by Kat Mizera
“I don’t mind it,” she said, motioning to the bag at her feet. “I’ve got my laptop, e-reader and day planner. I have plenty of stuff to make a two-hour flight go by quick.”
“I don’t have that kind of job, so it’s a little different for me.”
“Do you like to read?”
“Sometimes. For some reason, I don’t like to on planes, but I can watch movies.”
“I tend to get bored,” she admitted. “I need to keep my brain busy or I start to fidget.”
“Then you can talk to me,” he said. “I’ll keep your brain busy.”
“Okay.”
“Tell me about yourself.”
“Born and raised in Long Island, got my bachelor’s degree at Columbia and have worked in public relations since I graduated. I’m 29, never married, no kids, but three brothers who all have at least three apiece.”
“Does that mean you want at least three as well or there are already so many you don’t want any?” he chuckled.
She grinned. “I want one, maybe two, depending on what my future husband wants. I have no desire to be a stay-at-home mom, so having three kids would be a lot, but I guess it would depend on the father.”
“I always wanted them,” he said thoughtfully, “but with my kind of military career, it felt wrong to have kids I’d rarely see. I’ve been deployed a lot, always moving around, always in dangerous situations… It’s what I signed up for, but it never seemed fair to a family.”
“But now you’re leaving the military.”
“I’m not sure. I’m considering the option of going Reserves, but the bodyguard job sounds good too. Something different, something new…”
“But also dangerous?” She met his eyes, searching for a clue as to how he really felt about leaving the military.
“How dangerous can Eagle Rock, Montana, be?”
“But how much local work can there be?” she countered. “Chances are, they’d be hired to protect people elsewhere too.”
“Which would make it perfect. I could fish, ski, all kinds of things I haven’t had time to do in years, and then when the jobs come up, get out of town and go someplace interesting to do the job.”
“Sounds about right,” she mused. “I’m kind of the opposite. I live in Manhattan so I’m always in the interesting place. I go out of town to relax and wind down. Although I think Montana might be a little too far in the other direction.”
“Yeah, it worries me a little too,” he admitted. “I don’t know how I’ll live in such a low-key place. But the pictures look beautiful so I’m anxious to look around, explore, see what there is to see.”
“I’ll probably be locked away in the cabin and—”
“Cabin?” he interrupted in confusion.
“Aaron’s staying at his buddy’s cabin. It’s the cabin version of a mansion. I think there are five bedrooms, an indoor/outdoor pool, Jacuzzi and all kinds of amenities. Even a housekeeper.”
“Yeah, Hank said there are quite a few celebrities who own land or homes in Eagle Rock.”
“Hopefully there will be something to do other than skiing and fishing.”
“Horseback riding? Hiking in the summer? I’m not sure either.”
“Not much that’s up my alley.”
“Not the outdoors type?”
“I live in Manhattan... I mostly do a lot of walking. Occasionally, I bike when the weather’s good but the truth is, I’m busy. I work six days a week, sometimes seven, and ten- or twelve-hour days are exhausting.”
“Is it worth it?” he asked quietly.
She cocked her head. “Well, I live in one of the most expensive cities in the country… What else am I supposed to do? Get some job that pays ten bucks an hour and move home to my parents?” She shuddered in mock horror.
“But are you happy?”
“With my job? Oh, yes. I love the work and the clients, and working with Kate is phenomenal. She’s so good at what she does, and I’ve learned so much from her, I wouldn’t want to do anything else.”
“Erin said Kate asked you to be a partner.”
“Yes. We’ve got more clients than she can handle and right now I’m half publicist, half executive assistant. That’s part of what this trip is about—me taking on a client on my own. We don’t usually do this level of hand-holding, but he’s a new client and he’s not a huge name in sports, so she’s pretty much handing him over to me and letting me run with it. We’ll see what happens. If it goes well, I might take on some of our less famous clients and do a buy-in to become a partner rather than an employee.”
“Is it a lot of money?”
