Confessions of a Chalet Girl: (5 page)

He looked at her closely, still frowning. Anger surged through Holly, why couldn’t he just take her word for it? What was so hard to understand?

‘Hmm. But who on earth would do that?’

‘I don’t know,’ she answered tersely. He didn’t believe her, clearly thought she was some kind of nutcase.

She wanted the caring Scott back again, but the connection between them had clouded over, shutters being pulled down as they spoke. The knowledge of it pierced her with a pain much sharper than the throbbing in her elbow.

Sitting back and letting this happen was not an option. She had to fight her corner.

‘It’s the truth, I had nothing to do with that post.’ She glared at him.

‘But you said on your CV you could ski.’ The narrowed eyes continued to appraise her, not giving an inch.

‘What’s this? The Swiss inquisition? I, I listed it under hobbies,’ she stuttered indignantly. ‘I didn’t realise it was going to be part of the job. It wasn’t mentioned at interview. I meant I was interested in learning how to…I mean how to improve my skiing.’

‘So you have skied before?’

‘Yes.’ She sighed, realising she had to say more, had to tell him the whole truth. It mattered she was honest, with him of all people. ‘But I only had my first lesson yesterday.’

‘Yesterday? Bloody hell, when you said you weren't 'that good a skier' you actually meant you weren't any kind of skier! You could have been killed up here, how could you have been so stupid?’

Holly gaped at him, the horror on his face seemed out of proportion to what had happened. She regretted telling him the truth now.

Why exactly did I feel the need to be quite so honest with him?

‘We’d better get you standing up.’ He exhaled and shook his head at her, his tone polite but cool. ‘We need to check there are no other injuries.’

She let him help her up, enjoying the sensation of the strong, muscular arms supporting her but seething inwardly that he'd called her stupid. She wanted him to apologise, to fold her into his arms and tell her it didn't matter.

What if this is the last time he ever touches me?

Pain pricked at her eyelids and she blinked it back. She’d invested far too much far too soon. It was her own fault. She shouldn’t have let him do…what he did on New Year’s Eve.

He held Holly for longer than was necessary for her to get her balance and seemed to hesitate, the rigid set of his jaw softening. ‘Are you in pain? The skidoo will be here soon and it can take you straight to the doctor, I’m sure he’ll give you something for the pain.’

‘We can still do what you had planned this evening, can’t we?’ She wished she had it in her to play it a bit cooler. Really she was rubbish at this.

She knew why she’d told him the truth. She needed him to know the real Holly, not the chameleon Holly who always tried her best to fit in and not be noticed.

‘We’d better see what the doctor says.’ His arms remained around her yet there was tension, a combative element to their stance.

She didn't know if she wanted to kiss him or slap him for being so hard on her for a minor offence. Irritation flared within her, what gave him the right to be so judgemental?

‘How long will the skidoo be?’ she asked.

‘Magda was going to fetch one of the guys. They'll be at the mountain café by now so it shouldn’t be long.’

‘Good old Magda.’ She wished she could bite the words back but it was too late.

‘Why do you say that?’ Scott frowned.

‘I think she hacked my accounts. After all she doesn't like me.’

‘Come on now, why would she do that? Isn’t that a little paranoid?’ He sighed. ‘To tell the truth I don’t know what to think and I could really do without this today of all days.’

His eyes briefly flashed with pain.

'Today of all days'.

What did that mean? If she hadn't been so riled she might have stopped to ask.

‘Paranoid? Someone set me up!’ Holly’s jaw clenched and her fighting hackles rose.

‘So you've said but Holly, don't you get you could've been killed up here? It’s not a run for beginners.’ His exasperation was clear but something more than that, he was seriously rattled.

I don’t understand what’s going on.

‘I did try to tell you but you weren’t listening,’ she said, some of the anger draining away with the realisation he'd been afraid for her. She sighed and rested her head against his chest. His heartbeat pulsed rhythmically in her ear, far more rapid than it should have been.

