Razors Ice 04 - Hot Ice (15 page)

Sebby muttered something in Russian that Jace was glad
Violet couldn’t understand and then the line went dead.

“Sorry about that
,” he said to her. “Sometimes Seb creates his own language barrier.”

“Come,” she said and took his hand and
pulled him to the bedroom. “We can discuss language barriers while I work on that shoulder. Lie down on the bed.” There wasn’t time to set up the table. That would come later.

“Don’t you want me out of my clothes?”

She wanted to kiss that smirk right off his lips, but she didn’t want to encourage him. Not yet. “Just the shirt.”

Slowly, with a cocky look plastered on his face, Jace lifted the shirt up and over his head. Violet swallowed at the sight of his bare chest. And those abs! She wanted to run her tongue over every indentation.

First things first.

She spread a towel over the comforter.
When he was lying face-down on the mattress, Violet straddled his butt. Leaning forward, she poured a thin stream of coconut oil along his spine and moved her forearms up and down his back. Then she dove right in with firm, deliberate strokes, reserving the most force for his tension-locked shoulders. She vanquished the tension in his neck and shoulders with fluid strokes that alternated in speed and pressure. She used her thumbs to locate and dislodge kinks, and then switched to long, tingling strokes to gently unfurl his knots.

Then s
he let up with a relaxing medley of taps and pitter-patters that got his circulation humming. She finished with a blissful scalp massage that lulled him into a state of semiconsciousness.

“That felt
good,” he murmured and rolled over onto his back so that she sat on his stomach. “But I know what will make it even better.”

She leaned forward and kissed him and he locked his arms around her to keep her in place.

“The food will be ready soon,” she murmured against his lips.

“But I’m ready right now.”
He slid his hand up the back of her shirt and ran his fingers beneath the edge of her bra. Before he could explore further, the timer on the oven beeped.

“You promised to fee
d me,” she reminded him.

“After
,” he grunted and unclasped her bra.

“After what?” she asked coyly.

The time beeped again and he let out a ragged sigh. “Wait here. I’ll be right back.”

She did as she was told and stretched out on his bed and waited.
She pulled off the bra and reveled in the freeing feeling of her shirt rubbing her bare nipples.

When he came back, Jace was carrying two plates
piled high with lasagna and French bread. He settled onto the bed next to her and fed her a bite of lasagna. She closed her eyes and savored the rich and decadent flavor.

“Christ, Vi. Just watching you eat makes me hard.”

She swallowed, licked her lips and opened her mouth for another bite. He fed her another forkful and enjoyed the tantalizing view.

“
You’re quite a catch,” she commented while chewing. “This is delicious.”

That strange look crossed his face again before quickly disappearing without a trace. “Why
’s that? Because I’m wealthy?”

Violet scrunched up her face and shook her head.
There was that bitter tone again. “No. Money has nothing to do with it. You’re a catch because you’re a fantastic cook
and
you’re spectacular in bed.”

He smiled
and the strange look disappeared. “Maybe I shouldn’t have raised the bar so high yesterday.”

She leaned over and put her hand between his legs. “The bar seems perfectly high to me.”

He put his plate aside and his mouth came down on hers. She tasted like tomato sauce and he flicked his tongue over her teeth. She slanted her mouth over his and their tongues mated in a sensual dance.

Breathless, s
he pulled back and set her plate on the nightstand so that she could straddled him for the quickie he’d mentioned earlier.

“Now, about that quickie…”

* * *

Three orgasms, a shower and a second plate of lasagna later, Violet
collapsed on the bed next to Jace. Who knew the best weekend she’d ever had could be achieved by never leaving the bedroom?

By Sunday night
, she wanted more than anything to spend the night with Jace, but she didn’t want to make the mistake of getting stranded on the icy morning roads of August Lake twice.

Chapter
Eight

Confessions

The next
week at Healing Touch, Patricia cornered Violet into the waiting area to share her vision of how the space should look when they finally moved to a bigger office. “We’ll need more plants,” she told Violet. “And everything should be decorated in soothing colors. The paint, the upholstery on the furniture. Very calm and neutral.”

