Authors: Stacy Gail
“As much as I don’t want any of my guests to get hurt while they’re here at Whiteout, I know the reality of this outdoor paradise better than anyone.” After checking the temperature of the sauna’s lava rocks and ladling water over them, he sat on the highest bench directly behind her, where she perched delicately on the lower bench, still clutching that towel in the damned cutest way. “People come here for sport and for play. That means sore muscles and tired, half-frozen bodies at the end of the day. Nothing feels better than a sauna and a massage after something like that.”
“A massage does sound… oooh.”
“A promise is a promise.” Again he pushed past her hair, this time using both hands to grip the shoulder muscles slanting up to her neck. “I can keep this up until you’ve melted like butter.”
“I’m already there,” she mumbled, and he could feel her shiver beneath his hands despite the increasing heat. “I know I’m keeping you from your family, but damn, this feels so good that right at this moment I don’t even care.”
“I don’t give a shit about them right now. All I care about is making you feel better.”
“I guess you probably still feel cut off from them, after being estranged for so long,” she said after a moment, and her head dropped forward as he worked the taut cords along the back of her neck leading up to the base of her skull. “I get that. But you were right in pointing out that they all made the effort to come see you, see what you’ve built out here on Whiteout Mountain. I know we weren’t there long, but I got the feeling that many people were happy to see you today.”
“I don’t know if happy is the right word,” he drawled, working on a little muscle he could feel was trying to knot. “I think it’s more a matter of finally facing the reality of the situation now that I’ve built the place and they had to stand inside of it. But I’ll take what I can get.”
“That’s a healthy outlook.”
“Besides, it’s not like I was paying attention to who bothered to show up to mend fences today. All I saw was you. I was really proud of you, you know.”
She turned to look back at him, wincing slightly at the move. “What?”
“Yeah.” He pulled her closer, so that her shoulders were between his knees, before he resumed his kneading ministrations. “If you ask, most men’ll tell you that their idea of a perfect woman doesn’t go beyond a perpetually horny porn star wannabe, with tons of tits and ass and not much else.”
She made a sound of amusement. “Hate to tell you this, Boom, but that isn’t exactly a news flash.”
“Yeah, guys are simple creatures, and being simple creatures, most of us think only with our dicks and forget there’s other shit that has to be in the mix to make a man truly happy.”
“Thinking with your dicks, eh? Are you talking about Lorette again?”
“I’m talking about how you’re the whole package, Red. You’re a knockout with killer legs and a body that makes me hard just thinking about it. You’ve got a face so sweet and sexy I forget what I’m doing whenever you look my way, and then there’s that fierce, firecracker personality that redefines the word
loyal
. Everything about you gets me so hot that all I want to do is push you up against a wall and fuck your brains out, and that’s something that’s not going away. If anything, it’s getting worse.”
A fluttery breath escaped her, and it made that wonderful, crazy-making tightening of his skin get worse. “And this is why you were proud of me today? Because I turn you on?”
“Any man with a brain gets turned on by you. What got to me was how you jumped right in and had my back, telling the whole damn world how ballsy you think I am for making Whiteout Mountain a reality. I don’t think I’ll ever forget that.”
“All I did was tell the truth.”
“The truth how
you
see it. And how you see me, Mia… It makes me feel like I can fucking fly.” He slid his hands from her now-loosened, warm neck over the alluring but fragile ridges of her collarbones and down her chest to the edge of the towel she still had wrapped around herself. Gently he uncurled her fingers from the edges of the towel to let it fall away, and he pressed his lips to the crown of her head. “Thanks for having my back, baby.”
“You’re…” Her voice wobbled to a breathless close when he took her breasts in his hands, lifting them and reveling in the soft, feminine weight. “Welcome.”
He nudged her hair away from her neck with his face, then pressed his mouth there. “How’s the neck, love? Feel any better?”
“Mm-hm.” She leaned into the kiss while her hands crept up to cover his. “Hate to be a buzz kill, but you don’t happen to have a condom on you, do you?”
“I’ll take care of it, but I’m going to take care of you first.” With that, Quinn moved down off the benches and spread the towel puddled on either side of her so that it lay flat on the bench. “Lie down.”
