8. Mira
MIRA
“C all me when you land so I know you got there safely.”
Looking over my shoulder, I made sure the door to the restroom was still closed. We were due to land in Lake Tahoe soon, and I could have waited until then to call Matteo, but I still felt guilty as hell after Clay made those threats last night.
Even if he could stop calling me quite so often, especially when we weren’t actually dating when the wedding fell in my lap.
Was it jealousy that made him this determined?
“I’ll text you,” I whispered. “It’s so new right now, and there are so many eyes on us.
When I get back, it won’t be that way anymore. ”
Was this my life? Acting out a previously undiscovered scene from Romeo and Juliet ?
Having whispered conversations with my hand cupped over the phone, ready for my husband to discover me at any moment.
It was pitiful, but it was what I needed to do.
Like I said to Matteo, this trip wouldn’t last forever, even if it felt like it would sometimes.
I sank back against the seat, rubbing my temples, fighting to stay awake after more than twelve hours of meetings, conferences, and phone calls.
Every property manager wanted to roll out the red carpet for the new boss, and one positive thing I could admit about Clay was his insatiable curiosity.
He wanted to know names, how long people had worked for us, wanted to hear their ideas for improvements.
It seemed like he truly listened too. He wasn’t putting it on for the sake of appearances.
At the moment, that was about all the credit I could give him.
Liar, liar . I sighed, cursing myself for the hundredth time since that unfortunate scene in the elevator.
All it took was his tongue down my throat and his hand up my dress to turn me into a panting, whimpering virgin all over again.
I was embarrassed, hardly able to look him in the eye today.
We had been too busy to talk, which was at least one plus to being so frantically busy.
Now, it was another story. Our flight to Lake Tahoe had been uneventful, with us busy on our phones, catching up on what we had missed while we were out of touch with the rest of the world.
The feedback I had received so far from managers and executives was nothing but positive.
I understood now how concerned they’d been that things were going to change drastically with the sale.
They were all happy now, which meant they would work better. I was doing my job.
I was also developing a bad habit of losing my breath whenever Clay entered the room. Not that the jet’s cabin counted as a room, but that didn’t change the fluttering sense in my stomach when he took his seat across from mine.
“The car is waiting at the hangar,” he reported after reading a new message, then shut down on me again. That was good. It was what I needed him to do.
The past week, I had relished the moments of silence between us, wishing he would ignore me if we weren’t talking about business. That was the only way we could relate to each other, the only common ground we had beyond both of our names appearing on the same marriage license.
One kiss in an elevator threw my life into chaos, like a tornado sweeping through everything. Even the kiss on our wedding night hadn’t undone me like last night had.
Just thinking about it as we left the jet and walked across the tarmac to the waiting car made my knees weak and stirred heat in my core.
A heat that was the exact opposite of the icy, arctic air biting at my skin from the frigid outdoor temperature.
There had always been chemistry between Matteo and me, but compared to what Clay was capable of? There was no comparison.
Not only last night, either, but all throughout the day when I kept returning to the memories, flashbacks.
The way he smelled, his soft grunts while his hand traveled over me.
The slow, sure stroking of his tongue. He was overwhelming, filling all of my senses and setting me on fire.
The embers were still burning an entire day later as I closed my eyes and wedged myself in the corner of the back seat.
It was eleven thirty, hardly past my bedtime, but after a day like this, I wanted nothing more than sleep.
“The air is thin up here.” Clay tried to stifle a yawn.
I wrapped my arms around myself, shivering. “I should’ve worn my coat, but it’s packed. I forgot it was so much colder up here.”
“Here.” Before I knew it, he was sliding out of his suit jacket. “Use this. Can we get the heat turned up?” he added, raising his voice for the driver. He leaned over and covered me with the jacket, my skin tingling through my dress where his hand brushed against it.
“Thank you.” Pride was one thing, but I was seriously cold, meaning I tucked my chin close to my chest, willing myself to warm up. All I ended up doing was wrapping myself in his essence, which brought last night’s memories back clear and fresh.
We would be staying in one of the private cabins arranged around the sprawling central lodge.
It was late enough in the season that business would be slower in that sort of dead zone between winter and summer when there was still snow on the ground but nothing projected to fall.
If anything, I was glad for that. Of all of our properties, it was this one in need of help— refurbishment, new branding, ideas for drawing business between busy seasons.
At least the decreased activity meant we’d have time to sit down and hammer things out with the management team.
First? Sleep.
I dragged myself up the steps in front of the cabin while wearing Clay’s jacket, using the landscaping lights to guide my way. They cast a pretty glow over the thin layer of snow still clinging to life.
“It’s charming.” Clay entered behind me, stopping to look around while I headed straight for one of the two bedrooms in the single-story structure. It was charming, rustic, definitely in need of an update, but I could worry about that in the morning.
The driver brought up our bags, and Clay wheeled mine into my room while I slipped out of my Pradas. What a relief. “Thanks,” I murmured, flipping on the bedside lamp before turning to him. He had a strange look on his face as he studied me, stroking his scruffy jaw.
“What’s so funny?” I asked, standing beside the bed. It was so big and tempting with its pile of pillows and silk duvet. He was now keeping me from my much-craved sleep.
