Chapter 14 Best Fling
BEST FLING
HOLDEN
About an hour later, we burst into the lodge lobby from the tunnel, boards under our arms, still laughing about how it had taken me until the last run to officially beat her down the mountain.
“I let you win,” she insisted.
“You didn’t let me win anything. But you did give me motivation with that bikini striptease you pulled.” I winked. Or maybe I let her win each time because I enjoyed the view of her in front of me too much.
She rolled her eyes with a grin and stomped free of her boots, bracing a hand on my shoulder for balance. It felt alarmingly good, being there for her in the simplest ways.
“The hot tub would feel great,” I hinted. “Good for my leg, too. Join me?”
“I was going to suggest hot cocoa. But I like your idea better.”
Right there in the lobby, I stripped to my boxers, while she shimmied out of her outfit, our gear in a pile on the floor. Standing before me in only her matching bikini bottoms, I nearly swallowed my tongue ogling her.
“You keep eyeing my cute little ass like that, we’re not making it to the spa,” she giggled, cheeks pink but eyes dancing as we passed the door to the library and our little nest of passion.
I didn’t wait another second and scooped her up over my shoulder in a fireman’s carry, headed for the indoor pool.
“Holden, put me down!” Her squeal echoed off the walls down the hallway.
“Finally caught you, bunny.”
“You know,” she said between giggles, “I think that reporter from the Times got it wrong.”
“Oh?”
“She should’ve called you ‘sexy billionaire mountain man.’ Your mountain, your hotel, a woman over your shoulder…”
I grunted, beating my chest once with my free hand like a caveman. Her laughter made the whole building feel warmer.
At the hot tub, I set her down carefully on the tile. She hissed when her bare shoulders brushed my chest. I arched a brow, getting a good look at her skin now.
“Uh… Lilah,” I started slowly. “You got a sunburn or windburn.”
“It’ll fade by tomorrow.” She shrugged, then winced. “I tan easily.”
We dipped a toe into the tub and instantly regretted it.
“What the—?” I jerked my foot back. “This is sub-zero.”
“More like an ice bath,” she said, teeth chattering from one second of contact with the water. Then, her eyes lit up with mischief. “Dare you to go all in?”
“Are you crazy? My nuts would never forgive me.” I backed away. “Sauna. We’re trying the sauna to warm up.” Which, as it turned out, would only get about three degrees warmer than the hallway. I fiddled with the dial. Nothing.
“Shit,” I muttered. “Okay, adding these to my list of things to fix before opening. Not exactly the luxury spa experience I was going for. Guests would give us a negative review for sure.”
She bumped my hip with hers. “Come on, hotshot. Looks like hot cocoa in front of the fire it is.”
Back in the library, I had the fire stoked and roaring by the time she came in balancing two oversized mugs crowned with whipped cream. She’d added a pair of fuzzy boots to her bikini ensemble and a blanket wrapped under her arms.
I’d pulled on red flannel lounging pants over my boxers, which I decided counted as plenty dressed for my special Christmas company.
We snuggled together on the couch, with a couple of wool blankets piled over our legs. She hissed when her shoulder brushed mine.
“Are you okay?”
She nodded, but I inspected her further.
“Do you tan after all that goes away?” I gestured at her chest.
She glanced down and gasped. Angry red patches and a few blisters covered her shoulders, chest, and back. “I’m burnt. I cannot believe this happened.”
“I think you need to face reality.”
“But you went without a shirt. Why aren’t you?”
“I don’t know. Genetics? And I only kept my shirt off for a couple of runs. I’ll go raid the medical office. We should have aloe vera there.”
“You do that. I’ll dip in the freezing hot tub after all. Maybe numb my stupidity.”
While she went to shock her skin in cold water, I scrounged up aloe gel and ibuprofen. A few minutes later, she shuffled back in, teeth chattering, wrapped in a fresh towel but with her shoulders bare.
“Come here.” I padded for her to sit on the couch, her back to me. “No more ski bunny days for you. Although the view of you plowing down my mountain bare-breasted like you did will stay tucked away in my fantasies forever.”
She settled carefully, hissing. I passed her the water and pills first.
“Hydrate, Frosty. Ibuprofen, now.”
She took them obediently, then watched as I squeezed aloe onto my palms.
“You have a gentle touch,” she said after the first cool glide across her shoulder.
“Surprised?” I asked, smoothing the gel over the reddest parts with slow, careful circles.
“After last night and this morning in the shower? Yeah. A little.”
“Hey, you were the one who said, and I quote, ‘Harder, Holden.’” I mimicked her voice.
She groaned and playfully slapped my knee. “I did not.”
“Oh, you absolutely did,” I said. “Might be my new favorite phrase in the entire English language.”
She snorted and then winced. “It hurts to laugh.”
“Sorry,” I murmured, meaning it. “Try to relax. Hopefully, you get better by the grand opening. I imagine shoulder mobility is imperative as a chef with all that chopping?”