She couldn’t seem to take her eyes off the thrust of his cock, standing at attention and fully aroused. As he watched, her whole body began to glow with a feverish flush. “Uh, about that condom…?”
“I’m in complete control of things. You’re the one who matters now.”
“It doesn’t have to be either-or, Boom. In this, we both matter.”
“Perfect woman.” He bent to kiss her, because in that moment she needed to be kissed long and deep and made to feel like she’d never been more cherished. It must have worked, because she slowly melted back onto the bench, bringing him with her as if she couldn’t bear to lose the feel of his mouth. He was more than happy to oblige her; he hungrily tasted her mouth again and again, drunk on how seductively her tongue toyed with his. But all too soon he needed more. At last his mouth left hers to skim over her neck and down her chest to latch onto a rose-tipped nipple.
She arched into him, murmuring his name while her fingers sifted through his hair. He loved that, and wanted more. His hands roamed everywhere, reacquainting himself with her body, the flawless flow of long, lean lines and soft, feminine curves. If he’d spent a year thinking of elements that would make up his ideal woman, he couldn’t have dreamed up anyone more perfect than Mia. It was as if she’d been made for his hands, and he’d been made for hers. Fitting them together was such a thrill he could barely catch his breath.
Hunger pounded thick and urgent through his veins as she moved restlessly under him. He enjoyed first one breast with dedicated thoroughness before moving to the other, while his hands caressed her everywhere. She had the softest skin, and he couldn’t get enough of it. Even when they were bundled up and in public, he couldn’t stop himself from reaching out to touch her—her hand, her face, her hair. Whatever he could get his hands on.
Until he’d met her, he hadn’t known it was possible to become addicted to a person.
As he slid his hand slowly down the flat, soft plain of her belly to the juncture of her thighs, he at last lifted his head to look into her face. Her eyes opened, clearly sensing his attention, and her gaze locked onto his. The desire darkening her eyes made his stomach muscles clench, and the pulse in his already-throbbing cock increased until it was all he could feel.
“Don’t watch me.” The plea in her voice surprised him even as he delved his fingers into her cleft, reveling in the dampness he found there. “Don’t look when you… oh,
God
.”
“There’s nothing better than watching you fly apart, Red. It makes me so fucking hot, seeing you when you come.” He slid through her slickness, finding the hard nub of her clit. He stroked her without mercy, not satisfied until she began to writhe. “Nothing in the world is going to stop me from watching that, baby. It’s my favorite thing in the world to see.”
“I… I’ll cry. It’s so good I’ll cry.” The words came out in fits between gasps and helpless whimpers, all of which was a delicious symphony to his ears. He felt her muscles quivering with a build-up of tension as she pressed harder into his hand, helping him. “You… you hate… tears. Damn it, look away…!”
“I like these tears,” he rumbled, even as she strained against him and cried out. As he watched, tears slipped from the corners of her eyes to soak into her hairline, and it was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen. She’d come so hard she cried. Actually
cried
.
He didn’t mind those tears at all.
It took her a while to come back down. When he felt her starting to relax he left her long enough to keep his word by opening the sauna door a crack to snag the jeans he’d kicked off earlier. Rifling through the pockets, he fished out his wallet and quickly had the protection in place. The sauna’s heat made the slide of skin against skin arousingly slick as Quinn brought her knees up, then opened them wide to settle there. Her eyes, which had been closed, drifted open, and her look of blissed-out satisfaction aroused him so fiercely it made him groan.
“Quinn. Come into me.”
“Mia. Baby.” He entered her with a smooth roll of his hips, and it was like coming home. Everything that was out of place inside of him settled and was at peace, even as thrills of delight shot through him. Muscle-clenching sensation sank him into a mindless euphoria, underscored by an urgency that grew with each thrust. Her hands gripped his ass, pushing him into her while she arched her hips up to meet him, deepening the penetration, and the whimpers that escaped her told him that she loved it just as much as he did.
He moved with the sweet ebb and flow of it, letting the building rhythm overtake him. There was no stress, no need to rush, no pressure. The only tension in his world was the burgeoning swell of sensation straining to be released, and trying to hold it back until she came again.
