“No.” Nicoletta’s perfect smile suddenly flashed. “She’s very beautiful. So’s he. But neither of them were what I wanted.”
“So what then? You had want all over your face honey, you can’t deny it.”
A far away look entered her eyes as she hesitated. Then that softness hardened. “It was the passion. The way they couldn’t wait to get into each other.”
“Lust?” He frowned down at her. It couldn’t be that simple. “You’ve never been unable to wait to get to it?”
She shrugged. “Not like that.”
“They’re madly in love with each other—”
“It’s not that either,” she interrupted, goaded. “It’s almost in spite of that. It’s the inability to stop. That overwhelming urge. The recklessness and they don’t give a damn…”
“What, you’ve always had sex in a bed, at night, with the lights out or something?” He tried to joke, but his voice had rusted.
“Pretty much.”
His tension trebled. “Didn’t that actor boyfriend you had do it for you?”
She picked up the third tequila shot and drank it. “He was too busy pumping iron to pump me,” she muttered as she sucked in a breath and blinked rapidly. “Building bulk so he could be that cartoon hero in his latest movie.”
Seemed the tequila was having an effect on loosening her tongue.
“He had his priorities wrong.” Austin wished there was more tequila on hand for him to have.
“He did. And as he was on the other side of the world most of the time—”
“You didn’t text each other pictures? Video link to indulge your love-to-watch kink?”
He didn’t think she’d answer that.
But she surprised him, turning to answer back quite seriously. “I’m not stupid enough to put anything on film. Or stream anything live over the Internet.”
So she hadn’t been satisfied. All that time she’d been with that guy she hadn’t been getting what she wanted. Austin shouldn’t feel pleased about that. But he did.
“It was to raise our profiles,” she said in a low voice, staring at the empty shot glasses.
“What?”
She shrugged. “He wasn’t that into me. It was for the publicity.” She didn’t look happy about it.
“Whose idea?” he asked.
“All concerned.”
Had she really agreed to something so calculated? Was she that ambitious to be the ultimate celebrity? “When did it end?”
“Didn’t you read about it?” she asked bitterly. “I kicked him to the curb so I could concentrate on my pre-season training.”
“And the reality was?”
“That was the reality.” She shrugged again. “Only it happened months ago and the fact that he’d been sleeping with half his fans instead of me really wasn’t a factor in my decision.”
Anger knotted his gut. That hurt in her voice was genuine—it must have been something more than a commercial arrangement for her and the asshole had cheated on her.
She looked into his face, then away. “He didn’t break my heart. He never had it.”
Ten minutes ago he’d have scoffed at the idea that Nicoletta actually had a heart, but he knew that was his own self-defensive armor.
“I know what you think,” she added softly.
“What do I think?” He half-laughed, he’d really like to know because right now he was confused as hell.
“You think I do everything I’m told to for the sake of my career. That I sell out.”
“And you don’t?”
“I’ve made a lot of sacrifices for my career. But I’m not selling myself again.”
“Is that how it felt?”
Her eyes lanced into his. “I want to dress to please myself, not my marketing assistant mom. And I want to date a guy I actually desire.”
“So what’s stopping you?”
She stared into his eyes for another second, then glanced away. “Another three shots please,” she called to the bartender.
“And two large glasses of water.” Austin added before leaning closer to Nicoletta. “You’re not going to like the way your head will feel in the morning if you drink all that tequila.”
“I don’t care.”
“Not now maybe, but you will later. Won’t you be training first thing?”
“I don’t need your advice. You’re not my doctor.”
He pulled back. “No. Never was.” And that was the problem.
Don’t touch me. I don’t want you touching me.
She’d screamed at him. She’d had a fever and wouldn’t let him near her. It’d been the beginning of the end of his time working with the national ski squad. The frozen, flu-riddled diva had demanded her own doctor. And NV always got what she wanted. That’s why everyone else was so damn envious of her.
But right now she wouldn’t meet his eyes. Instead she looked across the bar to the few couples clinging to each other on the dance floor.
“You have many patients here?” she asked as the bartender lined up all the drinks.
“Sure.”
She picked up a shot and downed it. “Beautiful ski bunnies.”
What did that razor-edged comment mean? “I don’t fraternize with my patients, as I’m sure you remember.”
“I remember.” She turned towards him again to whisper. “You never sleep with any of your patients. Never any one you’ve treated.”
“That’s right.” Because he wasn’t stupid.
She just looked at him. Her brown eyes were wide and suddenly full of that naked want again.
Austin stared back at her. At the perfect pout of her parted lips. At the flush in her cheeks. At the secrets and shadows in her eyes. And the most unbelievable thought occurred to him.
Oh she had to be freaking kidding. Could she have been so damn stupid?
“Is that why you wouldn’t let me help you?” he asked softly, almost unable to breathe. Anger burned hot and quick. “Is that why?”
She actually paled. Her gaze skittered down and then back to his. She drew in a shaky breath. But she didn’t answer.
