Pulse: Sport Romance (The Boys of Winter Book 6) (2 page)

T
he hour
with my sister was almost fun once we shut up and skied. I hate that our family business has come between us. When it comes right down to it, she was my first best friend, and I wish we could go back there. So when Alex asked me to read a few things, I promised to study whatever she sent. I may be avoiding my reality, but I’m not an idiot, and learning about my next career is the smart thing to do.

The storm arrives just as we form afternoon lineup. Light flakes fall, and I blink as they land on my eyelashes. Nick skis over to the instructors waiting to see who the supervisor will assign to the groups. He didn’t meet me for lunch, and I assume he was still training. He pulls in next to me. I ask, “How’d it go?”

“I’ve got a lot of work to do. How was your private?”

I’m reminded of how little time I’ve got left and know I need to tell Nick I’m leaving soon. “Not good. I’ve got—”

“Merrill! Go to the eights.” Rick’s tone is terse. He’s a new supervisor this year and takes his authority seriously, so Nick skis off to the higher-level class without finishing our conversation.

Stacy is next to me and takes the opportunity to bend my ear. I’m cool to her most of the time, but she doesn’t stop trying. “I asked to try out for dev team too.” She’s one of those girls guys drool over, and when she opens her mouth to pour on the charm, they’re goners. I shake my head, because she also has a thing for Nick.

“Good for you.” The thing is, she skis well enough she’ll probably get the chance. My stomach rolls imagining Nick and Stacy traveling to different resorts together. Of course I’ll be long gone by the time that happens.

The lessons begin to peel away from the signs, and Stacy and I are still standing, along with the other instructors who didn’t get assigned to a group. I notice Casey and slide over to her. “Skiing?”

“Of course.” She takes off, and I follow her to the chairlift while ignoring Stacy. Casey knows how I feel about her.

When we’re in line, I ask, “When are we going to Denver to get you a dress?”

“I don’t know. I need to find a day that we can get Lori and Dannika to come too.”

Dannika is a good friend of ours, and she runs a high-end western-wear shop where I work part time along with Casey. We slide into the loading zone, and the whine of the engine is loud. I raise my voice to say, “That will be so fun. But tough to do.”

Casey shouts as we turn to look for the chair coming toward us. “I know, but a girl can dream.”

I let my mind wander to my wedding-day fantasy with Nick. But then I stop it, because it’s never going to happen. I pull the safety bar down with a clang and sigh.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” Casey’s green eyes are full of concern.

I glance at my friend, who is set up to have everything she’s ever wanted. “Nothing. I’m just tired.”

“I thought it might be Stacy. Did you hear she asked to train for dev team along with Nick?”

“She just told me.”

“Unbelievable. But you know Nick would never go for her. She’s... well, she’s not you.”

I chuckle. “I’m going to take that as a compliment.” I pull lip balm out of my pocket, and it glides over my lips while faint mint scent travels to my nose. I use it for the sunscreen. Alex applying lipstick flashes through my mind, and it occurs to me my sister would love a sunscreen version.

Casey says, “You know what I mean. Nick looks at you the way I’m sure I look at Jason. He’s so far gone, Stacy barely registers on his radar.”

“Thanks.” But her words make me uncomfortable. I don’t want to leave Nick devastated. He needs to move on. “She’s not that bad. She’s an awesome skier, nice, and has a killer body.” She’s the kind of girl I hope Nick finds. “Why doesn’t she have a boyfriend?”

Casey studies me for a moment and says, “Because she’s in love with your guy.”

Of course she is. It kills me to think of her and Nick together, but he deserves happiness. And a woman who doesn’t come with baggage.

I shake my dismal thoughts and change the subject. “Enough about me. Tell me more about your wedding plans.”

“Oh boy, I haven’t told you about Jason’s sister yet, have I?”

Casey goes on about the drama, and I listen to keep myself from thinking about mine.

A
fter skiing the afternoon
, Casey and I decide to get coffee, and she offers to bring me home so Nick can go straight to work. When I get to our apartment, I take a hot shower and then go to pick up sandwiches at the deli for dinner with Nick. He works at the Bike Shop, which is a ski shop during the winter, and evenings can get busy. So food that can sit for a while between bites is always a safe bet.

