“Have you been to Summit’s Edge before?” I asked, prying myself out of my reverie before I actually acted on any of those wild thoughts.
“No, but it is apparently the height of luxury—for Hale’s Peak anyway,” she replied. “A lot of couples rent it for their honeymoon.”
I almost laughed.Fucking Cressida.She was impatient that I wasn’t doing more to pursue Val, and I was strangely grateful yet hesitant. Any relationship between us could only be surface level and fleeting at best. We were already doomed and we had barely begun.
Cheerful.
“That sounds…nice,” I said and felt like a fucking idiot. The woman destroyed any coherent thought in my head, so I clamped my mouth shut for the remainder of the drive. Twenty minutes later, I pulled into the driveway of a sizable log cabin. We’d climbed to about nine thousand feet in elevation on the switchback mountain road. The house was positioned on the ridge, affording 360-degree views of the rugged mountains.
Leading Val across the snowy driveway, I pushed open the front door. The cabin was one floor, the inside towering like a cathedral. A fireplace faced the entryway, and a kitchen perched in the corner next to a sliding glass door that led to the deck. Down the hall, the master suite encompassed an entire half of the house. The home could use some updating, but it was more luxurious than the rest of the resort.
Val’s eyes widened as she took in the place. “This is…wow.” She went to the sliding glass door and poked her head outside as I tossed our coats on the couch, then joined her. The deck held an infinity pool hot tub just big enough for two people with stunning views into the valley. Val’s eyes locked with mine, her cheeks blooming with heat. But she didn’t look away.
I broke first. “Looks like there’s a basket of goodies for us too.” I nodded to the massive basket on the kitchen counter, a note tied to the top.
Val unfolded the note. “‘For my favorite cooking couple. This one’s on me. Love, Rocco.’”
At my request, Rocco had asked the staff to pack us some of Val’s favorites. A DIY charcuterie board, rosemary chicken with mashed sweet potatoes, roasted beet salad, crème brûlée, and two bottles of wine. While Val assembled the charcuterie on a wooden cutting board, I poured two glasses of wine.
We snacked a bit in silence before I couldn’t take it anymore. “You’ve been avoiding me.”
Val froze, a bit of cheese halfway to her mouth. Her throat bobbed with a swallow. “Can you blame me?”
I swirled my wine. No, I couldn’t. But it still bothered me even though I wasn’t angry with her. I was one of the most powerful men in the business world, and in my personal life, I had no control over my own fate. Taking a strand of her hair, I wrapped it around my finger. “I don’t blame you.” She didn’t draw back from my touch, but she didn’t lean into it either.
“What do you want from me, Nolan?”
I could ask her the same question.But I didn’t. Because part of me wasn’t sure if I wanted to hear the answer. “I’m not asking you for anything. Just be here with me and leave the rest of the world out there. Just for tonight.” I tucked the curl behind her ear, trailing a fingertip across her cheek.
“Just for tonight,” she echoed. Her eyes drifted over my face, across my lips, and then settled back on my eyes.
“Are you hungry?” I asked. I couldn’t help how husky it came out.
“Not yet,” she said slowly, thinking something through.
“So,” I said, “what should we do now?”
Val pulled her bottom lip between her teeth. “There’s that hot tub outside…”
Heat roiled to life inside me. “I’ll grab the wine.”
“But I don’t have a bathing suit.”
Grinning, I inclined my head toward the master bedroom. “I took the liberty of having something sent up for us.”
With a puzzled look, she ducked into the room to change while I swapped my suit for black swimming trunks in the hall bathroom, then refilled our wine and headed outside.
Instead of a standard wooden railing, a glass partition surrounded the deck, offering an unimpeded view. As I sat at the edge of the pool, the snow fell gently around me in a protective hush. Before I knew it, I was picturing Val in that bikini, and my hands twitched at the thought of how the straps would bite into her supple hips.Just like my fingers would have that day in my office, if things had escalated…
I groaned, my cock hard at the thought. Val was the most gorgeous woman I’d ever encountered—there was no denying that. But spending time with her had brought out this whole other side of me. I waswooingher, courting her. Trying to impress her—not just with fancy dates, but I truly wanted to give her what she needed. I wanted tobewhat she needed.
The women of my past had only gotten what I was willing to give—which wasn’t much. For so long, I’d shut down any deeper feelings beyond baseline attraction, solely focused on my career. Since joining with Cressida, that off-switch had become more permanent. I’d never have a normal relationship, so it was easier to shut it down and not get attached.
But for Val? I was at her mercy. And it made me want to break all of my carefully crafted rules.
Interrupting my musings, Val stepped outside, swaddled in a cashmere robe. As her gaze wandered over my chest and abs, then dipped to my crotch, I stifled another groan. “Feeling okay?” I asked to distract myself more than anything.
Her face flushed. “Why wouldn’t I be?”
