Tessa couldn’t tear herself away from the window, away from the beauty beyond the glass. Snow. Mountains. Tall trees. Birds in flight. All with a clear sky with miles of visibility.
She was in awe of the magical picture surrounding her and couldn’t wait to get out in it. To explore every inch of that forest. To follow the stream she could see trickling from the window. To just inhale all this beauty.
But first things first. She and her crew needed to watch their first client’s video and get a plan of action in place. This was what she was here for. To cater to clients. To compete for the top points. To win. The exact reason she needed to remove her tongue from this pane of glass and get her ass in motion.
Outside her bedroom door, she could hear her crew excitedly chatting and moving about this incredible cottage, squealing in immature delight, as Tessa moved to unpack her suitcase. Who could blame them? They were going to be spending eight weeks in this magnificent space if Tessa had any say in the matter. And if luck and the capability to perform hard work was on her side, the view outside the glass could be a permanent picture she got to wake up to every day for the rest of her life.
Oh, what a dream that would be. What a dream that was.
She never wanted to leave. Even if she failed, even if she lost, she never wanted to leave. Maybe she could beg Wendy to let her clean toilets. She would if it meant she could stay forever.
When she finally left her room, most of her crew were already sitting around the dining table with their tablets and a large monitor set up in the middle where she assumed they were going to make headquarters.
Seth gave an approving whistle as Tessa sat down beside him. “Hey, sexy mama. You ready to lead this brigade?”
More than anything, Tessa was ready. But she was more ready to see Marci again. To get under her one more time. Maybe more if time allowed.
She hadn’t been able to stop thinking about her since she left the conference room, admiring the red flush flickering across Marci’s cheeks. What had she been thinking? Was she happy to see Tessa again? The same way Tessa had been excited to see her again?
If she had things her way, she was going to spend as much down time panting her name over and over and over.
“More than ready.” Tessa nodded toward the monitor. “Hit that play button. Let’s see who our first clients are and how we can make them the happiest people alive.”
Hunter opened a tripod and locked his camera on the top. “I want a picture of us all looking at the monitor. I want to capture great minds working together to kick these other crews in the ass.”
“Hell yes!” Sally cooed. “I can’t wait to pluck out the losing teams one right after the other.”
“Team Tessa!” Seth added. “Champions in the making.”
Three hours later, Tessa flopped on the couch beside Seth and pulled on her boots. She was positive he was her spirit animal. Every idea she offered, he got it, even added ways to branch from them, adding his own glitter to the portrait.
It was amazing and comforting to see that someone else could see the visions in her mind and was willing to not only match it, but to stem from it.
And the rest were just as great at contributing with their own ideas that would work well.
The game plan was in action. Their clients, the first of the fight, the easiest in the line of challenges according to Wendy, would consist of a group of close friends who asked for nothing more than endless fun on the slopes, great food that didn’t include fine dining, and whatever else her team thought the wild bunch would enjoy. Anything goes, they’d said, as long as it was legal.
Tessa was flooded with ideas. From skiing, to zip-lining, to beers around a bonfire. But just because these friends were easy, just because they would be simple to please, didn’t mean they wouldn’t get exactly what they were asking for, multiplied. This was her first chance to prove she had what it took to jump over the next hurdle. For her team to prove themselves as well. This was it. This was the warm-up to the finish line and this one, this very first one, would set the standard for all the rest to come.
And the crew’s ideas had been just as great. All of which Tessa made sure to incorporate to some capacity. That was what teamwork was all about, after all. Sharing ideas. Deciding as a team to keep an idea or toss it. And in the end, almost every idea had been folded into their itinerary, and they were all satisfied that these guys would have the perfect mini vacation. From the second they arrived, all hands would be actively catering to their every whim, making sure their need for fun was met in every capacity. She had no doubt that her crew could handle everything.
She was excited and actually dreaded having to wait five days before their clients arrived. If not for having to put someone else in charge of handling reservations, she would already be on top of that as well. She wasn’t used to handing over responsibility to someone else and really would much rather have complete control.
But rules were rules, and if she wanted to play this game to the best of her ability, she would have to follow all of the rules. Including relinquishing control.
Besides, that rule meant that she had to go to Marci’s cabin. The very reason she was jerking her boots on this very second. She was anxious to see Marci again. To possibly be alone with her. To hopefully get beneath her.
Exactly where she wanted to be.
Tessa tried to slow her pace while Seth flipped through television stations. But she wanted to run. She wanted to get to Marci’s cabin and lock the door behind her. She wanted to push Marci down to her knees, shove her onto a bed, floor, couch, she didn’t care. She just wanted to get there.
