Out of Character (4 page)

It still wasn’t enough. She needed to feel his skin against hers, needed his hands touching her everywhere, needed her hands on him. She started unbuttoning his shirt.

He removed her hands and yanked the shirt, still buttoned, over his head, then sat up and moved her to straddle his lap.

As he kissed her, she rubbed her bare breasts against his torso, his pronounced muscles and crisp chest hair impossibly erotic against her nipples. She rocked against him. Even through his jeans and her tights his erection felt like hot iron.

“I want you so much.” He groaned the words, echoing how she felt.

She was drowning in waves of heat and desire. Being with him like this felt so good, so right. Except it wasn’t. “I never do this so soon. Never.”

“I know.” Mark raised his head, his features and voice tight. “Do you want to stop?”

Certain he would stop if she asked, and that she’d never wanted to stop anything less, Jillian shook her head.

His mouth captured hers again, and he half-carried her from the sofa onto the floor. He pulled off the rest of her clothes as she worked on his, frantic to touch all of him, to feel him inside her. She was struggling to remove his jeans, nearly crying with frustration at how her fingers fumbled, when he moved away. She reached to pull him back, but he wasn’t leaving, simply finishing the job himself.

“Thank God I’ve got this.” He pulled a foil packet from the pocket of his jeans and ripped it open with his teeth. Then he was back on top of her. “I’m sorry, I can’t go slow. I need you too much.”

She closed her hand around him, felt him shudder. He was huge, thick, and hot. Because of her.

Her entire body was trembling with want and need, her heartbeat rioting out of control. “Not slow. Now.” She positioned him against her.

He surged into her. “So good.” He thrust over and over.

She met his urgent rhythm. Then the world exploded, engulfing her, shooting through every nerve with a force that left her limp.

“Jillian.” Mark bucked hard then collapsed on top of her. He raised his head, his face only inches from hers, his eyes nearly black and impossibly warm. “So damn good.” He kissed her fiercely then collapsed again.

* * * *

Jillian lay underneath Mark, his heart and lungs keeping the same double-time rhythm as her own. So damn good. That’s how she felt. Spent, satisfied, and sensual.

Mark swore softly. “I must be crushing you. I’m sorry.” He rolled off her.

She forced her eyes open. “It’s okay.”

“You’ve also had your back against that scratchy carpet. I didn’t even take you into the bedroom. And I had all the control of a teen boy.” He started to get up.

Jillian circled her arms around his neck. “I said it’s okay. Actually, it was a lot more than okay.”

He searched her face, looking slightly anxious before his features relaxed. “It was, wasn’t it?” He tucked her securely against him. “I usually manage a little more finesse, but this time it overwhelmed me. You overwhelm me.” He kissed her again, gently. “Stay with me tonight? Please?” He stroked her arm and the outside of her breast, activating nerves that should have been comatose.

“I shouldn’t.” Her words lacked even the slightest iota of conviction.

“For a little while, then?” Mark rolled onto his back and pulled her on top of him. “I can’t give you up yet.” He touched his lips to her neck, licked her jaw. She shivered.

“Stay?” His hands skimmed over her body, making her simmer as his eyes coaxed her.

She needed to be reasonable. She needed to say no. His lips touched hers again.

She forgot all about being reasonable.

Lumbering through the colorful crowd in front of the lodge as fast as possible in clunky ski boots, Jillian glanced at her watch. 12:24. She was usually neurotically prompt, but today she was more than twenty minutes late.

Kristen was waiting inside the glass front door. “So?”

“So why am I late? I’m sorry, but—”

“So how was it? How was he? Are you seeing him again?”

Jillian walked over to the window to buy a lift ticket. “Dinner was excellent. You should try Zenith.” For some reason it didn’t feel right to give details about last night, not even to Kristen. She took the ticket from the cashier and stuffed her Visa card and receipt into her jacket pocket.

“Tell me more. About Mark, not the restaurant.”

Jillian zipped her pocket shut and attached her lift ticket. “He’s a nice guy, and I had a nice time.”

“Nice.”