The storm that was light snow during the day has become heavy, and I yank a piece of hair out of my mouth as I fight the wind pushing against me while I walk toward the Bike Shop. My face stings in the cold, and when the tiny bell over the door to the shop jingles as I enter, I sigh in relief.

Stomping my feet to get the snow off my boots, I’m greeted by Kaleb. “Megan!” He comes from behind the counter to see me. “So happy to hear about your boy going for dev team.”

“Me too. I’m quite proud of him.”

He crosses his arms across a tight T-shirt and shows off his large biceps. “Hey, why didn’t you go for it? I thought it was the master plan for you two.”

The roar of the sand belt that is used to tune skis has stopped, and Nick comes out from the back room. I hold up the deli bag, and his eyes light up. “Roast beef?”

I ignore Kaleb’s question and nod at Nick. “With spicy mustard, chips, a pickle,
and
a cookie.”

“A cookie? Lucky me.”

I remember the beers I brought from home and have stashed inside my jacket. “And I almost forgot.” I pull out a Steinlager and wave it. “Three beers.”

Kaleb grins and takes the bottle from me. “I love this girl, Nick. You might need to put a ring on it.”

His words make me bristle, and Kaleb’s eyes get big. “Whoa, wrong thing to say.” He glances at Nick. “Sorry, man.”

I say, “No. It’s nothing.” I walk past Kaleb to go in the back and set out dinner. Nick follows and comes up behind me to place his warm hands on my waist while I pull food out of the bag. He asks, “He doesn’t know anything, okay?”

I nod and turn to him with half his sandwich in my hand. “Hungry?”

Nick sighs. The man who would rather ignore things than fight is struggling. He lifts my chin to brush his lips across mine. He whispers, “I love you.”

I offer him a smile as he takes his dinner from my hand. “I know.” I pull our beers out of my jacket and clunk them down on the wood tuning bench. “Opener?”

“On it.”

A metal cap pops as I slide out of my coat. I take the cold bottle from Nick and sip. Wheat flavor fills my mouth, and I swallow down my anguish. The shop is not the place for me to tell him the truth.

Nick says, “I’m analyzing video tomorrow. I’m glad, because I have this shuddering thing that happens at the end of my turns, and I don’t know where it came from.”

I’m chewing and hold up a finger for him to wait. After I swallow, I say, “You’re a touch late in moving your hips over your skis at the top of the turn.”

He thinks about what I said for a moment and smiles when he realizes I’m right. “Okay, genius, if that’s true, how do I fix it?”

“Ski with me instead of blowing me off for training.” My grin makes him throw a chip at me.

“You should be out there training with me.”

“Nope. Someone has to take care of the home front when you’re out living the wild life traveling with the dev team.”

The development team goes to different ski areas to work with the examiners as they run clinics and exams. He says, “We don’t even have plants. Just think, if we travelled together, we’d get hot hotel sex.”

I banter back. “Why didn’t I think of that? You should have mentioned it sooner.” Butcher paper rustles as he wads up his sandwich wrapper, and he tosses it into the garbage can.

Kaleb steps into the doorway from the main shop. “You guys okay if I go get dinner?”

Nick walks toward him to stand behind the counter for any customers who come in. “Just finished. Go.”

I bring the cookies and our beers out and put the bottles under the counter. Not that anyone would care, but it’s probably best to be discreet. I hop up to sit, and the laminated countertop is slippery as I slide back. “It’s dead in here tonight. It must be the storm.”

The bell above the door jingles from a customer coming in, and I glance at who comes toward us. I groan before she says, “Megan! Do you have any idea how many Subarus there are in this town?”

My sister the private eye. She probably got my plate number from the DMV. I jump down from the counter to glare at her.

She gazes over at Nick, and a smile forms before she asks, “Is that him?”

I spit out, “Yes.”

Alex saunters over to Nick as she scans his body as if he’s her new pool boy. She extends a perfectly manicured hand to Nick. “Hi. I’m Alex.”

Nick moves to shake her hand. “Nick.”

