Chapter Ten

What Holly imagined as a small chalet turned out to be a gorgeous home on a gentle slope. Twenty people could easily stay at the place and still have plenty of space. They’d arrived in the wee hours last night, and Holly had stumbled on the slippery steps like she was drunk. Jake had carried her into the bedroom and almost as soon as she’d settled into the thick comforter on the four-poster bed, she’d gone out like a light.

This morning, standing in the spacious bathroom, Holly turned from the sink to look out through the huge windows surrounding the tub. The luxury made her feel like a fraud, a Cinderella who definitely didn’t belong in this palace. One who was good enough to sleep with the prince, but not for anything else.

She stepped out of the bathroom and looked around for Jake but didn’t see him anywhere.

On the sofa in the room, it looked like he’d taken some things out of the suitcase for her. She touched the ski pants, then the thermals and the jacket. They were all in her size.

Her skin tingled with awareness and she turned, not surprised that he’d walked into the room. She seemed to be hyper-aware of him. He smiled enticingly, sexily, and all Holly wanted to do was to finish right then what they’d started in his bathroom before the trip.

He passed Holly a pair of ski gloves and ski boots. “I also picked up lip balm and sunscreen.” He held the items out to her. “I’ll take it slow with you on the beginner slope.”

“As long as you don’t wear me out,” she said.

“That’s for later,” he said with a promise that made Holly feel like she was going to combust if she didn’t get some action from him soon.

She went into the bathroom to change into the ski clothes, then joined Jake in front of the river rock fireplace before they left together and headed for the lifts. She was thankful for the protection of the goggles against the blinding sun glancing off the snow.

“The slope is gentler here,” Jake said.

“So if I fall, I won’t tumble as far.” Holly couldn’t help but laugh. Though she knew how to roller-skate, being on the skis was a different story. Her legs wanted to go in opposite directions.

“You won’t tumble that far,” Jake agreed with a grin that was almost as blinding as the snow. Her breath caught, and she knew it didn’t have anything to do with the cold. “Here, hold the poles like this.” His gloved hands guided hers and though their skin wasn’t touching, it didn’t need to for Holly to remember what his hands felt like on her. She breathed faster, and Jake patted her on the back.

“Take it easy. Don’t hyperventilate. There’s nothing to fear,” he said.

He thought she was afraid of skiing. That was almost laughable. She feared herself or rather her reaction to him more than she ever would skiing.

“Ready? Let’s do this.”

…

Three hours later, Holly groaned as she slid the snow boots off. Her thighs ached and she was pretty sure she’d left a layer of her ass back on the slope after what felt like the hundredth fall. Peeling off the pants, she pushed them to the side in the mudroom. As soon as she changed into her regular clothes, she’d come back and take care of those.

Wearing the thermal underwear, she went into the bedroom and changed into a pair of jeans and a yellow shirt. If this was the kind of workout skiing gave the body, she didn’t know how she was going to make it through another lesson.

In the living room, she sank into one of the oversized chairs. Propping her feet up on the ottoman, she rested her head against the back of the seat and looked up at the beams on the vaulted ceiling. If she could rest her eyes for a moment, she wouldn’t be so bone tired.

The closing of the front door jerked her awake. Jake glanced at his watch. “There’s a restaurant beside the ski lodge. They serve decent food if you’re interested or we could eat something here.”

Remembering how the scent of cooking meat had affected her, Holly said, “I’d rather have something light here, but feel free to go without me.” She stuck her hands in her back pockets. She didn’t know what the hell was wrong with her. She felt weepy all of a sudden.

Jake gave her a funny look. “Are you okay?”

Holly burst into tears.

“Hey…” Jake walked to stand in front of her. “What’s wrong?”

Holly bent her head. She couldn’t make eye contact or tell him why she was crying. Maybe it was because Aspen was beautiful, Jake was gorgeous and she just needed a hug for all the ones she’d never had. One second she was alone with the past haunting her, and the next, she was folded into his arms and pulled against the solidness of his chest. His hand went to the back of her head and he stroked her hair. “Shh. It’s okay. Everything will be all right.”

Which made Holly cry even harder and berate herself just as much. She wasn’t the kind of woman who cried easily. There hadn’t been time for tears while she’d struggled to survive, but now it seemed like she couldn’t turn off the waterworks. She cried until she was spent, not knowing how long they stood melded together.

Finally, after she pulled away, Jake whispered against her hair, “Let’s sit down.” He led her to the sofa.

Holly sank onto one of the plush cushions. “Sorry.” She indicated his damp shirt as she wiped at her eyes.

“You don’t have to apologize for showing emotion.” He held her hand. “I got a phone call this morning from my investigative team.”

Holly tensed. “And?”

“I want to ask you a question.”

“About?”

“Liam.”

Holly’s breath caught, and she swallowed. She automatically thrust her hand into the pocket of her jeans, then remembered the train tickets weren’t there.

…

Jake watched her body tense and her expression close off. “What about him?”

“You didn’t steal the thumb drive. It was a man, not a woman that night. We know some of the owners of the nearby businesses and were able to get them to pull their outside security footage. There’s no mistaking the man’s red hair or the similarities between your face and his. Who is he to you?”

