by Audra North
“You speak Spanish,” she blurted.
His hands stilled for a moment, then he grinned. “Sí,” was his only reply before he popped a piece of steak in his mouth. Damn, that was good. At that moment, with a good Chilean wine at hand and a perfectly cooked Chilean steak on his plate, he felt pretty proud to be of Chilean descent.
She looked at him expectantly, one eyebrow raised, as she chewed her own steak.
He swallowed and took a sip of wine. “Like two steers in a cud-chewing competition.”
She choked a bit, but recovered, swallowing quickly and downing a gulp from her own glass. “Wow, I don’t think I’ve ever been so flattered in my life.”
He laughed. “I meant it as a compliment. I like that you’re stubborn,” he told her, and before she could protest, he added, “My mom was born in Chile, but her family moved to California when she was only five years old. They spoke Spanish at home, though, and visited here often. When my mom was twenty-four, she came here for a graduate school project—her focus was agricultural engineering—and ended up working on my grandparents’ vineyard, where she met my dad. He followed her to California, where my sisters and I were born and raised, spoke only Spanish to us at home, and the rest is history.”
She sat back. “Wow. I hadn’t expected that. I mean, with a name like Komarov…”
Bruno shrugged. “There are a surprising number of Russians here that go back several generations. But my mother’s family is mixed. Some European, some indigenous, and even some African.”
“Is that why you come back? To visit your family?”
He nodded. “Something like that. But we also have businesses here, and my grandparents are quite elderly now. I help them run the vineyard, and manage the shipments to our warehouse in California.”
“Your warehouse? You produce that much wine?”
Lily was clearly impressed, and he felt flattered by her curiosity. For the first time, he felt like he was with a woman who was genuinely interested in the workings of his life, as opposed to how secure his financial status was, or whether he could make even more money than he already had. He could tell, just from the way her whole face was engaged in the conversation, that she would have shown just as much interest if he had told her that he was a welder or a rodeo clown.
Not that he was “with” Lily…
But you are, at least for now, a little voice in his mind said.
“Not from Santa Lucía,” he replied, thinking of the lovely, rambling house that his great-grandparents had built over a hundred years ago. “But we also have holdings in Napa Valley, and we import some foods and soft goods from Chile and Argentina into the United States. The warehouse holds all of that.”
“Wow, that’s more like an empire than a company.” She leaned forward and took up her utensils again, cutting into her potatoes, then paused with her knife hovering above her plate and cocked her head at him. “I’m kind of curious, though, Komarov. All that you have now…is it all that you’ve wanted?” She looked at him earnestly. “I mean, do you ever feel like you’ve had to sacrifice anything big to be where you are?”
He blinked. She wasn’t being arch or insulting. Perhaps he shouldn’t have been surprised, given her own success, but the question was unexpected, just the same. The women he’d dated only cared about the material things he had, not the intangible things he’d had to give up. Leave it to this woman to break apart one more thing he’d taken for granted.
She was an amazing wom—
Wait a second.
“Komarov? Did you just call me by my last name?” He knew he was probably overreacting at the moment, but he couldn’t bring himself to care. He wanted—no, needed—to hear his name on her lips. Not Komarov. Bruno.
But she only looked at him with a half-smile playing on her lips. “It’s how I think of you. Besides, I don’t think we’ve known each other long enough to be on a first name basis.”
Lily was flirting with him. He liked Flirty Lily.
She took a sip of her wine to hide her smile, but he wasn’t fooled. “You told me to call you Lily, back in the elevator,” he reminded her.
“I was just trying to level the playing field. Didn’t want you to feel uncomfortable being a guest in my hotel room.”
He put a hand to his heart. “You are all that is generous,” he teased her back.
She waved her hand in the air. “More evidence that we don’t know each other that well,” she replied. But before he could protest, she cocked an eyebrow at him and said, “So? You didn’t answer my question.”
He toyed with his wineglass, tipping it back and forth by the stem, watching the color of the liquid change as it moved. Funny, that she was the first person to ask him such a thing when he had just been thinking of what his work had cost him.
“You don’t have to—”
“Recently, I’ve been—”
They both spoke at the same time, breaking the silence that he had allowed to stretch for too long.
He smiled. You don’t have to answer was what she was going to say. But he wanted to. He spoke quickly, before she could offer it again.
“I’m alone a lot.” He let go of the glass and brought his eyes back to hers. “For all the really great people in my life, at the end of the day, it’s just me.” He twisted his lips in a wry smile. “Maybe I shouldn’t complain about that, though. Seems like such an insignificant thing in comparison to what other people are missing in life.”
Slowly, as though the movement were seduction itself, she lowered her hand to his and rested her palm in his. The touch was light, but he felt it with an unparalleled intensity.
“I don’t think it’s insignificant at all. And thanks for telling me.”
She began to draw her hand away, but he curled his fingers around hers, rubbing over them lightly while keeping his eyes on hers.
He could see heat flaring there.
“S-so, what’s waiting for you back in California?” she asked, and he didn’t miss her slight stumble over the words.
