Snowbound with the CEO

by Stacey, Shannon

  Instead she pulled her door closed behind her and smiled. “Ready?”

  He took her hand as they walked to the elevator and kept hold of it for the ride down to the main floor. The professional her, who had spent so long making sure there was no visual evidence of her attraction to Adrian, wondered if he’d let go when the doors opened. When he didn’t, she forced herself to relax. If the few employees who knew she worked for him wanted to judge, more power to them.

  Somehow she didn’t think that attitude would be so easy to maintain back in the office.

  Adrian led her to the smaller, more intimate dining room, and she assumed he must have called ahead because the hostess greeted him by name and ushered them to a semi-private table with a stunning view of the lake. It was slightly obscured by the weather, but still a gorgeous backdrop for a meal.

  And, more importantly, there was already coffee on the table and the hostess poured them each a cup from the carafe. “Mr. Blackstone indicated you’d both have the breakfast buffet, so please feel free to serve yourselves whenever you’re ready.”

  “Thank you,” Rachel said. Then, when they were alone, she looked at Adrian. “You’re pretty good at the management thing yourself.”

  “Must be all the time I’ve spent watching you.”

  The innuendo in his tone made her blush, and she looked toward the buffet. “That smells amazing.”

  Adrian stood and stepped around the table to help pull back her chair as she stood. “Let’s see what they have.”

  Rachel ended up with an English muffin and an egg white omelet stuffed with mushrooms and cheese, while Adrian chose scrambled eggs, toast, home fries, and as much bacon as he could put on his plate without any slices sliding off onto the floor.

  Once they were seated, she reached across the table and snagged a slice. “I think you can spare one.”

  Red tinted his cheeks. “Bacon was a very rare treat when I was growing up. Even though I’ve been financially secure for a while now, I can’t seem to control myself when it comes to bacon at an all-you-can-eat buffet.”

  “Speaking of you growing up, I think you promised me a story.”

  “I did, huh?” He winked at her, his egg-laden fork paused halfway to his mouth. “Once upon a time, there was a naughty secretary...”

  Rachel almost choked on the bite of English muffin she’d taken. “Adrian!”

  The slow grin he gave her made her senses sizzle. “I guess that’s more of a bedtime story. I’ll save that one for tonight.”

  Her breath caught as she realized what he was saying. Adrian was either hoping or taking for granted she’d spend the night with him again and she wasn’t sure how to react to that.

  “I told you one night wouldn’t be enough,” he said in a low voice that sent a shiver down her spine. “I haven’t even begun to get you out of my system.”

  The flames of desire flickered and burned down a little. How this fling would affect her professionally was still to be determined, but at least she knew what was going on in her personal life. Adrian was simply getting her out of his system.

  Not very flattering, but maybe she could do the same. They’d burn off the chemistry between them and then they could go back to normal.

  “Tell me how Blackstone Historical Renovations came to be.”

  He shrugged. “My dad was very old school and took a lot of pride in everything he built. I felt that. And when I worked with a guy who did post and beam, it was sad how many people wanted to tear down houses and do new construction because of amenities. It just all came together for me at some point. I wanted to preserve yesterday’s buildings for tomorrow’s generations.”

  Pointing her fork at him, she shook her head. “That last line’s in your PR bullet points.”

  “Guilty. But it’s still the truth.”

  They lingered over their breakfast while Adrian told her stories about his early days in building. He was totally relaxed and each time she told herself she should go to her room, he’d launch into another and she’d find herself listening and laughing.

  She could always work later.

  * * *

  By mid-afternoon, the storm was abating and a few hours later, all that was coming down were the kind of fat snowflakes you caught on your tongue when you were a kid. Adrian watched them fall from his chair in front of the crackling fireplace. With Rachel sitting across from him, pondering the chess board and her next move, he thought it was one of the best days he’d had in a very long time.

  After breakfast, he’d offered to show her around the hotel. Part of it was pride. The Mount Lafayette was a building he was extremely proud of and he wanted to show it off to her. But it also bought him more time before she went back to her room to work. He was afraid if that happened, she might stay in there.

  After the tour, they’d ended up in one of the sitting rooms scattered throughout the resort and he’d asked that the gas fireplace be lit. The pine boughs hung in the room gave the room a Christmas scent, lightly spiced up by unlit cranberry candles placed on the end tables.

  Time and the storm passed while they relaxed, talking about everything from work to their favorite television shows to best Christmases.

  “The year I got my Cabbage Patch doll,” Rachel said. “It looked like me and had a real birth certificate and everything. I’d never wanted anything the way I wanted that doll.”

  He liked the way her face softened at the memory. He guessed she was probably a fairly serious child, except for when she laughed. Even as a kid that laugh had probably attracted attention.

  “What about yours?” she prodded. “What was your best Christmas?”

