“No, wait,” she said, twisting under the covers. She reached down, taking his cock into her soft, smooth hands. Then she angled herself downward, moving him from her palms to the wet heat of her mouth. When she started to suck, he groaned, moving on his own toward the juncture of her thighs. With all the concentration he could muster, he parted the auburn curls at her opening, pressing his fingers into her slowly, his penetration eased by her growing dampness. She moaned around his penis, the sound stroking him as softly as her tongue. Colin leaned forward, exchanging fingers for his mouth. He caressed her softly, first with his teeth, then by flicking his tongue and tasting her honeyed wetness. She gasped and bucked against him in surprise, then her thighs eagerly parted to give him better access. He continued tracing her clit with his tongue as his finger moved in and out slowly, pressing inside her, searching for the elusive spot of her pleasure.
She hummed, increasing her speed slightly, taking him deeply into her mouth, her hands cupping his balls and tracing them with featherlight delicacy. He almost came then and there but fought his way back from the edge, moving his mouth and fingers in careful orchestration. She was moving more frantically now, and he struggled for self-control.
She pulled away, her breath coming in short, panting gasps. “I want to feel your cock inside me,” she said.
She didn’t need to ask twice. He grabbed the condom, rolling it on hastily with shaking hands. She pressed him against the mattress, tossing the covers aside, then lowered herself inch by inch onto his hard, eager erection. He groaned softly as she enveloped him in her wet softness. “That feels so good,” he muttered through gritted teeth. She lifted herself up, then slid back down even more slowly, her thighs clenching together, her body tightening around him. He lifted his hips, burying himself deeper inside her. She swiveled slightly, and his world went gray around the edges.
“Emily,” he murmured, clutching her hips, grinding her against him. She twined her legs with his, her breathing turning shallow and quick as she moved with force, sliding her clit along his cock, rubbing it where the shaft met his body. She made soft little cries of pleasure every time their bodies met, when he was buried in her fully.
“Oh, right there,” she purred, sliding with purpose against him.
He was close to the edge. “I want you to come, baby,” he murmured. “I’m close. I want you there.”
“Yes,” she breathed. “Oh, yes…”
She moaned as he lunged inside her. He clutched at her hips, holding her flush against him, burying himself fully, and she covered his hands with her own, urging him to hold her tighter, grip her harder, go even deeper. The feeling was intoxicating. He found himself moving to the ever-changing rhythm she set.
“Yes!” she screamed, and he felt the force of her orgasm spasming around his cock like a vise.
Just like that, he was forced over the edge. He thrust into her over and over, emptying himself inside her. She met his every movement, impaling herself on his hardness, making tiny mewling cries of ecstasy that matched his groans of release. Afterward, she collapsed on top of him, both of them breathing hard.
When they recovered, Colin cleaned himself up, then went back to bed next to her. He kissed her softly. “Now I need a nap,” he said, yawning.
She shook her head, smiling. “I do feel more relaxed,” she admitted, propping herself up with one arm. “So I guess you did your job.”
He studied her face. Unfortunately, the smile didn’t reach her eyes.
His heart fell. If their lovemaking couldn’t cheer her up, what could? “You’re still upset,” he noted, his voice low.
Her eyes widened. “No, I’m not.”
“You think I can’t tell?”
Emily looked as if she was going to argue the point, then she let out a long exhalation. “No,” she said. “I won’t bother. I am still upset.”
“Does staying there mean that much to you?” He steeled himself for the answer.
“No,” she replied, and he let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding. “I’ve daydreamed about leaving tons of times. Long vacations, sabbaticals. Early on, when I was having so much money trouble, I used to dream about the place burning down,” she said, looking sheepish. “That was just stress, though. But I still love the place. And the town.” She twirled an auburn lock of hair around her fingers, nibbling at the end. “Guess I want to have my cake and eat it, too, huh?”
Some of his guilt subsided. “If you’re just selling it for me,” he declared, “then don’t.”
