“That’s what you really wanted to hear, isn’t it? That I didn’t have sex with the girl who used to torment you.”
That was exactly what she wanted to hear. “Are you serious? You didn’t spend the night with her?”
“No.”
“Why did you tell me you did?”
“I didn’t, you just assumed.”
But he purposely let her assume the worst. Why, she didn’t know. There was a lot about the grown-up Thomas she didn’t know. Basic stuff. “Where do you live?” she asked him.
He pulled at his gloves. “Not really anywhere at the moment. Several months ago I sold my house in Seattle, and I moved into my condo in Aspen for a while. But unfortunately, I’ve had to spend a lot of time in Palm Springs with my grandparents.”
“Why unfortunately?”
He glanced at her, then away. “My grandfather has health problems,” was all he said. “Eventually I’d like to live in Boulder.”
“You can just pick up and move wherever you want?”
He shrugged. “I’ve been unemployed for a while.”
“What have you been doing?”
“A little traveling. Some skiing. Watching way too much Sally Jessy.”
She wondered what kind of money he’d made that he could afford to take time off to ski and watch talk shows. Mindy had mentioned something about millions, but that could also be an exaggeration like the Kathy Ireland rumor. “What did you do before you became a ski bum?”
“Have you ever heard of BizTech?”
She shook her head. “Sorry.”
“Don’t be. It’s a computer software company I started with two friends about five years ago.”
Four
BRINA LISTENED AS Thomas told her about how he’d started his company by selling his Microsoft stock. He told her he created programs to predict business trends, but she had no idea what that actually meant. She didn’t care. As they passed over the tops of pines, she just liked sharing the same chair with him and hearing his voice.
They took several more runs before noon, and even though Brina improved each time, she didn’t think Picabo Street had anything to worry about. They stopped for lunch, but the restaurants in the lodge were full, so they changed their boots and walked a few blocks to a sub shop.
After lunch, Brina didn’t feel like skiing and pleaded sore ankles. She persuaded Thomas to take her sightseeing around town. They jumped in his Jeep Cherokee with Colorado plates and headed south to the outskirts. They drove past the two-story house where Brina had been raised, then kept driving half a mile to the small home where Thomas had lived. Two kids played with a golden retriever in the front yard, and an old Wagoneer sat parked in the driveway. Seeing it brought back memories of the many times she and Thomas had walked or run into that house, his grandmother calling for them to take their shoes off.
“Do you suppose the carpet is still that sculpted green stuff?”
He glanced at her, then back at the house. “Maybe. It was guaranteed to survive a nuclear holocaust.”
“I wonder if our tree fort survived the years.”
“I doubt it.”
“I bet it has.”
Thomas took off his sunglasses and threw them on the dash. “What do you want to bet?”
“Ten bucks.”
“I don’t think so.” He looked over at her. “If we bet, I get to name my prize.”
“I’m not going to show you my butt.”
He laughed. “I wasn’t thinking about your butt.”
“Then what?”
“I’ll let you know when I win.”
She was a bit worried about what he would claim if he won, but she figured he wouldn’t really make her do something she objected to. “If I win, you have to buy me a bottle of champagne.” And since he didn’t seem worried in the least, she added, “And you have to drink it from my boot.”
He chuckled. “I don’t think so.”
“Okay, but you have to buy me good champagne. No cheap stuff.”
A half mile from Thomas’s old house, he pulled the Jeep into the entrance of a forest service road. The road was barricaded by a gate, but the dense growth of pine had kept the snow from becoming too deep.
Thomas went over the barricade first, then Brina. As she swung both legs over the top of the gate, she looked down at him as he reached for her waist. She placed her gloved hands on his shoulders and he slowly slid her down the front of his slick coat. “You don’t weigh much more than you used to,” he said, and set her on her feet.
Brina knew better. She’d weighed ninety-five pounds when she’d graduated, and she’d gained at least fifteen pounds in the past ten years.
