is bury myself inside you until the sun comes up?” he asked.
“Okay, babe, that was the corniest but sweetest thing you’ve ever said to me.”
“Corny? Now, I’ve been called a lot of things, but corny has never been one of them.”
“Oh, so I guess I need to stroke your ego now and give you a list of other adjectives that I would use to describe you,” she said, then kissed him on the cheek.
“No, just do that again, only right here,” he replied, pointing to his lips. Kandace kissed him soft and slow, slipping her tongue into his mouth, savoring the sweet taste of him. He pulled her deeper into his kiss, enjoying the swell of her breasts against his bare chest. Lifting her out of the water, Solomon broke the kiss and sat her on the edge of the tub. He smiled at her as he slipped his hand between her thighs. Kandace’s body responded to his touch instantly. She felt a tingling from the tips of her toes to the crest of her thighs. Solomon parted her legs as he pressed his finger inside her, searching for her throbbing bud of desire. She trembled as he fingered her most sensitive area and arched her back so that he could have better access to the center of her desire.
“
Solomon,” she moaned as his finger was quickly replaced with his tongue. He nearly brought her to climax as his tongue danced inside of her, turning her into a pool of lust. Solomon gripped her hips as he continued his sensual assault of her body. Kandace pounded her hand against the marble surrounding the tub as she could no longer hold off the explosion between her thighs.
“You taste so good,” he said as he licked his lips. “I could feast on you all day.”
Kandace eased back into the tub, smiling ever so slightly as her body rippled with pleasure and satisfaction. “And I’m willing to let you,” she said as she grabbed his chin and kissed him. The mix of his sweetness and the taste of herself was incredibly arousing. Hungrily, she deepened her kiss and pressed her body against his and immediately felt his erection against her thighs. Kandace inhaled sharply as Solomon tore his mouth from hers and began kissing and sucking her breasts until her nipples were harder than diamonds and more tender than her lower regions. She gasped when his tongue grazed her nipples.
“I want you,” she said. “Need. You. Inside.”
Solomon didn’t respond to her request verbally, he just lifted her from the tub and took her over to the marble bench near the shower. Kandace wrapped her legs around his waist as he sat her down and ground her body against his. Solomon’s knees quivered as he felt the heat from her opening at the tip of his penis. He wanted to bury himself inside her immediately, especially when she kissed him, slipping her tongue between his lips and making him groan with anticipation. It took every ounce of self-control in him to pull away from her and dash into the bedroom to get a condom. But when he returned to the bathroom, sheathed and ready, he laid Kandace across the bench and dove in between her legs.
She expelled a cleansing breath as she and Solomon became one. She thrust her hips into his as he slowly ground his body against her, touching every spot to make her scream. And she screamed his name over and over again as she dug her nails into his caramel shoulder.
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