She looked as if he’d pinched her. “What?”
“I mean it,” he said slowly with more bravery than he was feeling. “Because if you move here and live with me, I want it to be because you genuinely want to…because you’re excited to be with me and you’re thrilled with the adventure of it all. Not because I railroaded you into it. Certainly not because the people of Tall Pines pissed you off.” He sat up, cupping her face in his hands. “If you move here for any other reason, then it’ll always hang between us, and I don’t think that’s a good way for a relationship to start.”
She stared at him silently. He stroked her cheek, then put his hands down by his sides. He wondered if he’d said too much. Had he scared her off? Been too aggressive? Too brutally honest?
When she still hadn’t said anything a full minute later, worry turned into paranoia. “You’re killing me here,” he finally muttered. “What are you thinking?”
She closed her eyes. When she opened them, they were rimmed with unshed tears.
“Oh, jeez,” he said, appalled. “I didn’t mean…”
“You’re asking me to live with you?”
He blinked. “Well, yeah. I thought that was obvious.”
“You thought it was obvious,” she echoed, shaking her head and laughing. “We may want to work on our communication a bit.”
Then she kissed him, a slow, lingering kiss that only had the slightest hint of sadness to it. When she pulled away, she looked at him with wonder.
“You want to try that again?” she said with a small grin.
“Huh? Oh.” He cleared his throat. “If you’re going to sell the hotel anyway…”
She frowned.
He started over. “No matter what, I want you to move to Paris. I want you to live with me. I want you to enjoy a whole new life. I want to share my adventure here with you.”
“Very nice,” she said, snuggling against him.
“So what’s the answer?”
“I don’t know,” she said.
“You don’t know?” he yelped. “But…”
He looked down at her face and he could see her confusion…and pain.
He closed his eyes, counted to ten. Then opened his eyes. “All right. You take your time.”
She kissed him sweetly, lingeringly. “I love you,” she whispered.
He felt a zing through his system like a power surge. “I love you, too,” he murmured. Then Colin held her tight and hoped against hope that everything would work out for the best.
“ARE YOU SURE YOU can’t stay longer?” Colin called from the kitchen.
“I’m stretching my vacation as it is,” Emily said ruefully, stepping out of the bedroom. It was Wednesday, and she’d only meant to stay till Tuesday at the latest. “I have to be back by the end of the week. Sue is probably frantic without Phillip there. It’s not fair to her.”“You’re right.” He sighed, putting a plate of pastries out on the table. She’d gained five pounds in the few days she’d been here, easily. Or at least she would have if they weren’t walking for miles every day.
“You’ve got to have stuff to do,” she said, wondering again if she was preventing him from focusing on his work.
“I’m meeting with the building crew next week as well as the owner. So I guess I will be pretty busy.” He sat down next to her, rubbing her shoulder. “But I’m going to miss you every second you’re gone. You know that, right?”
She warmed under his attention like a flower fa
cing the sun. No one else had made her feel this cherished, this incredibly special before.
“At least stay till Sunday,” he murmured, nuzzling her neck.
“Colin,” she protested weakly.
He made doe eyes at her, trying hard to look harmless. She laughed at the attempt.
“Let me call the hotel,” she relented. “If Sue’s swamped, there’s no way I can stay.”
He grinned like a little boy on Christmas morning. She laughed again, then picked up the phone. With effort, she dialed the international code and the phone number of the inn.
Sue picked up on the fourth ring. “Stanfield Arms,” she said, sounding frazzled.
Emily immediately felt guilty. “Hey, Sue,” she greeted her. “How are you holding up?”
“Oh, hey, Emily,” Sue replied, some of the stress vanishing from her voice. “I’m hanging in there, but I gotta tell you, I am going to be so happy when you’re here where you belong. When’s your vacation over again? Tomorrow?” She sounded hopeful.
“Er, I was thinking maybe Sunday,” Emily said tentatively.
“Oh, hell.” Sue let out a long breath.