She didn't know what to say to make this right. The engine of a skidoo broke the silence.

He patted her on the back, almost absentmindedly and disengaged himself, walking in the direction of the noise and waving. ‘Over here.’

Before the skidoo reached them he turned back to her. ‘You’ll be alright with Sven and the doctor will look after you. I’ll see you later, back at the chalet.’

Then without another word he snapped his skis back on and was off.

Frickin’ brilliant. Well done Holly, you handled that well.

She tried to muster a smile for the tanned and smiling Sven and climbed on board behind him, refusing to lie on the stretcher tied to the skidoo. Things were embarrassing enough without arriving back at the resort on a stretcher with everyone staring at her, hoping to witness a drama.

***

Scott knew he’d behaved badly. Anger at himself, at Holly, and even at Zoë coursed around his body. Confused thoughts whirled in his mind with the intensity of a snowstorm, obscuring any clear thinking as he skied down to catch up with the group.

Perhaps he should've told her about Zoë ’s anniversary, explained why he’d wanted her with him today and why he was in such a foul mood. But he'd been so furious she'd lied and put herself in danger, just like Zoë had … 

He took little pleasure in the breathtakingly gorgeous surroundings. All he could think of was Holly, Holly, Holly…. Lying in his arms, underneath him, her soft curves yielding, her sweet mouth grinning at him and vibrant eyes locking on his. Part of him wanted to go to the doctor with her but he badly needed to get away to calm down, to think … 

Had she tried to tell him? He'd been a bit distracted, maybe she’d said something this morning but she certainly hadn't told him she'd never been on a pair of skis in her life! The whole Facebook thing was a weird but perhaps he’d been too quick to judge?

When he stopped to think about it Holly was different from the others, less artificial and certainly not a game player. If he was going to choose between believing Magda or Holly he knew which girl he’d pick, despite Magda having worked for him for two seasons. Maybe he should take her word for it about her accounts being hacked.

He recalled the expression on Holly’s face when left her. Guilt twisted inside him. But it wasn't like she was his girlfriend
.

No, but you want her to be … 

It was true. He wanted Holly more than he could remember wanting anyone. He wanted her to be his, the thought of any of those ski bum instructors getting their hands on her lovely curves wound him up, big time.

He skied on towards the mountain cantine where the group were stopping for lunch.

Give her a chance - you don't meet many Holly's in a lifetime.

The thought popped into his mind, accompanied by a desire so strong it carried him along in its wake, helpless to resist. He'd tell her why complete honesty was so important to him, explain how afraid he’d been when he went back to find her, terrified something terrible had happened, fear gripping at his chest.

He still liked her. Liked her very much indeed.

He thought about what he’d planned for the evening as he parked his skis in the rack and walked round to the front of the café where his group sat sunbathing on the red and white striped café deck-chairs, beers in hands.

‘Is Holly okay?’ Fake sympathy oozed from Magda’s every pore. This was the real picture of insincerity, not Holly.

He could trust Holly.

‘She’s hurt, but not too badly,’ he replied curtly, staring at Magda and wondering if she knew about what had happened between him and Holly on New Year’s Eve. He’d have thought Magda would be over what happened last year when he’d rejected her advances. After all she’d applied to come back again this season.

Perhaps Magda wasn’t cool about what’d happened. He sighed, Holly's theory made sense. If he hadn’t been battling with demons today he might have realised earlier it wasn’t that Holly was paranoid but that he was naïve.

He owed her an apology.

Holly let herself back into Chalet Repos, exhausted but relieved when she remembered Amelia and Sophie were out for the day. Finally she had a bit of space.

At least the pain in her elbow wasn’t so bad now. She grabbed a glass of water and swallowed a couple of ibuprofen before making herself a sandwich in the chalet kitchen.

The doctor had said something about her elbow popping out of the ligament or something like that. Her French hadn’t been up to the complex translation. He'd done something hideously painful, charged her the equivalent of her last week’s wages for the privilege and now she had the battle of trying to claim it back from her insurance.

