Snowy Mountain Nights (10 page)

“You have feelings, so what?” Louisa shrugged. “If you want to be Eeyore this weekend, you're entitled. Just know that when you get back to New York, you better get yourself together.” Louisa leaned back in the tub and flicked her foot in the water to splash Marceline in the face. “You can break apart, as long as you put yourself back together.”

Marceline nodded, looking simultaneously chastised and relieved.

For the rest of the morning, the women soaked in the water and talked about nearly everything. Surprisingly, Louisa didn't tease Reyna about Garrison. She only talked briefly about a younger man she was seeing in the Bronx who had an affectionate pit bull that always liked to get in the way while she and her boy toy were getting close.

“Ew!” Bridget made a face and giggled. “That's why I'm never getting any kind of pet. Animals and kids totally cramp your style.”

“Only if you plan on staying single and unattached forever,” Marceline said. “Do you?”

Bridget was unapologetic. “Who knows? Right now my life is perfect. Until I see a reason to change it, and so far I damn sure haven't, I'll keep living just like this. I'm having fun.”

“Well, okay, then.” Louisa gave her a high five.

“Hey, isn't that the cute guy from yesterday?” Bridget craned her neck to look over Reyna's shoulder.

“Oh, yeah.” Marceline wrinkled her forehead in confusion. “Wasn't he...there last night?”

Butterflies in Reyna's stomach went crazy when she spotted Garrison. He was at least fifty feet away, nearly hidden behind a row of shrubbery, and walking down the path from the first cabin that served as a business office. He had a companion with him, a petite woman with long hair swinging from a fashionable fuchsia ski cap. She was beautiful and looked up at him as if he'd just created heaven and earth.

“Yes, that's him,” Reyna said, staring at the woman. “He was really great yesterday, during the...you know.”

She kept her tone of voice dismissive and light, hoping that only Louisa noticed her discomfort.

“Sorry I cramped your style with my freak-out,” Marceline said, her mouth turned down.

“Stop talking foolishness. You didn't cramp anything.” If anything, Garrison was the one derailing whatever it was they had going on. Just who the hell was that woman?

“So did you get laid or what?” Bridget's eyes went wide with the anticipation of a story.

Louisa surprised Reyna again by coming to her rescue. She flicked her hand across the surface of the water at Bridget. “Why is everything always about sex with you, Bridget?”

Bridget squealed and jerked back. “Don't you dare get my hair wet!”

That made Louisa act up even more, making bigger and bigger splashes. Then Marceline joined in, splashing everyone indiscriminately. Reyna shrieked as their peaceful soak degenerated into a water fight, and she managed to forget all about Garrison. At least for a little while.

* * *

After she and her friends dragged themselves back to the cabin, they showered and made a run to the lodge for one last meal before they had to go back to the city. They ate together, the mood much better than it had been before, lightened by their water fight and the shared laughter that followed. After their late lunch, they went shopping in the boutiques down the hill from the resort. They stayed together, trying on clothes, teasing each other, playing around in a way they hadn't done in a long time.

Reyna was holding up a bikini, one that was shocking pink and barely covered any skin, in front of her torso, playfully swinging her hips at Bridget, when she saw a familiar face. Garrison. Reyna felt a jolt of gladness at the sight of him, then immediately remembered he had been talking intimately with another woman the last time she saw him. A woman who very well might be her replacement in his bed.

Garrison stood at the jewelry counter, gorgeous in his thick gray jacket over a dark sweater and jeans. Effortlessly, she recalled what he looked like under his clothes, his dark skin glistening as he moved between her spread thighs. Reyna swallowed past her dry throat and tried to turn away. But something made him glance up then, and their eyes met.

Garrison said something to the woman behind the counter as she handed him a small package. Only then did Reyna look away.

“You'll definitely get all the boys in the yard with that piece of nothing,” Bridget said.