“But I can come back sooner,” Emily quickly added. “Friday okay?”
“That’d be great,” Sue said gratefully.
Emily bit her lip. “I shouldn’t have fired Phillip before leaving,” she said, then amended her statement. “I mean, I should have fired Phillip. I should not have left immediately after.”
“Phillip wouldn’t have helped, I don’t think. You know how much he depended on you. He would have freaked out when he had to make all the decisions.” Sue paused. “Honestly, I didn’t know how much I relied on you being here to run the place.”
“I’m sure you’re doing a great job,” Emily reassured her. “It’s good that I left, I think. Now you know you can handle things without me, and it’ll be that much easier next time.”
“Next time?” Sue repeated, aghast. “You’ve leaving again?”
Emily’s heart fell. “Not immediately,” she said. “But I was hoping…”
“We really need to talk when you get back,” Sue interrupted.
“What about?”
“About finding a replacement for me as well as for Phillip,” she said with a hiccupy little sob.
“Oh, Sue.” Emily cradled the phone. “Are you all right?”
“I can’t do this all by myself,” Sue said. “I never realized how much you handle until you left, and if you’re going to be leaving a lot…well, with being pregnant and everything, it’s more than I think I should deal with right now.”
Emily nodded even though Sue couldn’t see her. “I thought you needed the job, though.”
“When Vernon found out about the baby, he took that higher-paying job in Hartford,” Sue informed her with evident pride. “He said he wanted me to stay home once the baby’s born. So you’ll definitely have to replace me, no matter what.”
Emily felt flabbergasted.
“But you’re going to sell the place anyway,” Sue continued, “so I figured it wouldn’t matter. You can find someone temporary to fill in for Phillip, and I’m sure I can ride it out until the sale goes through.”
“There’s that,” Emily agreed, nibbling at her thumbnail.
“So it’s all working out,” Sue said. “There’s a stack of paperwork that Joy left for you. Whoever she lined up to buy the place is apparently really, really hot to close the deal.”
Emily felt as though she was in freefall. In one short week she’d gone from staid local innkeeper to European jet-setter who was about to sell her childhood home and unload her business in one fell swoop. It was all a bit dizzying.
“Want me to fax it over?” Sue asked, interrupting her mental ramblings.
“Uh, no,” Emily replied. “I’ll be back soon enough. I’ll deal with it then.”
“By the way, Tim’s been calling every day,” Sue said. “He’s frantic, but he won’t say why. Do you mind if I give him Colin’s number in Paris? He’s saying it’s an emergency.”
Emily squinted, thinking hard. What could possibly be an emergency that Tim would want to discuss with her? Hopefully it wasn’t anything personal, like the fact that his “potentially perfect political wife” Emily was slipping away. “I suppose it’s all right,” she finally answered slowly.
“Great. Thanks, Em. Oops, customers. I’ll see you on Friday!”
Sue hung up the phone.
Colin walked in the room, then stopped. “You okay?”
“I’m not sure,” Emily said, recounting the conversation with Sue.
“Well, then, it’s all working out,” Colin said, sounding satisfied. “I’m sorry you can’t stay longer now, but the sooner you sell the hotel, the sooner you can come here and live with me.” He made it sound simple, like ordering a latte.
Emily shivered. “It’s all happening faster than I imagined.”
Colin sat down next to her, rubbing her shoulders. “Seller’s remorse?” he asked seriously.
She closed her eyes. “A little.” Then she opened them, looking deeply into his. “But it’s not that bad. I’m sure whoever buys the hotel will take care of it, probably better than I can. They’ll be able to modernize it and make adjustments that I haven’t been able to afford. Maybe even hire a few more people from the town.” She smiled. “Who knows? It’s probably going to be the best thing that ever happened to Tall Pines.”
“More importantly,” he declared, taking her thumbnail away from her mouth, “it’s probably going to be one of the best things that’s ever happened to you.”
She grimaced, embarrassed. “I haven’t bitten my nails in years.”