  He had to think about it. “We didn’t have much, but Christmas was always my favorite day. My dad and I always cut our tree from the back woods, and my mom and I would string the lights and then hang homemade decorations I made over the years. But the year I was eleven, my gift was a brand-new pocket knife. Then the next year, I carved a star for the top of the tree. My dad ran his hands over it and got a little choked up. Said the way I had with wood did him proud. They still put it on the tree every year.”

  Even now, the memory made his heart clutch. And, judging by her misty eyes, his emotion wasn’t lost on Rachel, either. But before he could say anything else, her phone rang. He knew her well enough to know she wouldn’t ignore it.

  It wasn’t anybody from the office. She was on friendly terms with the entire staff, and it sounded like the person on the other end wasn’t somebody she knew very well. She mostly listened for a few minutes, and then thanked whoever was on the other end before ending the call.

  She sighed. “Good news. They’ve got the roads open, which means we can head back to the city if we’re careful.”

  He didn’t think that was good news at all. As soon as they got in his SUV and he pointed it toward Boston, he had no doubt Rachel would start calling him Mr. Blackstone again.

  “Of course, if you’re not comfortable driving in iffy conditions, we can wait until morning,” she continued.

  He got the feeling she wasn’t any happier about the highway being cleared than he was. “Or we can take the weekend.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “It’s Friday and it would be late by the time we got home. Why not enjoy the weekend here and go home Sunday?”

  “I...I don’t know.” She looked down at her phone, as if it would offer up an answer. “I don’t even know if our rooms are available.”

  Logistics, he could handle. He wanted to know how she felt about spending the weekend with him. “I’ll take care of that. And I was thinking we’d only need one room, which makes it easier.”

  He couldn’t really make the invitation any more blatant than that without spelling it out. And now that they were free to leave, he was surprised by how much it meant to him that
she choose to stay.

  “Do you really think that’s a good idea?”

  “I think it’s the best idea I’ve ever had.” He gave her what he thought of as his charming smile, since that’s what his mother had always called it when he tried using it on her. “What happens in New Hampshire stays in New Hampshire. Like Vegas, only a lot colder.”

  “How can I pass up an invitation like that?”

  Her eyes met his, simmering with everything he felt inside, and he knew that one of the best days he’d ever had was going to turn into one of the best weekends ever.

  Chapter Four

  Rachel transferred the contents of the top dresser drawer back to her suitcase, then added the few items left hanging in the closet. If she hung them up again as soon as they got to Adrian’s room, she shouldn’t have to press them again.

  “It’s two doors down. Why can’t we just carry it all in a few trips?”

  She looked at Adrian, who had sprawled in the armchair after she refused his help packing. “I’m not carrying my underwear down the hall, no matter how few doors it is.”

  “I could walk behind you and pick up any you drop.”

  She laughed and carefully double-checked each drawer to make sure she hadn’t missed anything. Then she went into the bathroom to do a final sweep of the vanity. When she caught sight of herself in the mirror, she stopped, staring at her reflection.

  Sharing a hotel room with Adrian Blackstone. Even though she’d gone through the motions of packing up her belongings, she could still hardly believe it was happening. And she wasn’t sure it should be happening.

  Spending one night together after a few too many drinks in the bar was one thing. Then they’d spent the day together, which wasn’t particularly newsworthy in and of itself. They spent many days together in the office and while traveling. But today had been different. They’d been almost like a couple. Sharing a hotel room was only going to amplify that sense of being a couple rather than two people having a quick fling to burn off the chemistry between them.

  When Adrian’s face appeared in the mirror, Rachel jumped a little and watched the blush spread across her cheeks. When he wrapped his arms around her waist and rested his chin on her shoulder, their reflected gazes locked.

  “While your mind is one of the things I find sexiest about you,” he said, “I get the feeling you’re thinking too hard right now.”

  There was too much at stake not to think hard about it. Thinking, however, was hard to do now that his body was pressed against hers and his breath was blowing across her cheek. “It’s too late now. We told them I was vacating this room.”

  “It’s never too late.” He kissed the side of her neck before meeting her gaze in the mirror again. “We can get a second room. Or, with the roads open now, I can go stay at that motel we passed on the way in.”

  While the words were comforting to hear, as soon as he said them, Rachel knew that wasn’t what she wanted. If this time in New Hampshire was all the time she’d have with Adrian outside of work, she intended to make the most of every minute. “Are you trying to get out of that romantic dinner you promised me?”

  “Not a chance.” His hands slid down her hips. “Let’s give this room back to housekeeping before I forget we’re not supposed to be here anymore.”

  They were able to move her belongings in one trip and, when his door closed behind them, she suddenly felt incredibly awkward. Even though she’d spent the night in this room, it was different somehow. Now it was their room.

  Housekeeping had been through it, obviously, as the bed they’d messed up together was neatly made and everything was immaculate. Habit got her moving and she hung her clothes in the closet next to Adrian’s and took the empty second dresser drawer.

  “They didn’t give me any decaf for after dinner,” he muttered, digging through the coffee packets housekeeping had replenished.