But Reyna's light mood was gone. She put the bikini on the rack. “I'll be back in a sec,” she said. She wanted, no,
needed
, to speak with Garrison.

“Oh, okay.” Bridget shrugged and eyed the little bikini Reyna had just relinquished. “I'll be over here. Maybe buying this bikini.”

Reyna walked quickly toward where she had seen Garrison, winding her way through the boutique and its elegantly displayed racks of clothes. He appeared at her side before she was even halfway there.

He said her name. Reyna stopped walking, felt her body drift toward his in the middle of the store, her skin seeking a reconnection, a touch of that spark from the night before. When he took her arm, she shivered.

“Can we talk?”

Without waiting for her answer, he whisked her to the back of the store and into an empty dressing room. He closed the door and clicked the lock shut. Instead of touching her as she expected, Garrison took a step back and shoved his hands into his pockets. The dressing room was large, but not large enough to comfortably accommodate them both. Reyna backed away from him and sank down onto the bench.

“What's on your mind?” She gripped her purse in her lap to give herself something to hold on to. With him so close, she couldn't even remember what she wanted to talk to him about.

“You.”

Her stomach fluttered, an annoying habit it was developing around him. Even under the harsh fluorescent lights, he was compelling, more attractive than any man had the right to be. He smelled like a long shower, and of a subtle cologne that made her want to lean closer.

“It didn't seem like you wanted to talk to me out there.” Garrison leaned against the farthest wall, his body a beautiful incline that sharply reminded her of seeing him on the train that first day. Just then, the idea of him sleeping with someone else so soon after they'd been together was so ridiculous that she was ashamed of even thinking it. “Do you have any regrets about last night?” he asked.

No.
Reyna took a breath, not quite wanting to tell him the truth. “I feel a little guilty for enjoying my night with you when Marceline was in such a bad way.”

“There's nothing wrong with enjoying yourself and being happy,” he said. “Even if it's for a moment.”

For a moment.
The words echoed in Reyna's head, an ominous and unwanted rumble.

Even though she had been the one to come into Garrison's room and initiate their lovemaking on purely temporary grounds, she realized a part of her—a stupid part—had wanted it to mean more. She wanted it to be something other than a
moment
. And the realization was a little embarrassing, especially since Garrison obviously thought of their night together as simply that, a
momentary
indulgence in pleasure.

She squirmed under the fluorescent lights, aware that they probably made her look twice as foolish as she felt. “I have to go back. My friends...” Her voice trailed off.

“I know.” Garrison curled his fist around something in his pocket, and she felt his eyes on her face like a fleeting caress. He took a card from his wallet. “Make sure you keep it this time. Give me a call once you're back in the city.”

His words sounded like such a blow off, if anything, an invitation to be a casual bed partner. And an invitation that he didn't seem to care whether or not she accepted. Embarrassment and chagrin burned her face as she took the card, careful not to touch his hand. She felt like an idiot for allowing her hormones to carry her along on this tide of attraction, ignoring what she knew about him in favor of what her body wanted.

“Okay.” She put the card in her back pocket and stood up in the small space, the movement bringing her within kissing distance of him. Her hand fumbled for the lock on the door while her heart pounded heavily in her chest. “I'll see you.”

He didn't try to stop her when she left.

* * *

A thick knot of disappointment sat in Garrison's throat as he watched Reyna walk away from him. He'd wanted her to stay and make concrete plans to meet again in New York. He was about to ask for just that when he saw the expression on her face. She looked uncomfortable with him in the small dressing room, as if she regretted everything they'd done together.

He gripped the small box in his pocket. He had meant to give it to her before they left the resort, as proof of something even he was not quite sure of. The night they shared in his cabin cracked open a door he'd thought firmly closed. Through that crack, he had seen possibilities, hints of a different life for himself. That night with her had meant more than just flesh meeting flesh, more than desires being sated under the cover of night. He wanted to let her know that.

