Blazing Bedtime Stories, Volume VI Page 14

  ALEX SUFFERED THROUGH three beers and endless conversations about business, skiing and the size of Thea Michaels’s advertising budget before he was able to break away. His mind had been on Greta from the moment she’d raced up the stairs, naked and wet and still flushed from the aftereffects of his seduction.

  “You know what, I’m exhausted,” Alex murmured, setting his beer bottle down on the coffee table. “I think I’m going to turn in.”

  “It’s barely ten,” Dave said.

  “I know. But if we’re going to ski tomorrow, we’ll need to get up early.”

  “Is Adler going to ski with us?”

  “No. She’s just a beginner. I skied with her today, but she won’t be able to keep up. Not that she’d want to.”

  Dave studied him shrewdly. “Is there anything going on between you two?”

  “Why would you say that? We’re friends.”

  “I don’t believe a guy and a girl can be friends.”

  “Believe it,” Alex said. “We’ve been friends for seven years.”

  “She is kind of pretty,” Dave commented with a shrug.

  Kind of pretty? “She’s beautiful,” Alex said.

  “See, that’s my point. If you think she’s beautiful, then there has to be some attraction. Unless, of course, she’s a total nightmare. One of those high-maintenance chicks who enjoys making guys squirm.”

  “No. She’s nice.”

  “Then why haven’t you slept with her?” Dave asked.

  Alex shook his head. “We’re not going to have this conversation. Greta and I are friends. Let’s leave it at that.”

  “Have you slept with her?” Dave asked.

  “No.” It was a lie, but damned if he was going to spill his guts to Dave MacDonald. What had happened between him and Greta was private…intimate…and none of anyone’s business. “I don’t want to wreck our friendship.”

  Dave drew in a deep breath. “I don’t get it. If I were here, alone, with a woman who looked like her, I’d at least give it a shot.”

  Though Alex had been waiting for Greta to come back down and join the party, he was glad she hadn’t. He’d never thought much about how the other guys at work looked at Greta. And since dating between coworkers was off-limits, he’d never had to worry. But talk like this wasn’t something he enjoyed.

  It was clear that Dave sensed something might be going on. Maybe it was a good thing Greta hadn’t come down. Would Dave be able to see the desire in his eyes? Would he be able to be in the same room with her without staring at her beautiful face and wanting to touch her?

  “How many times have we partied until dawn and then skied the next day. Come on, man, you’re not that old.”

  “I’m old enough,” Alex said. He was old enough—to know that life wasn’t an endless party. That strangers wouldn’t be there when you really needed someone. And that finding a woman to spend a lifetime with was much more difficult than finding a woman to share his bed for a night.

  “Well, I’m going to hit the hot tub before I turn in,” Dave said.

  “I’ll see you in the morning.” Alex picked up the mess from the coffee table and took it to the kitchen, then grabbed a few things from the refrigerator before heading upstairs. When he got to the door of the room he’d shared with Greta, he looked inside. The room and the bed were empty. He moved along to the next room and found Greta curled up reading a book.

  “Hey,” he murmured, closing the door behind him.

  “Hey.” She sat up and brushed her tousled hair from her face. “What do you have there?”

  “Dessert,” he said. “We didn’t get to that earlier.”

  She smiled. “Aren’t you a sweet man. What did you bring me?”

  “Leftover tiramisu, carrot cake and some kind of chocolate layer cake.” He set the takeout containers on the bed in front of her.

  “Forks?”

  Alex cursed. “No, I forgot forks. Let me go down and get some.”

  “That’s all right,” she said. “We can use our fingers.”

  He growled softly. “I like that.”

  Giggling, Greta scooped a bit of tiramisu onto her finger and held it out to him. He grabbed her hand and took her finger into his mouth, his gaze fixed on hers.

  “Good?” she inquired.

  “Mmm-hmm.” Alex licked her skin clean then picked up a slice of the chocolate cake and fed her a bit.

  “Has Dave gone to bed?”

