Stella stepped off the elevator and crossed the hall toward her penthouse. Once she was inside, she closed her eyes and leaned back against the door. She wasn’t sure what time it was, but she knew she was dead on her feet. She also was well aware the storm outside was raging and come morning, the mountain road would likely be shut down.
One worry at a time.
“You look worn-out.”
Stella startled and blinked as she focused on the man across the room. Oh, what that man could do to a simple tee and a pair of jeans.
“Dane.” She pushed off the door and bent down to pull off her knee boots. “I never thought you’d still be here.”
Dane remained across the room near the fireplace. Clearly he’d made himself at home because he held a tumbler of the bourbon she knew had been tucked away in a cabinet when she’d left. Stella didn’t care for the stuff, but when her father came, she tried to have his favorite brand on hand.
“I wanted to make sure you were taken care of,” Dane replied. He tipped back the last of his drink and crossed the room to her. “Go soak in the bath and I’ll bring you a glass of wine.”
Stella dropped her boots next to the door and laughed. “It’s after midnight. I don’t have time to sit in the tub no matter how amazing that sounds.”
When he came to stand in front of her, Stella let out a sigh and that pretty much stole the little bit of energy she had left.
“Dane, if you came for—”
He framed her face with hands that held her so very gently, all while looking at her like she was made of glass. Right now, that wasn’t too far from the truth. The days were catching up with her and she was starting to worry maybe she did need help and couldn’t do this all by herself. But if she admitted any type of weakness, her father would immediately deem her unsuitable to run his business.
It would be the national championship all over again. Never coming in first, always falling short.
“I knew you’d argue.”
Dane’s words barely registered before he bent and picked her up. With one arm behind her back and the other behind her knees, he headed toward the master bath. Stella laid her head against his chest and closed her eyes.
“You should go,” she murmured. “I’ll take a quick bath to relax, but you should already be in your room sleeping like the rest of the guests.”
Dane eased her onto the edge of the Jacuzzi tub. “If I left, you’d fall asleep in the bathtub and drown. Now get your clothes off.”
He started the water, testing it with his hand and completely ignoring her as she started working on each button.
“You really didn’t stay for sex?” she asked, shrugging out of her dress.
Dane’s focus turned to her, his dark eyes raking over her bare skin. The hunger just as apparent as when he’d been touching her earlier.
“You’ll be wide-awake when I have you.”
He stood straight up and glanced around the spacious bath. He went to the vanity and searched through the basket he’d had delivered, pulling out products before settling on one. He flicked the top, sniffed, seemed to nod in agreement with himself and dumped the entire bottle into the bath.
Stella laughed. “That’s a bit much and one hell of an expensive bath.”
He set the empty bottle back on the vanity. “I’ll buy you more.”
Stella couldn’t wrap her mind around this guy. Who was he? Other than a perfect stranger who’d swept into her life just as fiercely as the storm threatening the mountain.
But...was Dane a threat? He hadn’t shown any sign of that and she truly didn’t believe he worked for her father. That idea had popped into her head due to stress and exhaustion from dealing with, well, everything.
Stella removed her bra and panties and slid into the warm bath. She didn’t even try to suppress the moan as she let the heat and fragrant bubbles envelop her. She leaned back against the cushioned bath pillow and closed her eyes.
“Don’t let me drown,” she muttered.
Dane’s chuckle carried from the room, as did his footsteps over the hardwood floor. Maybe if she just relaxed for a few minutes and let someone else take care of her she could revive herself.
Letting someone else have control certainly wasn’t the norm for her. Since her mother passed during childbirth, Stella had spent her whole life figuring out how to take care of herself.
Her father often blamed her for her mother’s death. He punished her with a strict childhood that always kept Stella in line. By the time she was a teen, she realized that he was an angry, bitter man, lashing out over the loss of his wife. Being left with a daughter when he’d wanted a son hadn’t helped matters.
Still, he was the only parent she knew and she wanted...something. At first she wanted acceptance, then she wanted acknowledgment. Now...
Stella opened her eyes and blinked against the burn. She hadn’t cried in so long and she certainly didn’t like feeling so vulnerable. But was it too much to ask to just be loved by a parent? Was she that hard to accept and let in?
“Here you go.” Dane strode back into the room and set the stemless wineglass on the edge of the garden tub. “Oh, no.”
He stared down at her as he took a seat next to her glass. “Why the tears?”
Dane reached out and swiped the pad of his thumb over her cheeks and Stella’s heart thumped. She’d known him such a short time, yet she felt some strange connection to him, yet she truly didn’t know him all that well.
“It’s just been a long day,” she replied, offering a smile. “The bath does help and the wine is a definite perk.”
“I’m not sure how much this is helping if you’re upset.” He cocked his head and continued to look at her with worry etched over his ruggedly handsome face. “I only stepped out for a minute.”
Stella curled her fingers around her wineglass and lifted it to her lips. Bubbles slid down her arm and dripped back into the water. She let the cool, crisp, fruity blend calm her and make her think of happier times. There were happy times...weren’t there?