Then suddenly she was there. The tight flesh that gloved his cock spasmed as she cried out, dragging him into that thrilling madness as well. It crashed through him hard and fierce and wild, blotting out everything except the need to hold onto it for as long as he could.
His intention had been to make sure he rocked her world so hard she’d never forget it, but he knew deep down that it was
his
memory that was indelibly marked. But that was okay. Whenever he was with Mia it was so fucking
good
, he didn’t even mind.
After what seemed like forever and he’d wrung every last ounce of ecstasy he could out of his body, his movements came to a slow stop and he looked down at her. She was flushed and sweaty and so sex-tousled that just the sight of her made his chest clench. Despite feeling as thoroughly spent as she looked, he realized he wanted her again.
And again.
And again.
Yeah. Oh,
yeah
.
It really was possible to become addicted to another human being.
With her head thudding away, Mia stepped onto the heated, textured path leading to the main building, all the while seriously considering making a U-turn and heading right back inside. Not because it was freezing out—though it was, with a wind that cut right through her puffy ski jacket and had her nose feeling like an ice cube. And it wasn’t because it was snowing—not as heavily as it had been the day before, but it was still coming down with a purpose. No, what made her almost crawl back into the chalet was the sheer white brightness of the world around her.
Hangovers and snowy subzero mornings weren’t a good mix.
After spending an unforgettable time in the sauna, she’d been so relaxed she hadn’t wanted to do anything but sleep, which she’d done with Quinn joining her in bed, curling her into his body as they snuggled under a pile of warm blankets. Too soon his phone had gone off, calling him away on resort business, and while she hadn’t wanted him to go, she recognized that this was what Quinn’s life was. Not just that, it was
who
he was—a problem solver, a visionary, a man driven to succeed. She wouldn’t admire him as much as she did if he was any other way.
She also recognized why she hadn’t wanted him to go. As shattering as it was, she had to admit that this compulsively clingy need to be with him—and the reason she was so cool with spending an inordinate amount of time in Montana—was because she was beginning to fall for Quinn in the worst way.
Her stomach clenched as the realization surfaced, and her mitten-covered hands balled into nervous fists. This couldn’t be happening. Not again. She’d fallen in love with Jackson the first moment she’d laid eyes on his preppy blonde perfection, and that had ended up in a total train wreck. Insta-love that was strong enough to last a lifetime wasn’t real. Insta-love never frigging worked. Insta-love was a joke. A terrible joke that had been played on her once already.
This
couldn’t
be happening again.
God, please, no…
Maybe what she was feeling wasn’t actually love. What she was experiencing was intense, bordering on insanity, sure. She’d cop to that. But she couldn’t lose sight of the fact that she and Quinn were the definition of two ships passing in the night. She was there temporarily, for God’s sake. Hell, she should have already left with the rest of the passengers of Flight 444 and she knew it, so this overwhelming emotion inside her couldn’t possibly be love.
She nearly groaned out loud when she realized that just the thought of leaving filled her with abject despair. That certainly didn’t help her case.
Thanks to her horrendous love-at first-sight experience with Jackson, she was now an expert on what a fallacy it was to believe in it. She could give freaking testimony to the fact that it took time to build the depth of emotion that was worthy of the term
love
. It didn’t just strike like a bolt from the blue. That was TV-movie bullshit, not reality.
No. What she was feeling had to be merely an out-of-this-world attraction—an attraction so strong that it had slipped beyond its own borders and into the land of obsession. That had to explain why she was fretful and restless when she wasn’t with him, and why she thought about him constantly, and why her gaze sought him out wherever she went. She wanted to have him belong to her, mind, body and soul.
And she wanted him to feel the same way about her.
But that wasn’t love.
Was it?
Mia loosed a long breath as she entered the main building’s vestibule, shucked her outerwear and entered the warm, welcoming lobby with its beautiful redwood trunks holding up the sky-lighted ceiling four stories up. She loved the way Quinn touched her, with such mastery and an obvious attentiveness to her pleasure—something he seemed to enjoy as much as she did. She loved how much he cared about preserving this land while still sharing it with others. She loved what a risk-taker he was, going out on a limb while everyone else hung back and hugged the damned tree. And she loved how his innate shrewdness in business and confidence in his abilities made those risks pay off, even when no one believed in him. She loved his strength to stand tall, even when he stood alone.