And she didn’t take her hand from his.
He considered her question for a moment. Was she asking about his personal life? Whether he had a wife or a girlfriend? Or was her interest more general? What should he tell her?
He went with the truth. “My father ran our businesses for decades until he had a stroke nearly a year ago, but I only officially stepped up as the CEO a couple of months back. The first shipment of wine from this year’s harvest is supposed to arrive in California in the next couple of days. It’s a long-held tradition that, on that day, we have a big party for the entire company, and the CEO is there to make a speech and such. If I didn’t make it, in my first year at the helm, it would be…not good.”
He shrugged. “And, of course, my parents are there, and my sisters and their husbands and my nieces and nephews. My family.”
Lily frowned. “I’m so sorry. If you get a flight out tomorrow—which I think you will, by the way, since the weather seems to have calmed—will you still make it in time?”
He nodded. “I should.” And then, because he didn’t want to start worrying about it, he glanced at her glass and changed the subject. “You need a refill.”
She pulled her hand from his, and he exhaled heavily, immediately missing her warmth. She picked up her glass and held it out for him to pour. When he set the bottle back down, though, she kept her arm raised. “Cheers.”
He raised his own glass and touched it to hers, briefly, his eyes not wavering from hers. “What are we toasting to this time?”
She gave him a slow, relaxed smile. When she spoke, her voice was low and husky. “To not being alone. At least for tonight.”
It took every ounce of control he had to bring the glass to his lips instead of plunking it back down on the table and hauling her into his arms. She took a long sip, sighing and sinking back into her chair. She certainly seemed relaxed enough for him to test the waters. “So…still don’t want to talk about it?”
; Lily gave him a puzzled look for a moment, but then understanding lit her eyes. “Oh! You mean about Jason.” She blew out a mock-annoyed breath, but the wine really must have done its trick, because she leaned forward and winked conspiratorially at him. “Okay, but only if you promise to comfort me after I tell you this traumatic, heart-wrenching story.”
She was so cute. And sexy as hell. And she had just come on to him.
She dropped back in her chair and held her wineglass in both hands, staring at the liquid inside as she began to speak. “Jason and I were supposed to have gotten married last Saturday after more than three years together. Except that, four months ago, I came home early from a consulting trip—I own a boutique consulting firm, by the way.” She waved her hand as though this was a minor accomplishment, and he just nodded. “Anyway, I came home and found my fiancé fucking my best friend in our bed.”
Bruno saw red. He was definitely going to kill this Jason dipshit. Suddenly her teasing words about a “traumatic, heart-wrenching story” didn’t seem like a joke anymore.
She frowned at the memory. “I wish I could say I did something awesome, like kick his ass and take her clothes so she would have to walk home naked. But I didn’t. I simply cleared my throat, they panicked and started protesting, and I just took off my engagement ring and left it on the kitchen counter as I walked out. By the time I returned back home, they were gone, and I spent that weekend packing up his stuff and leaving it in the hallway for him to pick up. I didn’t even slash his paintings, or anything like that.”
He gave her a grim smile. “It sounds like you were very mature about it.”
Lily snorted. “I was a doormat,” she retorted, but there was no heat in it, just an amusement that he worried was at her own expense.
“Anyway, we had planned to come here for a ski trip and some sightseeing for our honeymoon. I went back and forth constantly about going, anyway, but finally I convinced myself that not going would be letting Jason and Isabelle—my former best friend—get the best of me. So I went, even though it means that now I might miss my little sister’s graduation.”
“You couldn’t have forecasted these storms,” he assured her. “This isn’t usual.”
She shook her head. “Even when we were still together, when I booked the tickets, I was worried about making it back, but Jason said it was the only time we could go, since he was working toward a big gallery show in July. And I caved to his desires, as usual.”
There was so much derision in her voice that his heart stopped for a moment with a thought. Best find out now, man, before you’re in too deep. “Are you still hung up on this guy?”
There. Good. Put it out there.
To his relief, she laughed. “Jason? No way. I was over him even before we broke up, I realized. It didn’t take me long to get over his stupidity. But I am angry at myself. Because before Jason, I felt like I knew what was right and what was wrong. I felt like, even if I wasn’t perfect, I was good enough. Maybe I didn’t spend enough time with my sister, or maybe I wasn’t as ambitious as I should have been, or all kinds of things that didn’t necessarily match up. But I felt like I was doing an adequate job at being a human being. I didn’t realize just how precarious that image of myself was. How easily Jason tore it down. And I let him do it. I think that’s why I insisted on coming on this vacation. Because I was trying to get back something that I thought I needed.”
Lily paused and cocked her head as though she was thinking it over. “Pride, I guess. That’s what I was probably trying to get back. The ridiculous thing is that I spent the entire time sleeping alone in a huge bed in a suite with a lovely, romantic view that I couldn’t share with anyone and it only made me miserable. I even offered to fly my mother down with me, just to have some company. But no one I know could take the time away.”
