Stranded (7 page)

As far as Erika was concerned, she
couldn’t—
wouldn’t—
allow herself to be beaten down by her
father ever again. It had taken her a long time to get past that,
as much as any person could without it eating at a part of them
indefinitely. So she chose to be the ball-busting attorney she was
and
never
let anyone—especially men—have power her over
her.

* * * * *

After they’d finished breakfast and the
dishes were cleaned and put away, Dawson headed for the living
room, grabbed the remote, and turned on the TV. He flipped through
the stations until he came to the Weather Channel.

The big news was the Colorado ice and
snowstorm, which was producing record snowfall as well as extremely
dangerous conditions. It was more of what the men had told her, but
they also learned that the governor was declaring a state of
emergency.

Dawson and Holden expressed concern over
Paige being alone and laid up with her broken leg.

“She’ll probably be all right.” Dawson looked
at Holden. “Just hate to think of her alone in the storm. I wish
the damned phones would work so we could call her.”

“You know Paige.” Holden smiled even though
he looked concerned. “Nothing keeps her down.” Dawson nodded as
Holden added, “Mom and Dad should be fine, too. You know how Mom’s
pantry is so full she wouldn’t have to shop for a month.”

Erika stood at the window again, as if she
might see something other than pure whiteness. Feeling as if she
was going to crawl out of her skin, she rubbed her arms with her
hands. She needed to do something or she was going to go crazy. It
had been a matter of hours and she was already getting cabin
fever.

She looked at Holden. “Do you have a room
with space to exercise?”

He nodded. “I have an exercise room that you
can use.”

She wrapped her ponytail around her finger
then let it go when she realized what she was doing. “Thank
you.”

“No problem. I’ll get you a change of
clothes.” He gave her a smile before leaving the room and heading
toward the hall that led to the master bedroom.

She went to the living room window and did
her best to avoid looking at Dawson who was still listening to the
weather report. Being around the two men wasn’t helping the
agitation building inside her.

Once again she peeked out through the
curtains. Snow was piled against the window and icicles hung from
the eaves. The sky was a dark gray and it looked like it was
threatening to storm again.

A few moments later, Holden returned with a
stack of more T-shirts, two pairs of bicycle shorts, and two pairs
of socks. “The bicycle shorts might fit you since they’re
stretchy.”

“I appreciate it.” She turned away from the
window and took the clothes from him. “I’m sure they’ll be
great.”

He told her where the exercise room was
before she headed to the guestroom and changed clothes. The bicycle
shorts fit her loosely, but would stay on. She pictured the shorts
on Holden, how his bigger body would stretch the material and fill
it out. Likely it would form snugly over his impressive
package.

With a groan she looked at the ceiling. She
was not
going to keep thinking about the men like this.
Nothing could happen between her and either one of them, much less
both.

After changing, going commando under the
shorts and braless beneath a red T-shirt, she washed her black
panties and bra in the bathroom sink. She draped the lacy lingerie
over the shower curtain rod to dry. No doubt the men had seen
plenty of undergarments and she had to dry them somewhere.

Before going to the exercise room, she tried
to put a call in to her firm in New York to check in with her
partners and her secretary. Apparently the local cell towers were
down and all she was able to get was a recorded message that
service was unavailable. She groaned and stuffed her phone back
into her evening purse.

Her favorite methods of relaxation were
taekwondo, reading suspense and thrillers, and watching football.
The physical activity of taekwondo was challenging when she sparred
or practiced, but it relaxed her mind as she put herself fully into
the martial art.

After grabbing a hand towel from the
bathroom, she walked barefoot to the exercise room. It was a large
room with a weight set, free weights, an elliptical machine, a
heavy bag, and workout mats. A TV was mounted on a wall with a DVR
on a shelf below that.

A good-sized area was in the center of the
room. She tossed the towel against the wall, shook her arms out,
and eased into her first form. As she moved with each step, with
every arm and leg movement and every pose, her mind relaxed.

