by Tess Oliver
I took the cupcake from her hand as I quickly tried to calculate how it was possible that she hadn't baked sugarplum cupcakes in decades when she couldn't have been more than three decades old herself. It was another mystery unsolved, but since it was starting to hurt my head thinking about it all, I decided to give it a rest and try the cupcake.
Like everything else in the place, it was magical. A hint of vanilla in a fluffy cake that surrounded a smooth, fruity filling and the frosting was pure buttery bliss. The sugar crystals on top added just the right kick.
"Wow. I'll be honest. I've never had a sugarplum cupcake. I just made it up. It has to do with a running joke at work." I took another bite, and it melted in my mouth. "But now I know what I've been missing."
"Terrific. I'll get you a cup of coffee to go with it. Then I'll show you to your room." She slipped into the kitchen before I could ask her what the heck she was talking about.
I walked over to a table and sat down. I was still feeling a little shaky, not so much from the accident but from everything that had happened after it, the sudden change of landscape, Holt's appearance and uncanny likeness to the game character I'd been developing a crush on for months and the Silk Stocking Inn being not just a prank but a real life place. And now the finale—sugarplum cupcakes and an innkeeper who seemed to know me better than I knew myself.
Coco returned with a steaming cup of coffee and cream to put in it. She placed it in front of me.
"It's very nice of you to open up a room for me, but I won't be staying. My friends are expecting me at Swanson's Ski Lodge. I'll be on the road just as soon as Holt pulls my car free from the snow."
Big footsteps pounded the hallway floor behind me. "Sorry, Jen, but that's not going to happen."
I spun around. Holt's shoulders spanned the entire doorway. He'd taken off his racing gear and stripped down to a black and white sweater that hugged every bulging muscle. The black snow pants and snow boots topped off the look. He truly did belong in a video game.
He lowered my suitcase to the floor. "You tweaked your front axle when you flew off the road. I towed the car up to the inn. I have a mechanic friend a few miles down the road. If you want, I can have him pick it up with his tow truck. Won't take him long to fix it."
"That would be wonderful. How soon can he be here?"
"He'll be back on the mountain tomorrow."
"What? No. That's not soon enough."
"Sorry. He's down in the city visiting his mom."
"Jeez, I knew I shouldn't have come up here. I should have listened to my more reasonable self and stayed home."
"Nonsense." Coco placed her hand on my shoulder. "You won't regret the trip up the mountain. I promise. Grab your coffee and I'll show you to your room."
Coco had this way about her that you not only didn't have a chance to protest, but you sort of didn't want to. She had such a welcoming, confident way about her, it was hard to say no to her.
Coffee in one hand and suitcase in the other, I trudged behind her, almost in a trance about everything that had happened. One minute, I was standing at my computer trying to decide why I would even consider spending the weekend in a ski lodge with Stan. The next, I was in some strange place surrounded by a flurry of impossible coincidences, including a six foot two one, who just happened to look like the game character I'd finished creating.
Was it possible I’d hit my head when the car went off the road? Even if I had, it wouldn't explain anything. Maybe what I needed was a nap. Tanya was never going to believe this.
I stopped two steps up. "Wait. I have to call my friend. She'll be worried. I think my cell phone is in the car."
"It won't matter." Coco was standing several steps up. “The inn doesn't have much reception. We are what you tech people call 'off the grid'.” My gosh, she even knew I was a techie. I should have been creeped out, but oddly enough—I wasn't. She just didn't have a creepy aura to her. She had more of an 'everything is much greener on my side of the world' thing going for her.
"If you don't mind climbing back onto the snowmobile, I can give you a ride to the gas station down the road. Best reception in a five mile radius." Holt's voice had that deep, smooth sound that could lull even the most uptight woman into an erotic spell. It sounded even better as it rumbled off the narrow stairwell.
I turned back to look at him. "As long as you don't mind. I feel like I've already cut into your racing practice. I hate to take any more of your day."
