At some point she turned toward the window and stared out among the clouds. It, too, had a way of isolating and illuminating the loneliness she felt. Cheer up. You’re on vacation. You’re going to have a good time. She sucked in a deep breath and stretched her smile a little wider. It was hard because she was going to be just what she didn’t want: a third wheel.
The spectacular vistas of Powder Mountain instantly captured Anna’s imagination. It was over seven thousand acres covering three mountains and Anna had read that the place had more than a hundred and thirty-five runs so that there was no fear of having to deal with crowds.
The white alpine mountains were postcard perfect and the air was so crisp it gave her a natural high. Now she was actually looking forward to tackling the hiking and ski trails. The Deer Mountain resort rented slope-side ski lodges with sweeping views of a number of trails. Powder Mountain averaged five hundred inches of snow and had ski-terrain ranges from plow-deep powder backcountry to finely groomed corduroy for beginners to advanced-level skiers.
However, one could never quite plan for the cold. In just a couple of seconds after stepping out of the yellow Hummer rental, Anna was freezing.
“Oh, my God!” Thick white clouds puffed around her face as she sucked in the thin air.
Gisella was moving as fast as she could when they made a mad dash for the door.
“I take it that I’m not going to get that much help with the bags?” Charlie laughed.
“We’ll see you inside, honey,” Gisella yelled without a backward glance. Once they were inside the lodge, they immediately doubled over and sighed as if they hadn’t been around heat in eons.
“Good evening. May I help you?” a chirpy blond behind the front desk inquired.
“Ah, yes.” Gisella headed over to the desk with Anna trailing behind. “We have a reservation under Masters.”
The woman pulled open a thick book and then ran her fingers down a long column. “Ah, Masters. We have you down for two cabins.”
“Oh, ah…” Gisella turned toward her sister. “We made the reservation when we thought a few more people were coming. Maybe we should just get one and ask for a cot?”
“No. No. That’s all right. I’ll take the other cabin by myself.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah. Of course.” The last thing Anna wanted to be was a third wheel inside a newlywed’s room, and they were still technically newlyweds.
Gisella cocked her head with one of those sympathy smiles married women usually gave brave singles whenever they flashed their independence. The resort’s lone valet finally rushed out and helped Charlie lug in all the bags.
Anna thought that there had to be some mistake when Charlie only brought three bags to her room. She had to have packed at least twelve bags, but given the exhausted look on Charlie’s face she simply smiled and thanked him. Once she was alone, she headed straight over to the queen-size bed and fell across it, face-first. Her moment of solace only lasted for a few minutes before her phone rang.
“So you want to try to hit the slopes before dinner or do you just want to get situated and then head to dinner?” Gisella asked excitedly. With it already being late afternoon, Anna figured that they only had an hour before the sun took a nosedive. “Situated and then dinner,” she decided and realized that she had said the right answer when she heard Charlie’s “Thank God” in the background.
“All right. I’ll call you back in…let’s say, two hours?”
“Sounds good.” Anna hung up and then glanced around her big spacious cabin and could feel the solitude creep back into her bones.
Taariq struggled to keep his cool while he watched Delta post delay after delay for his flight to Utah. Had he not had an important meeting at his firm today then he would have flown out with Charlie and the family. As it was now, he was stuck at Hartsfield-Jackson Airport hoping and begging for a standby ticket. He did everything he could think of—charm, cajole and even bribe the woman behind the ticket counter.
When a seat finally became available, he was ready to leap up like he’d suddenly gotten the Holy Ghost. However, when he calculated his estimated time of arrival, he realized that he probably wouldn’t make it out to the ski resort until damn near two in the morning. Still, it would be worth it if he could finally get to the bottom of this animosity that Anna had toward him.
It was still a mystery why it bothered him so much. He wasn’t one of those people who had to have people like him. He wasn’t a vain egomaniac or anything. Far from it. Maybe once he got some answers, he could stop dreaming and obsessing over her.
When he woke up in the morning, he thought about her.
When he was preparing depositions, he thought about her.
When he was with the boys, he thought about her.
And, of course, when he went to bed at night, he thought about her.
Taariq had to go on this trip and confront Anna once and for all. This whole thing was messing up his mojo. Hell, he hadn’t been on a date in months and if Stanley ever took her out on a date, he was afraid that he would send his boy back to the hospital. How screwed up was that?
During the whole flight, Taariq kept practicing in his head how he’d go about approaching Anna about this situation. With it just being the four of them, it wasn’t like she could simply avoid him—not easily anyway. He’d play it cool and try not to upset her too much, even though she seemed easily upsetable.
He thought about it some more. Maybe he was more like Hylan than he thought? He was attracted to slightly crazy women, too. Attracted. That word kept popping up even though Anna’s whole conservative vibe wasn’t something he normally went for.
She didn’t always dress like that. A vision of nineteen-year-old Anna standing at a frat party dressed in a tight black dress that left little to the imagination flashed in his mind. She had legs that went for days and an elegant collarbone that begged him to plant a string of kisses across it. The memory brought a smile to his face. There was a lot he liked about that night…and a lot he regretted.