He moved closer, his voice lowering as his anger unleashed. “You know I left that position because of your refusal to let me treat you. Your insistence on having your own doctor made my position as squad physician untenable. You have such influence… your decision made others doubt me. So I left before I was pushed. I wasn’t going to let some spoilt ski princess’s whim ruin my career. And it was all because, what, you had the hots for me?” That was why she’d pulled away from him? That she could be so unprofessional astounded him. And yet—
“I—”
“You really are that spoilt? Like a petulant child wanting to have your cake and eat every last crumb? And the fucking cherry on top.” He was livid. And something else burned up his blood. Something so out of control it almost scared him.
He glared at her, watching as she licked her lips nervously and picked up one of the glasses of water, ignoring the two other tequila shots the bartender had poured. Austin didn’t ignore them. He downed another, inhaling sharply as the hit burned down his throat. Then he saw the way she was holding the glass of water.
“What are you planning on doing with that?” he snarled.
Was she about to tip it on him and cause a scene? Nicoletta was so not herself tonight. How could someone who held herself together so coolly in an intensely competitive environment, lose it so easily here? He slammed his hand on her wrist, pushing it back to the bar.
“You’re mad with me,” she choked, releasing the glass.
“No kidding.”
And she was mad with him for that? Her sense of entitlement beggared belief.
But there was this. Swirling between them. Chemistry. Rogue pheromones. Whatever. It was just physical want.
He decided to give her something to really hate him for. He grabbed a cube of ice from the glass, pulled on the waistband of her jeans before she could slap his hand away and slipped it down the front of her panties.
She squeaked and pulled back, but he slammed against her, pinning her back to the bar, pushing his pelvis against hers, knowing the ice was melting on her skin.
“I can’t believe you did that,” she gasped.
“You started it.” And he didn’t give a damn if he was acting as immature as her. He was so pissed, he had to retaliate somehow and cool her the fuck down.
Only it wasn’t really working.
Her eyes widened and he felt the tremor wrack through her body. His responded. Hard.
A half-moan, half-gasp emerged from her full mouth. “You’re…”
“Being this close to a body like yours, it’s gonna be stimulating.”
He was so angry with her. And so aroused. Which made him even angrier.
“It’s only my body you like?” she asked, that willful hunger glimmering in her eyes.
“You’re asking for compliments after what you just told me?”
Annoyance sharpened her glare. “Is it so awful to have wanted you?”
That ‘want’ was past tense? His anger multiplied. “It is awful to have acted so unprofessionally. To have done whatever the hell you pleased without any regard for the consequences on other people.”
“I didn’t realize…” she broke off with another small gasp. “Austin, I need to move…” she shuddered. “It burns.”
“The ice?”
“No.” Her head tilted back and looked up at him, her eyes huge and sparkling. “Not being able to move.”
“So you still think you want me?” He eased back slightly, felt the satisfying—tormenting—circling of her hips. Lust shot through him, shredding any last rational thought. “Hell, Nicoletta.”
His gaze dropped to the perfect cupid’s bow of her full pout. He wanted to kiss her to the point of madness. He looked back up to her dark eyes and was locked in their depths. His anger mutated, but the desire to torture her didn’t ease any. He slipped a hand between them, pressing his palm over her firm stomach, tracing the path of that melting cube of ice. Her skin was more silken than her shirt. And so much warmer.
Her lips parted. “Austin,” she whispered.
He slid his fingers under the waistband of her panties, spreading his fingers through the small thatch of hair and down into the hot sweet curve of her.
“You’re so hot. So wet,” he breathed. It wasn’t the melting ice cube slicking his fingers.
But was her arousal purely from what he was doing, or from what she’d witnessed in the corridor before?
Despite her confession that she’d long wanted him, jealousy twisted his vision. “Is this what you want? Something reckless? Something hot? Something you can’t help but see through?” He slowly shook his head. “And any man will do?”
“Not any man,” she whispered, rocking her hips slightly into his touch, inviting him to plunge deep.
A lick of satisfaction soothed him. But this was NV and she played to win. Always. He couldn’t trust she wasn’t trying to use him just because she was horny tonight. So he tried to hold off—merely stroking gently. He couldn’t resist doing that.
“Why me? Why now?” He needed to hear her reasons—more about how she’d felt back then. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“How could I?” she muttered, her eyes dark and heavy lidded. “I was supposed to be madly in love with Brandon still. I was supposed to be living the fantasy.”
Some fantasy. She’d barely seen that boyfriend in the months they’d been on the road for the competition circuit. Austin knew, he’d been there. And even though NV chose to keep to herself, he knew she’d been lonely.
Because now he let himself remember that time a couple months before he’d left the squad. She’d been by herself in the common room of that Swiss training camp. Up until then he’d gone to great lengths to ensure he wasn’t alone in any private space with her, he knew he had a weakness—a want—for her. But the way she’d looked at him in that moment? He hadn’t been able to move. Then she’d said his name—a question and invitation and an order all at once. Pure NV.
He’d turned and walked out without saying a word. How he’d found the strength he still didn’t know. But he’d refused to risk his career by messing with the squad’s star athlete. Then she’d ruined that job for him anyway by not letting him near her in a professional capacity.
And now she was here, looking up at him in that same way again—with need.
