Chapter 16
Alicia
Alicia concentrated on the hot, viscous water streaming over her skin.
This brawny Scotsman was seeping inside her.
Flowing through her. Saturating her. And she wanted him to.
How was this happening? Before coming here two days ago – yes, only two days ago – Alicia hadn’t wanted anyone to look at her.
She still didn’t, but Jamie got through the cracks.
He was different. The magical combination of his brawn and his energy made him like a bodyguard she wanted to cross all the boss-employee boundaries with.
Alicia was wearing a cap and goggles in case Dean and Diana were at the pool, or anyone else who might recognise her. Besides not wanting to be bothered directly, she enjoyed the fact that Jamie didn’t know she was Alicia Donoghue and she didn’t want him finding out from anyone but her.
For a short time, Alicia was mesmerised watching Jamie swimming laps.
He had a powerful stroke, and moved through the water with grace and speed, his strength propelling him efficiently down the length of the pool.
At the shallow end, he flipped himself over and headed back.
A tide swelled within her. She moved to the edge of the pool and sunk down.
Until her muscles were warmed up, Alicia kept her stroke long and gentle.
Then she pulled through the water with more drive, her blood pumping harder, at its most intense as she passed Jamie going the other way.
The current between them zinged. He must be able to sense it, too.
Or did they put something in Scottish swimming pools that she didn’t know about?
After a couple of laps, Alicia stopped and allowed her breathing to steady. Moments later, Jamie came to a halt next to her and leaned his broad glistening forearms on the edge of the pool. She took in the measure of him. He was beyond measure.
‘Hey,’ he puffed, lifting his goggles. ‘I was struggling to keep up there for a bit.’
‘Oh, no you weren’t, but thank you.’ Alicia did a quick recce of the pool area. They had the place to themselves now, and outside the wide glass windows snowflakes were still whirling around. ‘Would you like to take a sauna?’ she asked, emboldened by the sense of privacy.
‘Aye,’ Jamie agreed. ‘I’d love to.’
‘Great!’ She hoisted herself out of the water, aware her bikini-clad body was in full view again. ‘I’m going to rinse off.’
And as she showered off the chlorine, the one thing Alicia couldn’t, and didn’t want to, rinse away was the feeling of Jamie’s gaze on her.
Her nipples puckered into expectant beads as the water drenched her breasts.
A delicious fluttering cut across her belly then down into her core.
Arousal wriggled inside the gold bikini bottoms that Jamie seemed rather taken with.
Hopefully, the time was close when he would be more than happy to remove them.
There was no one else in the sauna. Alicia sat on her towel and closed her eyes.
The mist of hesitancy around Jamie was well and truly dissipating, a battalion of hormones making sure of that.
By spending time with him, the sun was breaking through.
But there were still questions encased in the remaining hazy droplets.
What if this was all a set-up? What if someone had planted this guy to keep shaming her on the internet?
All Alicia wanted was a quiet life and, one day, a quiet boyfriend.
But what if drama had followed her to Scotland? That would be just her luck.
Jamie would have to be an excellent actor for all this to be a set-up. Chad’s made you paranoid. Don’t let him control your life when you’ve met an amazing guy you’re practically alone with in a remote Scottish hotel.
The door to the sauna opened and the man himself entered, an imposing presence with slick wet hair and dripping fresh-from-the-shower skin.
Jamie sat on his towel on the bench opposite Alicia and smiled, the blue of his eyes accentuated by his darkened, wet lashes, rivulets of water dripping onto his solid, sculpted chest. What she’d give to be one of those rivulets rolling down that body. Down into…
‘You know you’ve still got your swimming cap on?’
Alicia threw her palm to her head. She’d kept the cap on when there might be people around and been too distracted by Jamie to remove it. How embarrassing.
‘I completely forgot.’ She peeled the rubber hat from her head and her blonde hair tumbled down, Jamie watching all the while.
‘Want me to put it outside?’ he asked. ‘So it doesn’t melt.’