That wish led him to thoughts of a gift. And because he hadn't known what sort of gift to give a woman like Reyna, he'd asked one of the staff at the resort. The woman had been friendly, a little too friendly, he realized later as she had walked with him toward the lodge.

Before Reyna, Garrison had never met a woman who affected him so strongly. He had essentially just started to get to know her, yet everything about her made him sit up and take notice. All his reservations about not wanting to end up like his clients—in love one moment and hating each other's every breath the next—let him know a long time ago that “happily-ever-after,” or at least what passed for it in today's world, was not something he wanted to pursue.

But Reyna made him want to pursue
her
. She made him want. As he usually did after tense negotiations, he analyzed the strongest impressions of their last few minutes together in his head. The stiffness of her shoulders, the way she hadn't wanted to meet his eyes, and how she'd practically run out of the dressing room after reluctantly taking his business card.

What had changed between them since the morning in his bed? Earlier, she had been enticing and sexy, demanding as much pleasure as she gave, reveling in their lovemaking under the early-morning sun. But now, she was...different. He settled his hand again around the box in his pocket and left the dressing room.

In his cabin, he packed up his things in preparation for his drive to see a nearby client before heading to the train station.

His mother called. He answered his cell and dropped the overnight bag at his feet. “Hey.”

“Are you actually relaxing this time?” she asked.

Garrison could hear the sound of a crowd in the background, conversations, a man's deep voice nearby.

“Of course.” He smiled into the phone. “I love to relax.”

“Garrison Felix Richards.”

“Yes, Mother.”

“Anthea told me how hard you've been working these past few months.”

Just the past few months? Anthea mustn't be telling his mother everything. Garrison worked hard all the time. He knew it wasn't a healthy habit to cultivate, but how else was he supposed to get work done? He'd already set up healthy earning investments to pay for anything his mother wanted. She never had to work again. That was his goal when he started college. But after seeing to her comfort, working hard had simply become a way of life.

“I'm actually at a resort, Mother, if you can believe that.”

“I do believe, but only because Anthea booked the tickets for you. I told her it was a good idea when she asked me whether or not to do it.”

“I'm glad I don't have the misguided idea that I'm running my own life.”

“Good!” She laughed. “Get back to whatever it is you were doing. I'm just calling to make sure you actually went to the resort. I wouldn't want Anthea to waste her time or your money.”

“They're not wasted, Mother. I've enjoyed myself here. It's very invigorating being up in the mountains.” He smiled, thinking of Reyna and her softness snuggled against him in bed. “I might even make this an annual thing.”

“What? Don't make your poor mother have a heart attack.” She actually sounded a little worried. “I don't know what brought on this attitude change, but I'm glad for it. You won't find a nice girl to settle down with if you're stuck in that office with the other sharks.”

“Mother! This is your only son you're talking about.”

“Exactly. I do like to think I know you a little. You're a shark for a good cause.” A man's voice said something close to her. “Anyway, I have to go. I just wanted to check in on you. Take care of yourself up there, and don't get swept away in an avalanche.”

Garrison chuckled. “I'll do my best.”

“Love you, baby.”

He heard the man's voice again. Whoever this person was, he was definitely with his mother. And he was a demanding guy, by the sound of it.

When Garrison hung up the phone, the smile fell from his face. He loved his mother, but she never made the best choices where men were concerned. As her son, he would defend her until the ends of the earth, but he knew her weakness was an idealized view of romance and men who promised her the moon and stars but only delivered heartache. That was where romantic entanglements often led. Nowhere.

He took the small box with Reyna's gift out of his pocket and dropped it on the bed. What had he been thinking? A gift for a woman who was all but a stranger? He grabbed his overnight bag and headed for the door. In the doorway of the bedroom, he paused and glanced over his shoulder at the box that sat amid the rumpled sheets, deep royal blue against the white cotton. Yes, maybe another man would be able to make better use of it.

He closed the door behind him.