No way in hell was she staying upstairs alone, in the dark. Marissa gripped the railing as she made her way downstairs, where the fireplace gave the room a warm glow. As a kid she’d been terrified of the dark, the power and heat cut out for reasons other than a storm. She’d thought she’d moved past the fear, but out here darkness swallowed everything, so black the flashlight app on her phone didn’t stand a chance.
Coming downstairs had nothing to do with Scott, or the firelight licking the honed muscles of his bare chest. Or how her tummy did a little shimmy when he looked at her. Nothing to do with the post-wedding loneliness people blamed for unintended hookups. This was practicality, plain and simple.
“Are you coming down here for wine or . . .”
“Sure. A glass or two might help me relax and then we can go to bed.” The blush stung her neck as soon as she realized what she’d said. Again. “Go to sleep, separately.”
He tried to hide his laugh as he poured her a glass, then picked up his own. Her heart squeezed. He’d been waiting for her. He handed her the glass, their fingers brushing and sending enough electricity through her to light up the whole damned house.
He clinked their glasses together. “To old friends.”
“And new beginnings.” She sipped the warm red, letting the rich berry flavor play on her tongue. Few things in life were better than a lush Oregon pinot. “This is delicious.”
“Why do you sound surprised?” He sat on one of the couches, leaving plenty of room for her to join him. But when it came down to it, she chose the next couch over. Overthinking had her going two steps forward and one step back. Plenty of guys called her a tease for it, but it wasn’t deliberate, just her brain working overtime to keep her from getting hurt or embarrassing herself.
“I thought most guys like you drank beer.”
“Guys like me?” He leaned back and crossed one pajama-clad leg over his knee.
“You know, rugged, athletic. Dudes.” She took another sip and wondered if downing the glass would keep her from putting her foot in her mouth again.
“Dude.” He dragged the word out and then shot her a grin that had her shifting in her seat. “I have beer in the fridge if you want it.”
“I prefer wine. I’ve done some tasting classes so I can suggest wines to serve at events I’m running. A fruity Oregon pinot has become my go-to, especially when we have out-of-state visitors.”
“What kind of events?” He stretched an arm across the back of the couch. She could sit right there, put her feet across his lap while they talked. Like they did this on the regular. She craved that kind of coziness, someone to share her life with.
“Executive roundtables, corporate training, product launch parties, employee events, that kind of thing. I’m an assistant right now, but once my boss gets promoted I’ll move up.” And then her salary would inflate enough for her to relax as she made out her bills. No more scrambling to make things balance, cutting corners and calories to keep everything paid up.
“So you get to control the entire event.”
“Right. I like being able to make things just so and impressing people with what we can pull off. A lot of little things come together to create something big. When an event comes off well, I feel . . .” She paused, searching for the right word. “Appreciated.”
He gave a nod like he actually got it. “I think that’s why I like owning the shop so much.”
“The shop?” She wanted to keep him talking, to be with him in the easy quiet just a little longer. She wasn’t going back upstairs tonight, and she didn’t want to be alone just yet.
“I own a sporting equipment store in town. We rent, sell, repair, that kind of thing.”
“I thought you were a tour guide because you arranged tomorrow’s hike. Today’s actually.” She finished her wine, wishing it had calmed her nerves. She eyed the bottle on the coffee table, craving another glass but not wanting the world to get so fuzzy she forgot why she knew better than to cross the line him.
“We have all kinds of tours, from beginner to experienced. When we started I wore myself out doing two a day. Now, I only take people out on tours I want to do. Next time you’re here, I’ll take you on one. Cross-country skiing, lava tube caves, or maybe snowshoeing.”
“Whoa there. I am never going to do any of that.” After growing up on the coast, she couldn’t even picture herself stomping through the snow. Or a cave. That’s where bats lived.
“Really? Not a cold weather person?”
She shook her head. “I’m good with cold weather, so long as I have a blanket, cocoa, and a good book.”
“In the summer we do canoeing, kayaking, stand-up paddle boarding, hikes—if it’s an adventure, we have it.” His voice shifted when he talked about work, serious with undertones of pride. “It’s impossible to be in the shop and not be inspired to get out and do something. Before we took over the place I’d never considered rock climbing or wild mountain bike runs.”
“So that’s why you look like that.” It made sense, how he maintained an even more athletic build than when he’d been playing. All those different kinds of sports built distinctive sets of muscles, creating a physique she couldn’t stop admiring.
“Like what?” Scott leaned forward, his forearms on his knees and that bone-melting grin spreading across his face.
“Oh my God, did I say that out loud?” Marissa froze, not even breathing as she realized what she’d done. Last time it could have been an innocent slip, but this broadcasted what she was obviously focused on now.
“You did indeed.” He didn’t seem at all bothered by her Freudian slip, confident as ever as he set down his wineglass and lifted the bottle. “More wine?”