She couldn’t understand Scott’s belligerence. He seemed pretty cool and laid back about most things, which only made his behaviour all the more puzzling. His snap judgement of her still rankled. Yes she’d been stupid but it wasn’t like she’d done anything criminal or hurt anyone…well, not yet anyway.

Give me time.

She was certainly tempted - an image of Magda sprang to mind, smug and laughing with Scott over lunch up at the mountain cantine. No doubt she’d be making jokes about Holly, flirting with him and placing perfectly manicured nails on his thigh as she casually reached across the table for the bread…

Holly ground her teeth. Why Magda hated her she didn’t know, but her intuition was ringing loud alarm bells. Magda had set her up and she’d walked straight into the trap. She wouldn’t find her such an innocent victim next time round, and if Holly found evidence to support her suspicions then she’d no reservations about ringing Steve to see what he could do with Magda’s Facebook page…

And if Scott planned to sack her she’d damn well make the most of the chalet today. She hadn’t used the Jacuzzi yet, too worried about groping hands and accidental leg brushes under the water from the city boys who were staying this week and too frantically busy last week.

Now was the perfect time to unpack her bikini.

Lying back in the Jacuzzi tub with her eyes closed and the hot water bubbling, easing away tension, she could understand why it was so popular after skiing. The heated water caressed her aching muscles and all her tightly wound worries and stresses slowly dissolved away.

She inhaled the deliciously fresh mountain air and relaxed, feeling more herself again. Sod Scott, she’d find a job somewhere else if necessary. The cafes in the resorts were always looking for English speakers and her French was passable, at least when it came to food and drink.

Soon Holly wasn’t thinking of anything at all, just concentrating on the powerful jets as they massaged her thighs, her back and the space between her legs… She couldn’t help but think of Scott, of his mouth exploring her most sensitive flesh, caressing her with such surprising tenderness and generosity. Giving her a pleasure more intense than she’d imagined possible.

‘Hi.’ Scott’s real voice broke through her daydream.

She sat up with a start, splashing through the surface of the water.

‘Oh, I thought you’d be out for the rest of the day.’ She blinked a few times, dazed by the transition from fantasy to reality. ‘You don’t mind me using the Jacuzzi do you? Only you said it was okay…’

‘What? No, of course it’s okay. I came back to see if you were all right. The group have turned out to be pretty experienced skiers so I’ve left Magda to look after them.’ He crouched down beside the Jacuzzi.

She tried hard not to stare at his powerful thighs, at the strong hands that had stroked and caressed her so expertly. Tried to remember why she was angry with him…

‘I wanted to say sorry,’ he added more softly and laid a hand on her shoulder. ‘I didn’t give you a proper chance to explain. I shouldn’t have left you with Sven but taken you to the doctor myself. What’s the diagnosis?’

‘Some weird ligament thing I think, but the doctor popped it back in. I’m okay really. Look, I’m sorry too, I should have been more insistent when I tried to tell you I wasn’t a good skier. I was stupid to think I could fudge it and I'm sorry I gave you a scare,’ she replied.

Scott exhaled, his tight jaw relaxing and some of the tension seeming to drain from his face.

Did he want to take up where they’d left off as much as she did? Desire stirred inside her like a lazy snake uncoiling. Her nipples stiffened, visible through her bikini top. The cold air didn’t help.

Scott’s gaze lowered to her chest, a slow smile creeping across his face. ‘You know we have the chalet to ourselves? Magda and the guests won’t be back until at least five and Sophie and Amelia are spending the evening in Geneva.’

‘Oh, really?’ She tried to sound causal and failed miserably.

‘So, if you’re okay what do you think about getting out of the tub and saying hello properly?’

The sparkle was back in his eye, whatever clouds there had been between them seemingly blown away. The breath left her body.

She’d been pretty much ready for him from the moment he touched her shoulder.

‘Okay.’ Any last vestige of shyness ebbed away as she stood up, revelling in the feel of his eyes on her body and the dilated pupils betraying his desire.