She smiled. “It’s a fair amount, but I’ll pay for it through the profits. Kate and I, along with the part-time assistant we have, get a salary. She typically re-invests the profits or takes a share for herself at the end of each year. If this works out, I’ll get a big raise but she’ll take on some new business and for the first few years, my share of whatever profit is left at the end of each year will go to her until I’ve paid her off. After that, we split everything down the middle.”
“Sounds exciting.”
“It is. It’s also good that she’s out West and I’m in New York; we can cover both coasts, but we’ve discussed me moving to Vegas.”
“Really?” He seemed surprised.
“Manhattan is expensive. With the money I make, I could buy a house in Vegas. I’ll never buy in Manhattan unless I want to commute to and from Long Island, and even then, it would be something tiny.”
“I don’t know how anyone affords to live in the city.”
“I took over Kate’s rent-controlled apartment when she married Karl, so I got lucky. If I ever move out, the rent on that place will triple. And I pay three grand a month.”
“Let me guess—a one-bedroom, one-bath walk-up?”
“There’s an elevator,” she laughed. “But yeah, it’s small. It’s all I need, though. I’m gone a lot and when I’m working I can do it from bed, the couch or the kitchen counter.”
“My townhouse is pretty small too, but I figured owning something was better than renting. It’s a two-bedroom, two-bath, with a one-car garage underneath.”
“That’s the only thing I miss…a car.” She smiled dreamily. “I sold mine when I moved into Kate’s place since I never drive anywhere, and it’s easy to rent one if I need it, but I miss being able to jump in the car and leave town.”
“Are you renting one in Montana?”
“Oh, hell yeah. No way would I leave myself stranded with no way to get around.”
“Hank’s picking me up, so we should exchange numbers now, in case we get separated when we land.”
“Sure.” She told him hers and then typed his into her phone.
3
“Attention, ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain. Due to inclement weather, the airport will be closing shortly, so make sure you see the agent at the gate to make arrangements for local transportation.”
Lana groaned. “Crap. Now what?”
“I’m sure we’ll be able to find rooms.” Mark put a comforting hand on her arm.
“I hope so. I have so much to do…” Her voice drifted off and she grabbed her planner, making notes in the margin of a page, completely lost in thought.
Mark watched her because he couldn’t seem to tear his eyes away. Once they’d stopped flirting and started talking about random things, she’d stopped being shy or nervous and was a lot of fun. He wished she wouldn’t think so hard when he flirted with her; she was so damn pretty when she smiled.
They gathered their things and got off the plane, immediately getting in line to talk to an agent. Lana pulled out her phone and made a call, tapping her foot impatiently. “Hello, this is Lana Callahan… I’m a platinum member, yes. Account number 536658153. Yes, I’ll hold.” She glanced at Mark. “You want me to book one for you too?”
Mark glanced at the mile-long line and instantly nodded. “Yeah, that would be great. Thanks.”
Lana nodded and turned back to her call. “Yes…okay. Thank you. Perfect…that’s lovely. By the way, I’ll need another room as well. I have a client with me.” She paused, narrowing her eyes. “What do you mean? There are always rooms for platinum members… I see. Well…no, I guess I don’t. Thanks for your help.”
She turned to Mark. “I guess I got the last room. She said if I didn’t have such high status, I wouldn’t have gotten the one I got. It’s the presidential suite.”
He raised his eyebrows. “All for you?”
She cocked her head. “There’s a pullout couch in the living room.”
“I’ve slept on worse,” he chuckled. “Come on, let’s go.”
They walked around the growing lines and made their way to baggage claim. Mark didn’t have a checked bag but she did and they waited patiently until she got it. The rental car booths were all closed so they headed outside to get a cab. The lines were long and Lana sighed, wisps of red hair whipping across her face. She reached into her bag and pulled out something pink and proceeded to put her hair up in a loose, lopsided bun, but on her, it was adorable. Mark smiled to himself, trying to keep from complimenting her since it would inevitably lead to some sort of disaster and that was all they needed outside in the snow and ice.