‘Thank you.’ Alicia’s fingertips brushed his as she passed him the cap. God! Their body parts had to stop meeting like this.
As Jamie stood and opened the door, she admired the expanse of his back, as wide as Alaska. His muscles flexed as he placed her swim cap on the ground, his swim shorts tightening against his butt. Hot moisture pooled between her legs.
‘Is there still nobody out there?’ she asked, as innocuously as possible.
Jamie dipped his head out the door.
‘Still just us,’ He closed it again. ‘Were you expecting anyone?’
‘Oh, no. On the contrary, I was hoping there would be no one.’
‘Aye, it’s better that way,’ Jamie agreed. ‘All the benefits of the private sauna without having to go from pool to snow to get to it. That’s one fault of this hotel, though. Each private sauna needs a private pool as well.’
‘That would be incredible.’ Alicia imagined the joy of being able to swim in a private pool with this man. ‘Decadent.’
‘Aye. Decadent.’ Jamie’s low burr summoned heat. Every syllable was like water poured on hot coals. Speaking of which…
‘Do you want more water on?’ he asked. The sauna was so compact that he was standing right in front of Alicia as he asked her this question. ‘Hotter or hot enough already?’
Oh, God! He must know what he’s doing.
‘Put some more water on, please. I’d like it to be hotter.’
‘With pleasure.’ He scooped water from the bucket on the floor over the dark coals. A steam plume hissed, the coals sizzled and the temperature in the sauna ratcheted up a notch or ten.
Alicia leaned back and inhaled generously, her breasts heaving with her breath. As she exhaled, she was conscious that Jamie was still standing over her, examining her in a cloud of dry heat. She kept her focus on his face, although it was a contest between that and his abs or hovering lower.
‘You know,’ he said huskily, far earthier now, ‘I think the heat in here could be getting too much for me already.’
‘It is?’
‘Aye.’
‘Are you going to leave?’ Alicia’s reply was languid but fuelled with intent.
‘No,’ he said, firmly. ‘I’m definitely not going to leave.’
‘Should we open the door and let it cool down a bit?’
‘No.’
‘What, then?’
‘This.’ Jamie reached down to Alicia’s hands.
Without hesitation, she put her palms in his giant ones and let him hoist her up, so they were standing face to face, their bodies flush in the intimacy of this small wooden box.
They had been close like this after the earlier sauna mix up, but Alicia wasn’t going to leave now, not in a million years.
Whatever was about to happen, she would be a part of it.
And boy was she was glad that she was because this was the moment that Jamie began what they’d both been waiting for. This was the moment that, their hips touching, he inclined his head towards Alicia’s, placed his lips on hers and kissed her. This was the moment that blew Alicia’s mind.
Alicia had no idea how Jamie had learned these skills from playing board games and watching TV, but somewhere along the line, the man had learned to kiss like nobody else, his tongue doing a skilful dance against her own, his lips soft yet firm, tender yet commanding.
Alicia heard herself moan. Jamie let out a groan of his own, then the kiss rose from hungry to starving to ravenous within moments.
No more sweet pecks to ease them into the main body of the kiss.
Jamie devoured Alicia with his mouth, pure carnal desire driving his tongue into her warm, dark depths.
The man wanted her and he had no intention of pretending otherwise.
He was full of raw need, he was skilled, he was taking control and Alicia would let him.
There was nothing she could fault about this kiss.
Not a thing. Jamie spoke to her with his lips and his tongue; his mouth and hers understood each other. They needed the same thing.
As for his cock, it was hard now and urging against Alicia, surging wet heat right through her.
She pressed firmer – wanting more of this kiss, wanting it harder, wanting it faster – reached for his face, the rough bristle of his beard against her fingers.
There was still some consciousness that she was in a sauna and there was only so far that they could go before it got too risky, but Alicia wasn’t at that point yet.
Right now, the risk-benefit analysis that her body was automatically doing for her was coming out as ‘worth it, carry on’.
A kiss had never taken her to the edge like this, but she couldn’t go back now.
This was no run of the mill kiss. It was once in a lifetime blow you away.
