SNOWFIRES (16 page)

By the time she finished the candles, Rod
Stewart’s sexy rasp sang about someone going to his head.

Trent came to her and leaned down to nip at
her lips as he unbuttoned her blouse. “Darned appropriate song.
You’ve gotten inside my mind and I can’t think of anything
else.”

She smiled and let the blouse slide off her
arms to pool at her feet. “I’ve had a little trouble concentrating
myself.”

“
Oh, Princess, red lace. I love it.” He
bent to suckle her nipple through her bra as his fingers unfastened
the hook.

“
I’ve saved it for a special occasion.
On a whim, I decided to wear this lingerie today.”

Cradling them, he raised his head to stare at
her. “Finally I get to see these beauties when it’s warm enough to
take my time.”

She saw the passion darken his beautiful
emerald eyes. Her need for him grew until she thought her knees
would give way. “Trent, I’ve wanted you again until I didn’t know
what to do.” She let her head fall back to give him access to her
breasts.

He nipped at her peaked nipple then raised.
“There’s only one cure.” His hands rocked her hips toward his
arousal.

“
Oh, and do you have the cure in here?”
Her hands found his buckle and unfastened it then unzipped his
slacks.

“
You bet I do.” He toed off his shoes
then dropped his slacks.

She watched him as they shed the remainder of
their clothes. His skin was pale where clothing had hidden it, but
his physique was magnificent.

He grabbed her hand and pulled her toward the
bed. “Let’s get more comfortable.”

She lay down and he stretched out beside her.
Candlelight softened the planes of his face but the shadows added
mystery and she recognized their vanilla and rose scents. Beside
the bed the flowers added their fragrance. She picked up one of the
rose petals from the pillow, crushed it, and rubbed it across her
upper lip to release the heady scent.

He took another petal and crushed it before
he moved it along her skin, his gaze holding hers. “Princess, I
thought this night might never come. Let me look at you and savor
our time together.”

She shuddered with building desire. “Mmm, I
want to look also. You’re a powerfully built man. And that scar
fascinates me.” She moved her lips to the puckered gash, gently
kissing it as she had in her dream while they were stranded. As she
kissed and delved her tongue into the roughened flesh, she gently
massaged his chest and abdomen.

“
Whoa, Princess, or this will be over
too soon. It’s my turn.” He raised over her, which pushed her to
her back. “I think I’ll begin here.”

He started at the column of her neck with
soft nipping kisses and moved to her breasts. Suckling one hardened
nipple, he slid his hand down her tummy and to the juncture of her
thighs. He moved his finger in and out in time to his tongue’s
touch to her nipple.

Holly’s anticipation increased and she heard
herself pant, unable to control her breathing or the thrashing of
her body. She rode his hand until she exploded and lay gasping.

Already he started her climbing again.
“Trent, come with me. I need you inside me.”

“
Not yet, Princess.” He worked magic
with his mouth in a trail to her mound of curls while his hand
worked inside her.

“
Trent, Tren-n-n-nt.”

“
That’s it, Princess, soar right up
there.” He balanced her thighs across his shoulders and used his
tongue on her.

She thought she might explode into a million
pieces. Pressure built within her until she cried out her release.
When he straightened and lay beside her, she rolled to her side and
grasped his manhood. “Your turn.”

Taking him into her mouth, she suckled and he
moaned his pleasure. She cupped him with one hand and stroked with
the other.

“
Princess, you’re driving me crazy. Ah,
Ahhhhhh.” Gasping, he grabbed her hands and pulled away. “Not yet.
I want to woo you more.”

Gently he pushed her back on the pillow.
Scooping a handful of the rose petals, he massaged them into her
shoulder and down her arm. As he moved his hand across her, he
followed with a trail of nipping kisses. When he reached her hand,
he suckled each finger, then moved to the other shoulder and
romanced his way down her arm.

She pulled her finger from his mouth. “Trent,
you’re making me insane. I want you inside me.”

“
That’s the idea, Princess. Be
patient.” He dragged rose petals across her collarbone and once
again followed the trail with his lips. He let the petals fall from
his fingers and cradled her breasts. “My beauties, let me taste
you.”