  Alex shook his head. “He’s in the hot tub. After that, I think he’ll turn in for the night. Then you and I can get our night started.”

  “No! If he finds out we’re messing around, it will cause all kinds of complications.”

  “He’s not going to find out. I promise, I’ll be very, very quiet.”

  Greta shook her head. “No. If we’re going to continue this, we’ll do it back in Denver, where no one will notice. Not here. It’s too risky.”

  “I’m not sure I’m going to like sneaking around. What if I want to kiss you at work? Maybe we should find a place to meet.”

  She sighed softly, shaking her head. “Do you want to lose your job over this?”

  “No. The reason that rule was passed was because of an extramarital affair, not a relationship between two single people. We do good work. They’re not going to fire us, Greta.”

  “How do you know? I need that job. I’m not going to spend another seven years at an agency trying to work my way up to senior art director. I’m almost there now.”

  Though Alex knew he could find a job at any agency in town, it was a bit different for creative types like Greta. “What do you propose we do then? I’ll do whatever you want.”

  “We keep it a secret until we figure out what it actually is,” Greta said.

  “I already know what it is. It’s a relationship.”

  “I think it’s closer to a weekend fling right now.”

  He leaned closer and dropped a kiss on her lips. “Whatever it is, I’m liking it. A lot.”

  “Me, too,” she said.

  “I’m going to come back later,” he said. “I’ll leave before dawn. Dave won’t suspect a thing.” He wasn’t going to mention that Dave already suspected something.

  “Please don’t,” she said.

  “We’re not going to see each other tomorrow. He wants to ski and I couldn’t think of a decent excuse not to.”

  “If you’re going to ski, then I think I’m going to take your car and drive back to Denver. You can ride back with Dave.”

  “What if I made up some excuse so we could spend the day together?”

  Greta reached out and smoothed her palm across his cheek. “I’m not going anywhere. It’s not like this will be the only opportunity for us to be together.” She frowned. “We do spend a lot of time together anyway.”

  “Not like this,” Alex said. A fear had been nagging at him all day and he wanted to voice it, anxious for her reaction. “What if it isn’t the same once we leave here? What if you want to go back to the way things were before? Like you did four years ago?”

  “You’re the one who wanted to do that,” she said.

  “That’s not the way I remember it.” Alex sighed. “I don’t want to argue. I want to take off all our clothes, crawl beneath the covers and make love to you. Right now.”

  He saw the conflict etched across her features. In truth, she did have a lot more to lose than he did. No one was going to fire him from the agency. He handled two of their biggest clients. But Alex had to believe that a relationship between the two of them would barely cause any notice at all.

  “Okay, I’ll go,” he said, sliding off the bed. “But leave your door unlocked. I might be back.” He bent over the edge of the bed and touched his lips to hers. It began as a simple kiss, but the need between them was raw and immediate.

  When he could finally pull himself away, Alex smiled. “Good night, Adler.”

  “Night, Hansen,” she said with a winsome smile. “Sleep tight.”

&nbs
p; * * *

  THE CABIN WAS SILENT and dark when Greta slipped out of her bedroom. A shiver skittered across her body in anticipation and she held her breath as she tiptoed from her room to Alex’s. Wincing, she opened the door, then slipped inside.

  He was lying in the center of the bed, the sheets twisted around his legs, his gorgeous body illuminated by the light filtering from the bathroom.

  He sensed her presence before she even touched him. “I knew you’d come,” he said as she crawled into bed beside him. She took in his handsome profile in the soft light, a smile curling the corners of his lips.

  Alex wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her body against his. “I like having you in my bed,” he whispered. “What took you so long?”

  “I wasn’t sure I should come,” she said.

  “If you want, we can just cuddle.”

  “Cuddle?” she asked. Greta giggled. “I can’t imagine that you’re the type of man who likes to cuddle.”

