Business Affairs

by Shirley Rogers

  The news he had to deliver wasn’t going to make her happy. Alex had to wonder if the fates weren’t working against him, as well. He’d been able to satisfy his lust for Jennifer with a few kisses, but more time alone with her spelled trouble.

  “I’m afraid the kid was right,” he told her. “They’ve gotten six inches of freshly fallen snow since last night, and apparently it caused an unstable snowpack to slide, covering the only exit off the mountain. We’re stuck here until they can get it clear.”

  “Stuck here? How long?” She searched his face. Surely something could be done. Staying at the lodge longer with Alex wasn’t a good idea. Her willpower only went so far.

  “One. Two days at the most. It depends on the weather. The forecast is calling for more snow tonight.”

  “Alex, that’s ridiculous!” she replied, her panic growing. “We can’t stay here any longer. We have to get back to work!”

  “There’s nothing we can do but wait,” he told her, already resigned to their fate. “I’d call for a helicopter, but they’re grounded.” He steered her away from the crowd. “A lot of the people here are in the same predicament.”

  Not quite. Everyone here didn’t have making love with Alex on their mind. “What are we going to do?”

  “I’ll call the office first thing tomorrow and let them know we’re not going to be in.”

  “You can’t do that! They don’t know we’re together.” Jennifer cringed just thinking about what the staff would think if they heard she and Alex went away together.

  “It’s not a big deal, Jennifer. It’s not as if they’ll speculate as to why we’re both not coming in.”

  She’d never thought of Alex as naive, but he definitely was if he didn’t think the office rumor mill would be rampant with talk about them if they both didn’t show up for work tomorrow. “Oh, yes, they will.”

  “You’re kidding, right?” He could see she was serious.

  “No,” she stated adamantly. “Besides, I already told Paige I was going out of town for the weekend.”

  “You told Paige you were going away? Why?” He’d thought they’d agreed not to tell anyone about their trip. Finding out she’d told her administrative assistant caught him off guard.

  “She’s having some financial problems and asked if she could put in some extra hours to finish a project for me. I okayed it, but I wanted her to know I could only be reached by my cell phone.” She brainstormed a moment, then suggested, “You contact your assistant and tell her you’ve been called away on business.”

  Alex found her subterfuge amusing. “She’ll want to know what hotel I’m staying in.”

  Jennifer made a face as she thought a step further. “Okay, tell her you haven’t made the arrangements yet, but you’ll get back to her. Remind her she can reach you on your cell phone. I’ll call Paige and tell her I’m sick.”

  “You’re never sick.”

  “I caught a virus. They’re always going around.”

  Trying hard not to laugh, Alex asked, “And what if she calls you at home and you don’t answer?”

  She gave his scenario some consideration, then her face brightened. “I’ll tell her I don’t have a phone in my bedroom and if she needs me, she can call my cell phone.”

  “I don’t think we need to make up—”

  “Alex!” Jennifer glowered at him.

  “All right, all right. I’ll do whatever makes you comfortable.”

  Their plight decided, Jennifer began to focus on what she was going to do about spending a day or more alone with Alex. She could only ski so much. “I’m tired. I think I’ll take a hot bath.”

  As she started to walk away, Alex stopped her. “Wait. There’s something else we need to discuss.”

  Jennifer’s stomach formed a knot. The serious look on Alex’s face didn’t bode well. “What is it?”

  Alex jerked on the collar of his turtleneck. “We have another situation to discuss. Come on,” he said, steering her through the crowd gathered in the lobby to an area where they could sit.

  “There sure are a lot of people down here,” she commented as she took a seat on a love seat in front of the fireplace.

  “Which leads me to what I need to talk to you about,” he said, sitting beside her. He cleared his throat. “Listen, some of the people here made it up the road before the snow covered it. The rest of us can’t get down.” He waited for her to make the connection. His brows furrowed when she didn’t. “They don’t have enough rooms to accommodate everyone, so they’re asking people to share their quarters.”

