One Winter's Night

“Do you want to do it first or eat?”

She swallowed deeply and drew in a deep breath, certain he hadn’t meant “it” the way it had sounded. “Whichever you prefer—it’s your call.”

“In that case, I’ll let Paula know we’ll eat first. I’m starving.”

She nodded, getting distracted watching him slide his jacket off his shoulders. Those massive shoulders were even more broad and powerful than she’d thought. At that moment, she saw firsthand how well his jeans fit his body, especially his tight, masculine thighs, and how they tapered down to his booted feet. He was definitely a hunk if ever there was one, a fine specimen of a man, hands down. He was a sample of pure masculinity, as raw as it could get.

Following his lead, she unbelted her heavy coat and shrugged it off. Then she peeled off her thick, wool sweater, unwrapped the scarf from around her neck and removed another bulky sweater. She had worn as much clothing as she could in order to stay warm.

Walking over to the coatrack to hang up everything she had taken off, she worked the kinks out of her neck and shoulders. Putting on so many garments had weighed her down and stiffened her muscles. She was flipping her hair back off her shoulders when she turned around to find Riley staring at her with an odd expression on his face.

She swallowed, feeling a bit uncomfortable at the way his penetrating dark eyes nearly swallowed her whole. She nervously licked her lips. “Is something wrong?”

Suddenly, a guarded look appeared in his gaze before he glanced out the window. When he switched his gaze back to her the look was gone. “No, nothing’s wrong,” he said in a brisk tone. “Excuse me for a minute while I let Paula know we’ll eat first.”

Alpha watched him leave while wondering what that had been all about.

Unnerved to the core, Riley closed the door behind him and leaned against it, releasing a deep breath. Every muscle in his body was thrumming with a need like he hadn’t felt in a long time. He was glad the room he’d been given extended off a corridor for privacy … because at that moment he needed it.

Where in the hell had that curvy figure come from? He’d heard of a woman having an hourglass shape, but in all actuality, he’d never truly seen one. Until today.

He couldn’t believe what Alpha Blake had been hiding underneath all those clothes. He’d almost dropped his chin to the floor when she started taking off that coat and those sweaters and then stood there in a pink, formfitting sweater dress belted at the waist, with over-the-knee boots. She looked so damn feminine that he’d been jolted with a degree of lust he’d never felt before.

Not only was she a looker, the woman had a body with luscious curves that could make a grown man weep. Lust, as sharp and keen as it could get, was taking over his senses, and the thoughts running through his mind were totally inappropriate, undeniably unacceptable and definitely X-rated.

Her waist was so small that if he blinked he might miss it. And her chest was a perfect size with nice perky breasts. The way the top portion of her dress pressed against those breasts had almost made his eyes pop out of their sockets. And then there was the way her hips flared from her small waist. They were smooth and shapely.

When she had walked over to the coatrack, he had taken it all in. He heard the heel of her boots clicking on the wooden floor and watched with deep male interest how her hips swayed with each step. He was convinced he’d never witnessed anything so sensual. And the shape of her backside filled his mind with all sorts of ideas.

Then she’d turned around and caught him staring. The look in her eyes had been unsettled, and he was sure the look in his had been cautious. That’s usually the way it was with him when he’d been caught off guard and had to rebound. He was a man who, under no circumstances, mixed business with pleasure. But he’d wanted that rule to go rolling out the window the moment she’d taken off the coat and those sweaters. Okay, he would admit that it was a physical thing for him, but he couldn’t help it. Westmoreland males enjoyed the physical.

“Need help with anything, Riley?”

Paula’s question immediately snatched his thoughts back to the present. His gaze roamed up and down the short black hostess outfit she was wearing. Paula Wilmot had a nice body, but even hers couldn’t hold a light to Alpha Blake’s.

He and Paula had dated a couple of years ago. When it was time for him to move on, she somehow thought some injustice was being done. He had explained up front—as he did with all women he became involved with—that he didn’t do long-term flings. Sex with no commitment. One month, six weeks at the most, was all the time he would put into an affair. Not enough time to get sentimental and clingy. That’s the way he operated. He called it Riley’s rule. Women knew up front what to expect—or not to expect—from him, and he liked it that way.