“Have you ever wanted something so badly, living your whole life for that moment when you’d get it, but once you got there, you realized maybe you’re just a fool and it was never in your reach at all?”
She was babbling, she knew, but she risked a glance at Dane and noted the sympathy had turned to understanding and maybe a dose of anger. The muscle in his jaw clenched and he merely offered a clipped nod.
“I don’t know that I’ll ever be what my father wants,” she went on. “I’m not sure I want to be, honestly. I’ll never understand how he couldn’t just love me for me. Why we can’t just be father and daughter. But after all this time, it’s just not going to happen. Is it?”
She shouldn’t have tacked on that question, but part of her wanted him to counter and tell her she was mistaken. She wanted someone on her team, in her corner, cheering her on. Damn it. When did she get so wimpy and weak?
“I don’t know your father,” Dane stated slowly as if choosing his words carefully. “But I do know we don’t always get great parents. My mother was the best. She raised my brother and me as a single mom and we were always her top priority. Then she remarried and my stepfather was...well, he wasn’t parent material. When she passed, we were stuck with him and that’s when we realized what a true bastard he was.”
Stella set her glass on the edge and sat up in the water. Dane’s eyes instantly went to her chest and her body immediately responded.
“Sounds like we both had to pave our own way.”
Dane reached into the water, keeping his eyes on hers the entire time. “You’re not relaxing.”
His hand found her thigh. That firm grip held her for a moment before he trailed his fingers up. Stella instinctively spread her legs and let her head fall back against the bath pillow.
“Drink your wine,” he demanded in
that husky tone dripping with arousal. “I’ve got this.”
Stella reached for her glass, but had to hold it with two hands to prevent herself from dropping it into the bubbles as those clever fingers parted her. Stella took a sip, her eyes locking on Dane’s over the top of her glass.
That dark unruly hair, the heavy-lidded gaze, the black stubble along his jawline all joined together to give him that mysterious, alluring factor. She’d never been reckless with anything in her life, let alone with her body. She’d been too focused on work, on moving forward to prove herself.
Letting a near stranger touch her this way felt wrong...yet oh so right.
Dane slid one finger into her and Stella arched her back, biting her lip to keep from crying out. As wave after wave of pleasure slid over her, she closed her eyes and let the moment capture every bit of her.
Nothing existed but Dane’s touch. She gripped her glass and clutched it against her bare chest. Water rippled, almost providing soft music to frame the intimate moment. She hadn’t expected this, hadn’t known he’d still be here when she came home.
As her body jerked, the wine sloshed from the glass and over her chest.
Suddenly the glass disappeared from her hands and Stella focused her attention to Dane. He’d leaned down, his free hand resting on the ledge beside her head. His other hand continued to work her and her hips rose to meet each pump.
Dane dipped his head and ran his tongue along the trail of wine. He made a satisfied purring noise low in his throat. “I never thought I’d crave white wine, but damn. That’s good.”
He slid his lips along the path again and took his time, quite the opposite of the frantic movement of his hand beneath the bubbles.
Once the wine was gone, he lifted his head and simply watched her. Watched her as if this would be enough to satisfy him.
Stella had never been on display like this, never realized how arousing it could be to have someone watch you so intently with such determination and fixation in their eyes.
The touch, the stare, the intensity of being utterly consumed by a man she barely knew...it all became too much.
Stella reached up and curled her fingers around Dane’s biceps, her other hand went to his wrist beneath the water. She didn’t know if she wanted to help him or if she just didn’t know where else to put her hand, but the way his muscles and tendons were flexing beneath her touch, working so hard at bringing her pleasure, had her body spiraling out of control.
Bursts of euphoria pulsed through her, her entire body tightened around him, and he murmured something as he leaned down and captured her lips. Every part of her continued to quiver as the release flowed.
Dane consumed her, but still, she wanted more.
Stella’s body started to settle, leaving her sated, exhausted, and most definitely relaxed.
When she regained control of her breathing and returned to reality, Stella opened her eyes. Dane’s hand rested on her thigh and that cockeyed smile matched the hunger in his eyes.
“Ready for bed?”
Stella started to sit up.
“Not sex,” he added. “I already told you that’s not why I’m here.”
Confused, she stood, her legs trembling more than she’d expected. “Then what do you call this?”
In that slow, easy manner of his, Dane rose to his feet and reached toward the heated towel bar. He pulled off a fluffy white towel and with an expert flick, he wrapped it around her.
“I call this getting you to relax and maybe being a bit selfish in taking what I want, too.” He shrugged and clutched the towel together between her breasts. “I’m human.”
Her eyes darted down to just below his silver belt buckle. “I see that and you’re also miserable.”
“After what I just saw?” He smiled even wider and shook his head as he scooped her up and out of the tub. “I’m far from miserable. Turned on and aroused? Absolutely. But watching you like that is something I’ll never forget.”
