Jennifer Snow – Tempting Kate (страница 8)

She’d once been that oblivious to the harsh reality of relationships. She’d thought she could have it all—the successful career, the loving husband, the two and a half kids and loyal dog. Then her dreams were shattered.

The steam rising from the tub held the faintest smell of eucalyptus and jasmine, and the jets hitting her lower back were exactly what she needed. The tense drive up the mountain had left her muscles aching. Positioning her towel behind her head, she sank lower in the water, closed her eyes and rested against the edge. She could stay there all night.

In fact, if she was so inclined to spend time in the mountains—she wasn’t—this would be a great place to stay. After getting off the phone with Liz, who confirmed the venue was a go, she’d checked in and then toured the facilities. The grand ballroom was the perfect size. It could easily accommodate the guest list of almost three hundred. She was already envisioning the ceremony being held near the floor-to-ceiling windows with the view of the mountains. The reception would be held in the same space with tables set up for dining, later removed for dancing. She’d loved that the decor of the ballroom was dark wood—not horrible wood paneling—cozy and surprisingly in great shape while boasting its original hardwood floors and rounded archways. With the right decorations and the right light streaming through the windows the day of the wedding, the place would be magnificent.

The resort had over four hundred rooms, and a quick, friendly chat with housekeeping had revealed that they were hardly half-full. Late reservations for the wedding wouldn’t be a problem. And if all the rooms were as large and modern as her suite had unexpectedly been, the high-profile guests wouldn’t feel at all as though they were slumming it in Big Bear.

She was impressed. With the resort, at least. Its owner could kiss her ass.

“How’s the water?” a deep voice asked across from her.

Opening one eye, she sighed, her relaxed muscles immediately tensing. “I was enjoying it better before you arrived.”

“Well, I was enjoying a lot of things better before you arrived, too,” Scott said, his voice tight. “Anyway, I just wanted to let you know that I’ve changed my mind.” He coughed before continuing. “You can plan the wedding here.”

She grinned, opening both eyes and sitting a little higher. “I know. Your mother told Liz an hour ago.” That was the only reason she was trying to relax in the hot tub instead of going another twelve rounds with him in his office.

His eyes narrowed as he approached the edge of the hot tub. “Here’s the thing, Ms. Hartley. You can go ahead and plan a wedding here. Invite as many guests as my maximum capacity limit will allow. That doesn’t mean my brother will actually be getting married.”

“We’ll see about that.” Clearly he had no idea who he was up against. There would be no runaway grooms on her watch. She closed her eyes again, dismissing him, but the smell of his musky cologne only continued to mix with the jasmine and eucalyptus and the smell of fresh mountain air. The combination was intoxicating. She waited to hear the deck doors open and close, but a long minute later, all she heard was the sound of water lapping.

Opening her eyes wide, her mouth gaped. “What are you doing?”

“Relaxing. It’s been a stressful day,” Scott said, leaning his arms out over the edges of the tub. The steam rising in front of him did absolutely nothing to hide the muscular chest and sculpted arms sticking out of the water.

Her mouth went dry as she tried to stare only at his face. His gorgeous face with the tempting-as-hell five-o’clock shadow along the jawline. The enemy had no right to be so good-looking. “If I’m a source of stress for you, don’t you think you’d relax better elsewhere?”

He grinned, and her stomach tightened. Any other place, any other circumstance and he’d be the best rebound fling she could hope for after Cooper. Casual sex with a hot man was just the glue she needed to piece her heart back together.

“Actually, just knowing I’m irritating you is helping quite a lot,” he said.

She swallowed hard and shrugged. “Who says I’m irritated? I got what I wanted.” Forcing a deep breath, she sank lower in the water, closing her eyes once more. If he thought he could intimidate her, he was wrong. She’d turn into a prune before she’d get out of this water first.

A second later his breath was inches from her cheek. “Did you?” he murmured.

Her heart pounded in her chest as she opened her eyes, turning slightly to face him, putting more distance between them. Only a little. She wasn’t retreating. “Absolutely.”

His gaze dipped to her breasts in the slightly too small bikini. When an appreciative grin appeared, she sank lower to hide them. He’d given up the right to ogle her by being who he was.

His gaze shot back to hers immediately. “Sorry, those were distracting. I didn’t hear anything you said.”

Liz was right. This guy was an ass. And hours before, she’d actually thought he might be just the guy to get her sex life rolling again. “Tomorrow I’ll need a proper tour of the place, a meeting with the staff who will be my contacts for the rest of the planning...”

“I’ll be your contact,” he said quickly.

“Fantastic,” she muttered.

He moved closer again and she tried to back away, but she’d reached the end of the tub. “You and I got off on the wrong foot. Why don’t we try again?” He stood a little higher in the tub, exposing a set of oblique muscles that were a distraction of their own.

God, she missed oblique muscles, and strong sexy chest muscles, and bulging biceps wrapped around her. Other than the incident with Cooper the week before, she hadn’t had sex in months... That had been the trigger with Cooper. She shook her head. She couldn’t allow her lack of recent action, her loneliness or her inexplicable craving for this man to lead to another mistake.

She nodded as she extended a hand, keeping her eyes locked on his through the steam rising from the tub. “Sounds like a good idea. We will work together and pull off a great wedding.”

He grinned as he took her hand, and instead of shaking it, drew her into him. “I didn’t say anything about the wedding planning. I meant us.” One arm wrapped around her waist and held tight.

Her heart echoed in her ears, and her mouth went dry. She pushed against his chest, but it was a futile attempt...or maybe she just didn’t try too hard. “My only focus is the wedding.”

“So earlier today in my truck...there wasn’t a spark between us?” He brushed wet strands of her hair off her shoulder and pressed his lips there for a quick, gentle kiss.

What the hell was he doing? An hour ago he’d been refusing to let her use the resort, and now his hands and lips were on her? And she wasn’t kneeing him in the nuts? “Scott, earlier in the truck, things were different...” One, he hadn’t been her nemesis, and two, she hadn’t known he’d slept with her client.

There had to be some rules somewhere about wedding-planning etiquette... If not, maybe that should be her next book. Rule number one: don’t sleep with anyone who could potentially destroy the wedding.

His free hand rested on her knee below the water and a second later started creeping up on her wet thigh. “Scott...what are you doing?”

“You really are a plan girl, aren’t you? Okay, here’s the plan,” he whispered against her ear before placing several more kisses along her exposed neck.

Her body screamed for more as her mind came up with a million reasons to put an end to things. She couldn’t possibly be doing this with him, yet here she was, waiting to hear his plan.

“First, I’m going to kiss you...just a tempting little kiss to shut off that overactive mind...” He placed a soft kiss on her neck, demonstrating his point. “Then I’m going to lift you out of this tub and carry you into my home over there...” He nodded toward the loft cabin she’d noticed at the other end of the lodge. “Then I’m going to remove this bikini—” he tangled his fingers in the tie on the back “—and then...” He paused, his breath warm against her ear.

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