With a nod from her to confirm, I finished rubbing both shoulders.
I eased my hands down her arms, and across her chest, rubbing in what was left of the aloe.
The intimacy of it caught me off guard—her trusting me, letting me take care of her, my big, clumsy hands trying so hard not to hurt this fierce, prickly woman who’d somehow snowballed into the center of my Christmas.
“Actually, a lot has surprised me about you, Holden.” She glanced back at me.
“Like what?”
Her gaze dropped to my mouth for half a second. “You’re gentler than I expected, and caring, and annoyingly fun.”
“You’re sexy as hell and a ton of fun when you let your hair down, Frosty. Not what I expected either.” She was more.
“Still think I’m sexy right now, burnt to a crisp as I am?”
“Oddly, yes. Maybe I like you being at my mercy,” I admitted. Blood rushed to my cock to prove it.
Her lips twitched. “Maybe I like you playing nurse.”
“Come here, then, and I’ll take even better care of you.” I patted my lap.
She hesitated only a second before swinging one leg over and straddling me, careful to keep her shoulders clear from brushing anything. I braced my hands at her waist, bringing warmth to her skin there.
With a gasp, she found my hard cock alive and well beneath her.“Holden?”
“What can I say? You have a certain effect on me, Frosty.”
In response, she ground against my raging cock.
“Careful,” I murmured. “Don’t want to hurt you.”
“You’re not.”
My hands tightened at her hips, bringing her closer, claiming her lips. Her fingers slid into my hair, careful not to pull her shoulders, nails grazing my scalp in a way that made heat roar through my body.
“What are we doing, Holden?” she whispered against my mouth when we came up for air.
“Helping you forget your injuries?” I suggested. “Want me to stop?”
Her answer came in the form of another kiss, more urgent this time, her mouth opening to mine, hips shifting just enough that I felt it all the way to my toes.
I held her like she might break if I wasn’t careful, and moved with her slowly at first, giving her all the control over how much she could handle with her tender skin. Our kisses turned hotter, needier, her breath ragged as she rocked against me.
Tugging aside her bikini bottom, I fingered through her slick folds, finding her clit, flicking and rubbing it. Intent on pleasuring her, there was no stopping until the blankets slid off her shaking body and the moans of my name multiplied.
“There’s my beautiful girl, coming undone for me.” I almost came undone in my pants.
She collapsed against me, boneless, but as I learned, it only took her a moment to rev back up. Eager to please me next, she clawed at my pants, where heat pooled.
“Looking for this, my little bunny?” I shoved them down and brought out my thick, veiny cock.
“Mm. There he is.” She wiggled between my legs, worshipping me like I was the king of the mountain. Last Christmas I had no one; this year, I had Lilah and the way her hands worked my shaft up and down so good.
It wouldn’t take long for me to come. Her tongue teased and swiped at the precum, and her mouth sucked me in. When she deep throated me, I was gone, her lack of gag reflex catching me off-guard.
“You get me so excited. See what you do to me?” I growled, holding her head and thrusting into her throat until my cock throbbed. On a groan, I pulsed my release into her mouth. Like a very good girl, she swallowed every drop. “Fuck yes.” I collapsed against the coach, satisfied and weak.
The details blurred for awhile with the crackle of the fire.
When the room had gone quieter and the thrill had faded, our breaths back to normal, she lay sprawled on my chest, one hand idly tracing patterns over my sternum.
The blankets were haphazardly draped over the lower half of us, keeping clear of her aching shoulders.
I smoothed my palm over her hair. “Are you okay?”
“Considering I’m burned, exhausted, and have just engaged in a mind-blowing fling with my boss? Yes.”
I laughed, satisfied with how things turned out this weekend. Of all people to be stuck with here, I couldn’t be happier it was her. “On a scale of best fling ever to regretting it, where do we stand?”
“Think I’m going to feed your healthy ego by saying this was the best?” She teased.
“Why not? Especially if well deserved.”
A long pause had me squirming.
Finally, she admitted, “When this is over, I’ll have no regrets I got into that broken cot with you.”
“Same,” I agreed, except for the subtle reminder that this would end, that we’d have to wake up to reality at some point. The likelihood of her falling back into being Icy Chef Lilah instead of my snuggly little Frosty was more than I could handle. But we didn’t have to end, did we?
“Hey, about the fling,” I started before I could stop myself. She tensed in my arms as I searched for the right words. “Maybe we don’t end it. We see what happens. No pressure. Just you and me for as long as it feels good.”
Vulnerability flickered in her eyes as she lifted and studied my face for a moment. “Okay, Mr. Snowman, no counting the days and nights then.”
“Only the ones that matter.” I kissed the top of her head, holding her a little tighter as she drifted to sleep. For once, Christmas became more than a date on a calendar, but the beginning of something I didn’t want to end.