“Yes, please.” Maybe after another glass she wouldn’t feel so mortified. In contrast he seemed comfortable in his skin, in his life. What she wouldn’t give to know how that felt. She feigned that confidence to the world, but inside she was nothing more than a hamster on a wheel, trying to outrun her insecurities.
He took her glass and filled it, but instead of handing it back he held it up. “Come here.”
Oh, she was tempted. Tempted to do something reckless and wild that she’d most likely regret. “I don’t think—”
“Don’t think. Come sit with me.” His deep voice washed over her like a hot shower, relaxing her muscles and her nerves.
She wanted to be closer, to keep him talking until she fell asleep. Forcing this physical distance between them didn’t make her feel any more at ease. She took a deep breath and crossed to where he sat, settling herself on the opposite end of the couch.
“Thank you.” He held out her wine, giving her another devastating grin when she took it.
“This whole situation makes me anxious.” She drowned the butterflies in her stomach with a fortifying gulp.
“I can tell.” He tilted his head toward her and lowered his voice. “What has you so keyed up?”
“Wedding exhaustion, Christa’s drama, having the power cut out.” They all made great excuses, but none of them was the reason. Her emotions had always been jumbled around Scott. Emotions she had no right to feel. She’d ignored whatever it was between them and boxed him into the friend zone. It worked back then, but now there was no engagement to keep her from acting out what had been swirling in her head since he sat down next to her at the reception.
“The wedding’s over, we both escaped our freeloading friends, and you don’t need electricity to sleep. You’ve got to unwind a little. Give me your feet.” He set his wineglass on the table and patted his lap.
“My feet?” What in the world?
“You’ve been in heels all day. It’s the least I can do.” His smile was honest and she couldn’t find anything suggestive in his tone. “I’ll give you a foot massage and you can try to slow your mind.”
“What’s the catch?” She shifted to place her feet in his lap, just like she had imagined earlier. It would be rude to decline his offer. Rude and a legit reason to have her woman card revoked.
“Why do you think I have an ulterior motive?” He rubbed his hands together, then set his heated palms on her feet.
Her entire body shuddered at the contact, the heat of him searing her nerves and warming places that had no business being interested in a foot rub.
“Too cold?” He rubbed his hands together again. This time she reined in her response when he touched her, which made her more keyed up than before. He took one foot in his hand and started pressing his thumbs along the arch. Her stomach tensed and fluttered, and it was all she could do not to spill her wine.
“What turned you into a foot rub expert?” He had skills, no doubt about it.
“Mountaineering.”
“I don’t even know what that is.” He pressed hard on a spot just above the ball of her foot and a day’s worth of tension from walking in heels released.
“Climbing mountains.” He shook his head, the corners of his eyes crinkling as he grinned. “My brother and I got this wild hare about summiting Kilimanjaro.”
“The tallest mountain in Africa?” His firm touch eased the tension in her arches, but didn’t ease the tension building inside.
“That’s the one. And because neither of us wanted to be the one who backed out, we spent a year training for it. Mostly here in the Cascades, but we made sure we could handle Hood and Rainier.” A smile shone on his face, though he never lifted his lips. “I liked the challenge of it, but my feet did not. One of the guides taught me about pressure points and it saved the trip.”
“If you see him again, thank him for me.” She’d barely been out of the state, so climbing mountains on other continents seemed dangerous and exciting.
“Her.” Was that a smirk on his lips?
“Of course.” He outmatched her on so many levels. He’d been everywhere and done things she’d only read about. And then there was his bedroom experience, which had been legendary back in college. By now it had probably grown to epic proportions. While hers was more of a short boring novel with a lot of blank pages at the end.
“Please tell me you’re jealous.” His hands stalled as he grinned over at her like that had been his goal all along.
“Why would I be jealous?” She finished her wine, not even tasting it.
“I’m not sure, but you flexed your foot and your face pinched up. You felt some type of way about it.”
“I’m envious of your experiences, but not jealous. Besides, it’s none of my business whose feet you put your hands on.” She feigned indifference, or at least she hoped she had.
“You don’t hike, but you want to climb mountains?” He did a horrible job of hiding his amusement. “It’s okay to admit you like me.”
“Please.” She swirled the drop of wine in the bottom of her empty glass. This night had tilted her entire world, so much that she wasn’t sure how she felt about him anymore.
“I know you do. It’s obvious.” There it was, the Scott Zimmermann special. A grin that said You want me and I know it. She’d seen it focused on so many women in college, but it’d never been leveled at her before.
The man could model underwear, so any woman with a pulse would find him attractive. And she hadn’t had a conversation with him in years, so of course she found him fascinating. The heightened awareness of everything he did was a perfectly normal response.
He started working his magic on her other foot. “Whether we do something about it is up to you. But you want to, I can tell.”