And the one thing he wouldn’t tolerate was someone who agreed to his terms and then decided somewhere along the way to make getting a ring on her finger her number-one goal. All it had taken was a month with Paula to see what her intentions were. For some reason, she’d assumed she would be the woman capable of changing him. It wasn’t happening. He’d wasted no time ending things and placing her on his Never Date Again list.

“Yes, please tell our server that my lunch guest and I have decided to eat before getting down to business.”

Paula tipped her head to the side as a frown creased her brow. “And I can just imagine what kind of business you intend to get down to, Riley,” she said curtly.

His gaze held hers intently. “Can you?”

“Yes. Do I need to remind you that I’ve been there with you and know just how you operate? So tell me. What does Ms. Frumpy have going for her? Good grief, Riley, I’m sure you can do better.”

Frumpy! A vision of the ultrafine body of the woman he’d left in the room floated through his mind. He doubted he could do better. “First of all, this is a business meeting, Paula. Blue Ridge has hired Alpha to handle our holiday party. Secondly, none of my affairs, business or otherwise, are any of your concern.” The only reason he’d told her the former was because he knew better than anyone about that vindictive tongue of hers. He refused to have her tarnish Alpha’s reputation in any way.

Paula placed her hands on her hips. “One day a woman is going to come along and break your heart. I hope I’m around to see it.”

Riley rubbed his hand down his face. Where was all this drama coming from? And why today? Hadn’t he woken up in a good mood? “Fine, you’ve put a curse on me. I guess that means I won’t sleep most nights worrying about it,” he said, reaching out to open the door.

She quickly reached out and grabbed his hand. “Sorry, Riley, I shouldn’t have said that, but you never returned my calls,” she said in a frustrated tone.

He stared at her. “No, I haven’t, and it’s been almost two years, right?”

“Yes.”

He nodded slowly, lifting a brow before turning to open the door, hoping she got it that time.

Alpha looked up from her laptop when she heard Riley returning. He glanced around and saw that she had set up the room for the presentation. “I thought we were going to eat first,” he said.

“We are. I thought it would save time if I had everything ready so I can move right into my presentation.”

He nodded as he sat down at the table. She was about to ask if he could see the huge screen from where he sat when the door opened and a waiter entered, carrying a pitcher of water and menus. Deciding she had wasted Riley’s time enough for one day, she moved toward the table when the waiter began filling their glasses with water.

She took the seat across from him and was glad when the waiter handed her a menu. She needed something else, anything else, other than Riley to occupy her attention. She might be wrong, but he seemed upset about something. Was he upset with her?

She placed her menu down. “I’m sorry, Riley.”

He glanced up from his own menu and arched a brow. “For what?”

“For getting off to such a bad start with you—having a flat tire, taking you out of your way to come get me, and then having our meeting place changed to accommodate me.”

He gave his head a little shake. “No apology necessary. You haven’t gotten off to a bad start with me, Alpha. I’m fully aware there are days that don’t go quite as well as you’d like. You didn’t ask for that flat tire, did you?”

“Goodness, no.”

“Then don’t worry about it. I’m just glad I was able to help. And as far as having to change our meeting place, McKay’s is a favorite of mine, and I’ll think of any excuse to get some of their chicken noodle soup. Have you had any?”

She shook her head. “No, I’ve only eaten their burgers and fries.”

He smiled. “Then you don’t know what you’re missing. You need to try it, if for nothing more than a cup as an appetizer.”

He had her curious. “Okay, thanks. I think I will.”

She picked up her glass of water to take a sip and then she said, “So you come here often?”

“Yes. Tony McKay and I were good friends all through high school. We went to different colleges and he ended up taking a job in Phoenix. When his father died, he returned to Denver to help his mother close down the restaurant, but decided to stay and run it instead. He wasn’t crazy about the job he’d landed after college and his management degree gave him plenty of ideas on how to take this place to a whole new level.”

