Snowbound With The Boss

Her insides jumped, trembled and settled into a thrum of expectancy that wouldn’t be denied. Crazy is just what they were talking about here. Sex with Sean would be a mistake. A huge one. But if she let this moment pass, let him go back to California without taking the opportunity Fate had handed her, wouldn’t that be a mistake, too? Wouldn’t she have to live with regret for the rest of her life?

And she couldn’t handle more regrets.

Kate had been so closed off for the last two years, she’d never once felt even the slightest attraction for a man. And what she felt for Sean went light-years beyond a “slight attraction.” That could be a problem, too, she knew. Feeling too much was an open invitation to pain.

Kate had already had enough pain to last a lifetime.

So she’d have to keep her heart tucked neatly away. Of course, sex without love wasn’t like her at all. But then again, she’d already had and lost love and didn’t expect to ever have it again. So unless she wanted to live her entire life as if she was locked up in a monastery, she’d have to accept that things, for her, had changed. Affection would have to be enough. And as she met his eyes, Kate could admit to herself that as much as Sean irritated and annoyed her, she also sort of liked him. Hard not to, really. Looking up into Sean’s eyes, Kate thought he really was as charming as he claimed to be. Plus he didn’t cheap out on building plans, he was fair to her crew and even when he argued with her, he managed to make her laugh.

That kind of man was hard to resist. Though she’d been doing her best to do just that for the last week, she was done with it now. She took a breath and sighed heavily. She was finished trying to ignore the buzz of electricity between them.

If she was going to make a mistake, Kate preferred it be an active decision, not a mistake of omission.

“So, Kate,” he murmured, pushing the edge of her jacket aside to drag the tips of his fingers along the undersides of her breasts. “Are we going to be crazy together, or are we going to be sad and lonely separately?”

She shivered again as tiny twists of heat licked at her. Her eyes closed briefly and when she opened them again, Sean was there, staring into her gaze, searching for her answer.

She lifted one hand, cupped his face and drew him to her. “Crazy,” she whispered. “I vote for crazy.”

“Thank God.” He kissed her.

Kate’s entire body lit up in an explosion of light and color and heat. She hooked her arms around his neck and hung on, drawing him even closer. Now that she’d opened the floodgates of long-banked desires and needs, she was helpless to do anything but ride the tide cresting inside her. Kate groaned as he parted her lips with his tongue. That fast, greedy dance stole her breath, blurred her mind and set fire to her body.

His hands were busy, too, pushing her jacket off her shoulders and down her arms. Free, Kate did the same for him, then threaded her arms back around his neck as he lifted her and plopped her down onto the old, worn counter. He moved to stand between her thighs, and she hooked her legs around his waist.

They were eye to eye now and when he scraped his hands up beneath the hem of her sweater to cup her breasts, even through the fragile material of her bra, Kate felt heat blossom. Tingles flickered into life deep in her belly, and the core of her ached and throbbed in time with the beat of her heart.

Want. Desperate, frantic need clawed at her, and Kate threw herself into the conflagration. Outside, snow flew in an icy wind that rattled the windowpanes and slammed a stray shutter against the side of the hotel. Neither of them noticed or cared.

“Other room,” Sean muttered thickly, tearing his mouth from hers. “By the fire.”

“Not cold,” she assured him, leaning in for another kiss.

He indulged her, once, twice, then pulled back and shook his head. “Nope. Want you naked and,” he added, “in this room, we’ll both be too cold to finish what we started.”

He was right. The kitchen was cold and getting colder. The light was going outside, and the snow piling up was seeping its icy touch through the walls. True, the heat inside her was only building, but the thought of being with him in front of a roaring fire had its appeal.

“Right,” she said, giving him a nod, “let’s go.”

He scooped her off the counter and braced his hands on her behind. Kate kept her legs wrapped around his hips and held on while he carried her to the great room. At any other time, she might have objected to being toted around, but she was too busy enjoying the feel of his hard body pressed against her center. She went hot and wet, her own body trembling in wild anticipation. She wriggled against him, and he sucked in a gulp of air.

“Keep moving like that and we’ll never make it to the fire.”

“There’s plenty of fire here already,” she told him.

He glanced at her, his features tight, his eyes flashing with purpose, then quickened his steps. Kate grinned because she felt the same way. Hurry, hurry.

Now that she’d made the decision to be with him, she didn’t want to wait another second. She wanted him on her, inside her. She wanted him to claim what she’d only given to one other man before him.

A brief flicker of guilt sprang up in the recesses of her mind, but she smothered it. There was no room for thoughts of anyone else, of other times, other lives and loves. For this moment, there was only her...and Sean.

Sex. She hadn’t been with a man in more than two years. That had to be the reason she was reacting so wildly to Sean’s caresses. Always before, the best part of sex for Kate was the closeness, the snuggling that came after. She’d never before known this kind of hunger—hadn’t really believed she was capable of it. Now, Kate had to fight her sense of guilt for admitting even to herself that Sean was making her feel more than her husband ever had—but that was for later. For now, all she wanted was an end to the driving demands within.