The perfect white snow covered the tops of their boots and ankles as they walked side by side down the narrow road cut into the side of a mountain. Brina had been sure she’d recognize the area where she’d spent so much time as a child. She didn’t.
“Do you know where we’re going?”
“Yep.” Their shoulders bumped and he asked, “Cold?”
Walking through the snow, she was actually getting a bit hot. “Not at all. Are you?”
“Nope.” Thomas looked over her head, searching the area. “Do you have a boyfriend?” he asked as if he didn’t care one way or the other. “Are you seeing anyone?”
“No. You?”
“Not at the moment.”
She tripped on a rock hidden beneath the snow and grabbed his arm to keep from falling.
He looked across his shoulder at her. “Graceful as ever, I see.”
Brina gazed up into his face. It was true. As a kid, she’d never been real coordinated, but then, contrary to how he looked now, Thomas hadn’t been born perfect either. She dropped her hands from his arm. Perhaps he needed a reminder, too. “What happened to your unibrow?”
“Same thing that happened to yours.” He stopped and pointed off to their right. “I think it’s over there.”
Totally directionless, Brina followed him across a small meadow. He paused, looked around, then led her through a dense crop of towering pine. Undergrowth crunched beneath their boots as they walked about fifty feet, then the trees cleared and they strolled into a small clearing where the powdery snow reached their ankles once again.
“There it is.” Thomas pointed to a pine directly in front of them.
Brina moved closer and looked up at the old deteriorated floorboards of their fort. The steps were gone and several of the boards had rotted and fallen to the ground. “Part of it is still there. I guess the bet is a tie.”
Thomas moved to stand behind her. “Or we both win half.” He laid his hands on her shoulders, then slid them down the slick arms of her ski suit. “I pay for half a bottle of champagne, and I get half of what I want.”
Brina turned and looked up into his face. The shade from the tree cast a shadow over his forehead. “Which is?”
He pulled her close and said just above a whisper, “I get half of you.”
He was kidding, of course. “Which half?” she asked.
“The top.” He placed a hand on the back of her head and lowered his face to her. “Or maybe I’ll take the bottom half.” His warm breath brushed her lips. “I’ve always wanted a good look at the bottom half.”
Brina’s breath caught in her throat, right next to her nervous laughter. Maybe he wasn’t kidding. “Keep your hands off my bottom.”
He laughed silently against her mouth. “Wanna bet I can get you to change your mind?” He didn’t wait for her answer before he kissed her. Slightly parted, his lips swept across her mouth and sent hot shivers down her spine.
Her hands moved to his shoulders and slid to the back of his neck. She rose onto her toes and leaned into his chest. “I’m so glad I’m here with you,” she whispered, then she touched the tip of her tongue to his warm top lip.
Through his thick gloves, his fingers tightened and tangled in her hair. He tilted her head back, her mouth parted even further, but instead of going after a full
-blown kiss, he softly sucked her bottom lip. With each slick pull of his hot moist mouth, she felt a responding tug at her breasts and between her legs and in her heart. Her eyes fluttered closed as she let the sensations pour through her like warmed honey, thick and sweet.
This wasn’t the boy she’d known. This man melting her in the middle of winter knew what he wanted, knew what he was doing, right down to the teasing command of his mouth. He’d been here before and was very, very good at seducing thoughts out of her head. This Thomas was someone she’d never met. Someone who made her crave more than the touch of him through thick clothes. She pulled off her gloves and dropped them to the ground. Bare now, her fingers combed through the short hair on the sides of his head. Cool and silky, it curled around her knuckles and tickled her palms.
Thomas tilted her face to one side and pressed his lips more fully into hers. His mouth opened and closed, then opened again in imitation of a man now hungry for something a little more filling. His tongue swept into her mouth for a hot sexual assault, devouring her and creating a tight suction. He kissed her long and hard, their tongues touching, exploring tastes and textures until a groan was dragged from deep within his chest. He pulled back and looked into her face, his breathing harsh as he sucked air into his lungs.
