One Winter's Night (15 page)

Fifteen

“A
re you excited about the party this weekend?”

Alpha glanced up from her inventory list and smiled over at Lindsey. Her question was bittersweet. Yes, Alpha usually loved the day an event she’d worked on finally arrived, but since this event also meant the end of her affair with Riley, she was torn.

She decided to give Lindsey the answer her assistant probably expected to hear. “Yes, I’m excited.”

She immediately glanced back down at her list so Lindsey wouldn’t see the tears threatening to fall whenever she thought about what this weekend entailed. It was hard to believe it had been three weeks since her trip with Riley to Memphis. So much had happened since then. First, it had been his invitation to McKay’s to meet his family. She was certain that is what had prompted Pam to call her two days later to invite her to the Westmorelands’ Thanksgiving dinner.

Every one of the Denver Westmorelands had been there except for Bane and his cousin Gemma who lived in Australia. The twins, Aiden and Adrian, had schooled her on the family’s after-Thanksgiving-dinner game of snow volleyball. Lucky for everyone, except for her, it had snowed that morning and a sufficient amount was still on the ground after dinner. After the players divided into the Reds and the Blues, she found her and Riley on opposite teams.

It had been the most fun she’d had in a long time, and she’d seen just how down-to-earth the Westmorelands were. For a little while, they had made her feel like she was a part of them. That was one of the reasons breaking up with Riley was going to be so hard.

Then there was also the fact that she had fallen in love with him.

As she continued to check items off her list, she couldn’t help but feel the pain in her heart. Omega had warned her that such a thing could happen as soon as the flowers began arriving. The day after she’d had dinner with his family at McKay’s, he had, for no reason at all, begun sending her flowers. The flowers would arrive practically every two to three days and when she asked why, he would merely smile and say it was because he was thinking about her.

Then there were those other habits they had started that would be hard to break—like sharing dinner practically every day, either at her place or his; his spending the nights with her more often than not; and their Friday date-nights. They would take in a movie or go to a play or roller-skating. More than once, he had mentioned something about her going skiing with him and she would change the subject, not having the heart to remind him that they wouldn’t be together for the trip to Aspen that he had planned for January.

An hour or so later, after Lindsey had left, Alpha was busy making last-minute adjustments to the menu for this weekend’s party when her phone rang. She smiled when she saw it was Riley.

“Hi. Thanks for the flowers. You are spoiling me.”

“You deserve to be spoiled. I just want to make sure we’re still on for tonight.”

“Most certainly. I always enjoy any meals you cook.” They would be dining at his place and, as usual, she would be spending the night.

“I have a special dish for you.”

She chuckled. “What is it?”

“A surprise.”

She liked his surprises. “All right.”

“Good. I left work at noon today to come home to get things together, so I’ll come and get you—”

“There’s no need for you to do that, Riley. I can drive over to your place...unless you have a problem with my car being seen by anyone.”

“Why would I have a problem with it?”

“I’m staying the night, remember. I wouldn’t want your family to—”

“What I do is my business. Trust me, they know we’re involved and have probably seen your car here overnight before. Do you have a problem with them knowing?”

“No, I don’t have a problem with it, not at all,” she said.

“Good. In that case, I’ll see you when you get here.”

She hung up the phone, thinking that even if she had a problem with it, it was too late. Time wasn’t on her side and she wanted to spend as much of it with Riley as possible.

* * *

Riley had just finished everything and had put the stew on to simmer when he heard the sound of his doorbell. He glanced at his watch. He wasn’t expecting Alpha for another hour or so and hoped it wasn’t one of his relatives dropping in without calling first. Some of them could smell his stew from miles away and thought it was their God-given right to invite themselves over for a free meal.

As he walked out of the kitchen toward his front door, he couldn’t help but smile. He was looking forward to Alpha coming over because, at some time before she left in the morning, he wanted to tell her just how he felt. The holiday party was in three days, and he needed to hear from her that although she might not have fallen in love with him yet, the idea was possible.