  “I used to think that guys who liked to cuddle were wimps. But, I have to say, I enjoy a cuddle with you. Touching you and listening to you talk. Smelling your hair. Your hair smells really nice, by the way. Did anyone ever tell you that? I don’t know why I didn’t notice before.”

  “Where is Alex Hansen?” Greta asked with a laugh. “What have you done with the man I’ve always known?”

  He pulled her closer, softly growling in her ear before he kissed her. “He’s still here.” The kiss deepened and Alex pulled her hips to his. He was already growing hard.

  He was still wearing a T-shirt and sweatpants, but that didn’t stop Greta. Her hands slid up beneath the T-shirt to smooth across his warm chest. “I never expected this,” she murmured.

  “Us. Together. Naked?” He chuckled softly. “Wait, we’re clearly not naked.” Alex got up on his knees and pulled his T-shirt over his head, tossing it onto the end of the bed. His sweatpants followed. “Better?”

  Greta reached out and ran her fingers down his belly. “Much better.”

  “What about you?”

  She wriggled out of the oversize T-shirt she wore and tossed it aside. “Now that we’re both naked, let the cuddling commence.”

  He cupped her breast with his hand, teasing her nipple. His lips soon found the taut peak and Greta moaned softly as a wonderful wave of sensation coursed through her body. Already, she was starting to crave these feelings.

  Everything about Alex made the intimate moments so much more intense. She’d made love with other men, but there had never been such a magnetic pull between them. She couldn’t resist Alex no matter how hard she tried. He was everything she’d ever wanted in a man. Why had it taken so long for her to recognize that?

  Greta slipped her fingers through his hair, holding him close. He trailed a line of kisses to her other breast, then moved down to her stomach.

  “You’re so beautiful,” he murmured, his lips soft on her skin.

  She’d never really thought of herself in that way. But Alex had never lied to her. He truly believed the words he said and the notion that he found her physically pleasing made her feel powerful.

  The seduction was slow and deliberate, each of them teasing and tempting until they were both overwhelmed with need. And when he pulled her beneath him and slipped between her legs, she was ready for the feel of him moving inside her.

  She held her breath as he probed at her damp entrance and then slowly filled her. Greta shifted beneath him and he sucked in a sharp breath.

  “Don’t move,” he murmured.

  “But I want to move.”

  He groaned. “Why is this so different with you?” he asked. “I feel like a high school kid with you. Like I don’t know what the hell I’m doing.”

  “I think you’re doing a fine job,” she said. “Word around the office is that you are pretty good at this.”

  “They talk about me? Who talks about me?”

  “All the women. But I think it’s idle speculation. You haven’t slept with any of them,” Greta said. “Have you?”

  “No, Greta, the only coworker I’ve slept with is you. Oh, and Dave when we went camping up at Estes Park. We shared a tent.”

  “Can I move now?”

  He drew a deep breath and shook his head. “No.”

  “Yes,” she murmured.

  “No,” he repeated.

  Greta arched against him, driving him a bit deeper. With a low growl, he grabbed her hips and rolled her on top of him. Greta stared down at him, her hair tangled around her face.

  “Now you can move,” he murmured, watching her through half-hooded eyes.

  At first, she set a slow, lazy rhythm, watching his pleasure reflected in his gaze. But when he reached for her and pulled her down into a long kiss, Greta lost her focus for a moment, and surrendered to the warmth of his mouth.

  They were so good together. After just one night, she realized no one else in the world could please her as much. As he drew her closer to her release, she couldn’t deny her feelings any longer. She was in love with Alex. And she had been for a very long time, maybe even from the very start.

  It had taken all her strength to deny it for so many years, but now, the stress seemed to dissolve in a single moment and she was free—free to believe that they had a future.

  When he reached between them and touched her, she felt the first surge of an orgasm and before she could take another break, she was there, tumbling over the edge. She pressed her lips to his neck to keep from crying out. This was what she’d waited for, what she’d always hoped she’d find. And finding it with her best friend made it all the more wonderful.

