One Winter's Night (6 page)

“Mr. Westmoreland, I’m leaving for lunch now.”

The sound of the receptionist’s voice over the intercom seemed to boom across the room. Riley pulled his mouth away but kept it within inches of hers. “I hope you liked that,” he whispered against her lips, tipping her chin up for better access.

A smile curved the corners of her mouth. “The kiss or the fact that your receptionist is taking lunch?”

He chuckled. “The kiss.”

There was no reason to lie, so she said, “I did.””

He traced her lips with his tongue before saying, “Good. Just thought I’d get a little head start on all that pleasure I plan on giving you.”

She thought he’d gotten more than a head start. “Do you mind getting me down off your desk now?”

“Not at all.”

And just as easily as he’d placed her up there, he had her back on her feet. They were standing close. She could feel the heat of him all over her. “I’ve got a suggestion, Alpha,” he said in a deep, husky tone.

She lifted a brow. “What?”

“I suggest we move our meeting someplace else, and I know just the place. Go home and change into something comfortable—like jeans and boots—and I’ll pick you up in an hour.”

“And just where are we supposed to be going?”

“Riley’s Station.”

“Where?”

“Just do it, okay?”

“And this is a business meeting, right?”

A smile touched the corners of his mouth. “Both business and pleasure.”

When she opened her mouth to remind him of her rules, he quickly spoke up and said, “I know, you want to take things slow and not be rushed. I got it.”

She was glad he got it. Now if she could only get her traitorous body on the same page.

Six

A
lpha tried keeping the butterflies from her stomach as she quickly dressed, knowing Riley would be there to pick her up in less than thirty minutes. “This is crazy,” she muttered, pulling a burgundy V-neck sweater over her head. “All he had to say was ‘let’s go’ and I’m going.”

She stood sideways to look in the mirror at her perky breasts pressed against her sweater. It had been Omega’s idea for her to wear a push-up bra with all her sweaters, and she would admit it made her girls look bigger than they really were.

She was about to put on lipstick when her cell phone rang. She grinned as she answered it. “Speak of the devil.”

“Hey, and you were talking about me to who?” her sister said with laughter in her voice.

“No one, just thinking about what you told me, about ways a woman can make herself look sexy.”

“Umm, you’re trying to look sexy? Sounds like you’ve made some decisions about a few things.”

Alpha leaned against the bathroom counter. When Omega had called last week she had spent over an hour on the phone telling her twin the latest about her meeting with Riley, how fine he was and his suggestion that they indulge in an affair. Of course Omega had been all for it, saying Alpha needed to rev up her love life. “Yes, I agreed to do it, and he’s agreed not to rush me into anything.”

“But no climax control, right?”

Alpha lifted a brow. “Climax control?”

“Yes, you plan to let the orgasms rip.”

Alpha threw her hand to her mouth to keep from screaming with laughter. Her sister could be so outlandish at times. Um, in fact most of the time. “Behave, girl. And how is that book coming along?” Omega had decided to write a book about her experience as a porn star.

“Great. It’s wonderful therapy for me.”

Alpha didn’t say anything for a minute and then asked, “Do you miss the business, Omega?” She’d always wondered but never asked. Nothing her parents said or did had made Omega give up her line of work until Omega had been ready to do so herself.

“I know it’s hard for most people to understand, Al, but for me it was nothing more than a job—a job I needed while going through that rebellious period in my life. I don’t want to think about where I’d be or what I’d still be doing if Marlon hadn’t come along. He reminded me of who I was before I made those decisions, and he was willing to love me, no matter what.”

Alpha loved her brother-in-law because she knew he loved Omega, no matter what her past had been. He didn’t give a damn what others thought. He treated her sister like his queen.

Omega had been out of the business less than a year when she met Marlon. Alpha knew Omega was happy and could hear it in her voice every time they talked. The only dark cloud in her sister’s life was their parents and their holier-than-thou attitude.

“The only thing I regret,” Omega was saying softly, “is hurting you and the folks. Maybe one day they will forgive me. You never turned your back on me, even when the folks tried getting you to do so...and even when I cost you the man you loved because you wouldn’t choose him over me.”

Alpha nearly dropped the phone. “Who told you that? How did you know?” she asked, going back into the bedroom to sit on the edge of the bed. “I told you—”

“I know what you told me, and you lied. You and Eddie didn’t just decide to call off the wedding because the two of you felt like you were drifting apart. I ran into Eleanor Sloan, in New York of all places, when Marlon took me there on a shopping spree. She approached me, thinking I was you, and you know Eleanor,” Omega said of their high school friend. “She told me how sad she was for you now that Eddie had made you call off your wedding because of me.”