“You look like a kid playing dress-up in that jacket.” He crossed the room, reaching for me. What was it about his nearness that froze me? I could only stand trembling while he took his suit jacket by the lapels and eased it over my shoulders.
That slight touch, the brush of his hands over my shoulders, was enough to make me forget everything I told myself last night.
Never again. Once we got home, it would be better to spend as little time together as possible to avoid temptation, complications, and awkwardness.
Right now, in the moment? When I couldn’t breathe, and my every thought and impulse revolved around how much my body needed him?
He sighed, looking down at my body before his eyes met mine again.
There was sheer, searing lust in those steely orbs, promising release, the chance to lose myself in him.
When he took my face in his powerful hands, I closed my eyes, willing it to happen.
Sleep was the last thing on my mind now as he leaned down, filling my world, his breath fanning across my face an instant before our mouths touched.
He didn’t waste time, backing me against the bed, undoing me with his kiss as he lowered me until I had to lie back under him.
Oh, yes, this was nice. This was good. I needed this like I needed air, his hand running up my leg, teasing my tingling skin while he nipped and lapped at my lips until I writhed and whined.
“Touch me,” I begged, even though he already was. I wanted more. I wanted him everywhere.
I slid a hand between us and cupped his massive erection through his pants. His deep, helpless groan took the fire between my legs and turned it into an inferno. I lifted my hips, silently begging for relief from the almost painful arousal that was all his fault.
“What are you doing to me?” he growled out.
It was a demand with desperation around the edges.
His groans paired with the way he worked against my palm, teasing my pussy through my G-string while I worked him.
His lips found my throat, and I threw my head back, hungry for his kiss, desperate for it.
“You’re so wet,” he mumbled against my skin, running his tongue up to my ear, teasing the lobe with his teeth and whispering, “Soaked through your panties. I can smell how wet you are. Fucking hot and wet and ready. This was always going to happen.”
“Stop talking,” I begged, catching his mouth again and kissing him hard enough to hurt, determined to forget thinking, forget right and wrong, and focus on what felt good.
He broke the kiss to whisper, “Do you want me to fuck you? Do you want my cock deep inside your pussy?”
Yes. God yes.
And no.
“Wait. Wait, stop.” I pulled my hand away from his bulge, guilty and ashamed of myself.
I did want this. Physically, yes, but the rest of me was another story.
I meant nothing to him. This marriage was a joke.
I couldn’t take what was already complicated and make it painful too.
Not when so much of my life was wrapped up in work.
His brows knit together as he gazed down at me, his breaths coming fast and uneven.
“No? Really?”
“Really. You know we shouldn’t do it. Let’s not make this any harder than it has to be.” When he sighed, I begged, “Please, Clay. I don’t know what’s happening, but I know it can’t. You know it too.”
“Don’t tell me what I know.” He stood, leaving me to straighten out my dress before sitting up. “I’m sure you did us a favor. Good night. First meeting is at ten tomorrow?”
I wanted to thank him but instead replied, “Yes, down at the lodge.”
“I’ll be ready.” He took his jacket with him, striding from the room and closing the door so I could flop back on the bed and wish I was never born.
It was clear this trip wasn’t going to work out as planned. It didn’t matter what I had to do to arrange for us to stay separately. We had another two weeks ahead of us, and I wasn’t sure I’d be able to push him away the next time he touched me. I was barely able to do it this time.
My mind was made up by the time I finished changing into a T-shirt and shorts.
I would ask for a room at the main lodge in the morning with the excuse of wanting to get the full picture of what guests could expect from their experience.
As for the rest of the trip, I would come up with whatever excuses I had to.
Otherwise, I would end up taking a step I could not take back.
After turning out the light, I dropped into a deep but troubled sleep, almost like a fever dream, where nothing made sense.
Flying on the jet, only this time, I was with Matteo.
“I’m so glad it’s finally just the two of us on our honeymoon,” he said with a smile before leaning in to kiss me, and his kiss tasted like sawdust. When I tried to turn my head away, he held me in place with both hands, shoving his tongue down my throat until I gagged.
I woke up coughing, gagging like I had in my dream. My heart was pounding, and my pajamas were damp with sweat. I threw the duvet back and sat up, then noticed something.
I had pulled the blackout curtains over the window, but there was never any way to keep just a sliver of light from leaking in. And the light leaking in from both sides of the curtains was much too… white. Bright, glaring white that got me out of bed.
“No,” I whispered, shaking my head like I wasn’t alone in the room. Like anybody could hear me reacting to the fuck ton of snow that had fallen overnight. So much snow was piled in drifts that almost reached the window, and it was still coming down.
Fuck. I grabbed my phone from the nightstand. There were two missed texts from Ed Johnson, the general manager, both sent while I was basically unconscious, considering I hadn’t stirred when the phone buzzed.
Ed: Freak storm. This was not supposed to happen.
Ed: Equipment shed is already inaccessible. Calling around for plows but could be a while.
In other words, we were snowed in. They couldn’t get the plows out of the shed because the snow had already blocked the door. Somebody would have to dig out with shovels.
Meanwhile, we were a quarter of a mile from the lodge, but it may as well have been a thousand miles with the snow coming down and the wind howling.
I was stuck here with the one man I needed most to get away from.