“You sure you don’t want me to take those notes to our sexy new boss?” Sally asked as she kicked her feet up on the dining room table. “I’d be more than happy to do that for you. More than happy.”
“She’s not our boss, ding dong.” Hunter pushed her feet off the table. “And you’re not even a lesbo anyway.”
“I’d switch teams for a few rounds with her.” Sally put her feet back on the table and crossed them at the ankles. She glanced across the room at Tessa. “And don’t look at me like that. You’d do her too and you know it.”
Tessa snatched her coat off the back of the couch and shoved her arms in. “Who says I haven’t already?”
“Oooh! Boom-yow!” Hunter cried out and shoved Sally’s feet off the table again.
Sally put one foot back up, her smiling eyes watching Tessa. “You wish. No one could fuck that sexy piece of ass and keep quiet about it. She’s smokin’ hot.” She added the other foot and eyed Hunter before looking back to Tessa. “So do me a solid and let me go deliver that list. I promise to kiss and tell you all about it.” She circled her ass in the chair and added a sexual moan. “Every glorious dirty detail.”
Seth tucked a pillow under his head and settled in to watch a movie. “You wouldn’t even know what to do if she sat her pussy in your lap.”
“Woman that tough wouldn’t mind teaching me every bitty thing she knows.”
Hunter reached over and shoved her feet off the table. “Didn’t your mama teach you manners? Get your damn feet off the table.”
“I didn’t have a mama.” Sally hung her head.
“Oh, damn. Sorry. I didn’t—”
“Sucker!” Sally pushed out of the chair. “And if our fierce leader won’t let me go play with the sexy secretary, then I’m going to hang out with the other group at the firepit down the trail.”
“What firepit?” Seth looked over the back of the couch.
“Shh. My little secret, pretty boy.” Sally disappeared into the bedroom.
“She’s going to be a handful. I can predict it already.” Seth snuggled back down on the pillow.
“I heard that. And you’re welcome,” Sally yelled through the door. “Everyone should experience handfuls of me.”
Hunter plopped down on the opposite side of the couch. “No dull moments for this crew. Between Danny sneaking off to talk to someone on that phone, to her, whatever she is, we’re going to have a blast. I love it already.”
Tessa stood, picked up their notes, and headed for the front door. “Just a word of advice. Don’t call me for bail money.”
Seth snorted. “Me either, girl. I would push my mother down a flight of stairs to save my money.” His brow creased. “I swear, no one better ever tell her I said that.”
Hunter hit him in the head with a pillow, which started a miniature pillow fight. Tessa couldn’t help but smile. Already, she adored this crew. If they failed, at least they would all have fun hitting the bottom together.
She grabbed her scarf by the door and twisted the knob. “Please behave while I’m gone.”
“Aye aye, Captain,” Hunter gave a perfect impersonation of a pirate. “Me shall keep the home fires burning furr ye.”
Tessa stepped out and closed the door behind her, then glanced down the long drive toward Marci’s cabin. She could see the light on through the window.
Would there be other crew leaders there this late? Had they, too, jumped on their game plans instead of waiting until morning?
She hoped not.
Tonight, she needed Marci on those knees again.
* * *
Marci could only stare and nod compassionately at Donna, one of the team leaders, who had spent the last thirty minutes whining about her crew members not believing in her, not liking her, how this contest might not be right for her, despite Wendy telling the whole room of contestants not to bring personal matters to. But the thoughts drumming through her mind were anything but compassionate.
She repeated the phrase “Shut the fuck up and get the hell out of my house” over and over in her mind to keep from saying them out loud. All while robotically nodding as if she truly cared about anything this woman was saying.
The front door opened and she almost breathed a sigh of relief for the distraction.
She said a silent prayer that it wouldn’t be Tessa. Saying another prayer right behind it, that it would be. She was dying to see her face again. Yet she never wanted to see her again.
Twisted. She was twisted. Wendy was right. She was a lost cause.
Tessa stepped through the door, glanced around at the other two leaders waiting by the fireplace, and then looked toward Marci.
Something mischievous flashed in her eyes as she closed the door behind her.
Did she think Marci was an idiot? Did she think that Marci could boost her through this race?
Too bad if she did. Marci didn’t have a clue what was going on around here. Didn’t have a clue who the clients were or even how Wendy and Landon selected those clients. She was that closed off from the behind the scenes information. Hell, she didn’t even want the inside scoop. She wanted as little to do with this whole thing as possible. And if not for Wendy being desperate for her help, she wouldn’t be here now, with one woman crying on her shoulder, two more waiting for her attention, and Tessa only feet away. Entirely too close.