Alpha tilted her head back and looked up at the ceiling. “When was this?”

“Last Christmas.”

Alpha brought her head back down to gaze out the window and frowned. “And you’ve known all this time and never mentioned it,” she accused. “Why
didn’t
you mention it?”

Omega paused a minute before responding. “I couldn’t say anything because I was feeling your pain. After the way I had lived those three years, here I was, about to marry the best man any woman could have, and there you were, you who’d always been the good girl and did everything the folks told you to do...even going to college for a career you didn’t want to please them. I was the one who ended up with the fairy-tale marriage and getting a real prince and you ended up with a toad. It didn’t seem fair. Life sucks.”

A smile touched Alpha’s lips. Life did suck at times, but a part of Alpha wouldn’t change a thing. Because thanks to Marlon, things were the way Alpha had always dreamed they could be for her twin.

Determined to get her sister back in a good mood, mainly because she didn’t want Omega feeling sorry for her, Alpha said, “Yeah, must have been rough being a porn star.”

“Oh, Alpha, you didn’t have to go there.”

She knew she’d succeeded in changing the mood when she heard the giggle in her twin’s voice. Alpha laughed. “Yes, I did. Besides, had I been married to Eddie I wouldn’t be having this fling and doing the no-climax-control thing.”

Omega chuckled. “Okay, sis, you got me there. Is this Riley Westmoreland as hot as you make him out to be?”

Alpha remembered how he’d looked when she’d been to his office earlier that day. Yummy. “Trust me, he is. And I’ll find out just how hot he is soon enough.”

Omega went silent for a moment and then asked, “Will you tell him about me?”

She could hear the seriousness in her sister’s tone. She had tried doing that with LeBron and Eddie and both men had ended up showing their true colors.

“Why would I tell him anything? It’s not that kind of relationship. It’s about sex and nothing more. Besides, at the point when we begin sleeping together, I doubt we’ll have time for much pillow talk. Remember, no climax control. And I want to find out if multiple orgasms are real or something you porn stars just try to make look real.”

Omega chuckled. “Oh, you’re bad, and trust me, they are real...with the right man in control.”

“We’ll see. As far as being bad, I’m finally going to live a little, have some fun and enjoy myself. And I have a feeling Riley is just the person to make sure that I do so.”

* * *

“
Brrr.
I can’t believe the temperature has dropped five degrees already.”

Riley smiled as he watched Alpha tighten her coat around her when he escorted her to his truck and opened the door. “What are you complaining about, woman? It feels good out here.”

She glared at him over her shoulder before easing into the truck’s leather interior. “I can’t help but wonder what kind of blood is running through your veins. Look at you.”

He glanced down at himself. Okay, so he’d left his jacket in the truck. He looked fine. He felt fine. No sense reminding her he was hot-blooded. She would find the truth of that soon enough. He kept smiling as he closed the door and then rounded the front of the truck and opened the door to climb in on the driver’s side. “I guess I’ve developed some sort of tolerance to Denver’s cold weather.”

After buckling up he smiled over at her and said, “My tolerance to Denver’s cold weather drives everyone in my family crazy. They’re convinced I’m going to die of pneumonia at an early age.”

“I have to agree with them.”

He tilted his head to look at her. “And you’ve been living in Denver for how long now?”

“It will be a year in April.”

He grinned. “No wonder you’re whining. You missed all the real good days.”

“Lucky me. I’m not complaining,” she said, chuckling. “If I had come any earlier I might have been tempted to head back south.”

He glanced over at her. “You don’t come across as a quitter, Alpha.”

She chuckled. “I’ve thought of heading back south more than once, trust me.”

As he was driving, he had to stop for a school bus. “I remember those days,” he said thoughtfully.

“What days?” she asked.

He gestured with his head to somewhere outside the windshield. “When my brothers, cousin and I used to ride the bus to and from school. Either Aunt Susan or my mom would be there at the stop to get us. My parents had a van we all called Crazy Horse. It was blue and huge and could hold all of us.”

“Sounds like a lot of good memories.”

“They are.”

“I admire you and your family, Riley,” she said softly.

He looked over at Alpha. “Do you?”

“Yes. I heard about your parents and your uncle and aunt and how they died together in that plane crash. It must have been awful for all of you.”

He stared straight ahead as his hand gripped the steering wheel and he watched the kids continue to unload from the bus. “It was, especially when there were so many of us still under sixteen. Seeing those kids reminds me of so many things. Kids think their parents are going to be around forever. I’ll never forget the day I realized mine would not.”