“We’re lucky the plane landed,” she noted, looking around at the snow that was starting to come down harder.
“Yeah, this storm is going to be a mess.”
An hour later they’d settled into the nicest hotel room Mark had seen in a long time. The pullout bed was almost as nice as his bed at home and being in such close proximity to Lana was more than he could have hoped for. Of course, she immediately started to work, setting up her laptop on the dining room table and calling Kate, Aaron, and at least four other people before he’d even had a chance to read the room service menu. She was a force of nature when it came to work and he was somewhat enthralled.
“Stop staring at me,” she called over her shoulder without even looking up. “You know I’ll undoubtedly burn the place down if you get me flustered.”
He snorted with laughter, loving her sense of humor. “I can’t help it—you’re beautiful.”
She turned slowly, her eyes meeting his. “Mark, I’m clumsy and have zero game with men, but I’m neither a virgin nor a prude. I like sex, I have sex when the opportunity arises, and I’m down for sex. I’m just not good at getting from point A to point B.”
Mark had no idea how to respond to that but refused to miss an opportunity to flirt with her. “Honey, I can handle all the points from A to Z. You just have to tell me what I have to do to relax you enough to get started.”
Surprisingly, she scowled but he realized it was because her phone was ringing, and she answered with the Bluetooth device in her ear. He waited impatiently for her to finish, and finally she set her phone on the table, closed her laptop and turned to him.
“I don’t like being the aggressor,” she said softly.
“When I was the aggressor you almost hurt yourself,” he pointed out.
She chewed her lip thoughtfully. “What if…neither of us was the aggressor and we just kind of…did stuff…together?”
“Like go to dinner?” He got up and held out a hand to her. “There’s a steakhouse inside the hotel. Let’s go eat and get to know each other some more. You don’t have to be nervous with me, Lana. I’m a nice guy.”
She slowly got to her feet, her eyes trained on his. “Not too nice, I hope.”
Mark was positive this was going to be his favorite snowstorm ever.
Lana couldn’t remember being on a dinner date that went so smoothly. She didn’t knock anything over, she ate what she wanted, and he made her laugh. His stories about his non-combat military escapades were hysterical, and he was well-read, interesting and oh-so sexy. When he focused on her, she felt something stir inside of her that made no sense. He was handsome in a rugged way, with a military haircut, blue eyes and a muscular but not overly bulky frame. His biceps were clearly visible through the gray Henley he wore and she was pleasantly surprised she could enjoy looking at him without being obvious about it.
As they finished eating and sat back to polish off the bottle of wine they’d ordered, she relaxed into the warm atmosphere and his wonderful company. Whatever this was tonight, she liked it too much to try to overthink anything. Maybe, just this once, she could have the upper hand in a one- or several-night stand. Based on the uncertainty in his life and the possibility of moving here to Montana, keeping things casual would be best. Because they had mutual friends and would be together in Eagle Rock for a few weeks, it was likely he would be on board with that kind of arrangement. They were adults and had a mutual attraction, so there was no reason for them to deprive themselves just because they didn’t have a future. He wanted to sleep with her and she desperately needed to get laid. It had been far too long. Hell, she’d never slept with anyone as sexy as Mark Garrison, so that was unique in and of itself.
“What are you thinking about?” Mark asked, startling her back to the present.
“How nice this is,” she admitted, meeting his eyes. “How nice you are. Thank you for going out of your way to keep me from embarrassing myself—dating is always stressful for me.”
He frowned. “Really?”
“I think guys find me difficult because I get so flustered and inevitably say or do something silly and it goes downhill from there.”
“I don’t know what they’re talking about. Being with you is easy.”
“Being with you is easy too.” She kept waiting for that anxious, awkward feeling to wash over her, but it wasn’t happening. It was like she’d turned a corner with Mark, and it was fantastic to be so at ease with him.
“Dessert?” he asked, his eyes twinkling as if he’d read her mind.
“No, the wine is plenty.”