What sucked more was Tessa thought Marci had some kind of power in this game, and then she got her bubble busted when Wendy announced otherwise. Of that, she was almost certain. So why was Tessa staring at her with so much lust dancing in her eyes? So much fake lust. Did she think the link, all that sex, would lead her to Wendy? That maybe the more sex they had, the more she could sweet talk Wendy?
Fat fucking chance.
“Please have a seat and I’ll be with you shortly.” Marci nodded toward the flickering fire and turned her attention back to Donna, who was about to get on her last nerve.
God knew she didn’t have any nerves left. Ashley had stomped on them and then set the bitches on fire. Not to mention, she hadn’t expected that she would actually have to talk to any of these leaders. Wendy had promised as much. Had made it clear, actually, to a whole room full of people. Seemed Donna hadn’t been paying attention. And as much as Marci wanted to stop her, to tell her to go right on down the hill to Wendy, she continued to listen, and nod.
She wasn’t supposed to have to listen. At all. Take their notes, figure out who she needed to call, and then do just that. Only that. Simple. Easy.
Bullshit.
Wendy was going to get an earful very soon.
Instead of joining the other team leaders, Tessa began a slow walk along the foyer, inspecting the pictures on the walls, as if that wasn’t invading Marci’s privacy. Of course, it wasn’t, considering those pictures were for anyone to enjoy, but the gall that she could do whatever she wanted rubbed Marci the wrong way.
Not to mention she could barely look away long enough to give Donna her attention. Attention she’d been promised she wouldn’t have to give.
Tessa’s tight jeans were tucked into a pair of snow boots topped with fur. A North Face coat was zipped halfway up, exposing cleavage in a black T-shirt.
She was downright sexy.
And Marci had heard her moans. She’d filled and fucked her as an orgasm ripped through her body. Her insides had clamped tightly around Marci.
Dammit. These dirty thoughts shouldn’t be invading. Her sexual need shouldn’t be overpowering.
Somehow, Tessa had known who she was. She’d thought Marci was some big shot in this endeavor. She had been so wrong. She’d climbed the wrong tree and had wasted every scream.
“One of them said I was weak. That I couldn’t lead this crew,” Donna whimpered. “They were all very mean.”
Marci mentally grumbled. What the hell was she supposed to say? She wasn’t supposed to be a damn counselor. She was a secretary. A glorified secretary, Wendy had said. Where did being a psychologist come into play?
“Why do people have to be so mean?” Donna continued.
“Maybe it was all just a misunderstanding,” Marci attempted to sound like she gave a shit. Truth was, with Tessa so close she wanted every person in this room to get the hell out, with Donna leading the pack with her sniffles and tears. “I think you should sit down with everyone and see if you all can get back on the same page.”
“How can I talk to them when they said I was too weak to win this contest?” Donna wiped the back of her hand across her cheek and loudly sniffled.
“So prove them wrong,” Tessa said as she moved to another wall, face uplifted to inspect another picture.
“Excuse me?” Donna turned in her chair. “This isn’t any of your business.”
“Then stop crying loud enough for everyone to hear you.” Tessa turned and tagged Donna in a hard stare. Snickers from the waiting leaders filtered from the living room, which only fueled Donna’s angry expression.
“Are you making fun of me? Can’t you see I’m clearly upset?”
“I’m not sure how you equated that I was making fun of you by encouraging you to prove your team wrong.” Tessa turned her attention back to her inspection of Marci’s little world, mostly snapshots from her younger years, long before Ashley had a chance to turn her inside out. She was actually smiling in those pictures. “Completely explains the misunderstanding.”
“What exactly does that mean?” Donna snapped.
Without looking back at Donna, Tessa continued her harsh message. “I’m not implying anything, sweetheart. I’m flat-out telling you to suck it up. Wipe those tears, march your ass right back to your crew, and tell them all they can either get on board or get the hell out.”
Tessa finally turned around and it was all Marci could manage not to order everyone out of the cabin so she could jack this fireball against a wall. Jesus but she was sexy as sin. It was downright hot how she didn’t hesitate to blurt the thoughts in her head.
“Don’t you dare let them think they got to you. Be a badass. Be in control of your power. These people chose you to be a leader for a reason. Show your team that reason.” Tessa added a sheepish wink to smooth the punch of her words.
“You think so?” Donna wiped her wet cheek.