"No problem at all. Just meet me out front. Dress warm. The snow is falling harder now."
I hurried my pace and caught up to Coco on the landing.
She pushed open the door to a bedroom at the top of the stairs. It was lushly decorated in antiques, quilts and pillows. Even the curtains on the window evoked a nostalgic feeling of a past life when houses like the inn were richly decorated in floral brocade. In the center of the big room sat a massive bed with intricately carved posts and a lacy canopy dangling overhead. It was almost impossible to see the bed beneath the sea of pillows.
I stepped into the room and lowered my bag to the floor. "Do you want my credit card now or when I leave?"
"What would I need your credit card for?" Coco busied herself fluffing the already fluffy pillows on the bed.
"Uh, for the bill?"
She patted the final layer of pillows. "This is a complimentary weekend. No credit card needed."
"But—"
Coco pushed open the door to the bathroom. It was elegant and surprisingly modern, complete with a kickass soaker tub positioned under a window.
"Oh wow. Best bathroom ever. Am I allowed to use the tub?"
She laughed. "Of course. Bubble bath and a robe are in the closet. And if there's anything else you need just let me know." She headed to the door but stopped and pointed back at me. "Is homemade lasagna all right for dinner?"
"Homemade lasagna? It's my favorite."
"I know. That's why I'm cooking it." She flashed a smile, and for a second, some of the lines around her eyes that I'd seen on first glance returned. But they vanished in an instant. Then she slipped out the door. I stood in the center of the room, dumbfounded and speechless and excited as heck to try out the tub. But first I needed to ride with Holt to the best phone reception in town. Tanya would be wondering where the hell I was, and when I told her, she was going to think I'd lost my mind. And maybe I had. But if this was what crazy felt like, then sign me up for the asylum.
Chapter 5
Holt was standing next to his snowmobile looking every bit a fantasy. He held up my phone. "Thought you might need this."
I looked over at my poor little car. Something definitely looked amiss with the front end.
I zipped up my coat and pulled my beanie low over my long hair. My gloves were hardly enough to keep my fingers warm as I trudged through the snow to my waiting knight in shining leather. Fucking magnificent. It was the only phrase that popped into my head when I looked at the man. And I could only imagine how magnificently he fucked too. Even in the icy air, a blush warmed my cheeks as that little play on words flashed through my head. I'd obviously had one too many erotic daydreams about the character on my computer screen.
I stopped and waited for Holt to climb on, but instead, he stepped forward and stopped right in front of me. I considered myself to be tall for a woman, but I found myself staring right at his throat. A few tendrils of black ink outlined his Adam's apple, and I wondered what it might be like to run my lips along his neck.
Holt reached up and pulled the beanie down lower over my ears, then took hold of my wrists. He lifted my hands and looked down at my gloves. "Those are not going to keep your fingers warm."
"I noticed."
"That's all right. You can shove your hands in my coat pockets for the ride." A smile tilted his mouth. "Unless you plan on hanging onto the seat instead," he teased.
"No. Besides, we only knew each other a few minutes the first time I rode with you. Now we've known each other for a good
hour.
"So I'm not a stranger anymore."
I shook my head. "Nope."
His green eyes looked pale in the fading daylight. The dark brows and beard stubble reminded me so much of the game character, I had to take a breath to remind myself that this was all real.
"Actually, you're not a stranger at all because I feel like I've known you for a long time," I said the words so lightly it seemed they might just drift away on the falling snowflakes.
His expression should have been one of confusion, but instead, that glimmer of a smile returned. "I feel the same way about you, Jen." He climbed on the snowmobile.
I threw my leg over. This time, instead of gripping the seat, I leaned forward and pressed my body against his. He was like an impenetrable wall of steel. The idea of being wrapped in his powerful arms made me lightheaded.
I rested my hands against his sides as he started the motor. Once it roared to life, he reached back, took hold of my hands and pulled me forward so that my breasts rubbed against his back and my face could rest against his shoulders. He pushed my hands into the pockets of his coat.
