Gold

by K. A. Linde

  She was most thankful that she’d had an excuse to vanish from home in L.A. and return to school for the University of Nevada versus Las Vegas football game, but then watching Andrew disappear with another cheerleader after the game hadn’t helped her mood. She had been glad that she had this trip to occupy her mind.

  As the limo drove her away from her condo to where she would meet Hugh, her anticipation grew. She smoothed out her torn black skinnies and flipped through the feed on her phone. The limo pulled up to a private airfield and straight out to the tarmac.

  Hugh was waiting for her, his arms crossed, and his eyes locked on her arrival. The driver opened her door, and she glided out toward Hugh.

  “Hello, beautiful.” His smile was as bright as the afternoon sunlight.

  “Hey,” she said. She threw her arms around his neck, reached onto her tiptoes, and kissed him full on the lips.

  “You’re in a good mood.”

  “I’ve missed you.”

  After her blowup during homecoming, she’d had a lot of time to think about what she was doing. Part of her had realized that her time with Hugh, though different than anything she had experienced before, made her feel good, wanted, desirable, and appreciated.

  He wrapped his arms tightly around her waist and gave her another kiss. “I’ve missed you, too. Are you ready to go?”

  “Yeah,” she said, following him onto the plane.

  They took their seats next to each other on the private jet.

  She leaned into him. “Where are we heading?”

  “Somewhere you can’t run away from.”

  She threaded his tie through her fingers and looked up at him under her lashes. “I don’t plan on leaving anyway.”

  “Good. I can’t stop thinking about you. You’re driving me crazy.”

  “I didn’t mean to,” she lied through her teeth.

  She hadn’t known he was going mad over her. He had been decidedly absent from her life. She had been left wondering if they were going to get back together again.

  “I want this to be a special trip for us,” he said softly.

  His eyes were so sincere. Chills broke out on her body.

  God, he really meant all of this. She had him hook, line, and sinker…and she was wondering if perhaps a part of her was falling for him, too.

  No…probably not. Just a warm wave of déjà vu.

  About an hour later, they circled around the beautiful mountains and gorgeous lake a couple of times before landing outside of Lake Tahoe. Growing up, she had skied here once or twice, but her father preferred Colorado or Europe, so she hadn’t spent much time here.

  Once they arrived at the resort, a valet took their bags up to their room, and Hugh was immediately greeted warmly.

  “Mr. Westercamp, what a pleasure to have you back on the premises,” a woman in a tailored black skirt suit said.

  Bryna wrapped her arms around herself to try to fight back the cold. She had been hoping for somewhere warm, and her mind went to the beautiful Caribbean feel of St. Barts. She cringed and forced herself to stop thinking about Jude. Motherfucker haunts my thoughts.

  “Good to see you as well, Meredith.” He wrapped an arm around Bryna. “You must be freezing.” Ever the gentleman, he stripped out of his suit coat and threw it around her shoulders.

  Meredith’s smile never wavered as she watched the exchange. She stood by dutifully. “Please allow me to escort you around the resort.” She continued speaking as she walked them through the luxurious resort lobby, “Will you be skiing this afternoon? There is fresh powder on your favorite slopes.”

  Hugh glanced over at Bryna. “I have dinner reservations for tonight, but I left our afternoon open. I wanted to spend some time with you. Do you ski?”

  “A bit,” she said. It wasn’t entirely true. She was an excellent skier and had been doing it her whole life, but he didn’t need to know that. “But I didn’t bring anything to ski in.”

  “We have a fully stocked ski store on the first level,” Meredith said.

  Hugh raised his eyebrows as if he hadn’t already planned for this. It wasn’t what she had planned for, but it might be fun to try to relax with him. He was trying to make her comfortable here with him. This had to count for something, more than a dress or earrings.

  “All right,” she agreed.

  “I think you took advantage of me,” Hugh said. He was laughing as he walked through the snow with both of their skis and poles in his hands.