She loved that so, so much.
But loving so many facets of him didn’t mean she loved
him
… did it?
No, she thought, shaking her head. Falling in love at first sight—or, in this case, a week—didn’t work for her. She’d been through it once before and she’d never do it again. And falling in love on her way to Seattle
definitely
wasn’t part of her overall plan.
And she was in Montana. Mon-
fucking
-tana.
She couldn’t be in love in Montana. That was just crazy talk.
“Mia! Good morning, sunshine.”
Mia tried not to wince at the loud brightness of the greeting, before turning to watch Elise and Jase head straight for her. They both had smiles going on and Mia did her best to match them, though since Jase wasn’t her favorite person in the world she had a feeling it looked more like a grimace.
“I don’t know how good it is with a hangover,” she said, and hoped that if her smile looked less than legit, her words gave her a plausible excuse for it. “I had no idea that altitude affects a person when it comes to alcohol. Come to find out, a little bit of wine left me pretty much hammered.” It had been fabulous, though, and despite the hangover afflicting her now, she wouldn’t have changed a thing.
It had been dark when Quinn had gotten back to the chalet, and she’d been heating leftover beef stroganoff when he’d uncorked the first bottle of wine. By the time they’d finished dinner she’d been lightheaded and probably should have stopped at that point. But somehow he’d talked her into trying out the hot tub upstairs with another bottle of wine he’d brought home just for her. The bubbling hot water, the gorgeous glass-enclosed alcove and the hottest, most thoughtful man she’d ever known had convinced her go for it.
She hadn’t regretted it in the least, polishing off that second bottle while marinating in the hot tub, the steam rising to curl her hair more than ever. It also got her steamed up in another way, and she’d had a ton of fun giving back some of the pleasure he’d given her. What had started out as a teasing hand job, though, had soon become something neither of them had wanted to stop. His moans had grown more urgent, intoxicating her as much as the wine, until he’d abruptly pulled her hand from his stiffened flesh, breathing like he couldn’t get enough air, and announced he didn’t want to have the tub professionally cleaned out before opening day. That was when he’d hauled himself to the hot tub’s corner and pulled himself out onto the edge of it…
And she’d wrapped her arms around his waist before he could stand up, took him into her mouth and made sure he didn’t have any clean-up to worry about.
But since that wasn’t the sort of thing she would ever share with his parents, Mia tried to keep her face bland and her thoughts from how Quinn had shown her his gratitude once he got her back into bed.
Elise made a sound of sympathy. “Do you need some aspirin?”
“Actually, that’s why I came over. I took the last of Quinn’s OTC pain meds for my neck last night, so I was hoping I could scrounge a couple aspirin for my headache.”
“There’s a whole bottle in the office, so no worries there,” Quinn’s mother replied, making another soft sound. She was such a sweet woman Mia couldn’t help but smile at her. “Quinn told us you had a case of whiplash. I hope you took it easy yesterday.”
Mia hoped to God her horrible blush-prone skin wouldn’t light her up like a neon sign as she thought about how she’d “taken it easy” with Quinn. “That’s where the wine came in. At least the hangover’s made me forget about the stiff neck, so it kind of worked.”
“I wouldn’t exactly call that a win.” For the first time Jase Kingfisher spoke, and Mia was forced to turn her attention his way. “Though the same can’t be said for how you handled that chronic pain in my ass, Lorette. Gotta say, it was a real pleasure watching you lower the boom on that grasping, greedy bitch.”
“
Jase
.” Elise swatted his arm so lightly Mia doubted he’d felt it at all. Then again, being a badass Kingfisher, she doubted he would have felt it if Elise had full-on corked him. “Please forgive my husband, Mia. I suppose he’s not making the best first impression in the world, but really, he’s a sweetheart when he’s not talking about the likes of Lorette.”
“Oh, I’m not too worried about making a good first impression with Mia,” Jase announced. To Mia’s surprise he quirked an eyebrow her way, and for a second his expression seemed to be filled with laughter. “That ship sailed a while ago. Am I right?”