Violet nodded without really paying attention.

Patricia’s motherly intuition kicked in and immediately alerted her to Violet’s lack of enthusiasm. “Is everything all right?” she asked, setting aside her concept of how their complete wellness clinic would look and feel.

Violet nodded. Patricia
sounded genuinely concerned and her stomach did a flip-flop as she swallowed. “Yeah. I’m okay.”
Everything is fine and jim-dandy and I have a weight the size of a beluga whale resting on my shoulders
.

Patricia cocked her head to the side and eyed her
friend up and down. “No, you’re not.” She pulled Violet into their tiny office and closed the door.

Great, here it comes
, Violet thought to herself.
Another lecture about my work ethic and responsibility to my clients
.

“
What’s going on with you?” Patricia stood with her hands on her hips in an I-won’t-take-no-for-an-answer pose.

Violet sighed. She was lousy at keeping secrets, especially this one. It was
just too juicy to hang on to. “I…uh,” she started to explain but clamped her mouth shut instead. “Pats, how do I tell you this?” she asked with a shake of her head. “I don’t think you’re going to take it well.” She
knew
she wasn’t going to take this well. It just might mean the end of their friendship and their partnership.

Patricia
let her hands fall to her sides and dropped the intimidating stare. “Listen, Violet,” she began gently. “I know something’s been going on with you, so just tell me what it is.”

Was she really that transparent?

“Do you promise not to freak out?” Violet pleaded.

Patricia sighed and Violet knew it was an impossible request.

“I promise,” she finally agreed through gritted teeth.

“I…I’ve…Oh, God, Pats, I’ve been sleeping with Jace.”

“Jason…Jason…Who the heck is Jason?” Patricia knew she’d heard that name somewhere, but she came into contact with a boatload of people every day in her personal and professional life. And what in tarnation did he have Violet so worked up about? “Jason who?” she asked perplexed.

“
Jace
. Jace McQuaid.”

Suddenly it hit
Patricia like a ton of bricks and her jaw dropped to the floor. “The
hockey player
Jace?
Our
hockey player?”

“Yes, the hockey player Jace.
Who else do you think I’m talking about?”

Patricia shook her head.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t know exactly. I certainly didn’t think it was our biggest and most important
client,
” she exclaimed, her voice rising to an unflattering screech. Thank goodness their next appointment wasn’t due for another ten minutes or else he or she would be getting an earful from the waiting room.

Violet winced. “Jeez, Pats. It’s not like I planned on this happening just to piss you off.”

Patricia sighed and desperately tried to regain her composure. “I’m not pissed. I’m just slightly…
disappointed
that you would jeopardize our business.
You know
,” she said with a dramatic wave of her hand, “the one we’ve worked our asses off to build? Oh, and our reputation, too,” she added for good measure. “Just so you could have some meaningless fling with some random hockey player.”

There were so many things wrong with that sentence that Violet didn’t know where to begin. She put a hand up in defense. “First of all, our business is
not
in jeopardy. Second, who said anything about it being meaningless? And third, you make it seem like I slept with him just because he’s an athlete. That’s definitely
not true
.”

“Whatever,” Patricia mumbled.
“It doesn’t matter.”

A rush of anger heated Violet’s cheeks. “What? If you have something to say to me, then say it.”

Patricia rubbed her temples and took a deep breath. “I’m sorry. I guess I just assumed it was meaningless because you have a
fiancé
!”

“Jeez, Pats. I never
even wanted to marry Phillip in the first place. He…” She didn’t finish the sentence, but hurried on to avoid any further explanation. “I knew you would have this reaction.”

Patricia crossed her arms over her chest and Violet looked away.
“Violet, please. I’m just trying to be your voice of reason.
What about Phillip?
” she hissed.

The air deflated from
Violet’s lungs. “Ugh. I forgot, okay?”

Patricia
's look told Violet she didn’t think it was okay at all. “You
forgot
about your fiancé?”