Emotions flickered across her face, but the one that he recognized was pain. He thought for a minute that she wasn’t going to answer.

But after a second, she said, “He’s my brother, but the theft isn’t his fault.”

He caught the way she still didn’t implicate her brother and decided to keep digging. “How old is your brother?”

“Twenty-two.”

“He’s old enough to man up for his actions. Taking the fall for him isn’t good for him and it only—”

“He’s autistic and he has some learning disabilities, too. He doesn’t understand the ramifications of his actions. He did the job for a milkshake.”

So the brother had done it. Jake raised his eyebrows. “But he’s intelligent enough to know how to break into safes?”

“Many autistic children and adults are quite capable of extraordinary accomplishments. He was trained for hours on end every day, the same as I was.” Holly tugged at the hem of her T-shirt. “Getting it right meant getting rewarded, that’s all Liam understood.”

“What about your parents?” Jake’s heart squeezed for what she’d told him and he had an almost overpowering urge to swoop in and rescue her.

“I never knew my father, and my mom had…issues. When Liam was a baby, and I was five, we lived in a homeless shelter. After she was kicked out, we had to live in abandoned buildings, the woods…any place she could find. My uncle came into my life when I was about six. After Mom died, Liam and I went to live with him.”

“He taught you to steal?”

“Yes, or we didn’t eat.”

The fist holding Jake’s heart clenched tighter. He hated the image of Holly as a child that no one loved enough to take care of.

“The first few times I took something, I had such knots in my stomach that I couldn’t eat anyway, but Liam was so little…he needed me.” Holly’s voice broke and she lapsed into silence.

Jake asked gently, “Was your mom Francine?”

Holly shook her head. “No. Her name was Ruthann Morgan.”

“I wish you would have told me this information sooner.”

“Why? So you could feel sorry for me? Or wonder if I was telling the truth? No, thanks.” She rose and walked to the window to look out across the snow. “The past is what it is. I survived. Liam survived. That’s all that matters.”

“Was your uncle ever caught?”

“No. I tried twice to turn him in. The first time, I was in middle school and told a teacher. She called my uncle in for a conference for my ‘overactive imagination’ and the two of them laughed about it. He told me I wouldn’t eat for weeks if I tried that again, but that didn’t stop me.” She turned to face him. “I went to the police, and they didn’t believe me, either. After he found out, my uncle said he’d take Liam and disappear forever. I stopped telling anyone after that. I couldn’t take the chance of losing my brother.”

The news rocked Jake. She’d been a child basically held prisoner by her uncle because of her love for her brother. “So you stayed.”

Holly nodded. “The day I turned eighteen, I waited until my uncle was out with his friends. I packed a backpack with a couple changes of clothes for my brother and me, borrowed money from my friend Mia, and ran away. My uncle is the reason I’ve been running ever since.”

Her words carried a ring of truth that made Jake wish he had the power to sweep away her past hurts. “How did you make it at that age taking care of a younger sibling?”

“It wasn’t easy.” She lifted her chin. “Don’t. I see the look in your eyes. I don’t want your pity.”

He didn’t pity her. He wanted to hold her and never let go. After he kicked her uncle’s ass. “I don’t feel sorry for you. I admire the hell out of you. You only wanted to protect your brother. I can understand that, and I can help you if you’ll let me.”

“Help me what?”

“Stop running. I can deal with your uncle, and he’ll never bother you again.”

“Trying to be my hero, Jake?”

“I’ll be whatever you need or want.”

“My needs and my wants are pretty simple.” She gave him a pained smile. “Some people want big things. Houses, cars, fancy clothes, or jewelry.”

“Not you?”

“Not even close. The only thing I ever really wanted was a place to live where there were dogwood trees. And I wanted nice patio furniture.” She smiled. “Stupid, huh? I remember visiting a house when I was a little girl. It was a school trip, but I don’t know what for. I can still see those dogwood trees and that bright sunshine filled day. I was happy and safe. My classmates and I sat outside on patio furniture eating cookies and drinking milk.”

“The things you want or need aren’t stupid, Holly.”

She shook her head as if to shake off the image, then touched her fingertips to his shirt, barely skimming them against the material, but he felt the heat of it all the way through to his skin. His heart pounded. Blood rushed in his ears and his breathing constricted. Every cell in his body went on full alert, finely tuned to the woman before him. He couldn’t move, didn’t want to move as she hesitantly bit her lip. “I’m afraid of accepting your help. If you get too close, you’ll get hurt.”

“I can take care of myself.” He forced himself to look away from her lips. His mind was spinning from everything he’d learned about her. “Now, let’s get some lunch. We have time to hit the slopes again later today.”

Holly groaned. “Do we have to?”

Jake laughed and took her hand. “C’mon. We’ll eat, and then I’ll show you how to build a proper snowman.”

…

He wasn’t one to play in the snow. Hadn’t done so since he was a kid. The snowman wasn’t exactly a work of art with its lopsided head and off center buttons, but Holly’s laughter made the afternoon worth enduring the cold. Since she’d told him the truth, she seemed more carefree.