Yeah, she wouldn’t forget it, either. Dane had a touch like none other...at least none she’d ever had. Those rough hands could certainly do more than run a ranch—or whatever it was he did.
Mercy’s sake. She’d just let a man she barely knew pleasure her in such an erotic way. When did she become that woman?
Stella rested her head against his shoulder. Perhaps she’d always been that woman—the type who deserved more than she allowed herself to have, the type who should take more of what she wanted out of life and not work herself to death, and the type who knew when a fling was too good to turn down.
“I really can’t sleep long,” she murmured.
As he carried her, a wave of dizziness overcame her. The hours on her feet, the warmth from the bath, the lethargy from the greatest orgasm she’d ever had...everything made her feel as if she was caught in that world between being asleep and awake.
“Stay.” The single word slipped from her mouth before she could stop herself. “I don’t want to be alone.”
She cringed at her own words. That sounded like begging and after coming undone all around him a moment ago, she’d better watch out or he’d think she was getting attached. There was no room in her life for attachments.
Honestly, she wouldn’t know how to do a relationship or commitment anyway. It wasn’t as if she’d grown up with a good example. Stella wasn’t sure she could ever have a normal or real relationship. Most little girls dreamed of their wedding day, but she’d only dreamed of the day her father wrapped his arms around her and told her how proud he was of her.
Tears pricked her eyes again as Dane settled her onto her bed. Before she rolled over, she thought she felt a dip on the mattress behind her.
He’d stayed. After giving so freely of his passion, expecting nothing in return, and after she’d accused him of horrible things earlier...he’d stayed. For her.
Eight
Dane stared out into the darkness. Swirling snowflakes fluttered through the soft beam of light coming off the patio. He did his best thinking in the middle of the night, in this stretch of time when the world seemed to be calm.
After his years in the military, sleeping never came easy. Nightmares plagued him night after night, but he figured that would forever be an issue. In truth, it didn’t seem to be as bad lately. He didn’t know if his memories were getting better or if he’d just grown accustomed to living with the horror that was his new normal.
Dane glanced over his shoulder toward the king-size bed. The navy sheets and duvet were all twisted on one side where he’d tried to rest, but perfectly placed on the other where Stella slept beneath them.
And that sight right there perfectly summed up their differences. He was restless and edgy, never quite feeling settled with anything in his life...not since his mother’s death. One would think after nearly twenty years he would find some calm center inside of himself, but one life event had rolled into another and Dane had never quite found his inner peace.
Now that Dane had a bit more insight to Stella, he had to assume she never had, either. Perhaps she didn’t even know she was chasing a dream that would leave her only broken and angry.
Dane hadn’t lied when he said he didn’t know her father, but he was well aware the type of man Ruiz was. It didn’t take much digging to find out the guy wasn’t the most honest and loyal to his associates or with business deals. He looked out only for one person...himself.
So where would that leave Stella? Her father treated her like nothing more than a piece on a chessboard...and then Dane came along and did the same thing.
Guilt clawed at him as he turned his attention back to the blizzard raging outside. He caught his reflection in the darkened part of the window and muttered a curse.
How the hell did he obtain his ultimate goal and not run over Stella in the process? That’s not what his mother would have wanted. She hadn’t raised
them to be selfish and scheming. Yet here he was, excelling at both.
He hadn’t expected to care about what was going on with Stella’s personal life. When he’d planned and plotted all of this to get Mirage back, he’d only had his family in mind. Somehow, he wanted to get back what he and his brother were supposed to have and if gaining back the two resorts pushed them closer together, then that was just another reason to keep moving forward.
No matter who stood in his way.
Rustling sheets had him glancing over his shoulder. Stella sat up, the duvet pooled at her waist, her breasts on display and her midnight-black hair all around her shoulders.
The crackling fire sent a glow throughout the open room, putting out a romantic ambience that shouldn’t affect him, but had his body stirring as he made his way toward the bed.
Stella raked her gaze over his bare chest. When he’d gotten up, he’d removed his shirt, but kept his jeans on. He’d like to blame his lack of sleep on the confining garment, but the truth was that PTSD and the guilt over his current situation were gnawing at him.
When she eased the covers aside and swung her legs over the bed, Dane stopped. She came to her feet and without a care to her nakedness, she crossed to him. That curvy body approached him and had his arousal pumping.
Her bare feet left whispered sounds as she seemed to glide across the wood floor. There was something so mystifying, so captivating about this woman. That was the only explanation for why he kept allowing himself to be pulled in deeper.
He’d set out to seduce her, but somewhere along the way, the roles had reversed.
Without a word, Stella reached out as she came to stand before him. Her fingertip went to the tattoo of the eagle on his chest that crept over his shoulder. His muscles tensed beneath her touch and he clenched his fists at his sides to keep from picking her up and taking her back to bed, finally having what his body craved.
Those fingertips left the ink and started traveling downward. His abs tightened as he kept his eyes locked on hers.
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