  “Really?” It made sense when she thought about it. But she hated the idea of sharing her room with a stranger. Knowing her luck, she’d probably get someone who snored. “All right,” she agreed, resigning herself to her fate. “Who do I talk to?”

  He shook his head. “You don’t have to talk to anyone. I told them we’d share a room.”

  “Us? You want us to share a room?” Uh-oh. What was fate doing to her?

  “It makes sense, Jennifer,” he insisted. “I don’t know about you, but I don’t like the idea of sharing my room with a stranger.”

  She wasn’t surprised. Alex was a private person. He’d hate having some strange man in his room. “I don’t, either,” she admitted.

  “At least we’d be sharing a room with someone we know.”

  Jennifer felt as though she was caught between a rock and a very sexy hard place. “What’ll we do about sleeping arrangements?” Her instinct warned her this was trouble she didn’t need.

  “We’ll keep my room because it’s a little bigger than yours. You can take the bed. There’s a fold-out sofa I can sleep on.”

  She frowned. “Alex, you can’t sleep on a sofa bed. It’ll be too small for you. I’ll sleep there.”

  “Let’s worry about sleeping arrangements later. I just wanted to be sure you’d be okay with sharing a room with me.”

  Okay. Yeah, right. “It’s not like we have any other alternative.”

  Alex frowned at her choice of words. “We need to tell the manager which room we’re keeping.”

  “I’ll go up and get my stuff together.” Wanting to be ready to leave, she’d packed most of her things earlier.

  Alex nodded. “I’ll let the manager know we’re keeping my room, then come up and help you move your suitcases.”

  “All right.” Jennifer started for her room, her mind contemplating their situation. She was in trouble. Deep, never-gonna-get-out-of-it trouble. Though it was best if she kept Alex at a distance for the remainder of their time here, physically she didn’t want to. Not to mention her emotional state. What was she going to do, lie there and stare all night at the man she wanted desperately a few feet away? A man she was half in love with? A man she’d dreamed could father her child?

  Her emotions warred inside her. What should she do? Casey was always saying she didn’t take risks. Did she dare take one now?

  She wanted this chance to be with Alex. And she realized the truth. However much she wanted a baby, she couldn’t use Alex. If they made love, she’d ensure he used protection.

  As she headed up the stairs to her room, a part of her ached with the loss of a chance to conceive his child.

  Six

  Rapping his knuckles on her door, Alex waited for Jennifer to answer. He’d lingered in the lobby to give her time to pack her belongings, but he could only cool his heels so long. Impatient to get her moved to his room, he’d given up his vigil downstairs.

  Before she had time to change her mind.

  During the weekend he’d taken liberties with her he had no right to. From the start, kissing her had been a mistake, but when it came to fighting his attraction to her, he’d digressed.

  The two of them sharing a room changed everything.

  No more kissing.

  No more touching.

  They had to return to a platonic relationship. Maybe they’d even be friends.

  Friends, huh? You’re going to be friends wit
h Jennifer?

  All right, maybe not friends. But if he kissed her again, touched her where he ached to explore, he wouldn’t be able to stop and they’d be lovers. Then there would be no turning back. His desire for her could destroy their friendship, their work relationship—and lose him the one woman he cared about.

  So he’d keep his hands to himself, quite a feat considering that he hadn’t forgotten the sweet scent of her skin, the softness of her lips, her moan of pleasure as his tongue teased hers.

  Still, he could survive for a couple of days. Hell, he could manage a Fortune 500 business. Surely he had enough willpower to resist making love to Jennifer. Still, doubts persisted as she opened the door and gave him a bright smile. “Ready?” he asked.

  “All set.” Jennifer grabbed her smallest suitcase as Alex picked up the larger one. “I left my key card on the dresser.”

  “Great. We’ll move your luggage, then would you like to have dinner?”