He paused to take another sip of his water. “Old man McKay would not have approved of the changes Tony made, especially with the expansion and keeping the place open until midnight. He didn’t believe in change and fought it tooth and nail. Tony and I tried to convince him for years that the only constant was change, and so he might as well get used to it. We told him to embrace it like everyone else so he could stay competitive.”

He chuckled. “Tony not only embraces change, but he’s implemented a few precedents. Such as convincing our school board to add a culinary class to their high school curriculum and then giving students jobs to gain firsthand experiences while getting class credits.”

“Smart move.”

Riley smiled. “We thought so.”

She glanced back at her menu. “So what else would you suggest other than my usual burger and fries?”

“Umm, you can’t go wrong with their chicken. It’s covered with the best gravy you can eat and comes with mouthwatering scalloped potatoes and hot buttered yeast rolls.”

She couldn’t help frowning. “That sounds like a lot of food.”

“It is, but if the forecasters are right, you might be snowed in for the next day or two and leftovers would come in handy.”

Was that excitement she heard in his voice? “You really do like it, don’t you?”

“Like what?”

He glanced over at her, and the moment he did so she felt a zing in the pit of her stomach. Why was her body reacting so much to him? She was twenty-seven and knew all about chemistry between a man and a woman, but she’d never in her life experienced anything so potent. “The cold weather. I thought you were teasing about liking it, but apparently you weren’t. Here I was, all bundled up like I was living at the North Pole, and you were wearing a lightweight jacket as if you could barely feel the cold.”

He shrugged, and she couldn’t help but admire the undulating movement of his shoulders beneath his shirt. “I guess I’m immune. I’ve been here all my life and was told I was born during one of Denver’s worst snowstorms. I’ve always enjoyed playing in the snow.”

He chuckled and the sound floated around the room with such a rich octave it made Alpha draw in a charged breath. “February is my favorite month because that’s usually when Denver is the coldest.”

Riley leaned back in his chair and her gaze was drawn to his hands. For a quick second, she recalled how those hands had felt when he’d picked her up and carried her into the restaurant. She had felt the warmth of them through the thickness of her clothes.

“Today is nothing compared to how things will get later on,” he said, breaking into her thoughts. “Surely you understood what you were doing when you traded sunny Florida for Denver?”

Alpha drew in a deep breath. No, she hadn’t fully understood. The only thing she’d known was that she needed to put as much distance between her, Eddie and her parents as she could. “I didn’t expect it to be this cold so soon. I figured I would prepare myself for January and February, but it’s still November.”

“Yes, and Thanksgiving is right around the corner. Are you going back south for turkey and dressing?”

Not on her life. “No. I plan on spending Thanksgiving here since I have a couple of projects during that time.” And they were projects she could have gotten out of doing had she wanted to, but she hadn’t.

The waiter returned to take their orders, and she was glad for the interruption. She was getting too comfortable with Riley and had to admit that he made such a thing easy. He came across as a nice guy. Down-to-earth. A real gentleman, respectful. It was nice to know that for some men, sex wasn’t the only thing on their minds.

Three

Riley shifted in his seat, thinking that if Alpha knew all the things that were going through his mind, she would think he was as low as low could go. He had met her less than two hours ago and all he could think about was jumping her bones. No, jumping her bones was too quick and raunchy. He would love easing between those legs and then …

When he heard the sound of her lightly clearing her throat, he realized the waiter standing beside him had poured cups of coffee and was waiting to take his order. He glanced up at the waiter. George. The seventy-something man had worked at McKay’s for ages and had waited on him plenty of times before with many of his other dates. Was that a smirk on George’s face because the old man had finally caught him being taken with a woman?

“And what can I get for you, Mr. Westmoreland?”

“The usual, George.”

“All right,” George said, taking the menu from Riley.

Riley glanced over at Alpha and saw she was absorbed in the beauty of the mountains that could be seen through the windows. “It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” he asked, studying her more so than the mountains he’d seen all his life.