“Oh really.” She should not find his confidence attractive, not when he used it to taunt her.
He nodded toward her, dropping his gaze to her chest. She followed, the outline of her hardened nipples pressing through her shirt.
She crossed her arms over her chest, suddenly aware of how little she wore. How little they both wore. She was so out of her element she didn’t know how to respond. She couldn’t deny it, but she didn’t want to admit that she’d thought about what it would be like to kiss him, to let him rescue her from a long stretch of celibacy the way he’d rescued her from Christa’s antics. Scott was probably used to women who knew what they wanted and took it. And while she was capable of doing that for work, those skills had never made it into her sex life.
Not that she had much going on in that department. She’d gone out quite a bit right after the breakup, more to prove to herself she was desirable even if Chris didn’t want her. But that had left her feeling cold and empty. She’d tried dating, but no one flipped her switch the way Scott did.
What would be the harm, really? She fantasized about indulging in a hot, wild night of smutty sex, but she’d never had anything close. With Scott’s expertise maybe she’d finally have the kind of sex her friends raved about. He certainly knew how to give his undivided attention to her.
She imagined everything he did would have the same gentle thoroughness he took with her feet. She could touch him everywhere, feel the strength of him beneath her hands. There’d be no rush. They could kiss forever. He could show her how a man was supposed to pleasure a woman. And with all that concentration focused on her, damn. She’d always dreamed of that, of a man so excited by her he couldn’t fit anything else into his mind.
“Hey sleepy.” Scott took the glass from her hand and set it on the end table. “Let’s go to bed.”
“Together?” She sat up tall and blinked to awareness. Had she drifted off? And had she really just asked Scott to sleep with her? She needed to glue her mouth shut because for some reason she couldn’t seem to speak to him without sexual innuendo.
“Is that what you want?”
Yes, please. Her brain might be tapping out, but her sex drive had a lead foot on the gas. She sighed and closed her eyes, trying to think of a way to explain her hesitation. “This would be easier if we were younger.”
“What are you talking about?” He tucked her hair behind her ears and when she opened her eyes he was right there. So close. So tempting.
“You remember, back when a kiss could just be a kiss. And you could fool around without having to go all the way. But now we’re adults and we don’t have that kind of range anymore. There is no second base, it’s a home run or nothing, and I’d rather round the bases slowly. Make sure I want to go there before I’m there. You know?”
“Well, I’m a guy, so not really.” The teasing shrug in his voice tempted her to go for it, but she knew better. Having sex with Scott, even mind-blowing sex, would break him out of the friend zone forever.
He leaned his forehead against hers and she breathed in his clean woodsy scent. “Marissa, we can just sleep.”
“Naked.” There, she said it. And she could see it, images of them together flashing through her mind. After the stress of this weekend, didn’t she deserve a little indulgence?
He laid a hand on her cheek, sliding her fingers into her hair and urging her closer. He brushed his soft lips against hers and every nerve in her body came alive. He licked the seam of her lips and she opened herself up to him. She’d thought enough. Now she only wanted to feel.
She reached for him, one hand on his shoulder, the other gripping his hair to bring him closer still. He tasted so good, of longing and desire, passion and patience. He kissed perfectly, slow and thorough. Giving. Taking. Melting away any lingering doubts.
With a hand on either side of her face he broke the kiss. “Yeah?”
She nodded, not wanting to talk. Or think, or do anything but get closer to him.
“We can go around as many bases as you want, okay? Just do me a favor. Keep your clothes on anywhere you don’t want me.”
A powerful amount of freedom came with his offer. They could do it all, or nothing. Anything she wanted. She took his hand, letting him pull her up against him. He dipped his head and she was so sure he would kiss her she closed her eyes. But instead of her lips, his kiss landed on her neck and trailed to just below her ear. She couldn’t breathe as he slid his fingers against her waist, on that bare spot where her shirt and shorts didn’t quite meet. He circled her belly button and her nipples peaked, trying to get his attention next.
With a hand on her hip he pulled her closer, his hardening cock pressing into her belly. Sleep forgotten, her pulse raced and she splayed her hands over his muscled chest. She barely recognized herself, this woman caught up in this lazy build of lust. Her entire body hummed with anticipation.
He wrapped his hand around the nape of her neck, his fingers threading into her hair. His slow kisses along her jaw set an easy pace. He massaged her scalp as his lips finally touched hers. He didn’t push, his kiss tasting hers in a way that was both tender and burning hot.
He released her and took her hand, bringing her fingertips to his mouth for another sweet kiss. The hum of arousal she’d been trying to ignore all weekend began to sing. Maybe it was foolish and impulsive and such a bad idea she’d want to slap herself in the morning. But right now she wanted nothing more than for him to take her places she’d only been to in her dreams.
With him.