Tall, Dark And Daring

“He’s here most of the time during the winter months. Want me to ring him for you?” She reached for the phone.

Tessa almost leaped across the counter. “No!” She succeeded in laying her hand over top of the woman’s fingers to prevent her from picking up the receiver. Tessa smiled apologetically and let go. “I mean, that’s okay. Just tell me where his office is located so I’ll know.”

“His rooms are just down this corridor to the left.” The clerk pointed.

Tessa thanked her and purposely walked in the other direction. Right now, as long as she knew Mitch was occupied in his office, she’d just check out the mountain view from the patio for nostalgia’s sake.

And to see if the back deck still encased the huge hot tub where she and Mitch used to watch the snowfall and gaze at the stars. Not that she was thinking of Mitch, she assured herself, just the beauty of those starry nights and how it had felt to have snow fall on her nose while hot bubbles tickled the rest of her.

Or had that been Mitch’s fingers?

She adjusted her sack of heavy oranges one more time as she clicked her way across the hardwood floors. Rounding the corner of the downstairs bar, Tessa heard laughter from the afternoon patrons. She thought she knew where she was going until sunshine from a wall of windows blinded her.

For a moment, Tessa paused to squint in the bright light, disoriented. Where she’d expected to find a door to the deck, she discovered a new addition to the Hearthside. A massive sunroom enclosed the outdoor oasis she had remembered, encasing the former patio area in glass.

The huge, sunken hot tub rested indoors, its continuous gurgle creating a rumbling backdrop of white noise. Its steamy depths fogged up a strip of window-panes, but above the opaque area of the glass, Tessa caught her first glimpse of skiers tearing down Mount Van Hoevenberg and the towering pines that dotted the slopes.

Her interest in the scenery outside lasted all of a second, however.

Just about the time it took for a familiar laugh to draw her attention to the hot tub and three bikini-clad snow bunnies vying for the attention of one very content-looking male who sprawled in the water like a pampered Poseidon.

And no wonder the mermaid trio romped around the tub for his amusement. Even some ten feet away, Tessa took a step back from the sheer impact of the man, and she’d been semi-prepared to face him again.

Mitch Ryder—her off-limits boss for the next six days.

His eyes were closed as if in heady abandon, but the rest of his face looked as if it could have been carved from an Adirondack mountainside. High cheekbones and a square jaw made him appear fiercely male, but he smiled too often for him to look truly dangerous. Dark hair lay in one slick wave over his head.

Only his face and shoulders were visible above the water, leaving her hungry for a better view.

She recalled once when she’d sat in this same hot tub with him. He’d been naked beneath the water. The idea sizzled over her, turning her as warm and liquid as the bubbling bath. She doubted he’d be cavorting around the Hearthside naked in the middle of the afternoon, but she found herself straining for a peek into the blue depths anyhow.

Oh, no.

What was she doing?

Eight years later, she acted as moonstruck as ever around Mitch. Maybe she could sneak away now and he’d never notice. She would tell herself it had been a good thing to get her first viewing out of the way so she wouldn’t be so cow-eyed tomorrow when they officially met.

It was a great idea.

In fact, she loved the idea.

Too bad her damn high heels were glued to the floor.

Before she could unstick her feet to make her exit, he moved. In a flash of sluicing water and flexing muscle, Mitch hoisted himself up onto the ledge of the pool and took a seat.

Tessa covered the involuntary squeal that rose to her lips. Whether she’d turned into a giddy coed because she could now see more of him or because he’d opened his eyes and might see her, she couldn’t say.

But she refused to let her hormones hold her hostage.

She made a fast turn on her heel before she could change her mind, forgetting all about the oranges. The netting sack swung wide and pulled loose from her arm.

She watched in slow-motion horror as her citrus bounced and hopped in a cheerful orange beeline for the hot tub.

Tessa stood motionless as the first piece of fruit splashed into the pool right beside a redheaded mermaid. Mitch’s gaze swung toward the orange and then to the impromptu citrus parade.

And then to her.

She gulped. Maybe she gasped. She searched for words and air and a small scrap of dignity to confront him with, because she definitely wasn’t going to stand here acting like one of his groupies.

Striding forward, she managed a confident step that would have made Ines proud. Too bad Mitch chose that moment to rise to his feet.

She couldn’t have looked him in the eye if her career depended on it. Her gaze wandered a slow path upward from his long feet to his lightly furred calves. His muscular thighs to his…swimsuit. The rippled plane of his stomach to tightened male nipples.

A memory of tasting his flesh in that very spot prompted her to lick her lips.

“Mitch.” She breathed the word, unable to find her voice now that she stared into familiar gray eyes that had long dominated her fantasies.

“Hello, Tessa.” His voice raked over her senses like fingernails on a lover’s back. “Welcome back.”

The steam from the hot tub seemed to kick up a few sultry degrees. It took all of Tessa’s restraint not to loosen the belt of her trench coat.

“I didn’t expect you here until tomorrow,” she remarked, wishing she hadn’t allowed herself such a long survey of him. She’d already catalogued way too many enticements. “I thought you moved to Tahoe,” she blurted, needing to fill the sexually charged air around them with something besides her heavy breathing.

He grinned as he bent to retrieve her fruit. “Been checking up on me?”

Heat climbed her cheeks. He still possessed that slow, sexy smile. The one that had made her heart do back flips and her mouth go dry.

“Hardly.” She knelt beside him and carefully avoided any random hand brushing as they picked up her oranges and put them in the sack. “I read about your accident in the papers, and they mentioned you were moving back to the States to recover.” She wouldn’t mention she’d scanned several articles to glean that much information, or that she’d been panicked when she heard he’d taken a bad fall down some Alpine mountain. “Are you okay?”

Now that they’d finished gathering her oranges, she and Mitch both stood.

Tessa tried not to stare at the broad expanse of his glistening chest.

“I’m better now that you’re here.” He reached for a towel and slung it around his waist. “Shall we head over to my office to talk?”

She had no choice but to agree. If they were going to plow through a week’s worth of business, she couldn’t afford to avoid him. But the temptation of she and Mitch in a private place sounded very dangerous for her dare…and her peace of mind. “I’m ready when you are.”

Closing her eyes to shut out visions of Mitch’s tanned skin, she sent up a prayer for some major inhibitions.

MITCH THANKED GOD he’d found a towel when he had, or Tessa would have seen rapid evidence of just how much he still wanted her.

He hadn’t expected her until tomorrow or he never would have let her catch him lazing in the hot tub with the latest batch of bubbleheaded college girls to descend on the hotel. He’d snuck in when the pool was empty to give his knee some much needed therapy time. Could he help it if the coed crowd cornered him?

Some timing for Tessa’s arrival.

He took her elbow and propelled her forward through the bar before she had a chance to protest. He had to do something to break that provocative, lingering stare of hers—the one that turned him on as much as if she’d touched him.

Even now, electricity zinged from her body to his hand, no matter how slight his touch.