He couldn’t have missed a quarter inch of her
globes with his tongue. He teased one nipple with his fingers while
he suckled the other.

She grabbed his shoulders and pressed him to
her. “Trent?” Good heavens, he had her whimpering.

He raised his head long enough to reassure
her. “Not yet, Princess.” His hands caressed as his mouth left a
trail across her stomach. He delved his tongue into her navel and
moved lower.

Any second she’d explode. Suddenly her desire
overwhelmed her. She grasped his shoulders. “All right, sailor, I
need you inside me.” She snagged a foil packet and opened it. “Let
me?”

He lay back and gave her access to him.
“Happy to oblige, ma’am, but I’m no longer a sailor.”

She put the condom in her mouth and used her
tongue to plant the protection on his tip. Using her fingers to
assist her, she rolled the film with her tongue until it covered
his rigid manhood.

“
Then you can be a cowboy and I’ll be a
cowgirl.”

Unable to control herself any longer, she
rolled on top of him and guided him into her folds.

He laughed and grabbed her hips. “Ride ‘em,
cowgirl.”

They moved together, breath accelerating,
ecstasy building. All conscious thought flew from her mind. Nothing
existed for her except him and this room.

He pulled her forward to give him access to
her breast and he suckled while she rode him. No experience had
matched this nirvana. Her driving need climbed until fireworks
exploded in her head and she floated back to earth. She hovered
over him, panting, and he smiled up at her.

“
You’re quite the accomplished rider,
Princess. Glad you don’t use spurs.”

She collapsed onto his chest. “I took riding
lessons years ago, but my instructor failed to mention this
benefit.”

Later as they lay cuddled, Holly kissed his
shoulder. His hands caressed her back. Scents of roses and vanilla
swirled with the potent aroma of sex. They drifted on a cloud of
sated passion.

She recalled the hateful comments Laura had
made last night at dinner and Gordon’s sneer yesterday in the
conference room. “Trent, don’t you think we should keep this part
of our lives separate from work?”

His hands stilled. “You mean secret?
Why?”

She wanted to protect him. Shield him from
hurtful gossip. “People can be so vicious. I don’t think it’s any
of their business what we do away from the office.”

He sat up. “You don’t want your old friends
and coworkers knowing you’ve been slumming?”

“
Trent! How can you think that?” She
wished she’d never tried to talk about this. She reached for him,
but he stood and picked up his clothes.

He dressed with rapid, jerking movements. “I
get it, Princess. Don’t want people to know you’ve slept with the
hired help? I suppose you have some guy from the country club you’d
like to keep from finding out about this, too.”

She’d never seen him so angry and she knew
most of it came from pain she’d caused him. It still hit her wrong.
“As if you’re the hired help? You own more of the company than I
do.” Crawling from bed, she quickly donned her clothes. “And if
there was any ‘guy at the country club,’ you can be darn sure I
wouldn’t be here.”

He dressed first and stalked toward the door.
“When you’re ready to leave, I’ll walk you to your car.”

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Trent
flopped
on his lousy damned stinking couch and picked up the damned
sonofabitchen TV remote. He should have known this was too good to
be true.

“
Perfect evening my ass,” He mumbled as
he surfed through channels, and didn’t look up when she came in
carrying her shoes and stockings. Refusing to acknowledge her, he
watched her from the corner of his eye.

She sat beside him and swiveled to face him.
“Trent, please understand. I only wanted to prevent people saying
more of the things like, like I’d already heard.”

He still refused to look at her and changed
to another channel. “Like what? Poor Holly is so charitable she let
Macleod nail her?”

“
No, you know that isn’t it.” She
stuffed her stockings into her purse and slid on her shoes onto
bare feet. “If you must know, I didn’t want people saying you were
only interested in me because of Marvel.”

“
What?” Sonofabitch, he should have
seen that one coming.

She took a deep breath. “Someone already
warned me you might, well, you might pretend you’re attracted to me
so you could solidify your position at Marvel. And things like
that.”