She stared at him. “Um…”
Elise looked as shocked as Mia felt. “What’s this?”
“Mia’s not a big fan of mine.” The amusement she’d thought she’d sensed vanished as Jase crossed his arms over his immense chest and narrowed his eyes in an arrogant challenge she couldn’t have missed even if she’d been in a hangover-induced coma. “Or are you going to look me in the eye and pretend that’s not true? Go ahead, I dare you. Tell me I’m wrong.”
For a heartbeat she considered playing ignorant, if only to keep the peace and not start off on the wrong foot with Quinn’s father. But there was no point. He’d obviously figured out she didn’t like him, and it pissed her off that he was trying to bully her now with his aggressive man-stance. She didn’t like bullies. With her bright hair and gangly height, she’d made a fine target while growing up. The key to handling a bully was to tell them immediately to suck it. Suck it hard, suck it long, and not be a whiny little bitch about it afterward, because all that sucking was what a bully deserved.
With that in mind, she stepped up to the plate and took her best swing.
“I’d have to climb a stepladder to really look you in the eye, so I hope you’ll be okay with my telling you from way down here that… yes. You’re absolutely right. I’m no fan of yours, Jase Kingfisher.” When she heard Elise’s faint intake of breath, she sent the other woman an apologetic glance before returning her attention to Jase, who seemed uncaring that he was forcing this uncomfortable scene in front of his wife.
Asshole
. “In fact, allow me put a finer point on that, just so there’s no question on where I stand. I’m so much of a non-fan of yours that if I were a man, I’d do my damnedest to haul you outside right this very moment and try to beat the shit out of you for daring to abandon Quinn when he needed your support the most.”
At that unbelievably brazen announcement, his mouth curled in a dangerous grin while Elise’s dropped open in the shock Mia had hoped to flatten Jase with. “Do tell? Now that’s something I’d like to see, little girl.”
Damn it, so would she. “Have you even given a thought to how hard it was for Quinn to do what he did? To leave everything he’s ever known and head out all by himself into uncharted territory? Not only was he constantly worried about letting everyone in the family down, but in case you missed it, it’s scary as hell trying to accomplish something no one’s ever done before. That alone would have stopped most men right there, but not Quinn. He didn’t stop believing in himself, not even when you and everyone else vanished from his life, making an already-monumental task almost impossible. But in spite of that, he was strong enough to make his own way and build something that’s going to change this corner of the world forever. So when all your precious casinos get a spike in revenue, I only hope you realize it’s happening because Quinn made Whiteout Mountain a prime travel destination for people who would otherwise not even know your casinos existed. When that happens—and notice I didn’t say
if
, but
when
—I also hope you can find it in your heart to thank him for being so fucking awesome and carrying the Kingfisher name to a higher level.”
Jase Kingfisher’s jaw knotted. “Is that all?”
“Yes. Wait, no. I’m mortified to say all of this in front of your wife who’s been nothing but kind to me—really Elise,” she added, shooting a genuinely devastated look the other woman’s way, “I’m so sorry that I couldn’t keep my mouth shut for your sake, because I think you’re awesome. Just know,” she went on, turning her fiery gaze back to an unmoving Jase, “that Quinn has succeeded in building his dream without any support from you, and he’ll continue to succeed without you because that’s who he is. All I ask is that you care enough about your son to stay the hell out of his way as he reaches heights you’ve never even dreamed of. Because he’ll do it. I have no doubt in my mind that Quinn can do anything he sets his mind to. That’s who he is.” She took a shaking breath while the chaos of fury and anxiety howled like a hurricane through her, making her stomach churn in time with the pounding of her head. “Okay. Now I’m done.”
For a full second there was silence. Then to her amazement, Jase’s hard expression dissolved as he burst out laughing, and it was clear he was laughing at
her
. Laughing so hard he doubled over and had to rest his hands on his knees while everyone within earshot—and suddenly it seemed like everyone in the building was within earshot—came to a standstill.
Man, she really,
really
didn’t like this guy.
Mia’s head thudded vengefully as she took a breath to blast the crap out of him when he straightened to his full height, took one look at her expression and made a big to-do of jumping behind his wife to pretend-cower behind her.