  She gave him a sheepish look. “So, I might or might not be more experienced than I’d let on.”

  Red colored her cheeks, but she wasn’t sure if it was from his scrutiny or the bitter cold from the slopes. Perhaps it was both.

  “A little? I own the resort, and you were skiing circles around me.”

  “Not…literally.”

  “I bet you could though. Why didn’t you pursue it?”

  She shrugged but held her head up. “Los Angeles doesn’t leave you much time to practice. It was something fun my father and I used to do. My mother was always too worried about hurting herself. She’d stay in the ski lodge and drink most of the day away. It was really my thing with my dad. We used to ski together all the time when I was growing up. He worked a lot more when I got into middle school, so I tended to spend a lot of time on the slopes alone.”

  She snapped her mouth shut before she got into her whole family diatribe. She hadn’t meant to spill all of that to Hugh.

  She didn’t usually remember her childhood that way, but it didn’t seem like much had changed. Her father still worked too much, and her mother, Olivia, continued to drink much of her life away. Neither of them spent any time with her.

  Bryna and Hugh were silent as they trudged up the last hill before he grabbed her and softly kissed her on the lips.

  “I like that you’re sharing more of yourself with me,” Hugh said. “I want to share more of myself with you.”

  She smiled languidly. She was sure there was a double meaning buried in there.

  “This way,” he told her.

  He returned their ski equipment and then took her the back way up the elevator. It opened up directly into a massive penthouse suite complete with a perfect view of the mountains, an outdoor Jacuzzi, several bedrooms, and a grand kitchen. Every luxury was accounted for.

  “Hungry?” he asked, kissing the soft spot between her neck and shoulder.

  “Starving.”

  “Me, too.”

  She swallowed hard. “Maybe we should eat now…”

  He gripped the top of her new jacket in his hands and peeled it off. “Yes, I’d very much like to eat right now.”

  She shivered against him. His hands ran down her arms and then gripped her hips. He lifted her shirt, so he could touch bare skin. The tips of his fingers trailed along the inside of her pants.

  “By all means…”

  “But we have dinner reservations,” he said, taking a step back.

  She looked at him, aghast. Is he really stopping?

  “Go on. Get dressed. I have big plans for you tonight.”

  She was sure she was being punished for teasing him the last couple of times they had been together. Now, he was getting her all turned on and walking away. She’d had a great day with him…better than had been expected actually. He was an easy guy to be around. He always had a smile on his face and a ready laugh for all his stories. Being around him was like a breath of fresh air.

  Bryna quickly showered off the hours of skiing from her skin, blew out her hair, and kept her makeup natural, enhancing her best features. Her black dress ended at mid thigh and flowed out when she moved in a circle. She paired it with leopard-print pointy-toe heels that killed her feet but looked fabulous. The price I pay for beauty.

  She walked out of the bathroom, only to find the entire suite covered in lit candles. The table was set for two with a full buffet of food, and Hugh was drinking red wine in a stemless glass.

  “I thought we had dinner res
ervations,” she said, narrowing her eyes at him.

  “We did.” He walked up to her and wrapped an arm around her waist. “I decided I didn’t want to share you.”

  “You’re not sharing me.”

  “I like to hear that.”

  She hid her smile under her lashes.

  “Dinner?” he asked.

  Bryna sat down at the table, and Hugh took the time to personally serve her food. She was sure a man like him, with his wealth, didn’t do anything for himself, let alone for someone else. They had a Gorgonzola spinach salad, braised chicken, grilled asparagus, and three-cheese truffle macaroni and cheese. Her mouth watered at the display.

  She bit into the chicken and sighed at the incredible flavor. “My compliments to the chef. This is incredible.”

  “Well, thank you. It’s my recipe.”

  She raised an eyebrow. “Friends with a chef and a chef yourself?”