  When he came a minute later, silently, she held his face between her hands and whispered his name as his body shuddered beneath hers. This man had made a place for himself in her life, but now, he’d also found a place in her heart. What was she going to do with that? Greta wondered.

  “If I’d ever known it would be this good, we would have made love much sooner,” he said.

  “We did make love,” Greta reminded him.

  “I know. But I don’t think either of us was ready for it back then. Obviously we weren’t, because we didn’t recognize what we had.”

  “And now?”

  “Now?” He paused, his gaze searching hers. “Now, I’m not sure I can do without this. I want you in my life, Greta.”

  “I am,” she replied.

  “Like this. Together. You and me.”

  “It’s been one weekend,” she said.

  “It’s been seven years,” he reminded her.

  Greta snuggled against him. He was right. They knew each other better than most married couples did. “I’ve only really liked you for five of them,” she said.

  “What?” He frowned. “You didn’t like me when you met me?”

  “No, not at all. I thought you were full of yourself. And you just charmed everyone in the room. Every girl in the office thought they might get lucky with you and you didn’t do a thing to discourage them. I thought you were dangerous.”

  “Dangerous? I am a ninja when it comes to advertising.”

  Greta remembered that day so clearly. She’d decided then and there that she’d lock up her heart when Alex was around, just for her own safety. Maybe that’s why their friendship had worked, because she’d never given in. Would her surrender now be the beginning or the end of what they were?

  “So are you going to sleep in our bed, Adler? Or are you going to shuffle off to your own lonely room?”

  “I can stay until three,” she said.

  “Four,” he countered.

  “Three-thirty.” She kissed him. “Set the alarm on your cell phone.”

  “Why?” he murmured. “We won’t be doing any sleeping.”

  6

  ALEX STRODE FROM the elevator to the wide office doors of Johnson-Jacobs Advertising, anxious to see Greta for the first time since their weekend together.

  Yesterday, she’d left with his car, driving back to Denver on her
own. He’d found the keys on the kitchen counter of his apartment when he’d returned, along with a note letting him know that she’d speak to him at the office.

  He’d spent the whole night tossing and turning, wondering why she wasn’t sharing his bed again that night. Had she changed her mind about embarking on a romantic relationship? Would they go another four years before they enjoyed another intimate encounter?

  He knew Greta well enough to know that she was nothing if not practical, a characteristic that tempered his own impulsiveness. That’s why they made such a good team, he mused.

  He pushed open the doors and their receptionist, Emily, smiled at him. “Red alert. Rich was looking for you. And he doesn’t look happy. Oh, and Thea Michaels is waiting in your office. I sent out for her nonfat, double-foam, half-caf latte and she seems content for now with my copy of Vogue.”

  “Did Rich say what he wanted?”

  “No. But rumor has it that the diva was waiting for him when he got in this morning. After they talked, his mood had changed.”

  A sick feeling washed over Alex. “Have you seen Greta?”

  “No. I’m not sure she’s in yet. Do you want me to check?”

  Alex drew in a deep breath to steady himself. “I’ll just check, myself.” He strode toward the art department. When he reached Greta’s office, he laid his briefcase on her desk and opened it. He withdrew the pretty blue vase he’d bought her, along with a small bouquet of tea roses. It was a beautiful piece, he thought to himself. And all the better because he knew Greta would love it.

  Unfortunately, he doubted he’d be there to see her reaction. He was needed in the boss’s office. Though he’d just enjoyed the most wonderful, incredible, passionate weekend of his life, the realities of his professional life were enough to dull the shiny memories. He’d also have to deal with Thea. And, if his suspicions were correct, he and Greta were going to have to pay for their delightful interlude at Thea’s mountain retreat.

  He drew a ragged breath and tried to work up a decent case of remorse. But the truth was, he didn’t regret a single moment of his weekend with Greta. “I guess I better go see what he wants.”

  Alex started down the hall to his boss’s office, going over a litany of possibilities in his mind. But there was only one that stood out.