No, this was not the Thomas who’d done little more than hold her hand and kiss her lips. This Thomas stared at her from beneath lowered lids, letting her see exactly what he wanted. He wanted more than her hand, and from somewhere inside, down where all of her memories and old feelings were stored, somewhere near the bottom of her heart, the past and present mixed and converged in a tangle of confused emotions, and the boy she’d loved was quickly becoming a man she could let herself fall in love with.
“Remember all those times I came to your house?” he asked, his voice rough. “Your mom would answer the door, and I’d ask if you could play.”
“Mmm-hmm.”
He bit the middle finger of each glove and threw them to the ground. “What do you say, Brina?” He reached for the zipper of her ski suit and looked into her eyes. He didn’t ask for permission, but she knew she could stop him if she chose. “Wanna play?”
“What do you have in mind?” she asked, even though she figured she already knew.
“Some of this.” Slowly he pulled the zipper down the middle of her chest and lower. Cold air slipped between the metal tracks and hit her heated flesh. Her skin tightened and her nipples puckered to hard, almost painful points. And still he stared into her eyes even as he grasped the edges of the suit and pushed them aside. “Some of that.”
Brina held her breath and waited. Several prolonged moments passed until he lowered his gaze past her chin, down her throat to her sheer bra. Suddenly everything within him went still; he blinked twice, then shook his head as if he were taken aback.
“Jesus, you’re not wearing a shirt.”
“Was I supposed to?”
“I guess not,” he said as he slid his hand inside. His warm palm touched her stomach, then slipped upward to cup her. “You might not have had your growing streak until after high school, but it was worth the wait. You’re perfect.”
Brina’s breath hitched in her chest, and she pushed her breast into his hand as she leaned forward and kissed his jaw. She pulled aside the collar of his coat and shoved down his T-neck. Against the warm flesh of his throat, she pressed her open mouth and tasted him there.
He bent his knees, grabbed the backs of her thighs, and wrapped her legs around his waist. In two long strides, he pinned her back against the tree and brought her face to his. Instantly his mouth on hers was hot and carnal, no sweet kisses this time, no teasing. He pushed the zipper apart and filled his hands. Her nipples grazed the centers of his palms, his fingers squeezed her breasts, and he shoved his tongue into her mouth and his pelvis up against her crotch. Through the Gore-Tex and nylon lining, she felt him long and hard, and she squeezed her thighs around his hips. He braced his feet wide and moved his mouth to her chin and the side of her neck. He kissed the hollow of her throat and the top swells of her breasts. Brina’s back arched; she pressed her shoulders into the uneven bark of the tree and combed her fingers through the sides of his thick hair.
The tip of his tongue traced the edge of her bra to the satin bow sewn in the center. Then he slid his closed lips across the fullest part of her breast and brushed them back and forth across her puckered flesh. Brina’s fingers curled into his hair as he took her nipple into his wet mouth and sucked her through the sheer nylon of her bra.
A part of her knew she shouldn’t allow this, that it was wrong, but it didn’t feel wrong. It felt right.
She looked down at his dark head, at the hollow of his cheeks as he drew upon her, and then she closed her eyes and just allowed the feelings he created in her to take control. The feeling of his moist soft tongue through the abrasive material of her bra. The heat slicing through her body and curling the toes inside her boots. She ran her hands through his hair, down his neck and across the shoulders of his coat, then back to his hair, touching him as much as possible, but it wasn’t nearly enough. Her hips moved, and through and the layers of their clothes, he thrust against her. And it still wasn’t enough. She wanted it all. She wanted all of him, but in the end, she was thwarted by their winter clothes.
Another agonized groan tore from his throat, and he grasped her thighs, stilling her. He lifted his head, and Brina looked into his face, at his wet lips, and the frustration burning bright in his slumberous blue eyes. Cool air replaced the heat of his mouth, finally bringing with it a semblance of sanity and the reality of the situation.