  He laughed. “Not exactly. I never went to culinary school, and I don’t run a restaurant, but I’ve worked in a kitchen a few times in my life.”

  “Really?” she asked, surprised.

  “I didn’t have to, but during college, I was rebellious and decided I wanted to set out on my own. You work in a lot of kitchens when you do that.”

  “You seem pretty down-to-earth for someone who runs his own resorts.”

  He shrugged. “Life tends to knock you down a few pegs every time you think you’re on top of the world.”

  “That’s the fucking truth.”

  Maybe she had pegged him wrong. She had thought he was going to be…well, Jude. She hated admitting that she’d kind of hoped for that. Jude had been an asshole. Hugh kind of seemed like a nice guy, all things considered.

  “So…mind if I ask you a question?” she said.

  “Of course you can.”

  “Why me? Why did you pick me out that day? Why do you spoil me like this?” she asked in a rush.

  The answer was an important one for how their relationship would continue to develop.

  His smile was completely open when he responded honestly, “It’s complicated. I noticed your beauty first, of course. How can I not notice? But there was something more. You clearly had good taste, expensive taste. I like that. Yet you weren’t going to buy the earrings, and you seemed very appreciative when I got them for you. I don’t mean for this to come out as offensive, but you don’t seem like the type of person who wants me for my money…and I’ve met people like that.”

  Bryna swallowed and tried to keep her face blank. He liked her because she didn’t seem like a gold digger. Well, shit.

  “I mean, you knew who I was and didn’t call me right away. We’ve been on several dates, and you haven’t pushed for anything. You seem like a woman doing well for yourself in your own right while doing exactly what you want.”

  A blush crept onto her face. That sounded exactly like her…except that she had completely been playing him the whole time.

  Knowing his reasoning almost made her feel bad about her motivation.

  After dinner, Hugh cleared the table and suggested they take a dip in the Jacuzzi. She changed into her mint-green bikini that made her look even more tan and then met Hugh out on the balcony. He was already seated in the steaming water in nothing but a pair of blue swim trunks. This was the first she had seen of his sculpted body. She had known he was trim and must work out a lot, but really seeing him made her appreciate his body even more.

  She jogged over to the Jacuzzi and quickly got into the warm water. “It’s freezing,” she said, her teeth chattering.

  “Come over here, and I’ll warm you up,” he suggested.

  In the warm water, she dipped her body up to her neck, and she gave him a flirtatious look. “I’m better now,” she said, toying with him.

  “You’ve been playing cat-and-mouse with me.” He walked across the square Jacuzzi.

  “Have I?” she asked coyly.

  “Oh, yes.” He stopped right in front of her.

  Her skin tingled, even with the superheated water, just from the anticipation of him touching her. She was ready, very ready, for that.

  “I’ve been right here the whole time.” She licked her lips, knowing it would drive him crazy.

  His touch lit a fire in her core. She had been waiting for him to come on to her since they arrived. Spending the day with him in a completely nonsexual way had made her sexual appetite all the more fierce.

  His fingers skimmed along her wet torso and down to her skimpy bikini bottoms. “Right here but always running away.”

  “Maybe I wasn’t ready,” she whispered. In her voice, she heard the vulnerability that had never escaped her hard exterior.

  “Are you ready now?”

  “That depends…”

  She leaned back against the wall of the Jacuzzi and surveyed him. Her smile was mischievous, her head full of schemes. She couldn’t even help it. They came to her unbidden.

  “What does it depend on?”

  “You.”

  “What can I do to change your mind?” he asked.

  “I need you to give me something.”

  “What can I give you that I haven’t already?” He didn’t seem unhappy. It was more like he was willing to give in to her demands even though he had said earlier that he liked her because she didn’t want anything.

  But he’d thought she wanted money. That was where she had been going wrong all along. Withholding sex wasn’t the key to keeping him interested. For a time, that had worked, but she wasn’t Anne Boleyn. She couldn’t wait six years for her crown. She needed him to give her the one thing she would never give out again.