  Shutting the door to her room, she followed him down the hall to his room. “Dinner sounds wonderful, but I’d like to unwind a little. I thought maybe I’d take a bath. My muscles are so sore from skiing. You didn’t warn me about that.”

  Alex caught his breath. Jennifer naked in his room. In his tub. His temperature rose a few degrees.

  Don’t panic. You’re in control.

  He instantly thought of a better idea. He’d take her somewhere where they wouldn’t be alone. “Did you bring a swimsuit?” She nodded. “I think they have an indoor hot tub. Why don’t we relax in one before dinner?” he suggested, struggling to get the image of her naked in the tub out of his mind.

  “All right.” The idea of the two of them in a hot tub made Jennifer’s pulse race. It would be the perfect opportunity to begin her seduction. Chances were they wouldn’t be alone, but she’d deal with that situation when she had to.

  The hot tub had been a bad idea. A very bad idea.

  Alex’s eyes roamed over Jennifer as she slipped off the bottoms of her sweat suit. He’d asked if she’d brought a bathing suit. The tiny scraps of scarlet masking the most fascinating part of her body could hardly be called a bathing suit. He wondered if it was even legal.

  He clamped down on his awareness as she slipped her sweat top off her shoulders, the soft material revealing her every delicious curve.

  His mouth grew dry. Oh, man. All that skin. He’d witnessed more of her in the last couple of seconds than he’d seen in the five years she’d worked for him. His gaze followed her as she climbed into the steaming, bubbling water.

  A man across the room hadn’t taken his eyes off of her, and Alex shot him a warning glare. What had she been thinking, wearing something so revealing? It was all he could do not to cover her with a towel.

  Her breasts strained against the material covering them as she settled into the tub, the heat and water outlining her breasts. They refused to go under. Floating on the surface, they boasted her cleavage. His mouth watered. All of his blood seemed to have set up camp in his groin.

  Determined to get into the hot tub before he embarrassed himself, he pulled off his sweats and climbed in. Slipping next to her, he was careful not to touch her.

  The only other two occupants were a man and a woman who got up to leave just as Alex sat back and rested his arms along the sides. They smiled politely, then climbed out. Taking slow, deep breaths, he tried not to panic. Now he was alone with her. Alone.

  “Do you think we chased them away?” Jennifer asked. Turning to face Alex, she met his unrelenting stare. His facial muscles were tense, and a muscle along his jawline twitched. “I was just kidding.”

  “I know,” Alex replied, his voice strained.

  Jennifer gave him a quizzical look. “Is something wrong?”

  “There is if you think what you have on constitutes a bathing suit.” The minute the words were out of his mouth, Alex wished them back. But there they were, out there in the open.

  In an instant Jennifer’s hopes of seducing Alex vanished. Stunned by his blunt remark, she pulled back. “I’m sorry if I embarrassed you,” she murmured, and began to get up.

  Alex grabbed her by the arm and hauled her back down. “I’m not embarrassed.” He cursed under his breath. How the hell was he going to explain what he’d meant without making the situation worse?

  The truth is, I want you. But I can’t have you. And I don’t want anyone else to have you, either.

  Hell, he couldn’t say that to her. His gaze sought hers. He’d hurt her feelings. “Look, I didn’t mean to—” She wouldn’t look at him. Alex lifted her face with his hand until she had no choice but to meet his gaze. “I was out of line. I’m sorry.”

  “Forget it.” She tried to pull her arm away, but he held her firmly. The momentum of the water from the swirling jets carried her toward him. He put his arm around her and her skin tingled with awareness.

  “I said what I did because you’re hot.” Alex hadn’t had any intention of saying that, either. It just popped out of his mouth. Before he could stop himself, he dug himself into a deeper hole. “So hot, I keep forgetting I promised to keep things between us simple and uncomplicated. All I can think about is what it would be like to strip your bathing suit off of you and touch every inch of your body.”