Her body moved restlessly against his. He couldn’t resist stroking her, exploring her hot, wet heat and the way she reacted to the tiniest of touches. She moaned then clamped her mouth shut as if afraid he’d stop if she said anything.
Fuck if he could resist her now—not when she was so hot.
“You want me to scratch your little itch Nicoletta?” he growled. “You want me to rub just that bit harder and make you come in a bar half full of people. You’re that needy?” He’d discovered she was a voyeur, was she an exhibitionist as well? She was blowing his freaking mind here. But it wasn’t happening this way. It couldn’t. Not when he didn’t know for sure if it was him or what she’d witnessed that had her so wet.
She swallowed, looked tortured. “Austin…”
It was a plea. But he wasn’t sure exactly for what. And what did he want more now—to get payback or get her in his bed?
His bed. No question. He’d always wanted her in his bed. She was so freaking perfect and driven and dedicated and he’d long wanted to strip her and take her to bed and slowly pull her apart until she was a hot, quivering mess, unable to stop her unfettered response.
Rumor had it NV had nerves of steel. Sports commentators wondered if she had any emotions at all.
Austin knew she did. Interesting ones.
But he removed his hand and peeled away from her, ignoring the screeching resistance of his body. He willed his straining erection to subside and took hold of her wrist. “Not tonight. If this is what you want, then you come to me tomorrow.”
“I’m not coming to your damn consulting rooms.” She glared at him.
“If you really want this from me, then prove it. Find me after training. Be stone cold sober.”
She rose on tiptoe, leaning close even as he held her away from him. “I can’t be cold when I’m around you.”
Was the damn flirt trying to test his resolve? He still didn’t trust her. “That’s the tequila talking.”
She lifted her chin, naked invitation in her eyes. “Is it?”
He couldn’t help hoping not. “Talk like this to me tomorrow and then we’ll know.”
CHAPTER THREE
What the living hell had she done? What the everlasting fuck had she said? Freaking tequila. She should never have had it. But in that mix of mortification and lust and reckless post-midnight brain-spaz, she’d propositioned Austin Tate. She’d let him feel her up in the dark corner of a public bar. All this after he’d caught her avidly spying on someone else having sex.
Coming to Summerhill had been a massive mistake. What had she been thinking? She knew the rules—they’d been drilled into her for her whole life—
Never let a man derail your career. Never get distracted. Nothing matters but the win.
But for once, she’d wanted the ‘win’ to be personal. One night of passion. Nothing like the tepid ‘relationship’ she’d agreed to. Only Austin Tate had turned her down.
Stone cold sober, Nicoletta stepped out of the shower and pulled on her ski gear. It was still dark out but she’d take the chance to go check out the addition to the training facilities that had been constructed over summer. Summerhill was aiming to be the nation’s elite performance ski center and if the new features were half as good as what she’d heard, they had it in the can.
She took the stairs down from her room, nodding her appreciation to the porter who looked like he was hanging out for the last half hour of his night-shift to be over. But as she crossed the large lobby, her pace slowed. Connor stood there, smiling and laughing with Savannah—both bright-eyed and
bushy-tailed despite how early in the morning it was.
And Austin. Austin who lifted his head and stared straight at her the second she walked through the door.
Yeah. She should have flown straight to Europe.
She tried to walk quickly past Connor and Savannah’s backs and not fall over her feet in self-conscious confusion as Austin glared at her every step of the way.
Connor turned to see who Austin was looking at. “Nicoletta!” He called her over with a wave.
She was so embarrassed.
“Hey Connor,” she mumbled.
“Sorry I didn’t get to see you when you arrived last night.” Connor, owner of Summerhill Lodge—and the whole damn mountain—smiled at her.
Uh. Yeah. She’d gotten to see him though. She couldn’t look at Austin. She knew he was watching her. Laughing at her predicament.
“I’d like you to meet my fiancée, Savannah. Savannah, this is NV, Nicoletta Valeri.” Connor made the introductions. “NV is Summerhill’s most successful ski graduate,” he informed Savannah. “Slalom queen. She’s been coming here since she was born. Skied before she walked. Used to set herself the target of beating all Logan’s times. Did it too.”
Nicoletta shifted uncomfortably, she didn’t like her achievements being listed off at every introduction. It alienated people.
Connor turned back to Nicoletta. “It’s great you’re here. I didn’t think you were checking in with us this season what with your change in coach.”
She wasn’t supposed to have. “It’s only for a fortnight,” she answered awkwardly aware of Austin’s quick frown. “Then I’m joining my new coach in Europe.”
“And that’s working out?” Connor asked.
“Yes. She’s good.” Nicoletta turned away from Austin’s sharp eyes to smile at Savannah. “Congratulations on your engagement. You must be very excited.”
“It has its moments,” Savannah drawled.
Yeah. Nicoletta had seen one of those moments. And she wanted to die right now. Well, apologize first. Then die. She couldn’t think what to say. But at that moment Austin took her arm.
“I was going to show Nicoletta through the new training facilities,” he said firmly.
He was?
Blaze For Me (Be for Me Page 2