He wants me.
The thought gave her courage and a newfound awareness of her sexual attractiveness. She thought she might do anything he wanted if he had the power to make her feel like this.

He took her hand to help her out of the Jacuzzi and tugged her back towards the chalet. She was happy to let him take the lead. She could trust him.

She did trust him, at a level deeper than conscious thought.

He led her to the living room fireplace. Holly was glad she’d stoked the fire when she got back from the doctors and had put fresh logs on it. The dancing flames licked at the logs in a sensuous way that reminded her of Scott's fingers and tongue exploring her body.

If he didn’t do something soon she’d explode.

He tugged at the strings of her bikini top and bottoms and as they fell to the floor he stared at her naked body as though he were appreciating a painting. The heat from the fire warmed her wet skin.

Too impatient to wait, she stepped forward and tilted her head up to kiss him, her hands around his neck and her fingers in his hair, her tongue probing and exploring his mouth, wanting to go deeper and deeper. Wanting, or rather needing to move things on she slid her hands down and up underneath his T-shirt, desperate to feel skin on skin and delighting in the taut, firm flesh she discovered.

Her fingers explored his hard chest and nipples and she provocatively pressed her own bare breasts against his flesh, her nipples twitching and budding even harder against his warm skin.

His erection stiffened, hard as granite against her stomach through his Salapettes. He broke off the kiss, breathing heavily as he yanked his T-shirt off and slid quickly out of his other clothes, seeming in as much of a hurry as she was.

‘I want you,’ she whispered in his ear, feeling liberated and surer than she’d ever been about a first time. She didn't want there to be any doubt about what she needed. She shivered with anticipation, willing him to hurry up, not wanting anything to come between them again.

‘The feeling’s mutual. Although I have to say I was looking forward to having to persuade you.’

He reached out and trailed one finger from her collarbone down to her abdomen, stopping tantalisingly above her pubic bone.

‘Mmm, that sounds…like fun.’ Urgent need throbbed between her legs. ‘But I think I need you to speed up to the part where you fuck me.’

He raised both eyebrows, pretending to be shocked. She smiled, backing away to position herself on the rug in front of the fire, glad she had the power to surprise him. She slowly parted her legs for him, training her eyes on his face, watching for the answering gleam in his eyes and enjoying her power to turn him on. After all why shouldn’t she take the lead?

‘Wait,’ he exhaled audibly as he reached for a foil packet from his jacket pocket.

‘Would you… like me to do it?’ She asked tentatively. He nodded and handed it to her, kneeling in front of her, his eyes as solemn as she’d ever seen them.

This means something to him, I’m sure of it. I’m not just another lay.

I mean something.

She slid it on, sheathing him and growing even wetter with anticipation when she realised how hard he was for her.

‘Are you going to finish what you started then?’ Her breath caught in her chest. She hadn’t breathed properly since the moment he’d spoken, breaking her daydream.

‘Am I ever.’ His eyes flickered with desire, sweeping appreciatively over her body.

He lay down beside her, kissing her mouth, her neck, her breasts, while all the time stroking her between her legs. She squirmed under his touch, dripping wet for him already and desperate to feel him inside.

Impatiently she angled herself against him.

‘Please,’ she gulped. ‘I need you inside me. Now.’

He rolled over and raised himself on his arms above her, pressing the tip of his erection between her legs, waiting for an agonising moment before he entered her. Then he thrust while she ran her hands over his back and buttocks, pulling the whole length of him deeper inside her, moaning softly as he took her.

Sex had never felt so right, so utterly intoxicating.

‘That’s…God that feels so good,’ she gasped, arching back against him, wriggling on the soft cow-skin rug, enjoying the sensations rippling through her body. Soon she was beyond speech, immersed in a tide of pleasure as endorphins saturated and sated her body.

As the wave of pleasure ebbed, Scott cried out, tensing and shuddered inside her. For a moment he lay on top of her and she didn’t mind his weight but clasped him to her. They lay still that way for a while. She liked that he'd come inside her at last. It felt right, necessary to her somehow.