  Jennifer’s mouth dropped open. Comprehending his words took her full concentration, which was hard to accomplish given what he’d just said. “Oh.” She’d been thinking about seducing Alex, had planned to lure him to bed with her. A night of sex with the man she’d wanted for what seemed like a lifetime. She hadn’t planned on having his help.

  Alex ran his hand up her back to her neck. “God, Jennifer, I’m sorry. I know I’m way out of line.”

  Leaning toward him, she said quietly, “As compliments go, yours was a whopper.” She traced his lips with her finger. “I’ll admit when you suggested we go on this ski trip, I was worried about spending time alone with you. But I’d be lying if I said I didn’t find you attractive. And tempting.” More tempting than she’d ever admit.

  “I shouldn’t have kissed you the first night we arrived.”

  “I’m as much to blame. I shouldn’t have allowed it.”

  “It only made me want to kiss you again.”

  “I liked kissing you,” she admitted on a whisper. “It’s been a long time since I enjoyed kissing so much.”

  Alex groaned. It didn’t help his control to hear how much she liked kissing him. If she’d told him she hated his kisses, he’d have stood a chance of living without knowing what it would be like to touch her body. Now, he’d always wonder what it would have been like between them.

  Alex moved away from her, thinking it would be a good idea to go to dinner. Maybe he’d slip into the bar later, get drunk enough to forget she was going to be sleeping in the same room with him.

  “Uh, this might be the right time to go to dinner.” He wanted to get out of the hot tub before he did something stupid. Such as invite her to his bed where she damn well needed to be. “I’m starving. How about you?”

  She smiled at his retreat. “Yes, I am.” She didn’t add she was starving—for him.

  Knowing in his condition there was no way he could walk at the moment, he motioned for her to get out of the hot tub first. Climbing over the side, she picked up her towel and began to dry herself. Alex watched as she patted her beautiful skin with the white cloth. When she dabbed it between her breasts, he almost came apart.

  “Toss me a towel,” he called, wanting to cover himself. He’d been aroused since she peeled off her clothes and stood in front of him in next to nothing.

  Damn, he needed to take a lap or two up the freezing mountain.

  “Sure.”

  She grabbed one of the white towels and pitched it to him. It made her breasts jiggle. Groaning, Alex wrapped the towel around himself and managed to get out of the hot tub without making a complete fool of himself.

  Jennifer slowly dried herself, her eyes on Alex as he hastily snatched his clothes f
rom a nearby chair. Learning he wanted her gave her a high no business deal could compete with. Excitement raced through her at the thought of being with him.

  Just once, she promised herself.

  Oh, she knew if they had sex, it wouldn’t mean anything special to Alex. His reputation with women was well-known and well-documented. She’d seen the parade of women in and out of his life. While she didn’t want to be one of the many women in his past, it was easier to accept knowing she was getting something she’d always wanted.

  Alex.

  All right, maybe not forever, but for tonight at least, he was all hers. Still, this would only work if she made it clear that when they left the ski resort, they would agree not to cross the boundaries of boss and employee again. Once they were back at the office, nothing intimate could happen between them. She couldn’t have an affair with him and work for him. Because one day Alex would end things with her and she’d lose more than just her job. She’d lose her heart.

  Could she return to work and forget making love with him? Honestly? No, she could never forget being with him. But she could pretend not to remember. And it wouldn’t be that long. She was still planning to visit the fertility clinic. When she got pregnant, she was going to quit her job. Her time with Alex was limited. So yes, this time she was going to let go. If only for a little while.

  Even so, the only way she’d be able to do this was with Alex’s promise. She wanted to be the one in control, the one making the decision to end things between them on good terms.

  “Ready?” she asked.

  Alex grunted something and she smiled to herself as they silently walked to their room. Glancing at him, she hummed a tune.

  Forcing a smile, Alex decided he needed a plan. Something to get his mind off of touching her. Maybe he’d go night skiing. He would have to find out how long they kept the slopes open.

  Once inside their room, Jennifer turned to look at him. “Is it okay if I use the bathroom first?”