“Sure.” Tessa turned her attention back to the pictures as if the conversation was over, while Marci’s insides throbbed.
If only Marci could have said that, exactly like that. What she wanted to say would have never come out so nice. So raw with a taste of honey.
Right now, she wanted Donna and every other leader in this room to get the hell out. She wanted to pin Tessa against that wall and grind into her from behind. So bad it made her ache.
No. Dammit. She didn’t. Tessa was a cheater. She’d used sex in her worthless attempt to climb a ladder. Of that, Marci was almost positive.
Donna pushed out of the chair, stood tall, and swiped the opposite cheek. “You’re right. I am a badass. I’m going to go tell them exactly what you said. Thank you!”
Tessa couldn’t even look at the woman. She was already gone, in Tessa’s mind. A woman that weak didn’t belong in this world. Didn’t belong in this contest. Even her crew could smell her fear and her weakness and had admitted as much. And Tessa was going to eat her for breakfast. She was nothing more than an afterthought as far as she was concerned. But she was leaving now, so mission accomplished.
“No problem.”
But the woman sitting across from Donna. Marci. That one, she for sure was also going to have for breakfast. In a delicious way. A few times if this crazy contest allowed enough room.
To keep her thoughts from making her restless, impatient, Tessa continued her tour of Marci’s cabin, almost jealous. The place was twice the size of the cabins each crew was staying in. And according to the pictures on the wall and the personal knick-knacks sitting on the shelves, this was her home. That made Tessa even more jealous. She wanted a cabin. She wanted a fireplace. She wanted snow all around her. And she wanted those things all the time, not just in her goals, not just for the very few planned vacations when time allowed, which it never did because she was too busy making Michelle’s career bloom while she sat in the shadows, the backbone to almost every event.
Finally, the last leader left and she was all alone with Marci.
Completely alone. Exactly where she wanted to be.
Marci eased out of the chair and made her way to the front of the desk, an unreadable expression on her face.
Tessa expected to be pulled against her. Wanted to be pulled against her. Then she wanted Marci to rip the clothes off her body, wanted her lips over every inch of her flesh, and then she wanted to end the torture with Marci’s face between her thighs. She wanted that more than anything.
Her body heated with the need.
“Thank you for helping with Donna.” Marci leaned against the desk and crossed her arms. “I think it’s safe to say she won’t last long. Although I’m certain I should have kept that comment to myself.”
Tessa only nodded, her mind overflowing fast with images of fucking Marci on the desk. Being fucked on that desk.
“But there is another comment I can’t keep to myself any longer.”
Tessa lifted her chin. Her insides coiled tight as she imagined what that comment would be.
Get naked, fuck me, were among the top words she wanted, needed, to come out of Marci’s mouth.
“I see you. I know your kind. So don’t for one second think that little sexual stunt you pulled this weekend got you any brownie points in this game. Sorry to disappoint you, but as you heard, I have no strings to pull in your favor.”
Shocked at the spin of her emotions, flipping from hot need to stunned silence, Tessa cocked her head and narrowed her eyes. Had she misunderstood? Surely she had. Because Marci seemed entirely too cool to be playing some kind of tough act. No way she was being serious.
Tessa had been called many things in life, but a cheater wasn’t among them. People could assume anything about her, could almost get away with saying them out loud, but no one dared insinuate she was a cheater. Not on her taxes. Not even on a dead-end relationship.
Even her own sister was on her shit list for being exactly that. A cheater. Or rather, for being the other woman who didn’t care if her nightly fuck toy had a wife to go home to.
Yes. Dammit. She had completely misunderstood.
However, rage coiled tight in her gut as she took in a calming breath, still waiting for Marci to crack a smile, to do anything to insinuate that she was joking, knowing it would do little to silence the verbal escape of the very rage that was dancing on the edge of her lips if Marci didn’t laugh very soon.
Marci’s hard expression proved she wasn’t kidding. That she wasn’t going to smile or tell Tessa that she was only kidding. She wasn’t going to say anything, because by the look on her face, she was damn well serious about the shit that had just came out of her mouth.
Tessa took in a calming breath, praying she’d heard those words wrong, knowing damn well she hadn’t. But for shits and giggles, she needed Marci to say it just one more time.
“I clearly didn’t hear you correctly.” Tessa glared her down, daring her to say it all again. “Did you just use the word cheat?”
“I’m not an idiot, Tessa Dalton, from Peoria, Arizona. I know exactly why you were in that bar. Why you wouldn’t tell me your name. Why you didn’t want me to know who you were.”
Marci’s serious expression said all Tessa needed to know.