“Yes, nice. We’re having dinner tonight, but I’ll be home early.” Jillian put on her sunglasses then walked out of the lodge to the rack where she’d stashed her skis. Although the temperature was in the twenties, the bright sunlight warmed her face and melted puddles on the concrete. She grabbed the skis between the end pegs. “Now I’d like to go skiing.” She set her skis on the snow.

“I can’t believe you used the words ‘like’ and ‘skiing’ in the same sentence,” Kristen said. “At least one that doesn’t also include ‘don’t’. I was shocked when you told me last night that you wanted to ski with me today.”

Jillian positioned her right boot on her binding. “Stranger things have happened.”

“Yeah, like you spending the night with a man you just met. I’ll get my skis.”

* * * *

“It’s amazing how much better you are,” Kristen said as they traversed the packed snow toward the lift to repeat the run they’d finished. “What happened?”

After doing two green runs, they’d tried a blue one, which Jillian had not only handled, but enjoyed so much she’d suggested repeating it. “I took wide, slow turns until I got over being scared.”

“That’s never worked before. Why this time?”

“Because Mark skied right above me so I didn’t have to worry about being hit by another skier and could concentrate on skiing.”

Kristen rested a hand on Jillian’s jacket sleeve. “I thought you took a class with Mark.”

“He only took my class because he hadn’t skied since he broke his leg,” Jillian said. “He realized he didn’t need a class, so we skipped out early. It was no big deal.”

“This man not only convinced you to spend the night with him but also got you over your fear of skiing? It’s a very big deal.”

“It isn’t.” Jillian slipped into the lift line, wishing she’d lied and given credit to a super instructor. “For some reason, skiing clicked this time. I did the other because I’m on vacation. I’d appreciate you not announcing it to the world.”

“Baloney,” Kristen said, but at least she’d lowered her voice. “You know how they say being drunk won’t make you do anything you don’t secretly want to do? Same thing with vacations. You’re so damn conservative about men that even deep down you don’t want a vacation fling. Which means you must think there’s a possible relationship there.”

“I’ve only known him for one day.”

“You still could have fallen for him.” Kristen punctuated her statement with her turquoise ski pole. “That you did it so fast means this could be major.”

Jillian skied up beside a teenage snowboarder standing directly ahead of them in lift line. “Can I ride up with you?”

The boy shrugged. “Whatever.”

Jillian got onto the next double chair with him. Much as she loved Kristen, she could be a real pain sometimes.

Because no matter what she thought, last night had been no big deal.

* * * *

Although Jillian repeated that mantra to herself all afternoon, she couldn’t help looking for Mark in case he’d changed his mind and decided to ski that afternoon. When they got back to their townhouse, she called him the instant Kristen left the living room to shower.

“How was skiing?” he asked.

“Terrific, and Kristen thinks you should be canonized.” Jillian sat on the leather sofa. “What did you do?”

“Ran a couple errands, then came back and slept. I needed to recharge my energy for tonight.”

His words made her body simmer. “Why don’t we ski before dinner? I’d like to try night skiing.” That was true, but Jillian’s primary motivation for suggesting it was her brain telling her she needed to slow things down.

“Aren’t you exhausted?” Mark asked. “You got as little sleep as I did.”

“I’m an ER doctor. I’m used to weird sleep schedules. Although I’ll need more tonight,” her brain made her add.

“How about if I promise to let you sleep three hours?”

“Three?” Her brain screamed that she needed to sleep all night, alone.

“Four, then.”

She closed her eyes. “You’ve got a deal.” Brains had no business dictating vacation conduct. “If you agree to go night skiing first.” She could still slow things down a little.

“Okay. Afterwards we can use the hot tub at my place.”

“That’s a good idea. You should be careful of your knee. That scar is nasty.” Mark had a scar on his abdomen and a couple on his legs, including an especially vicious one above his kneecap. Souvenirs from a car accident a few years ago that had resulted in his broken leg, he’d said, and presumably the death of his wife.

“I appreciate your concern, but that wasn’t why I suggested the hot tub,” he said dryly. “Can you meet me in an hour?”

“I thought I could cook something for dinner, and that won’t give me enough time to shop.”

“How about we get takeout tonight?” His voice lowered and roughened. “Because I’m not sure I can stand waiting even an hour to see you again.”