“Yes.”

Sitting this close to her, he could see just how beautiful, how stunning, she was. That wasn’t a good thing. How was he supposed to concentrate on whatever presentation she was giving when he wanted to concentrate on her?

She broke eye contact while reaching for her coffee to take a sip and he did likewise. “So, other than the cold weather, how do you enjoy living in Denver so far?” he asked her.

“I like it. I’m grateful that the people here have been so kind. I didn’t expect my business to take off like it has.”

“I understand your work speaks for itself. My sister-in-law was definitely impressed.”

She smiled. “Pam is super nice.”

Their conversation was interrupted when George returned with their appetizers, still wearing that smirk on his face.

Alpha drew in a deep breath. She had done presentations quite a few times and knew there wasn’t a shy bone in her body, but standing in front of Riley had butterflies floating around in her stomach.

She looked over at him to find him looking back at her. She forced a smile. “I promise to have you out in fifteen minutes.”

“Take your time.”

He would say that, she thought. Their waiter had cleared the table and filled their cups.

“The first thing we need to decide on is a theme for that night. These are the ones I came up with while trying to stay away from holiday themes. Because of diversity in the workplace, the last thing you want to do is offend anyone.”

“So what do you suggest?” he asked her.

“A winter theme always works. These are a few that I’ve come up with,” she said, clicking the remote in her hand to bring the screen alive. “As you can see, I have Winter Wonderland, Winter Delight, One Winter’s Night and Winter Around the World.”

She watched him study each suggestion. He shifted his eyes back to her, and she felt her stomach stir from the intensity of his gaze. “What’s your favorite?”

“It’s really your decision.”

He nodded. “I know, but which one do you like the best?”

She glanced up at the screen. “Based on the fact that this year there will be a nighttime party in the ballroom of the Pavilion Hotel, instead of the daytime party you usually hold at the office, I like One Winter’s Night. There’s a sort of magical ring. I like it.”

A smile curved his lips. “So do I. Let’s go with it.”

Alpha nodded, excited that he’d liked the same theme that she did. “All right. And as far as the ballroom at the Pavilion Hotel, I took a tour a few days ago. It will hold up to two thousand people,” she said, showing an aerial view of the huge hotel, which was located midway between downtown and the airport.

“And it’s a definite we have it for that night?”

“Yes,” she said, smiling. “They were happy to accommodate us. The Westmoreland name carries a lot of weight.”

Deciding to move on to the next point, she said, “I thought it would be nice to set the mood by having it be a dressy affair.”

He lifted a brow. “How dressy?”

“Black tie.” At the grimace on his face, she smiled and quickly said, “Not as bad as all that, Riley. I think your employees will appreciate it. It will make them feel special. Other than your family’s annual charity ball, your employees probably never have anyplace to go where they can dress up and feel as if they’re stepping out on the town.”

He nodded slowly, and she knew he was thinking about the idea. She just wished she didn’t feel that sexual chemistry between them even while discussing business. “Let’s table that for at least a week,” he suggested.

“All right,” she said. “But I’ll need a decision on the attire in order to determine what sort of decorations will be appropriate.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

“Last but not least,” she said, switching off the screen, “is the discussion of the budget. That handout I’ve given you breaks everything down. I inflated the expenses to allow for decorations. I’d rather operate on the high end versus a low one.”

She paused a moment and then said, “Those are all of my ideas and suggestions. Is there anything you want to add or change?”

He shook his head. “No, I think you did a thorough job explaining things.”

“Thank you,” she said, crossing the room to place the remote near the television screen. That’s when she dropped her ink pen and leaned down to pick it up.

For the second time that day Riley was slapped with a case of lust so thick he wondered how in the hell he was going to stand without giving away his body’s reaction. She had leaned down to pick up her pen, and the way the material of her dress stretched snug across that gorgeous backside, he’d almost swallowed his tongue. Drawing in a deep breath, he used his hand to wipe away the perspiration forming on his forehead.

“Need help with anything?”