  “None of what you’ve given me compares to this.”

  “You didn’t like what I gave you?” he asked skeptically.

  “I loved everything,” she purred. “But that’s not what I want from you.”

  “Tell me, and it’s yours.”

  Here goes nothing.

  “This right here.” She tapped his chest on the left side twice and let her hand linger. “Your heart.”

  Hugh’s smile was victorious. “You stole that with a smile the first time I met you.”

  Smooth.

  He circled her small waist and crushed his lips to hers. This wasn’t a kiss like anything she had ever had with him before. They were always intoxicating and pushing boundaries, but this was…claiming. He held no more hesitancy. It was as if she had proven her worth to him.

  She pushed her hands up his chest and around his neck. They couldn’t seem to get close enough. There was nothing between them but flimsy bathing suits and a world of secrets. Neither of which seemed to matter in this moment with his lips on hers. Here was everything she had ever wanted—a wealthy man who wanted to take care of her and her body. Here, she could finally forget. Here she could live in this fairy-tale fantasy and dream of a better future than her traumatizing past.

  Hugh scooped her up, out of the water, and pressed her back against the deck. It was frigid, but a heating lamp was positioned in the corner. He viciously ripped at the strings on her top and brought her breast up to his lips. She groaned as he sucked and bit at the beaded nipple exposed to the elements. He touched her body as if it were the last thing he was ever going to do. He admired it, worshiped it, as if he needed it to keep living.

  He kissed his way down her stomach and to the top of her bikini bottoms. He slipped a digit under the material and flicked against her clit. Her body jerked in his touch. Suddenly, she wasn’t cold anymore, not at all.

  Her bottoms disappeared in much the same manner as her top, and soon, she was stripped bare in front of him. His breath was hot against her core as he spread her open before him. His fingers entered her, and her body responded in turn to his touch, making her back arch off the deck.

  Fuck. I’m horny. She hadn’t had sex in almost a month. She needed him inside of her right now.

  But he didn’t seem to care that she was ready. He wanted her to be beyond hot and bother
ed.

  He claimed her clit with his tongue as he pumped in and out of her. She shook beneath him, and when she thought she couldn’t hold out any longer, her body released all around his fingers.

  “Oh God!” Her limbs felt like pudding, and she trembled all over.

  “You’re hot as fuck, Bri, moaning as I made you come all over my face and fingers.”

  Her core pulsed at his words. “Fuck me,” she practically pleaded.

  “I intend to.”

  Hugh hopped out of the Jacuzzi, picked her up off the deck, and carried her into the master suite. She didn’t even consider protesting. She couldn’t wait. If he were half as good with his dick as he had been with his fingers, then she would be in for a long night.

  After he laid her out on the bed, she scrambled under the covers, and he dropped his swim trunks. She stared with a giant smirk on her face. She wanted him inside of her right fucking now.

  She rubbed her legs together in anticipation.

  “None of that,” he said. His hands pried her legs apart and spread her wide for his view. “That’s better. No reason to obstruct my view of dessert.”

  “You haven’t had your fill?” she teased.

  “I’m not sure I ever will.” He crawled into bed on top of her and kissed her again. “I’m certain I could have dessert every single night and still be ravenous.”

  “I feel like that could be arranged.”

  He smirked and then pressed his dick up against her. “Let’s start with tonight.”

  She nodded and rocked her hips up to meet him. He slipped easily into her, and she dropped her head back.

  Shit. She stretched like a glove around him.

  “Fuck,” she groaned.

  “You feel so fucking good,” he bit out.

  “Yeah.”

  That was all she managed to say before he reared back and thrust into her. Her legs shook with the effort. She felt like lava was coating her veins, reaching out from her center, to spread through her body all the way to her fingers and toes. Sweat beaded on her forehead as their bodies met in time over and over again.