Right.
A line, and an old one at that, but it still turned Jillian’s body to melting JELL-O. “An hour will be perfect. I’ll meet you in front of the lodge.”

“If it’s no big deal, why are you blushing like that?” Kristen stood in the doorway, still dressed in ski clothes.

Jillian stood up. “I need to get ready.”

“I’d say if you were any more ready, you’d spontaneously combust.”

Jillian glared at Kristen, then headed for her bedroom, her stride and bearing pure Katharine Hepburn.

Except no one would have dared laugh so hysterically at one of Katharine’s exits.

* * * *

Mark hung up the phone then stood to one side of the picture window, out of bullet range. The sun had nearly set, the mountains jagged, imposing silhouettes against the orange-tinged gray sky. He’d always loved mountains and not only because their myriad of escape routes and hideouts had saved his ass more than once. Their enormity and quiet power made him feel an emotion he couldn’t name and rarely experienced. He’d say they touched his soul, if he were at all certain he had one.

He closed the aluminum blinds, returned to the sofa, and sat down, his gun resting on his thigh. Who could have guessed a woman with frosty hair and icy eyes would have all that fire inside of her? Just hearing her voice had made him hard. Who would blame him if he wasn’t willing to give that up yet?

His blasted conscience would, and contrary to popular belief, he did have one. Right now his conscience was lecturing that even though he was certain he wasn’t endangering Jillian, he should still feel guilty about convincing her to spend last night and tonight with him. He’d even stooped to telling dog stories, for God’s sake.

Not that he’d forced her. But Jillian didn’t have a clue what he really was, would never have skied with him if she had. Even he wasn’t persuasive enough to convince an ER doctor dedicated to saving lives to be with a man who’d ended so many of them.

Although Jillian wasn’t doing anything with him. She was doing it with Mark Jefferson, a New York City accountant, slightly dull but from a nice family, considerate, friendly, eminently respectable. An all-around good guy.

He got up and strode to the kitchen then opened the refrigerator and dug around inside. So he was prepared to ignore his conscience and bring Jillian back here again tonight, despite knowing she’d be appalled at what he was and hurt when he disappeared without explanation. He pulled a bottle of mineral water from behind the chardonnay they’d never finished and slammed the refrigerator door. All so he could have a little more hot sex.

He smiled grimly at his reflection in the stainless steel door. He truly was as big a bastard as people thought.

* * * *

The moon and stars sparkled in the crystal cold, illuminating shadowy peaks, onyx sky, and an occasional fat snowflake. In the lamplight below their chairlift, two silhouettes traversed glowing Styrofoam snow. Jillian half-expected to see an ice palace and snow queen. “Admit it, it’s beautiful.”

“Beautiful.” Mark kissed her, his lips warm despite the chilly air.

“Be careful. You might fall out.”

“Then I could find out how good a doctor you are.”

“I’m damn good.”

He kissed her again, longer this time. “Can’t argue with that.”

“I was referring to my medical skills.”

Skiing down the hill proved even more magical than riding the chairlift, their schussing skis the only sound in the cathedral-like silence. Mark stayed beside Jillian for a while then accelerated, moving nearly straight down the hill.

Jillian kept to her more leisurely pace, warmth filling her chest. Much as she tried to deny it, Kristen was right. She had fallen for Mark. Even though their relationship might end when vacation did. Even though she never did anything as impulsive as falling for a man this fast. Even though he could be married with seven kids or make his living conning old ladies out of their inheritances.

Except she trusted him. She skied to him and kissed his cheek.

“What’s that for?”

“Because I’m having so much fun. I can’t believe more people aren’t out on such a gorgeous night. We have the hill to ourselves.”

“Not exactly to ourselves,” Mark said as another couple skied toward them. “But it’s a big hill.” He wrapped an arm around Jillian’s shoulders, and they skied together to the chairlift and got on.

“I want this scene on my Christmas cards next year,” Jillian said. Below them, thick pine trees lined the sides of the shimmering slope. She took a deep breath, inhaling air that seemed to purify her lungs. “I love this. Thanks for agreeing to do it.”

* * * *

Mark nodded. He was glad she was enjoying it. After two more runs, three tops, they were heading back to his place. He didn’t have much more time with her, and he didn’t intend to waste—