She let out a short, harsh laugh. “It wasn’t until yesterday that I realized that I should have just left and either gone back home or explored the country somewhere else. That it was staying and torturing myself that made me more foolish than anything. I don’t even like skiing that much.”
His stomach roiled. What kind of guy would put a woman in such a position?
She took a sip of her wine and put it back on the table, then flicked her hair over her shoulder. “The thing is, like you, I didn’t like being there alone. But I wasn’t upset that Jason wasn’t there with me, which only confirms that I never really loved him the way I thought I had. For that, I’m grateful I found out he was no good before we got married. But what I was upset by was that I did exactly what I loathed in him. I put my pride and what I thought were my own desires before my sister. And now I might miss the most important moment in her life thus far because of that selfishness. I’ve let a guy who wasn’t worth it in the first place interrupt one of the few truly special relationships in my life.”
Bruno shook his head, but Lily put up her hand. “Before you speak, I will caution you that, no matter what you say, that’s what I think.”
He sat back. She was right. He didn’t know her well enough to try to convince her of something that she was so wrapped up in right now. Maybe in time she would come to realize that getting something back for herself was the right thing to do. Especially judging from her sister’s reaction.
“What about you? Have you ever let a woman drive you to do something foolish?” Her tone was teasing.
“I don’t know yet. And I’m not sure I’d call it foolish, either.”
“Hmmm.” His breath caught at the feel of her foot sliding up his calf. “Sounds like you’re a bit confused. Maybe you might need some help with pinning it down.”
“What do you suggest?” His voice was gruffer than usual, the desire he’d been feeling all evening culminating in a need so strong, it was practically strangling his entire body. Lily’s foot was halfway up his thigh now.
“Well, I am a consultant. I’m good at finding solutions to hard problems.” She grazed his erection, and he barely suppressed a groan. “Big, hard problems.”
“Lily…” He made a last attempt at rational thought. “You’re a smart, beautiful, sexy”—her foot eased between his legs with a gentle pressure, and this time he did groan—“woman. But when you make it home tomorrow and the stress of not knowing whether you’ll make it back in time is gone, and you’re further away from the days you spent at the ski resort, will you regret it?”
Her foot dropped. She slowly pushed her chair back and stood, then walked around the table to stand next to him. She leaned down close, placing both hands on the arm of his chair.
“I’ll be honest with you. I don’t know,” she said, her voice pitched soft and low, and he felt his pulse jump. He could smell the floral scent of her perfume, and he couldn’t tear his eyes away from the neck of her pajama top, where it gaped as it fell away from her body. He could see her breasts, hanging in the shadowy softness beneath her shirt.
His cock jumped. Bruno gripped the napkin in his lap like it was a life preserver and he was alone in the middle of the Pacific.
She gave a delicate shrug. “But I do know that I have had a lot of important realizations this week. That includes tonight. And I know that, whether or not I make it tomorrow, it won’t change my mind that my decision to stay at the resort all week was stupid. What I’d like to do tonight, though, is do something that has nothing to do with pride or strength or any of that other bullshit. Tonight, I’m going to be selfish in the right way. Because, for probably the first time in my life, there’s something that I want so badly that it makes me forget everything else except for myself,” she said huskily, her lips practically caressing his cheek now.
His nostrils flared at the seduction in her voice. This woman was going to be the death of him if she didn’t let him touch her soon. And that was what she wanted. He could tell, and he wasn’t about to say no. He wanted her, too.
But he held off, just sat and watched her, knowing that she needed to say everything she had in mind before she could give her
self over to him.
“And what is it that you want?” he asked quietly.
The wait was worth it. A slow, wide smile spread across her face. The Smile. His body practically vibrated with need.
“You,” she whispered, before she finally gave him what he wanted and pressed her lips to his.
Chapter Five
Lily had intended the kiss to be a demand, a hot and heavy exchange that set the stage for the kind of sex she imagined one-night stands would be like. Intense, rough, explosive.
But she should have known Komarov would turn the tables on her. He seized the kiss within seconds, slowing the slide of their lips over each other’s, gentling the strokes of her tongue by slowing the pace until the urgency within her melted away.
It was incredible, how good he was at giving her what she needed. Even from a sitting position, trapped by the table and the chair’s armrests, he made her relax. She was amazed at how soft she felt with him, how secure.
He didn’t feel like a stranger. His hands stroked up her arms and gripped the back of her head as though he did it every morning. When he released her lips to nibble a trail down her neck, then lower still, pressing slow kisses to each inch of bare skin that was revealed by the slide of a button, she had the oddest sensation that he was meant to do this forever.
When her shirt was hanging open, barely hiding her breasts, he finally stood up, pushing back from the table so forcefully that the chair toppled over.
She moved to right it, but he gripped her arm. “Leave it,” he commanded. And then, “Bedroom.”
There was no time to respond before his mouth took hers again, moving her backward toward the bedroom door even as he kissed her deeply, his hands roaming freely over her body.
Lily moved her hands up his arms and reveled in the strength she felt there before spreading her fingers wide and sliding her hands down his chest, flat palms over sculpted muscle that she could feel even through his T-shirt.