Dinner was as uncomfortable as Anna had feared it would be. There were more baby and adorable marital stories than Anna knew what to do with. Plus, Gisella had the need to keep calling Charlie’s mother to check in or remind her mother-in-law of junior’s little idiosyncrasies, like needing to sleep with his favorite blankie or what song to sing when rocking him to sleep.
She loved her sister and Charlie, but it was all starting to be too much. The one thing she was looking forward to was hitting the slopes in the morning. By the end of dinner, it was clear that they were all exhausted and ready to head back up to their cabins.
After a nice long shower, Anna pinned up her hair and put on a cool avocado mask and then worked a healthy dose of cocoa butter into her skin before climbing into bed and turning on her waterfall CD. She thought about reading, but exhaustion finally settled in and she was out like a light before she knew it.
At exactly 2:00 a.m. Taariq climbed out of a freezing cab at the Deer Mountain resort. He’d only managed to take two steps before he hit a sheet of black ice and his legs went flying out from under him.
“Oomph!” He landed flat on his back and smacked his head.
“Sir! Are you all right?” The cab driver rushed around the vehicle.
Since every ounce of air had evacuated his entire body, it took Taariq a moment to clear his head. “Yeah, I think I’m all right.” He attempted to move, but pain, unbelievable pain ricocheted in places he had long forgotten about. It took some work, but with the cab driver’s help, they managed to peel him off the ground. Of course, he ended up hobbling into the resort like an old man in need of a walker.
Taariq tapped the bell on the counter until an older white gentleman in a thick blue-checkered robe shuffled from around the corner.
“Morning,” he said, then coughed to clear his throat. “You’re coming in rather early.”
“Or late,” Taariq corrected. “I’m with the Masters’s party.
They should’ve checked in earlier today.”
The older gentleman pulled out a pair of lined bifocals from his pocket and then opened a thick ledger to scroll for the name. “Masters. Masters. Masters—oh, here we are. Party of four, two cabins.” He turned around to a big board and pulled out a key. “Here you go. Cabin 4. I’ll just need for you to sign your big John Hancock right here and right here.”
Taariq took the pen and signed for the key. He needed to hold it together for just a few more minutes and then he could collapse into a nice big bed and put this entire day behind him. Tomorrow he’d figure out a plan to talk to Anna.
Chapter 17
Getting to cabin 4 required another trip outside through the blistering cold and invisible ice patches. Taariq experienced a few close calls where he nearly slipped and slid, but with his ingenius use of helicopter arms, he managed to stay on his feet. But he’d never felt more relieved than when he finally reached his destination. He nearly melted on the spot when he entered the cabin’s welcoming warmth. The difference from being outside and inside was the equivalent of heaven and hell. Hopefully it would be a little warmer in the morning.
Seeing the roaring fire, Taariq pulled off his gloves and made a beeline over to the glowing flames so that he could warm up faster. “Good ole Charlie,” he mumbled under his breath. He must have stood there for a good ten minutes with his hands held out as close to the fire as he could possibly get before feeling comfortable enough to strip out of two layers of clothes. Next, he dug out a few items from his bags and went straight to the bathroom for a thirty-minute steaming-hot shower.
Anna stirred gently in the bed before curling away from the bathroom door; she didn’t pick up on the subtle change in the relaxing sounds of her waterfall CD. Instead she just barreled deeper underneath the covers and released a dreamy sigh when an image of Taariq floated across her head. In her dreams it was impossible for her to hold on to her anger. In fact the only thing that they seemed able to do in her fantasies was tear each other’s clothes off.
In dreams was also where Anna truly let her hair down like she did that one night so long ago….
In tonight’s fantasy she wore a sexy black silk number with lace peekaboo sides. When she stood posing before Taariq’s greedy eyes, she could see his pleasure by his rising erection in his black briefs.
“Do you like?” she asked him, spinning around.
“Like? I love.” He moved toward her with the strong, muscled legs that she loved so much and pulled her into his arms.
Anna tossed her hair back with a throaty laugh and he instantly went to work raining kisses down her long neck and across her scented collarbone…
By the time Taariq shut off the shower the entire bathroom was one big steam room. At least this frozen hellhole had a great water heater. He grabbed one of the towels and proceeded to wipe the condensation from the mirror. He briefly checked out his side profiles. It was important that he brought his A-game tomorrow when he saw Anna.
“Now how could she say no to this face?” he asked himself. It was meant to be a confidence booster because Anna had been saying no for a while now. Taariq glanced down at his body. He flexed his pec muscles one at a time. I still got it.
He turned from the mirror and continued to pat the remaining moisture from his body. When he exited the bathroom, he saw something move in the bed and heard the sound of falling water.
“What the hell are you listening to, man?” He shook his head. Married life must’ve really changed his brother if he was reduced to listening to mood music to fall asleep. Then he glanced around and frowned. “Why on earth did you book one bed?”
No response.