Alicia was burning up and not only from the heat of the hot coals.
Somehow, she knew that if she were naked in the snow with Jamie Butler, she would still be searing with fire for him.
Then, a blast of cool air blew into the sauna along with a voice that said, ‘Ooh, hello!’
Alicia tore her mouth from Jamie’s, her heart thundering like a juggernaut down a freeway. Standing at the sauna door was Dean, of Dean and Diana, his eyes boring into her and Jamie – back and forth – a creepy grin building on his face.
‘Hope I’m not interrupting anything.’ Dean licked his lips.
It was blatantly obvious that he had interrupted something, and delight was scrawled all over his disgusting features.
Alicia froze, conscious of Jamie’s hand on the small of her back, steadying her.
How she loathed this man and his salacious undertones.
She’d already had to fend him off once this week, and now he would be thinking that she’d kiss anybody in a sauna.
‘You’re alright.’ Jamie was clearly better at being civil to assholes than Alicia was.
‘Come in, by all means.’ He looked down at her, his gaze questioning if she was okay.
She nodded. He squeezed closer to her to allow room for Dean to enter the sauna, which was a little odd, but then she realised he was doing this to hide his erection.
For this, she was thankful. The last thing Dean needed was any ammunition, or he’d be asking them both to join him and his wife at their lodge.
‘Lucky, I’m not paparazzi, eh?’ Dean appeared to bloat with pride at his own joke whilst plonking down on the bench.
Alicia cringed.
‘Aye, well, lucky we’re not famous,’ Jamie retorted, and she recoiled at what must surely come next.
‘Sorry, but I have to get out of here. It’s too hot.’ It was too bad that she was exposing Jamie’s erection, but men dealt with these sorts of things all the time, didn’t they? He’d know what to do.
But Alicia’s departure wasn’t enough to stop Dean’s mouth. The man had evidently never heard of letting someone else have the last word.
‘Well, one of you isn’t.’
The mere idea of the confusion that must be swimming in Jamie’s brain, thrust bile up into Alicia’s throat. Please God, have him dismiss Dean as crazy and having mistaken me for someone else. She moved to the door of the sauna.
‘Aye, famous for making whisky and that’s about it.’ Jamie’s voice rumbled right behind her. It was as if he were taking the hit for the famous comment, even if he knew it couldn’t be about him. Or did he? That could be established later. Please let Dean leave it there for now.
But no. Of course not.
‘Wish I was still young enough to snag a Hollywood starlet.’ He chuckled.
‘Jamie, I’m heading back to my lodge.’ Alicia’s smile may have looked like more of a grimace at this stage. She desperately didn’t want Dean to tell Jamie who she was. The anonymity was too nice – being simply Alicia without the labels and misconceptions.
‘I’ll come with you.’ Jamie was right behind her. For now. He wanted to get away from Dean as much as she did. But when he found out who she was, would he be making moves away from her, too?
‘Enjoy yourselves,’ Dean said, gleefully, before muttering, ‘You’ve got a wild one there.’
So close. They were so close to being out the door, but this comment clearly hit a nerve with Jamie. Alicia stopped in her tracks as his sharp tone, quite different from the one of the chilled dude she’d encountered so far, interrogated Dean.
‘Sorry? I don’t quite follow.’
‘Ach, nothing, pal. Enjoy. It’s not every man gets a supermodel on his arm, or in the sauna.’
‘Right.’ Jamie’s shoulders twitched. He clearly hadn’t a clue what Dean was talking about but was pretending that he did, although he retained the steeliness in his voice, marking the territory to Dean as not one for a fight but not one for jokes either.
‘What can I say? Some of us have it and some of us don’t. ’
Thank you, Jamie. Thank you for stopping things with that line.
The last thing Alicia wanted was for him to engage with Dean and it have revealed who she was.
She also didn’t want him to be “that guy”, marking his territory in public.
As she headed for the shower, she hoped they could both dismiss Dean as a lunatic and go back to how things were ten minutes ago.