Once she’d completed her form, she went to
the heavy bag and practiced front, side, and round kicks along with
various punches, strikes, and blocks. By the time she completed her
workout, she had sweat rolling down the sides of her face and her
T-shirt was damp.

She let out her breath and glanced at the
doorway to see Holden and Dawson watching her. She’d sensed their
presences toward the end of her workout, but she hadn’t allowed
herself to be distracted by the men. She’d managed to stay focused
through to the end.

Holden was leaning his back against the wall,
his arms crossed over his chest. She remembered the fabulous tattoo
over the right side of his chest, shoulder, and back. She’d like to
trace that tattoo with her tongue.

Dawson had one shoulder hitched against the
doorframe. She thought about how it would be to kiss each paw print
on his neck, down to his collarbone.

Erika!
Damn. She had to stop this.
Heat built inside her and she thought she might lose her mind. Then
she remembered she was braless and it was all she could do not to
look down and look at her breasts to see if her nipples were poking
at the T-shirt. It must have been some sight to see her breasts
bouncing while she was working out.

“Didn’t mean to disturb you.” Holden smiled.
“You’re amazing to watch.”

Dawson nodded. “Your form is perfect.”

She scooped up the hand towel she’d brought
from the bathroom and wiped perspiration from her forehead. “You’re
into martial arts?”

“During junior high and high school my mom
took us to the local taekwondo academy and we stayed with it up
until college,” Holden said. “Our interests shifted and we let it
go.”

Dawson gave a nod. “I believe martial arts
was one of the reasons why I did so well with skiing. You learn to
use your mind and body and become more agile with both.”

“I could use a challenge.” She looked from
Dawson to Holden. “We’ll have to spar sometime.”

Dawson grinned. “After watching you, I think
it might take the two of us to take you down.”

“You never know.” She couldn’t help a smile
as she wiped off the sweat on her neck, around her collar, and her
arms. She’d been known to take down men considerably bigger than
her, including her partners.

“Let’s save that for another time.” Holden
had an amused look on his handsome features. “What do you say to
jumping into the Jacuzzi?”

She dabbed perspiration from her face. “I
would love to if I had a bathing suit.”

“Use that stuff you have hanging in the
bathroom.” Dawson had a challenge in his gaze. “It’ll work.”

She thought about saying no, but she
really
wanted to get in that hot tub and she hated to back
down from a challenge. “Give me a couple of minutes.”

“We’ll wait here for you.” Dawson gave a sexy
grin.

“Be right back.” She walked past Holden and
had to go sideways through the doorway where Dawson was still
standing.

She brushed past him and started to think
twice about joining the men in in the hot tub as her nipples
tightened from the contact.

When she was in the bathroom, she changed
into the lacy underthings that were still damp.
This is a big
mistake
, she told herself, but continued and tugged on a
T-shirt that wasn’t sweaty over the panties and bra.

She left the bathroom and returned to the
exercise room where the men waited. “Where’s the Jacuzzi?” She
tried to ask the question casually.

“In the master bathroom.” Holden gave a nod
in that direction before starting down the hallway.

***

Jesus.
Holden’s cock went rigid and he
thought it might tear right through his swim trunks as he watched
Erika pull the T-shirt over her head and toss it aside.

Her body was lovely, the lacy bra pushing up
her breasts so that it showed her incredible cleavage and it looked
like the material was barely holding everything in. He could see
her large areolas as her nipples pressed against the lace. And her
skimpy panties—fuck. They didn’t cover a whole hell of a lot.

As his cock throbbed at the sight of her, he
wondered if this was such a great idea after all. He looked at
Dawson who had a look on his face that matched how Holden felt.
Something like dumbstruck.

Yeah, Erika was gorgeous, but seeing her like
this—pretty fucking amazing.

Erika didn’t look at them, thank God, as she
stepped down into the hot tub that bubbled and frothed. As she
eased onto a seat in front of a jet, she closed her eyes and
sighed, looking blissful.

With her eyes still closed, she made a soft
sound of approval. “This is wonderful.”