The brother must really be tired. Taariq strolled back over to his bags while he wrapped his towel around his waist. Hopefully, he didn’t forget to pack some pajamas. But the more he thought about it, he didn’t really own any pajamas.
Anna squirmed underneath the covers….
Taariq had her body pressed against him while his large hands roamed freely over her soft skin and sexy lingerie. Bumping up against her butt was his still-growing erection. She hesitated to even guess how big it was now. She just knew that she liked the way that it teased her through their thin clothing—so much so that she started rotating her hips and pushing back up on it.
“Hmm. Now what are you trying to do?” He let her work it for a bit.
Anna listened to how his breathing changed and even how he dropped a few moans. Meanwhile, his hands kept roaming and caressing until they worked their way up and had her full breasts pressed into the palms of his hands—then it was her turn to start moaning.
“Ah. You like that, do you?”
“Mmm-hmm.” She leaned her head back in a way that gave him easy access to her neck. He instantly picked up on the hint and lowered his lips to plant those wonderful kisses.
When her moans grew louder, Taariq gave her breasts gentle squeezes until her nipples poked out like marbles. “Now let me see what we’re working with tonight.”
There was a brief wave of disappointment, but that disappeared the moment he tugged down the thin straps of her dainty teddy. Suddenly those lips started moving south and landed on one of her exposed shoulders. His hands returned to her breasts. This time it was flesh against flesh.
Anna sucked in a ragged breath and struggled to keep her legs from collapsing underneath her. The slow seduction started fraying the edges of her sanity. She wanted this torture to end and end soon.
Taariq slipped on a fresh pair of boxers and glanced back over at the bed. Was Charlie having a bad dream? Probably thinks that he’s dying again. He chuckled under his breath and then moved over to the sofa. Him and his boy were tight, but he wasn’t about to climb into bed with him. He plopped down and then gathered a couple of throw pillows together. The room was at a decent temperature so he didn’t bother searching for any covers. He was just content to lay his aching body down in front of the dying fire and go to sleep.
But that only worked for about five minutes. What is this sofa made of—bricks? There was no way that he could sleep on that damn thing. He glanced up at the bed, but still wasn’t cool with the idea of sharing a bed with his longtime buddy. Of course, the other option was the floor. “Good Lord.” Can this day get any worse? Heaving in frustration, Taariq climbed to his feet and shuffled over to the bed. Now that the flames in the fireplace had faded to just glowing embers, the cabin had plunged into total darkness. The only sounds were the howling winds outside and that crazy waterfall CD playing from the clock radio on the other side of the bed. “Don’t take this the wrong way, brother. But I’m just not that into you.” He grabbed two pillows from his side of the bed and lined them in the center of the bed before climbing into it.
Taariq sighed contentedly as he melted into the fluffy pillow-top and tucked his last remaining pillow under his head. Immediately afterward, his eyes drifted close and a vision of Anna greeted him…
One foot away from him, Anna’s mouth sagged against the pillow….
Taariq slowly turned her body around so that his head and kisses could continue their southern descent. His tongue flicked wickedly against her hard nipple once…twice and then he gently sucked it in whole between his lips.
“Mmm.” She grasped his head, making it clear that she wanted him to stay right there. Anna could feel him smile against her breasts. That was okay as long as he continued his wonderful suckling.
In the meantime, Taariq’s hands were still busy working their magic, peeling her black teddy down over the curves of her hips and then letting it fall the rest of the way to the floor. He finished putting a glossy coat on one nipple and then turned his head so that he could go to work on the other one.
Anna’s grip loosened slightly so that he could maneuver but she was now losing herself to the feel of his hands traveling up her trembling thighs.
“Open up for me,” he whispered.
He certainly didn’t have to ask twice. Anna took a single s
tep to the side and Taariq’s large probing fingers slid across the silky hairs lining her brown lips. Without having to be asked, she widened her stance.
Taariq chuckled at her open eagerness but also wanted to give her a reward. He sprang his mouth off her delicious nipple and then moved his head to the valley between her twin peaks and then slowly unrolled his glistening pink tongue and let it glide all the way down the center of her body…
On the other side of the bed…
Taariq envisioned him and Anna standing beneath a spotlight in the center of the dance floor. She appeared as a goddess in a sleek, sexy, one-shoulder red dress. He stood before her in a black tux and, from behind his back, produced a single red rose with a short stem. She smiled and Taariq slid the rose into the strands on the left side of her head.
“Beautiful,” he whispered.
Anna smiled demurely and then allowed him to lift her hands in position. Suddenly an invisible DJ threw on some hot Latin music and off they danced in a dizzying and hypnotic rhythm. Even though in the recesses of his mind he knew that he didn’t know how to salsa dance, in his dream, he moved like he’d been dancing like this…with her…for forever.
It didn’t make sense, but yet it was so perfect. They were perfect.
Soon, he was spinning her around like a bottle top. When she finally came to rest in his arms, both were out of breath and staring into each other’s eyes as though they were trying to get lost in them.
My Only Desire Page 14