"Hold on, snow angel."
Chapter 6
The gas station was open but there were no customers. Holt rolled into the parking lot. A man with glasses and a blue beanie waved from his window in the kiosk before returning to the book in his hand.
The machine slid over ice to a place near the air pump. Holt turned off the motor. “This is the best place for a phone call.”
I climbed off and pulled the phone out of my pocket. It was dead as a rock. "What the hell? But that's impossible, I just charged it. And there I am again saying 'that's impossible' when clearly it isn't."
I glanced around at the landscape. It looked surreal, covered in crystal white with the looming trees transforming into tall, shadowy beasts with many arms in the fading light. I had never seen any of it before, yet I'd traveled up the same mountain highway at least a dozen times. Even the peaks, mountain tips that were always part of the view from my apartment, were gone, as if they'd simply sunk back into the earth. Tears burned my eyes but stopped short of falling, mostly due to the icy air, which was slowly chilling me to the bone.
"Hey, are you all right?" Holt's deep voice pulled me from my sudden state of melancholy.
"Sure thing." I shook my head. "No, not really. I'm lost. I was heading up a mountain to a weekend with friends, and suddenly, I'm here. I have no idea where here is. Nothing looks familiar. It's like I dropped into some alien planet landscape." A slightly hysterical laugh popped from my mouth instead of the sob I had welling up inside of me. "My job is to create video game graphics. Maybe I just spend so much time in gaming worlds, creating creatures and landscapes, that I've lost my mind." The sob followed.
Holt moved closer. Without a second thought, I pressed myself into his arms. "You haven't lost your mind." His deep voice and strong arms warmed me. "You've just lost your way a little. We'll get you back to the warm inn, and you'll feel better."
I was still lost in an unexplained place and standing in the arms of a stranger, albeit a particularly beautiful stranger, but his simple words provided some comfort that I was going to come out of this fine. It could have been the arms too. They were really something. They made Stan's thin arms feel like wet spaghetti. And that analogy produced a laugh.
Holt leaned back to look at me. "See, you're feeling better already. Want to let me in on the joke?"
"Nope, just know this. You've got a great pair of arms."
"Do I?" His smiles never fully formed, but the cocky tilt of his lip was just one more thing that reminded me of my game hero. "Well then, let me tell you that I'm enjoying the hell out of having them wrapped around you." He lowered his mouth. I closed my eyes for a kiss that I was sure would exceed any other kiss I'd ever had. But it never came.
"I better get you home, Jen. Your lips are turning blue."
I could think of at least one way to warm them, but, it seemed that moment had sadly passed. He was right though. My bargain priced snow gear was no match for the icy weather. My limbs were starting to tingle, and I was struggling to keep my chin from trembling. Of course, all of those were symptoms that could have been brought on by Holt's near kiss too. Either way, I needed to get back to the inn.
We climbed back on the snowmobile, but before we started off on our icy ride, Holt pulled his phone out of his pocket. "Hey, my phone has reception. I don't know why I didn't think of it earlier. You could try and call your friend. Might make you feel better if you can at least let her know where you are. Or him?" he asked with a definite questioning tone.
"It's a her. My best friend Tanya would be the only person worrying about me. It's worth a try." It took me a moment to remember her number. "Jeez, that's the problem with the contact list. I can't remember anyone's number."
I pulled off my glove and slid my numb fingers over the keyboard. It rang several times and went to voicemail. "Hey, Tanya, it's me Jen. Just didn't want you to worry. I'm fine but I won't make it to the lodge. Car trouble. A friend lent me his phone because I'm having phone trouble as well. I'll see you Monday with lots to talk about. Be safe on the slopes. Bye."
Chapter 7
Perfumy bubbles billowed in the tub as I pulled off my snow boots and winter clothes. I piled them neatly in the corner. Even with fragrant steam filling the bathroom, the chill in the air coaxed me to pull on the silky robe Coco had hung in the closet. It was a shimmery pale pink and I had to admit, it went nicely with my olive complexion and brunette hair, almost as if Coco had planned it that way. Which, at this point, would not be the least bit surprising.