She slowly exhaled and then took her first proper, deep breath since he’d disturbed her in the Jacuzzi.

He rolled off and lay down close beside her. ‘I might have to discipline you, you know.’

‘Oh, why?’ She turned her head on the rug to stare into his eyes, so close their noses were almost touching.

‘Sex with other members of staff is forbidden,’ he replied solemnly.

‘Get stuffed,’ she snorted with laughter and then grabbed a faux fur cushion from the sofa, lobbing it at him. He caught it and lobbed it back at her and soon they were having a boisterous pillow fight with the cushions.

Holly laughed until her chest ached. Then she caught a glimpse of herself in the large pine mirror.

Who is that girl? She looks happy.

She collapsed back down on the rug, lying on her back. ‘I’m knackered, all this sex and skiing is too much for me.’

‘I hope not. I’ve a surprise planned for tonight.’ He rolled on his side and played with her hair, twisting it around his fingers as he spoke.

‘Not night skiing. Please not night skiing.’ She shuddered theatrically.

‘You’ll have to wait and see, but right now I have something else I need to do.’

‘Oh?’ she tried to keep her disappointment from showing.

I’m so crap at playing it cool.

‘Yes, I have something I need to finish. I did say it might take some time, and I’m not sure I got it right first time round…’ He broke off to kiss her and then he produced a fresh foil packet. ‘I want to make love to you again.’

Make love, not sex!

Yes, she was in no doubt this was now about making love. It was a phrase she’d never used before when it came to sex, deeming it too corny, too out of touch with the reality.

But it felt right to describe … this…thing that was happening between them. He cradled her beneath him as he pushed himself deep inside her, holding her gaze, staring into her eyes in a way that made her feel truly connected, truly one with him.

Then slowly, very slowly, he began to rock inside her until the wave of pleasure roared through her body, sweeping away her anxieties and flooding her senses again.

Peace and contentment radiated through her sated body. For the first time she'd met a man she didn't have to pretend to be someone else with, a man who seemed to like the real Holly, preferred her even.

Boy, was that a good feeling.

***

Scott’s Landrover barely registered the snow and thick ice on the roads. Holly drank in the winter wonderland scenery, the snow reflecting white in the car’s headlights. She loved the tiny lights of the villages, twinkling unbelievably high up in the mountains and admired the floodlit castles of Sion, providing a dramatic backdrop for the valley.

‘I’ll tell you where we’re going when we get there,’ Scott replied to Holly for the umpteenth time.

They drove high up into the mountains, eventually taking a concealed turning down to what looked like a new chalet-hotel complex.

‘It’s a brand new development,’ Scott said. ‘It’s due to open next week but the owner owes me a favour and has given us the exclusive use of it tonight. It’s the natural thermal baths and Jacuzzi complex around the back that we’re visiting.’

‘But I haven’t got my swimming costume,’ she said, and then flushed as he turned to her and raised an eyebrow.

‘It’s very private, don’t worry.’ He grinned. ‘Only the mountain Marmots will be able to see what we get up to and I think they’ve probably got better things to do.’

‘You’re a very bad man Mr Hamilton.’ Holly attempted a prim voice.

‘I know I am. Isn’t it fun?’

‘I’m reserving judgement.’ She turned to look out of the window but was smiling.

For the first time since she’d got to Verbier she hadn’t flinched inwardly at the word ‘fun’.

In fact
, she realised with a start,
I am having fun
.

She felt free, carefree in a way she'd never felt before.

They parked in the deserted car park. Plastic sheeting and scaffolding still adorned part of the chalet building but mellow, low-level lighting lit the surrounding grounds and pool complex.

‘It looks magical.’

‘I’m glad you like it. Better than night skiing?’ He joked.

‘Definitely. But are you seriously expecting me to swim outside, naked? Your car temperature gauge read well below freezing on the way down here and look, it’s snowing again.’