When he saw her rolling a handful of snow into a snowball and then giving him a side-eyed look, he pointed at her. “If you know what’s good for you, woman, you won’t throw that.”

“Oh?” She raised her eyebrows. “What’s good for me, Jake?”

The way she said it, in a suggestive tone, caught him off guard, giving her enough time to wing the snowball right into the center of his face. He sputtered, clearing away the splatter and said, “Mistake number one, baby.”

She took off running across the snow, slipping and falling, then getting up to run again. The entire time she ran, she laughed, and when she looked over her shoulder, he tackled her, flipping her over before he pressed her body into the snow.

“What’s mistake number two?”

“Getting caught,” he said smugly.

Eyes sparkling, cheeks snow-flushed, she bucked beneath him. “It’s cold.”

“I can start a fire.” Especially if she kept pressing her body against him like that.

She rolled her eyes. “Another vague threat.”

Jake stood and hauled her to her feet, tossing her over his shoulder. Her laughter rang out across the air as he headed into the chalet.

“I’m freezing,” she said as he kicked the door shut.

He set her down in the foyer and brushed the snow from her. “Take a shower to warm up. I’ll make cocoa.” She walked away, and Jake’s smile faded.

He wanted to help her. He could give her a job. Help her get on her feet. Make sure the uncle stayed in the past and never bothered her again. He still wanted to punch the hell out of a man who could treat children the way that loser had treated Holly and her brother.

Still thinking about how he could fix things, Jake showered, changed, and had the cocoa made and swimming with miniature marshmallows when she returned. Her hair was wet and tangled, her face makeup free, and she was…breathtaking.

“The side of your hand is red,” she said as he passed her a cup.

“Splashed hot water on it.”

“I can put something on it.”

“Don’t worry about me. I’m a big boy, Holly. As you know.” He winked.

She smiled at that and put her cup down. Raising her hands, she slid them across his chest to his biceps and up to his shoulders. Then she moved toward him until her breasts were pressed against him. “Yes, I do know.”

As his jeans grew uncomfortably tight, he held himself still, fighting the need to haul her against him and silence his body’s throbbing need. He wanted her spread across his bed, wanted the memory of her arching beneath him to be a reality. His breath escaped in a hiss when she moved her hips and her body brushed against him. No one else existed in the world except Holly and if he didn’t take her, the need was going to make him implode.

He tangled his fingers in her hair and crashed his mouth down on hers, drinking in the sweet promise of her. When he tangled his tongue with hers, and she lightly sucked, he thought for certain his erection would bust through his zipper. Gripping her ass, he hauled her upward, groaning at the sweet pressure of her body against him. She wound her legs around his waist without breaking contact between their mouths and rocked her hips. She was going to drive him insane.

He walked them to a wall and pressed her back against it, holding her up with one hand under her firm cheeks. Sliding his other hand upward beneath her shirt, he spanned it across the flatness of her stomach. When she whimpered, he moved to her breast, cupping the weight of it in the palm of his hand. Slowly, barely moving his thumb, he raked it over the rigid nipple. She tore her mouth from his.

“Jake…” He licked the side of her neck before sucking lightly, and she gasped.

“I’m going to memorize every inch of your body with my hands,” he said against her skin. Lowering her to her feet, he yanked the shirt over her head, then discarded his own. He gazed at the swell of her breasts over the top of her lacy bra. “You are so damn beautiful. I have ached from wanting you, and I’ve never ached for anyone.”

She twisted her arms behind her back and unfastened her bra, dropping it to the floor at her feet. “I know the feeling.”

“Get naked. I want to see all of you,” he growled, barely recognizing the sound of his own voice.

Holly slowly unzipped her jeans and shimmied her hips until they fell below her knees. Then she stepped out of them, wearing a pair of barely-there panties, and Jake’s self-control snapped. Scooping her up into his arms, he walked into the bedroom and lay her gently down on the bed.

“Get naked. I want to see all of you,” she saucily repeated his words back to him.

“Yes ma’am.” Jake made quick work of his jeans, then lay beside her, resting his hand on her hip but not making another move.

Rising up on her elbows, she asked, “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” Jake said. He wanted to drink in the perfection of her body. Holly was incredibly sexy and just looking at her made him feel electrified all over. Other women had come and gone in his life and though he’d enjoyed their company, none of them had stuck in his mind. None of them had driven him to the level of need he felt when he was near Holly. Knowing what she’d been through made him want to sweep away the pain and never let it touch her life again.

“Nothing’s wrong, but nothing’s happening,” she said, with a pointed raise of her eyebrows.

“Are you complaining about the service?”

“The lack of.” She tapped her index finger on her chin and perused his body slowly. “Looks impressive, but does the equipment still work?”

Jake threw back his head and laughed. “Little impatient, are we?”

“Maybe I have a short attention span.”

He gave an exaggerated leer and pretended to twirl an imaginary mustache. “I can make you pay attention all night long.”

Holly laughed and said, “All night? It’s not the evening, yet.”

“Then you have a long ride ahead of you, honey.”