“You’re nervous,” he said comfortingly. “It’s a big change.”
He could say that again. There was so much to deal with. Selling the hotel. Moving in with Colin. Moving to Paris. She didn’t even speak French, at least not beyond rudimentary high school classes.
Her stomach clenched nervously.
On the other hand, her visit had been beautiful. She’d quickly and irrevocably fallen in love with the city and despite the jet lag, she’d also fallen in love with the idea of being Emily the adventurer. She knew that the only thing marring her good experience was residual guilt over her last angry words to the town at the meeting. She’d been too harsh. She’d fix that when she got back, as well. She’d make sure that the new owners got fully acquainted with all the locals and would do anything she could to make the transition as painless as possible. She’d also visit a lot, Emily thought with a smile.
She felt the knot of tension in her stomach release inch by inch and she reached for a chocolate cream puff, sighing with pleasure as the sweet cream filling overwhelmed her taste buds like a vanilla cloud.
Oh, I could get used to this.
“Now that’s more like it,” Colin said, leaning forward and kissing her. “You’re not leaving until Friday, right?”
She nodded, licking her lips to get any stray wisps of cream.
“Well, then,” he said, reaching for her and tugging her out of the chair, “we’d better not waste any time….”
Before he could continue, the phone rang.
“Saved by the bell.” Colin wiggled his eyebrows at her and she laughed. He picked up the phone. “Bonjour.”
Emily watched as his eyes widened with surprise, then narrowed with suspicion. “This is unexpected,” he said in a cold voice. “I see. Hold on a second.”
He turned, then held the phone out to her. “It’s Mayor Tim for you.”
“Oh, sorry,” Emily whispered. “I forgot to tell you—Sue said it was an emergency, so I let her give him this number.”
Colin crossed his arms. “This better be good,” he said, not leaving the room. “After everything that happened at the town meeting, the guy’s got a lot of nerve calling you while you’re on vacation.”
Emily felt the same, and the briskness of her voice reflected it. “Hello, Tim,” she said. “What do
you want?”
“I’ve been trying to reach you for two days,” he complained. “Em, I know that after the meeting fiasco you’re probably still ticked with Tall Pines in general, but I don’t think that you actually hate us. Not enough to go through with this.”
“This is your emergency?” she asked with disbelief. “You’re calling me from three thousand miles away to let me know that you think I’m making a mistake in selling the hotel?”
“Hang up,” Colin suggested, his expression stormy.
“Don’t hang up,” Tim pleaded, obviously hearing. “I don’t care if you want to sell the hotel, Em. I don’t care if you want to move away from Tall Pines and never hear from us again. I don’t care if you want to marry Colin, have twenty kids and live in a frickin’ shoe on the outskirts of Amsterdam, for pity’s sake!”
Emily smiled reluctantly. “Now, there’s an image.”
“The point is, you don’t know who you’re selling to,” he said. “Have you done any research at all on the group who’s interested in buying the inn?”
Emily felt the first skitterings of uneasiness. “Not yet,” she hedged. “But they’re recommended by Joy, and I trust her judgment. She’s taught me a lot about being a hotel owner and she comes from a family of hotel magnates.”
“That’s the thing. It’s her family,” Tim continued, his tone ominous. “They’re rich, powerful and bloodthirsty. Anywhere they can make a profit, they will make a profit.”
Emily chuckled nervously. “Come on, Tim,” she said. “It’s a small hotel in the middle of a small town. It’s not like they’re going to be making a killing by running what’s basically a glorified bed-and-breakfast.”
“You’re right there,” Tim said. “That’s why they’re going to tear the place down.”
“What?” she practically yelled.
“They’re already inquiring about demolition contracts, building codes, parking and traffic,” Tim informed her. “They’re judging how best to use the land.”
“But…you could stop them, couldn’t you?” Emily asked. “I mean, can’t you turn them down when they try to get it rezoned?”
Baby, It's Cold Outside Page 18