Without checking to see who his caller was, he snatched open his door. A deep frown settled on his face when he saw Paula standing on his porch. “Paula, what are you doing here?”

She smiled brightly. “I came to see you, of course. I have some information that I think you need to know.”

Riley doubted it and was about to tell her so when she quickly slid by him to enter his house. Closing the door behind him, he crossed his arms over his chest and watched her look around like she’d never been here before, and then he remembered she hadn’t. He had broken things off with her before the affair had gotten that far. “What information do I need to know?”

She turned to face him and threw her hair back from her face. She was wearing knee-high leather boots and a light blue mini sweater dress that was so tight it appeared glued to her body. “Mmm, something smells good. Don’t you want to invite me to dinner?” she asked, placing her hands on her hips to draw attention to her small waistline.

At that moment, he admired Alpha even more. During the time they’d spent together, she’d never found any reason to flaunt her attributes. They were noticeable without her having to show them off. “Sorry, I’m expecting company in a few hours.”

He saw the frown settle on her face. “I take it that you’re still involved with that party planner,” she said with a sneer.

He tried keeping his anger in check. “What of it?”

“You must like her a lot to include her in one of your family dinners. Not too many women get that privilege from Riley Westmoreland. I didn’t. And I know how much you pride yourself on your reputation and the family’s name and all that.”

He wondered what she was getting at. “If you have something to say, Paula, just say it.”

“All right, then.” She paused a moment and then slid down to sit on his sofa uninvited, crossing her legs, deliberately showing plenty of thigh and said, “I’m sure you’ve heard I’m seeing Samuel Porter.”

Not that he cared, but he wasn’t surprised. Sam was and always had been a party animal, and Paula liked having a good time and getting wild and crazy. And he’d heard Sam was into over-the-top stuff in the bedroom, like group sex and all that. “And?”

“And I was going through Sam’s collection of special videos one night to pick out one I thought we would enjoy watching together. Get my drift?”

Riley did get her drift and didn’t have to ask what Sam’s special videos were. He’d heard the rumor years ago that Sam had a cabinet filled with porn. He drew in a deep breath, still not sure where she was going with all of this. “And?”

“And...” she said, smiling, pulling something out of her purse, “I came across one, and the woman looked so familiar that I took a second look. You might want to take a look, as well. I’m sure you’ll recognize her.”

He took the DVD she offered and glanced at the picture of the couple, mainly the woman who was stretched out spread-eagle on a four-poster bed very naked. His heart nearly stopped beating, and he forced his hand to stop trembling. He looked at Paula, fighting to keep his teeth from gnashing together in anger. “What are you trying to insinuate?”

“That your girlfriend used to have a naughty past.”

He tossed the DVD on the sofa next to her. “I think you’re about to set yourself up for a lawsuit you can’t afford. This is not my girlfriend on this DVD jacket, just someone who favors her.”

Paula lifted her chin dubiously and smiled. “You sure of that?”

Riley’s gaze narrowed. Yes, he was sure. The porn star on the DVD jacket was not Alpha.

“Positive. In fact I’m so positive that if I hear about this from anyone else, I’m going to assume you’re the one spreading vicious lies and malicious gossip, and I will sue you myself for slandering her name.”

The smile quickly disappeared from her face. “You wouldn’t do that.”

“Try me.”

She drew in a deep breath. “I know what I see.”

“And I know what I know, but if you want to play your hand, go ahead, I dare you. I won’t stop until I make you not only a laughingstock but destitute. Now, I want you to leave and not come back. And remember what I said. If I get wind of any lies you’re spreading, I will make sure you regret it.”

She jerked up off the sofa and angrily headed for the door, opened it and slammed it shut behind her with enough force to make his windows shake. It was only then that he noticed she’d left the DVD behind, whether accidentally or intentionally he wasn’t sure.

Picking up the DVD he headed for the bedroom to take a shower. His dinner guest would be arriving within the hour. And he knew just as sure as the forecasters had predicted snow for the weekend that at some point during the course of the evening, he and Alpha would have a long talk.