“No, thanks,” she said, flicking a quick glance in his direction before returning to what she was doing. He continued to sit there, almost willing her to glance back at him, hold his gaze, feel his heat and not deny the potent chemistry flowing between them.

At that moment, he made a decision. “We’ll need to meet again next week, after I’ve reached a decision about the attire for the event.”

He knew she was probably wondering why they needed to meet to discuss that when it was something they could cover over the phone. Instead of questioning him about anything, though, she simply said, “That’s fine. Do you know when and where?”

“I’ll call you.”

She met his gaze and held it. He knew at that moment that if she hadn’t felt the strong undercurrents flowing between them before, she did now. “All right.”

Now that was where he disagreed with her. It wasn’t all right, but he didn’t know a way to change the path he seemed determined to take where she was concerned.

He watched as she re-dressed in her two heavy sweaters, scarf, huge overcoat and gloves. Was all that necessary? Evidently to her they were. If she wanted to stay warm the best thing she needed was body heat. Namely, his.

“I’m ready to go.”

Glad he had gotten his body under control and that there was no sign of the lust that had overtaken it earlier, he stood. “Do I need to carry you out?” he teased.

Her eyes rounded and it amused him that she’d assumed he was serious. “No, and I’m sorry you felt the need to do so before. I’m usually not clumsy,” she said apologetically.

“You weren’t clumsy, Alpha. You aren’t used to walking on icy, slippery surfaces and that’s understandable. Will you do me a favor?”

She tilted up her head to look at him. “What?”

“Stop apologizing. You haven’t done anything wrong.”

“Thanks.”

“Doing that must drive your boyfriend crazy,” he said, deliberately fishing for information.

“I don’t have a boyfriend.”

“Oh.” He placed his hand in the center of her back as he led her out of the room. So she didn’t have a boyfriend. Hmm.

An hour or so later Alpha entered her home and immediately shrugged off her heavy coat and began peeling off her sweaters and gloves. It was then that she missed her scarf and figured she must have left it in Riley’s truck.

During their ride back to her car she’d noticed he no longer seemed to be on guard with her, the way he had been at the restaurant earlier, and she took advantage by keeping the conversation going about the holiday party—One Winter’s Night. The more she talked about it the more excited she got.

Once they reached her car, she saw her tire was fixed and her car keys were back where she’d left them. He wouldn’t accept any money for having her tire taken care of, so she thanked him for lunch. After assuring him she would follow up with him in a week to discuss the attire for the party, she hurried off to her car. He had sat in his truck, watching her drive off.

Now she was home, inside the house she’d fallen in love with the first time she’d seen it. The last house in the cul-de-sac of a street where all the backyards faced the mountains, it was smaller than her place in Daytona but she’d always thought her condo on the beach had been too large for her anyway. Now she didn’t have any wasted space, and the windows facing her backyard provided a gorgeous view of the mountains. However, there were days she missed the beach, until she remembered she had given up the beach for a reason.

Sitting down on the sofa, she began removing her boots. The first thing she’d done after buying the house was carpet the majority of the tile floors. The thought of getting out of bed and letting her feet touch cold tile had sent chills up her body. Other than that she hadn’t changed a thing. Definitely not the extensive woodwork trim or the custom cabinets.

Moments later, taking her shoes in her hand, she walked in bare feet to her bedroom while thinking about what had driven her here to Denver.

Eddie Swisher.

At one time, she had thought he was everything she had wanted in a man. In the end, she’d discovered he was nothing more than a puppet with his parents pulling the strings. She would never forget the day, a mere week before her wedding, when he had shown up at her place and dropped the bomb. A family meeting had been called and his family had voted. It had been decided that he couldn’t marry her unless she vowed to disown Omega, her twin sister—the former porn star. After all, he had pointed out, her own parents had turned their backs on Omega. He couldn’t understand why she wouldn’t do the same. It had meant nothing to him that Omega was no longer in the business or that she had met a man who’d adored her regardless of her past. It was a past her parents and Eddie just couldn’t get beyond.