from the hallway caught his attention, and he turned around. Joelle wasn’t there, but the sound of running water reached his ears. He closed the window but stayed in front of it to watch the snow. It was heavier now. The parking lot was already covered.
“Oh, how beautiful.” Joelle’s breathy voice brought a smile to his face. He turned to find her standing a few feet behind him, her gaze riveted to the window. She’d thrown a pink satin robe on, but the covering couldn’t hide her sexy body. Her scent drifted toward him, and Cristian’s dick sprang to attention. Memories of being inside her hot, wet pussy filled his head.
He held out his hand, and she walked toward him, a sly smile on her face. “Cristian Neville, you’re standing in front of an open window without a stitch of clothing on. What would the neighbors say?”
He chuckled as she took his hand. Her skin was cool and soft, just like the snow. “Our closest neighbors are about thirty miles away. I think I’m safe from Peeping Toms.”
She leaned against him, and he let go of her hand to slip his arm around her shoulder. “I love snow,” she said.
“Me, too.”
“I hope it snows so hard I’m stuck here for an extra week or two.”
He made a purring noise in the back of throat. “What a tragedy that would be. Whatever would you do with all that extra time?”
She giggled and snuggled closer to him. “You two wore me out. How do you do it?” She glanced up at him. “How do you have so much stamina?”
He shrugged. “Don’t know. Born with it, I guess.”
She turned her attention back to the snowfall, and it was all Cristian could do not to beg her to let him fuck her again.
“When I was little, every winter my parents would talk about moving to Florida. They both hate the snow.”
“A lot of people are like that.”
“I don’t understand why. It’s so peaceful and pretty. And I don’t mind the cold at all.”
“Then you’d love it here in the winter. We hitch the horses to sleighs and offer midnight rides around Glacier Lake, on a trail marked with torches. The lake usually freezes, and our guests ice skate on it.”
She glanced at him again. “That sounds fabulous.”
“Maybe it’ll snow enough, and you’ll get your wish?”
“It must be like a fantasy to live here, Cristian.”
“It’s beautiful.” He frowned, trying to formulate answers to the questions he knew were coming. It was a challenge when they started asking about his life. He always struggled to find a way to change the subject without making it obvious he was doing it. The others were so much more adept at that than he’d ever been.
“You mentioned at dinner that you and your cousins inherited the property. Did you come here when you were children? Did you know you’d all own it one day?”
Cristian let his mind return to the conversation at dinner. She’d said something about breaking up with a fiancé recently, hadn’t she? “It’s a boring story, Joelle. I’d rather hear about you. At dinner you mentioned a broken engagement. What happened?”
A bit blunt, but he had to steer her away from the blissful childhood she was imagining, or he’d slip up like he’d done so many times before.
She let out a loud sigh. “That’s a boring story, too, Cristian. I met him where I work.”
“Where is that?”
“In the ad agency where my father is a partner. He’s one of their clients, and he has big dreams.”
To say her voice was filled with sarcasm would have been an understatement. Cristian suppressed a smile. “And he swept you off your feet?”
“He was very interesting to talk to, up to a point. And he’s the only person besides my father who’s ever beaten me at chess.”
Cristian grinned. “Is that so? How long have you been playing?”
“My father taught me when I was ten.”
“Your ex must be a good player then.”
“He is. I beat him once in a while, but not too often.”
“But despite that commonality, it
Mari Carr and Jayne Rylon