Through the bathroom door and the roar of the water, I heard a knock on the bedroom door. "Coming, Coco." I clamped shut the robe and hurried through the bedroom. I swung open the door. It was not Coco.
"Holt," I said on a stunned breath. I clasped together the top of the robe but it hardly mattered. The shimmery, thin fabric clung to every inch of me, giving my unexpected visitor a good image of me naked, only wrapped in pink silk. And he wasn't missing one curve.
He tilted his head slightly to the side and boldly looked at me from head to toe. "That answers the mystery of what was hiding beneath that down filled coat and snow pants. Nice."
I tried to act miffed and even added in a chin lift, but it was hard because he was so much that man I'd been dreaming about. And not in my regular, old weird dressing the neighbor's cat in my sweater and jumping into a vat of butter type of dream. The full on sex dreams where I woke up flushed and wanting to fall back asleep for more.
"Did you need something? I've got a bathtub running."
"I just wanted to give you back your keys. I didn't want to lose them."
I held up my hand, and as I did, a panel of the robe slipped open, stopping just short of my nipple. It didn't escape his notice, and if I was being honest with myself, I was a little disappointed it hadn't slipped farther. His earlier, appreciative gaze had awoken some physical stirrings, and something told me they weren't going away anytime soon.
I curled my fingers around the keys. "Thanks. I'm sorry you had to come all the way back."
He shrugged. "Wasn't that far." He looked back down the hallway. "About ten feet, give or take a few steps."
I leaned my head out. "What do you mean? Are you staying here too?"
"I'm in the next room. I stay here on my days off when I'm not working at the forest ranger station. We trade off shifts every three days."
"Forest ranger? You don't look anything like a forest ranger. When I think forest ranger, I think of a chubby little man with khaki trousers, thin belt and a big round hat, like the guy in the Yogi Bear cartoons." I waved my hand in front of him. "This is not that. At all."
"And this"—he waved his hand in front of me—"was not how I pictured a video game designer. Far from it." Uninvited, he stepped into the room. And with the way his hot gaze was warming me, I didn't have the strength to protest. His nearness was knocking me rath
er senseless.
Again, his black lashes dropped as he surveyed my flimsy robe with unabashed appreciation. When his green eyes lifted to my face, it was almost as if he'd hypnotized me into thinking I needed to drop the robe. My fingers clutched the tie around my waist, but I didn't untie it.
Fragrant steam floated into the bedroom, snapping me out of my haze. "The bath will overflow. I'm looking forward to a hot soak."
Holt nodded. "Want some company?"
I should have been stunned, and I should have responded with a slap or at least a scowl. But, apparently, my trip into the Twilight Zone had left me without any shred of propriety. Not that I had much of that to begin with, as my mom liked to remind me quite often.
I looked him up and down, in much the same manner he'd been using on me. I twisted my bottom lip in consideration. "Nope. Won't work. There's this little thing called water displacement, and I'm afraid you would send my entire bath, bubbles and all, over the edge of the tub." And that was when it struck me. I was in a cozy inn miles from—well miles from reality—and I was alone, away from people I knew, people who could gossip about me on the virtual water cooler. I was away from friends and parents who would think it their place to scold me for bad decisions. As far as I was concerned, whatever happened at the Silk Stocking Inn, stayed at the Silk Stocking Inn. And with that, I dropped my robe in the middle of the bedroom and sashayed into the bathroom, leaving the magnificent giant of a man stunned and speechless behind me.
Chapter 8
I'd been surprisingly cool, calm and collected after dropping the robe in front of Holt. But once the bedroom door snapped shut, and Holt's heavy footsteps landed on the floor behind me, I squealed and picked up my pace. I climbed into the hot tub and cloak of bubbles with such haste, I spilled a good amount on the floor.