  Now that she could handle. Back on familiar footing, Rachel started for the phone. “I’ll call down and have them bring some up.”

  Adrian caught her halfway to the phone and hauled her up against his body. “Hey. You’re off the clock, Ms. Carter.”

  “It’ll only take me a second.”

  “I bet it would only take me a second to get you naked.” He made a growling sound against her neck that made her laugh.

  “I haven’t finished unpacking yet.”

  “Am I disrupting your organizational plan?”

  He was disrupting everything from her organizational plan to her ability to form a coherent and logical thought. Then he kissed her, his fingers working at the buttons on her blouse, and she forgot all about her halfway-unpacked suitcase.

  “Let’s go over my schedule for the evening.” He freed the last button and pushed her blouse off her shoulders. “We can go down to the dining room and have a fancy, romantic dinner.”

  That sounded so much less appealing than it had earlier, before his thumbs were stroking her nipples through the thin fabric of her bra. “Or?”

  “Or, I can make love to you, order room service and then make love to you again.”

  Rachel threw back her head as he began blazing a trail of hot kisses down her throat. “I do believe, Mr. Blackstone, that option B would be the most efficient use of your time.”

  He tugged her toward the bed they would share for the rest of the weekend, his dark gaze smoldering as it ran over her body. “Then let’s see how efficiently I can get those clothes off.”

  * * *

  Saturday morning dawned calm and clear, with the sun reflecting off the icy trees and landscape. The sun’s glare was deceptive, though, and Rachel shivered in the chilly air.

  “Are you cold?”

  She squeezed Adrian’s glove-covered hand. “Not cold enough to go back inside.”

  After they’d finally rolled out of bed and devoured a room service breakfast to replenish their strength after a long night of lovemaking, Adrian had suggested they go outside for a walk. Since her muscles were just slightly sore, though in a good way, and she was thankful the activity didn’t involve skis, she’d agreed.

  They each had a coat, gloves and boots in Adrian’s SUV, since only idiots went on a winter road trip in New England without them, but Rachel had stopped in the hotel shop to buy a pretty scarf that had caught her eye on Friday. Now they were walking hand-in-hand along the resort’s scenic paths, which had already been cleared by the grounds crew. It was quiet and romantic, and it would have to turn a lot colder for Rachel to want the walk to end.

  She felt a need to fill the silence, though. If she gave her thoughts too much freedom to wander, they started wandering toward how this weekend would affect their working relationship and she was trying not to do that. This was like a Christmas present she was giving herself and she’d worry about the repercussions later.

  “The sun’s beautiful when it reflects off the ice in the trees,” she said. “I don’t spend a lot of time outside in the winter, plus we don’t really have views like this in the city.”

  “What do you do when you’re not at the office?” he asked.

  “Sleep.”

  He laughed and shook his head. “Come on. I don’t work you that hard.”

  “When I’m not at work I do errands and my laundry and clean my apartment. Stuff like that. I’m not really a club kind of person, but I go to the movies a lot with my friends. Then there’s shopping. And reading. I like to cook, too. How about you?”

  “If I have a few days off in a row, I usually try to go home to Vermont. Other than that, I work a lot. I read a lot of trade publications and I like to travel, so to speak, via the internet. You can see almost any place on the planet online. And I try to take in a Bruins game with some friends now and then.”

  It was first-date chit-chat, and that made Rachel smile. They’d known each ot
her a long time but, when it came to their personal lives, there was still a lot of mystery. For instance, she hadn’t had any idea he was a hockey fan. Unlike some employers she’d worked for in the past, he didn’t ask or expect her to manage his personal affairs.

  “I don’t know a lot about hockey,” she confessed. “But my dad’s a huge baseball fan. It’s one of the reasons he didn’t fight my mom when she suggested moving to Florida. Spring training.”

  “I played baseball when I was a kid. Star pitcher, actually.”

  “Nobody ever says they were a lousy pitcher. Everybody was a star.”

  He made an affronted sound and stopped walking. “You don’t believe me?”

  “I didn’t say that. I was just making an observation.” She tried not to laugh at his offended expression, but failed.

  “Watch this.” He walked off to a snowbank and packed a snowball. Then he pointed at a sign a ways off. When he threw the snowball and it smacked the center of the sign, he turned with a smug grin.

  The snowball she’d hastily packed hit him in the chest and she laughed until he bent to scoop more snow into his hands. Then, with a squeal, she ducked behind a huge tree and tried to build a snow arsenal of her own.

  The battle raged for a while, both of them dodging from cover to cover, until she was breathless and roasting in her coat. Then she caught him out in the open, unarmed, and launched her last snowball. He turned at the last second, so the deliberately soft ball exploded in his hair.

  With a roar, he charged and took her down into a snowbank, landing on top of her. “I think you left out a little detail about your upbringing.”

  She gave him an innocent look. “Oh, didn’t I mention the high school softball championships?”

  “Star pitcher?”

  “Catcher, actually.”

  “Ah. That explains your cynicism toward pitchers.”