She unlocked her legs from around his hips and slid down the tree until her feet touched the ground. With each passing second, the passion in his eyes cleared until he looked as stunned as Brina felt. She opened her mouth, then closed it again. She didn’t know what to say.
Thomas seemed to suffer from the same problem. Without a word, he reached for the tab of her zipper and pulled it up to the base of her throat, sealing the touch of him inside. Then he turned away and retrieved their gloves from the ground. “It’s getting late,” he finally said. His low voice sounded strained to Brina’s ears.
“Yes,” she said, even though they both knew it would be hours before the sun would even begin to set. She took her gloves from him and shoved her hands inside.
On the walk back to the car, they spoke little. Meaningless conversation really, which lapsed into long periods of silence. Both retreated into their own thoughts, the crunch of snow beneath their boots the only sound disturbing the complete quiet.
For the first time since Thomas had unzipped her snowsuit, Brina felt her cheeks burn. While he’d had his hands and mouth on her, she hadn’t felt one twinge of anything that even resembled embarrassment, but she did now. She wondered what he thought of her. She wondered if he thought she let this sort of thing happen all the time.
Normally she had to fall in love before she let lust take control. Her mother had always taught her that her body was sacred. A temple. There had been several years in college when she’d thought her mother was overly uptight about sexuality and discarded the whole sacred-temple concept in favor of a more modern approach of binge and purge. She’d binge on a man for a while, then discover something wrong—like he’d drop off his laundry at her apartment, or she’d suddenly notice he had bad toenails—and she’d have to purge.
Now that she was older and wiser, she’d reverted back to her mother’s teachings and was fairly picky about whom she let worship her body. She had to care for the man, and it took time before she felt comfortable enough to let intimacy happen.
Until today.
Everything was different today. Turned upside down and inside out. Nothing made sense, and she didn’t know what to think or how to feel. She wished she did. She wished she had answers for all the questions rolling around in her head. She was a private investigator, and it was her job to search until she found the answers. Only this was
her private life and she felt clueless and didn’t even know where to begin.
Thomas helped her back over the barricade, but this time there were no lingering touches. He opened the passenger-side door for her, and she cleared the snow from her boots before she climbed inside. For two people who fifteen minutes before hadn’t seemed to have an ounce of restraint or self-consciousness, the awkward silence stretching between them seemed that much more noticeable. The comfortable friendship she’d enjoyed over the past few hours was completely gone.
On the drive back to the lodge, Thomas finally broke the silence with, “I think it might snow tonight.”
Brina’s response was just as inspired. “Oh, uh-huh.” She wondered what he was thinking, but his dark glasses once again covered his eyes and concealed even a hint of his thoughts.
They lapsed back into silence until Thomas pulled the Jeep up to the front doors of the lodge and shoved the vehicle into park. When he spoke, it wasn’t really what Brina longed to hear. “I’m sorry I got carried away. Normally I don’t go around pinning women against trees,” he said, as he stared out the windshield.
“Me either. Ah…getting pinned, I mean.” She thought a moment. “Maybe it happened because we feel like we know each other.”
“But we don’t.” He finally looked at her, but his face gave nothing away. “We don’t know each other at all.”
Brina gazed into his expressionless features, and thought he might be right. This closed-up man wasn’t the Thomas she’d known. Just when she’d begun to think she knew him, she realized she didn’t know him at all. Not anymore. Which, she realized with a heavy heart, was a shame. “Good-bye, Thomas,” she said, and let herself out of the Jeep.
From behind his sunglasses, Thomas watched Brina walk through the revolving doors of the lodge. He shoved the vehicle into gear and drove to a parking slot on the far side of the hotel. He turned off the engine, leaned his head back against the seat, and closed his eyes.
What in the hell had happened? He couldn’t believe he’d shoved Brina against a tree and buried his face in her breasts. She’d been wrong. It wasn’t because he knew her. Ten years ago he’d always been able to stop. It was something else. Something he didn’t even like to admit to himself.
Secrets of a Perfect Night Page 26