“
Pretend?” The clatter of the remote as
it hit the floor startled him and he realized he’d dropped it. He
picked it up and flipped off the TV. “Have you looked into a
mirror? Who is stupid enough to think a man would give a damn about
anything but you—even if there wasn’t a hell of a lot more to you
than meets the eye?” He touched her shoulder, wanted to pull her to
him, but he needed to get this settled first.

He shouldn’t be surprised a new rumor
had already found a start. “Do
you
think I only wanted you because of some damn contract or to
set myself up better at Marvel?”

Holly shook her head. “No, that’s not how you
work. But I didn’t want people saying things like that about you.
Especially while you’re still getting used to the company and
worrying about this thing with Amberfield and, well, it just didn’t
seem fair.”

“
And someone already mentioned this to
you?” He figured it was Geneva, curse her black, wanton
soul.

“
Yes, last night at dinner, um, a
friend mentioned it. Then there were the snide looks Gordon gave us
at the staff meeting. And Lila already knew about us
someway.”

“
I told you Lila knows everything.” So
it wasn’t Geneva. He wondered who had put the wind in Holly’s
sails? Maybe Holly wasn’t used to being the brunt of rumors. “And
this bothers you?”

“
Not really, at least not for myself.”
She met his gaze. “You must have an idea of the gossip I’ve had to
fight all my life because of my father’s constant
shenanigans.”

“
You care what they say about me?” He
couldn’t believe it. She was worried about him. Sonofabitch, that
had to be a first. Except for John Swenson, no one had ever given a
damn about him. “Then there’s no problem, Princess.”

She took his hand. “I know you’re
hoping to make this a home”—she looked around—“well not
this
a home, but somewhere in Dallas
where you can put down roots. I hate to think of gossip spoiling it
for you."

He leaned over and planted a kiss on her
cheek. “Princess, I have already learned that people will believe
the worst in spite of any evidence to the contrary. As long as it
doesn’t hurt you, then let them say what they want about us being
together.”

“
Trent, we’re not ‘together’ together.
This isn’t a relationship exactly. It’s an affair. We’re having
sex. Really great sex, but that’s all.” She examined her hands in
detail. “That’s not something I’m proud of but I can’t seem to
resist you.” She raised her chin and offered a sad smile. “I guess
you’ve noticed.”

He hoped he hid the burning need to have her
belong with him. Hell, she did belong with him; she just didn’t
know it yet. “Then why not make it a lasting relationship?” He
brushed his fingers through the silky, silvery-gold strands of her
hair.

She shook her head, dislodging his hand. “No,
I’ve told you how I feel about gambling. Sex is all there can ever
be between us, except a sort of uneasy friendship. Try to
understand. I can’t let myself care deeply about another gambler.
It hurts too much when you lose.”

He’d convince her. For now he’d let her think
she’d won. “Okay, if sex and friendship are all you’re offering, so
be it. I’ll take what I can get of your time and body.”

He thought the blunt statement might snap her
to her senses. But no, she nodded as if she actually approved.

She took a deep breath and met his gaze.
“Then, would you like to escort me to the Winter Wonderland Ball
tomorrow night at the country club?”

“
Tomorrow?” Now where the hell was he
supposed to come up with a tux and decent transportation on short
notice? Damned if he wouldn't find a way. “Are you sure you want me
to be your date?”

She nodded. “I hadn’t planned to attend, but
I will if you’ll come with me.” She put a hand on his arm. “This
doesn’t mean I’ve changed my mind about anything, Trent. Just an
evening out between two coworkers. But it’ll give you a chance to
make new friends—and some good business contacts.” She flashed her
mischievous smile and held up her hands as he had in her office.
“No strings and you might have fun. I can practically guarantee
you’ll get lucky after the dance.”

He wanted lucky with strings. Hell, it
shocked him to admit even it to himself, but he wanted a damned
rope, a chain, and a roll of duct tape binding himself to this
woman. Another thing he hadn’t seen coming, but he’d take what she
offered and hope it built into more.