Tessa looked down at her own feet, hoping the distraction would quell some of her anger. It didn’t. When she looked back up, that same hardened stare was looking back at her.
She stepped forward and regret settled in the pit of her stomach before she even opened her mouth. She’d truly hoped to spend some quality time screaming Marci’s name again. Coming beneath her tongue. Coming around her fingers. Obviously, that would never happen again.
“In a single sentence you have implied that I was a cheating slut who couldn’t win this contest from any other position than from my knees. And that you were the only ladder for me to climb.” Tessa let her gaze drop down Marci’s body then back up to those rich brown eyes. “You, a measly nobody, bellied up to the bar to cry in your mixed drink? You, nothing more than a glorified last-second fill-in secretary, which was likely a step up from whatever cage you came from? You should have never let your ego outshine your common sense.”
Marci opened her mouth to respond, but Tessa gathered her breath and drove right back in. “You called me a cheating slut with such a straight face I am convinced you truly believe your own delusional bullshit thoughts.”
Tessa stepped closer knowing it could be a mistake to get too close while so many raw sexual images rushed through her mind, while raging anger whipped fire inside her body.
Marci swallowed while Tessa’s perfume invaded her personal space. She hadn’t expected Tessa to get so enraged. She hadn’t expected to still want her so bad, even more, with the insults leaving her mouth. Nor had she expected Tessa to look so sexy with angry daggers shooting from her eyes.
God help her, she wanted to drag Tessa to the floor and then drive herself inside those slick walls.
“So let me bring you up to speed, dumbass, since you don’t know a damn thing about me. I don’t fuck for brownie points. I fuck for pure enjoyment. Because I want to. Because I fucking can. But I’m no cheater. Cheaters are disgusting and they are lowlife cowards. I’m not a fucking coward either. Furthermore, this is the twenty-first century. Catch up, airhead. Women don’t have to do the knee crawl to be successful. We can do it all by our little selves. So jot that ginormous fucking fact down in that tiny empty brain of yours for future reference.”
Tessa erased the last step between them and jabbed her finger into Marci’s chest. “And so help me God, if you call me a lowlife cheater again, you’ll find out just how brassy my balls can get. Today’s cheap shot was the only freebie you get, stud. You won’t get another chance.”
With a growl, Tessa stepped back. Disgust and a whole lot of disappointment clear in her expression. From the look of those clenched teeth, Marci would never get to fuck this woman again. With her lip curled up in disgust, Tessa gave a casual inspection all the way to her tennis shoes before slowly crawling back up her legs, stalling at her abs, before finally looking Marci in the eye once again.
Sucked so bad that Tessa was sexy as hell and incredible in bed and she would never get the chance to do it again.
“What a shame we won’t get to play again. I have an unwavering habit of never making the same mistake twice.” Tessa flung her client notes on Marci’s desk. “I hope you and the stick up your ass have a great evening.”
Marci’s insides cramped as Tessa curtseyed, shot her a bird, then turned on her heel for the door.
Sexually insulted. That’s how Marci felt. Like Tessa had just sexually insulted her while driving Marci into her place. No. That was more like an assault. She’d just been verbally slam-dunked.
And it had been so hot. Damn, if Tessa wasn’t sexy as sin with her feathers ruffled and her beautiful face a mask of rage.
She couldn’t stop relief from flooding as Tessa slammed the front door shut. A nerve had been struck. Marci had struck it with her insinuation. With her accusation. A very raw nerve if Tessa’s enraged reaction was any proof.
Had she been terribly wrong? Had she let her cuts and bruises push her to make rash assumptions? Was Wendy right? Had she lost who and what she used to be?
Shit. She had.
She considered going after Tessa. To say she was sorry. To retract that ridiculous insinuation. The truth had been written in those eyes. In the way she’d jumped to defend herself. Something deep down inside told Marci she was wrong. That she’d been an ass and gone way too far. Marci’s inability to trust was the culprit.
Would Tessa accept her apology? Would she understand that Marci was still trying to climb out of the black hole a fucked up marriage had pushed her into? Would she understand if Marci told her the truth? That she had no desire to be attached again. That her heart couldn’t take another beating.
No. Tessa likely wouldn’t accept her excuses any more than Marci truly wanted to give them. Truth was, she needed to stay far away from the sexy Tessa Dalton. Far, far away.
There was nothing to retract. Or rather, nothing she should retract.
She’d said exactly what she needed to say to protect herself, even if she no longer believed that Tessa had been out to use her.
No doubt Tessa would never speak to her again. It was best this way.
Problem solved.