“Yeah, kind of.
” Violet squirmed under Patricia’s gaze. “Jace has that effect on me. He makes me forget about the trivial things. The
boring
things. And Phillip makes it even easier by never being around. He isn’t really even in the equation,” she argued. “Not really.”

“Why not?
” Patricia asked skeptically. “Did you break up?”

“No
,” Violet muttered.

“Did he move out or something?”

“Not technically. He’s been staying at his apartment downtown. He says it’s because he needs to be closer to the hospital, but...”

Patricia’s features softened with concern.
“You’re not even living together anymore? Why? Is he…
you know
…”

“Cheating?
” Violet suggested.

Patricia nodded.

“I don’t know for sure. It’s kind of hard to tell when he’s MIA all the time.”

When she thought about it, Violet couldn’t imagine another woman putting up with Phillip’s
idiosyncrasies and downright sourpuss personality. What woman would want to come in second behind a man’s career anyway? She sure as hell wasn’t seeing the upside of it. Phillip cheating? No, not with another woman. But with his work maybe.

And then
Violet remembered the credit card statement. “I know he hasn’t been completely honest with me, that’s for sure,” she admitted.

“Well, think about the last time you saw him. Was he acting strange?”

Violet gave her a look. “That was weeks ago and
hello
, this is Phillip we’re talking about. Besides the fact that he works with people’s urinary tracts for a living, he’s always a little on the strange side. Oh God, Pats, I don’t know. The only time he calls is when he needs me on his arm for one of his hospital charity events.”

And Violet didn’t call him.
Ever. She needed to, though. They
really
needed to talk. The hard part was getting him to listen. Maybe she could pry his phone out of his grip and strap him down and
force
him to listen to her.

“I can’t believe what you’ve gotten yourself into
,” Patricia murmured. “Does Jace know about Phillip? Does Phillip know about Jace?”

Violet waved her hands in front of her. “
No, No. And stop saying Phillip’s name. No, they don’t know anything about each other.”

Patricia shot her a
n “I can’t believe what you’ve done” look that said it all.

“I haven’t told Jace because it just sounds so awful
,” Violet explained as she paced the tiny room. Were the walls closing in or was that just her imagination? “Telling him would make me look like a horrible person. I don’t want Jace to think of me as a dishonest cheater.”

“So you’re being dishonest with him, while you’re cheating with him
?”

Violet grimaced.
“Right. That plan worked out swell, didn’t it?” She gave up pacing and sunk into a nearby chair. “I don’t know what came over me, Pats. I flushed all my professional rules down the drain and followed what my hormonal body was telling me.
Screaming
at me. I’ve never been unprofessional with a client in my life. You know that. I take my work
very
seriously. But with Jace everything is different.”

“So it’s that good?”
Patricia’s look of shock turned into curiosity. “
The sex
,” she whispered, even though it was just the two of them in the room. “I mean you’ve had a glow about you for the past couple of weeks, so it must be pretty good.”

“It’s more than good
,” Violet answered on a sigh. “It’s
ah
-mazingly good, Pats.”

Patricia grinned and then the look of shock returned.
She was the mother of a small boy and had no business fantasizing about the sexual adeptness of a conditioned athlete.

“
I’ve never felt such a magnetic pull to someone before,” Violet elaborated. “It’s as if there’s this invisible bungee cord pulling me towards him. Have you ever had sex so mind blowing that you forgot where you were?”

Patricia
averted her eyes and gave the question some thought. “Well, John and I used to get pretty hot and heavy back in the day, but I always knew what my coordinates were.” She tapped her finger on her bottom lip. “That does sound pretty intense.”

“Yeah, tell me about it. One look from
Jace and the next thing I know, I’m flat on my back or on all fours…or…well, you get the picture.”

Patricia’s eyes widened and she
fidgeted with the hem of her sweater. “Yeah, you’ve painted quite a masterpiece, Violet.” She lowered her voice and added, “I wonder if we have any more hockey players coming in for appointments.”

Violet recognized Patricia’s attempt at humor and laughed. It didn’t take long before they were both laughing
out loud at the ridiculousness of the situation.