They talked until the wine was gone and then ordered another bottle. By the time that one was gone as well, they were both feeling the effects and Lana took his arm as they walked towards the elevator. Neither spoke as they rode up to the top floor and Mark took the key from her to unlock the door. He didn’t give her time to get nervous once they were inside and pulled her into his arms. She stumbled, landing squarely against his chest, and they both chuckled.
“You’re not going to blush if I kiss you, are you?” he asked quietly, moving his mouth towards hers.
“No…” Her breath left her as his lips found hers and everything faded to bliss. His tongue sought hers with gentle exploration and she kissed him back. It was heavenly. Everything about it was hot and delicious and perfect, like the colorful sunset on a sandy beach after a day in crystalline waters. He’d been waiting for this chance for a couple of years and it was far better than he’d imagined.
Deepening the kiss, he wrapped one arm around her waist and brought the other up to slide through her soft, thick hair. She moaned and he kissed her harder, deeper, until they were both breathing hard. The fingers of one of her hands had dove under his shirt and were kneading the taut muscles of his abdomen. Her soft, warm body was glorious and he yearned to lick every inch of her, but a tiny sliver of doubt had somehow planted itself and now he was suddenly unsure this was a good idea.
Abruptly, he broke away, shaking his head. “Babe, I don’t think we should do this when we’re this drunk.”
“I told you I wanted to sleep with you before I took the first sip,” she murmured, looking into his eyes in confusion.
Crap. She had. She wanted this. He wanted her too, but his gut told him it was too soon. Lana wasn’t a one-night stand kind of girl, at least not with him. She might not know it yet, but they were good together. She was everything he’d hoped she’d be and even though the erection straining against his jeans desperately needed release, his rational mind screamed he would lose her if he rushed into this much intimacy too soon.
The look in her eyes gave him pause and he put his hands on either side of her face. “I can’t explain it, but I feel
like I already know you, Lana. You’re thinking about sex and I don’t want to be that guy, the one who uses you for one thing and walks away, proving everything you already think about yourself.”
“Wh-what?” She was blinking furiously and he hated the shimmer of tears in her eyes.
“Trust me,” he said softly. “It’s better if we don’t. Not tonight.”
“But…” She searched his face and he watched as hers closed down. She took a step back and nodded. “Okay, sure. You’re probably right. Why mess up a nice friendship with mindless sex, right?”
“Oh, babe. That’s not what this is.”
“It’s fine. Really.” She turned and picked up her purse from where she’d dropped it. “Uh, good night. I’ll see you in the morning.”
“We’ll talk about this over breakfast, okay?” He didn’t know how he’d resist if they kept talking right now.
“Sure. Thanks for dinner.” She hurried into the bedroom and shut the door behind her.
Mark let out a sigh of frustration. That had gone wrong in so many ways, he wasn’t sure where to start. He wanted to respect her, show her he cared about more than just sex, and she’d taken it as rejection. He should have followed her, but they were both a little drunk and probably emotional, so it might be better to sleep it off and talk in the morning. Hopefully, she’d see how much he liked her and would want to spend more time getting to know each other the way he did. Hopefully.
4
Lana hadn’t known how she would face Mark in the morning, but when he’d taken off for the gym—he’d left her a note telling her where he was—she’d called for a cab to take her back to the airport, packed up her things and left him a note as well:
Mark, thanks again for a lovely dinner. I needed to get to Eagle Rock sooner rather than later, so I took off. You’re welcome to stay in the room another night if you need it. –Lana
She got a rental car and headed to Eagle Rock. By the time she arrived at the huge, secluded cabin, she’d managed to put last night’s disaster out of her mind and was in publicist mode. Staying in the cabin with a client was unusual, but Kate had found several other clients and mutual friends willing to vouch for Aaron and assure them that although he was going through a lot in his personal life, he was a good guy and Lana would be safe. Besides, Lana wasn’t worried. A hunk like Aaron didn’t need to force himself on his tall, clumsy publicist. What would that accomplish other than ruin his chances of ever finding another? No, she was perfectly safe with him.