“How old were you?”

He glanced over at her. “Fifteen. Just a few months shy of my sixteenth birthday. Mom had promised me a party that year, and I was so looking forward to it. I had gotten my learner’s permit, which meant I could start sharing Dillon’s old truck with my brother, Jason. Life was good. Even Bane was good. He was my mom’s baby. Spoiled rotten and a tattletale.”

Riley was quiet for a second, remembering. “And then, suddenly all of it came to a crashing end, literally, when their plane went down. We lost them. Bane couldn’t handle it and became a badass. He was hard for anyone to handle. Dillon was the oldest and then Ramsey. They had just finished college. Dillon was going pro in the NBA and Ramsey was on his way to Australia to learn about sheep ranching. They both gave up their dreams to keep our family together.”

He felt her touch. Knew the moment she’d reached out and touched his arm. He needed the contact right then. Sad memories seldom came his way and when they did, they were too painful to dwell on. He’d been close to his mother, close to his father and aunt and uncle.

“Hey, you okay?”

He glanced over at Alpha. “Yes. Memories can be a bummer at times.”

“Yes, I know.”

He wondered if she was talking from experience. He had noted the indention on the third finger of her left hand where a ring used to be. Had she been married at one time? Deciding to change the subject, he said, “I thought about it and ran it over with the family. We’re cool with the party being a black-tie affair. The reason I hesitated in making a decision was because I didn’t want any of the employees to incur any unnecessary expenses if they didn’t have to. But Dillon reminded me that this will be the company’s fortieth holiday celebration so we need to be classy about it.”

A huge smile touched her lips. “I was hoping that would be your decision. I like class and already have a lot of ideas on how to make the night special.”

He nodded. “And they like the theme—One Winter’s Night.”

“That’s great!”

When they came to a traffic light she opened her messenger bag to pull out several documents. “I have another presentation for you when we get to our destination. Now that you’ve decided on the attire, the menu can be planned accordingly. I’m working with Foods by Jerlon as the caterer.”

“I’ve attended several parties he’s catered, and everything he’s prepared is delicious.”

For the next half hour they covered more details about the party. It was only after discussing the budget that she lifted her gaze from her notes to look out the window. “We’re a long way from town, aren’t we?”

He glanced over at her. When had the sight of a woman with her hair in a ponytail ever turned him on? “Not too far.” He slowed the car to make a turn off the highway onto a two-lane road. A huge marker said Westmoreland Country.

She glanced over at him after reading the marker. “Westmoreland Country?”

He chuckled. “Yes. My great-great-grandfather settled here eighty-something years ago on over two thousand acres. Dillon, being the oldest, inherited the family home and the three-hundred acres it sat on. The rest of us got a hundred acres each once we turned twenty-five.”

“So all of you stay around here, close together?”

“Close enough. Being on a hundred acres gives you privacy, at least most of the time, but there’s still Bailey.”

She raised a brow. “Bailey?”

“Bailey’s my cousin and was the youngest Denver Westmoreland when my parents, uncle and aunt died. She likes to think she can boss all of us around. She hasn’t reached twenty-five yet so she figures she can bum sleeping space wherever she wants. Usually she hangs out at Gemma’s place since it’s vacant now that Gemma is living in Australia.”

“Is Gemma another cousin?”

“Yes.” He decided it probably would be beneficial if he gave her a rundown of everyone. “On my parents’ side there’s Dillon. Then Micah, who works as a scientist for the federal government. He got married in June, and he and Kalina are expecting. Right now they’re living in Alexandria, Virginia.”

Riley slowed down when they reached another school zone. “Then there’s Jason who’s married to Bella.” He chuckled. “She’s from Savannah, and her first winter here was hard on her, too. Then there’s me and my younger brothers, Canyon, Stern and Bane.”

She lifted a brow. “No sisters?”

“Nope. I think my parents were hoping Bane was a girl, but it didn’t turn out that way.”

He then told her about his cousins, naming each one individually and the spouses of the married ones. Usually the last thing he talked about whenever he was on a date with a woman was his family. But he felt comfortable talking about them with Alpha.

He turned onto the road for his place and she glanced over at him and smiled. “Riley’s Station?”

He chuckled. “Yes, Riley’s Station.”

Alpha was spellbound when they pulled into his yard. As far as the eye could see, she was surrounded by mountains and streams. Tucked away in the center of it all was a stately two-story house with a wraparound porch. Floor-to-ceiling windows covered the entire front of the house with a huge bay window facing the mountains on the side. A portion of the land close to the house had been cleared for a small waterfall and birdbath.