* * *

“We need to talk, Alpha.”

Alpha glanced over at Riley. Something was wrong; she could feel it. Although dinner had been great and she enjoyed his company as usual, she was chilled by the feeling that something just wasn’t right. More than once during dinner she had caught Riley staring at her only to quickly look away. What was going on?

A part of her didn’t want to know, but still she couldn’t stop the what-ifs from swimming through her head. What if he wanted to bring a date Saturday night and had decided he wanted to end his affair a few days early? He had been so adamant about her having dinner with him this evening and now she couldn’t help wondering if it was one of those break-up meals. Men had a way of thinking a woman preferred to get dumped on a full stomach. Hadn’t Eddie taken her to dinner the night before he’d given her the ultimatum about Omega?

“Alpha.”

She took a sip of her wine before placing her glass down on the table. She was a big girl and could handle anything that came her way. But she didn’t want to do it now. If he wanted to make this their last night together then she wanted it to be special.

Easing up off the sofa, she slowly crossed the room to where he sat in a leather wingback chair. With his legs stretched out in front of him, he was sipping his own wine while his dark, penetrating gaze watched her every move. And with good reason, she thought, since she was discarding her clothes, piece by piece. His attention was definitely being held the way she wanted it to be. They would have their talk but it would be later. Much later.

By the time she had reached his chair she was totally naked. He pulled her down in his lap and cradled her in his arms. “You like tempting me, don’t you?” he asked huskily, leaning close to her lips.

“Umm, it wouldn’t be any fun if I didn’t.” And she wanted him to remember all the times she had tempted him and he had tempted her. She wanted him to remember everything, especially when they were no longer involved. Because she would. Her memories would sustain her when she buried herself in her work to forget him.

It would be hard being involved with Megan’s wedding. She expected to run into him, but hopefully, she would have gotten over him by then.

Yet how could a woman get over a man she truly loved?

“Baby, we need to talk.”

She leaned in close to him, and swiped the tip of her tongue across his lips. “And we will talk, Riley. Later. Now I want you to take off your clothes so we can have fun,” she said, easing off his lap and pulling him up from the chair.

“Fun?” he asked her, reaching out and running his fingers across the tips of her breasts while letting his gaze roam all over her body.

“Yes,” she said, looking up at him as she pulled his belt through the loops of his jeans and then began unbuttoning his shirt. “What do you say about that?”

He reached out and swept her off her feet and headed toward the stairs to his bedroom. “Then I’d say, let’s get started.”

* * *

Alpha stretched out her legs in bed the moment she opened her eyes. It was daylight, and through the window she saw it was lightly snowing. Just her luck, what with those last-minute details she had to handle to get ready for the party tomorrow night.

She turned over in the empty bed, wondering where Riley was. It was then that she saw the note pinned to the pillow where his head had lain the night before.

Didn’t want to wake you, but I had an eight o’clock meeting at work. I know you probably have a ton of things to do today to get ready for tomorrow, but make yourself at home until you’re ready to leave. Riley.

She held the note to her chest, thinking that at least he hadn’t mentioned anything else about them talking. She flopped back down in bed as a smile touched her lips. She’d deliberately made him forget. All it took was for her to glance around at the rumpled bedcovers to know just where Riley Westmoreland’s concentration had been last night and during the early hours of this morning. She hadn’t gotten much sleep last night, which wouldn’t be bad if she didn’t have a million things to do.

She looked around the room for her clothes and then remembered she had removed them last night in the living room. The last thing she intended to do was parade around Riley’s house naked. He mentioned that he never locked his doors and his brothers or cousins were known to just drop in. Easing out of the bed, she knew he had a robe around here someplace. When she didn’t see one, she figured one of his T-shirts would have to do.

She recalled just where he kept them and opened the top drawer to his dresser. Her breath caught. Lying on top of his stack of T-shirts was a DVD, but not just any DVD. It was one of her sister’s, titled
Time to Play
. Where did he get it? How long had he had it?