When she clasps it between her palms, he glances at me with wide eyes, and I say, “My sister.”

Nick pulls away and comes beside me to slip an arm around my waist. Alex says, “He’s yummy.” She glances around the shop and walks over to a rack of parkas. “You should bring him with you to New York.”

“Whatever else we need to talk about, this isn’t the place.”

Alex fingers one of the jackets before dropping the fabric and wiping her hand on her jeans as if the coat was dirty. She moves her gaze back to us and says, “I know. I just wanted to meet what keeps you here.” She flashes a killer smile that says two can play this game. “Nice to meet you, Nick. Perhaps I’ll see you again.” She turns on her heel as she lifts her furry hood over her head and raises a hand in the air. She calls out, “April eighteenth, Megan. Ciao, bella.”

The date is my birthday, and Nick raises his eyebrows at me in question. The bell rings as she leaves, and before I have to answer, Kaleb strolls in, bringing along a cold breeze.

He asks me, “Wasn’t that your private from this morning?”

I sigh. “Yes.”

Nick saves me and says, “Hey, I’m going to walk Megan to her car. You good?”

Kaleb winks at me on his way to the counter. “I’m fine. Take your time.”

We walk to the back to grab our coats and leave from the rear exit. The air is icy cold when we step outside, and I take Nick’s hand. “I’ll explain everything when you get home tonight.”

He says, “I meant it. Whatever it is, I’m with you every step of the way.”

I stop and turn to face him. I take his face in my hands and search his eyes for a moment before speaking. “I’d like nothing more, but wait until you know what you’re getting into before you promise that.”

He nods and leans down to kiss me. I kiss back with passion, knowing it might be our last.

W
hen Nick gets home
, I expect we’ll talk, but he doesn’t say a word after he closes the door. Once the lock clicks shut, he starts to strip as he walks toward me. My stomach flips in a good way. I like the my-boyfriend-ravishes-me game, and we haven’t played it in a while. When we first started dating, neither of us could keep our hands off each other, and whomever came home last would take what they wanted sexually. But over time we’ve settled in, and our sex life has become more subdued.

I lick my lips and stand up while I let out a small sound of appreciation at the naked chest he’s revealed. The metal buckle of his belt clinks as he undoes it, and I pull off the large T-shirt I wear to bed.

Nick groans when he sees me in just a pair of panties. He steps out of his briefs and drops to his knees before me. Strong hands grip my hips, and he drags my thong down as I wiggle out of it. My stomach trembles knowing what he plans to do next. I sigh when he begins to kiss my belly.

His thick hair is silky in my fingers when I thread them through it, and I hold on as his lips travel lower. I want to enjoy this fully and whisper, “Bed.”

Nick stands and pulls me by the hand to our bedroom. The mattress bounces when I land on it, and I lie back. This time he nibbles at my ankles and moves slowly up my legs, killing me with the anticipation of when he’ll get where I want him to go.

The moment Nick’s mouth lands on my sex, I arch up in a small cry. He laps at me and burrows into my folds to savor my juices. I grab his hair and lose myself in his attention. When he slips two fingers in me, I climb higher, and it doesn’t take long before I’m shuddering with my release.

Usually he enters me just after I’ve come, but not this time. As I recover, Nick kisses his way up to my breasts and focuses his attention on nipping and sucking. Tiny shivers run through me, and my breathing becomes panting again. I like the change in the program, and my small noises tell him so.

When Nick has decided I’ve had enough, he flutters little kisses on my stomach as he makes his way back down. He gets closer to my sensitive slit and surprises me by tasting me once again. I’m supersensitive, and my cries get louder as he is merciless in his ministrations this time. An orgasm explodes from me, and I shock myself with the scream that escapes my mouth. I’m barely past it when Nick finally enters me.

Intense pleasure makes me grab his butt so tight, I think my nails draw blood. But Nick doesn’t notice, because he’s thrusting with more force than usual, as if he can’t get deep enough. Amazingly, another climax builds in me, and I fall under its power to thrash and rock with the man I love. We both cry out almost simultaneously with a passion beyond anything we’ve ever experienced before.