Holden hurried into the hot tub in hopes that
she wouldn’t open her eyes and notice his trunks tenting with the
raging hard-on he had for her.

The tub was in one corner of the bathroom of
his master suite and was big enough to seat five. Before he could
sink into the water, Erika opened her eyes, her vision at the same
level as his cock. Her eyes darkened as she raised them to meet
his. She didn’t turn away, but she lowered her eyelids again.

Maybe it wasn’t a bad thing that she’d seen
how much he wanted her, and he held back a grin. He glanced at
Dawson who was already seated in the Jacuzzi. Dawson was watching
Erika with hooded eyes.

“This is perfect.” She looked at Holden. “The
jets and warm water feel so good. It’s been a while since I’ve had
the opportunity to relax in a hot tub.”

“It helps get the kinks out after a stressful
day.” Holden tried not to make it obvious that he was checking out
her cleavage that was just above water level. He was so hard he
could swear his cock was bigger than ever.

She shifted in the water, moving in front of
one of the bigger jets. As she moved, she bent forward and one of
her breasts slipped free of the bra.

He thought he was going to come in his swim
trunks.

Her breast floated. It was perfect—firm,
almost as if her breasts were enhanced, but they were soft looking
and pliable, and it was clear her breasts were natural. Damn, but
he wanted to touch it, feel it in his mouth and suck it.

When she’d situated herself in front of the
jet, she looked up and met his eyes that were no doubt glazed over
with lust. She glanced at Dawson, frowned, and then looked down to
see her breast bobbing in the water.

She made a little sound of dismay and slipped
lower in the water so that it was up to her neck. Beneath the water
she tucked her breast back into her bra. She narrowed her eyes at
them. “You could have told me.”

“Why?” Dawson grinned. “We were enjoying the
view.”

Holden had to grin, too.

Erika glared at Holden and Dawson and did her
best to keep from showing her embarrassment. She hoped if her warm
cheeks were red that it would be attributed to the heat of the hot
tub.

“Men,” she grumbled and their unrepentant
grins broadened.

She couldn’t believe her breast had been
hanging out in front of two men she needed to put off. She had to
make it clear to them that she was a professional and she wasn’t
going to engage in a personal relationship with either of them.

Exposing herself was not going to help. And
when she thought about it, getting into the tub in her skimpy
panties and bra to begin with was far from what she should be doing
to distance herself. Her judgment when it came to them was clearly
impaired.

She shifted and her feet brushed Dawson’s.
The slide of her skin against his sent tingles through her. Just
that small touch was enough to make her pussy ache and her nipples
taut. She pulled her feet back, avoiding his eyes, and looked at
Holden, letting her gaze drift over his wet chest.

Both men looked so damn good shirtless. She
loved looking at their tattoos and she wanted to touch them in the
worst way. She’d love to trace the complicated swirl design on
Holden’s chest and shoulder, letting her fingers brush lightly over
his skin. She wanted to lick the prints that went up the side of
Dawson’s neck and explore the wolf tattooed on his chest.

She’d noticed their cocks had been standing
at attention as she’d climbed into the hot tub and had done her
best to hide her smile.

Her situation hit her hard. She was stranded
in a snowstorm with two men that she desired more than anyone she’d
ever known. How was she going to stay away from not one man but
two?

She cleared her throat and turned to Dawson,
hesitating, searching for what to say. “Holden went to the
University of Colorado. Where did you go?”

“CU-Boulder.” Dawson put his arms on the edge
of the hot top. “Top skiing program.”

Holden shifted closer to her. “We both went
to the Boulder campus.”

She blinked. “It’s the University of
Colorado, but it’s referred to as CU?”

Dawson nodded. “Somewhere in the 1920’s the
abbreviation was changed to distinguish us from University of
California.”

“Gotcha.” Erika felt a tremor run through her
body. Holden was getting much too close. “So you both went to
CU.”

She knew she was repeating what they’d just
told her, but Holden’s nearness was putting her off balance.