A
draft
from the window makes me shiver, and I pull the sheets over us as Nick leans up on an elbow to gaze into my eyes. “Ready to explain why your sister is here?”

I sit up, and the wall is hard behind my back. There’s no easy way to say this, so I get it out. “On my twenty-sixth birthday my mother steps down as CEO of Bellae, and I take her place.”

The bed squeaks as Nick sits up to face me, and I pull the covers up higher, as if they can shield me from the anger that’s about to come. He asks, “What does your family company do?”

“Bellae is a cosmetics company. Makeup.” Nick nods, and I bet he recognizes the name. It’s kind of hard not to, considering the provocative ads we run on TV and in magazines. “The position is quite visible, and I’m going to have to move back to New York to play the part of a beauty-product genius.”

“Wow.” Nick pushes a strand of my natural dark-blond hair out of my face. He’s told me before that he loves how real I am. “That sounds like your version of hell.”

“It is.” I sigh. “But if I want my inheritance, I have to do it.”

He contemplates my words for a moment and then asks, “How much are we talking about?” I guess he’s thinking it can’t be worth it, and that I should give it up. And I’d think so too if I didn’t know how much other people have to lose if I dissolve the company instead of taking over. I recall the plant manager who gave Alex and me real lollipops when we’d visit instead of the tiny ones handed out at the bank. And the women who worked in the sales department with their polished look Bellae created. People whose future is in my hands.

My stomach hurts as I stare at him for a few seconds, because once he knows, everything will change. It always does when it comes to money. “Billions.”

Nick blinks, and I imagine what’s running through his mind. He sputters, “Billions?”

“I can’t just walk away.”

He shakes his head. “Why haven’t you ever told me you were filthy rich?”

“Because it doesn’t define me.” I snort at my stupidity. “Well. Not here, anyway. Here I get to be Megan Donovan, a darn good skier and one of the most requested private instructors.”

Any other time, he’d tease me about how his ratio might be higher, but I think he’s struggling with the fact that he just slept with a billionaire. He says, “Hang on. All this time, you’ve known you have to go home to run a company when you turn twenty-six?”

Crap, this is about to get bad. I nod, and I reach for his hand. “I know I should have told you, but I was hoping it might not happen.”

Nick pulls out of my reach. “You mean you pretended it wasn’t going to happen.” His eyes get hard, and I shrink in his disappointment.

He says, “Damn right you should have told me.” He gets out of the bed and stomps toward the dresser. A drawer slams open, and he rifles through it. He pulls out something black and asks, “Did you just plan to break up with me, pack your car, and leave?”

I get up to walk toward him. He’s stepping into briefs, and his hands are shaking. I’ve never seen him this mad. “Nick.”

“Don’t. Don’t try to make this better.” He glares at me with so much hate, I want to disappear.

I freeze in place.
He’s right.
I’m a coward, and that is what I planned to do. Tears prick at my eyes when he turns away and leaves. He doesn’t slam the door or pound his feet. And somehow that makes things worse.

Hot drops roll down my cheeks, and I swipe a tear off my face as I search for my panties. My vision is blurry when I find them and an oversized T-shirt to wear to bed. It’s a shirt of Nick’s, and I bunch up the soft cotton in my hand as my heart rips open at the realization of what just happened.
It’s over.

I pad softly out to the living room to find Nick sitting with his head in his hands. He lifts up to look at me, and his eyes are red from crying. I rush to him and drop to my knees. I’m about to speak when he holds up a hand. “Save it. I hate you right now.”

I stand up, and my legs are stiff as I walk away. Our previous bedroom romp made me sticky, and I should take a shower. It was the best sex we’ve ever had too.
Damn it.

I welcome the rush of water when it hits me, and I let my tears fall with it. I cry for the fantasy life I was living and have to give up. And I cry because I’ve hurt the person I love most in this world, and I can’t do anything about it.

Nick stays in the living room even after I’ve showered, so I go to bed alone. I’m almost asleep when he crawls in and turns his back to me. I place a hand on his shoulder, but he flinches, and I pull it away as my heart breaks into tiny pieces.