COLD INNOCENCE (snowed in with the billionaire #1) (billionaire erotic romance) (2 page)

“For now,” the man in the suit said. He put
a hand to the man’s shoulder and squeezed. “Why don’t you head out
while you can, Charles? Before the decision is made…”

“Our guest here,” Charles started to say
with a thick layer of sarcasm in his voice.

The man in the suit looked at Stephanie,
with a half smile on his face. “Why don’t you let me take care of
our guest?”

As Stephanie looked at the sexy stranger in
a suit, she took a deep breath. His half smile was deadly and she
imagined three feet of snow dropping to the ground. She could
handle being stuck with him… alone… for the weekend…

(3)

“I’m sorry, but I can find my way out of
here.”

Stephanie stood with a fierce grip on the
handle of her suitcase. She watched as Charles stormed by her, into
the kitchen area, leaving. Standing alone with the sexy stranger in
a suit, she watched as he slipped his hands into his pockets,
staring at her with commanding eyes.

“I was here for a company event,” she said.
“I thought everyone was still coming. I got here early. But the
snow… I’m not from around here…”

“Walk with me,” the man said.

He spun and started to walk, not looking
over his shoulder, assuming Stephanie would follow. She rolled her
eyes at his cocky demeanor but she let go of her suitcase and
dropped her laptop bag to the floor. She hurried to catch up to
him, finally doing so as he stopped at the front door to Wolf Top
Lodge.

“Here, go ahead and try,” he said and opened
the door.

Stephanie’s eyes went wide. She gasped for
air.

She thought about that one tiny snowflake
touching the top of her hand. What was that, all of five minutes
ago? Maybe. Now it was a complete whiteout. The snow fell heavy and
fell fast. She couldn’t see off the small entrance to the
lodge.

“As I said,” the stranger said, “all cab
service is suspended, especially to the mountain. There’s no other
vehicles up here. Charles has his SUV, but I’m sure he’s barreling
down the mountain now.”

“So I’m stuck?” Stephanie asked looking out
at the snowstorm.

“Actually…” the man said. He looked at
Stephanie and waited for her to look at him. He bore that half
smile again, his dark eyes confident, his body looking wide and
thick with muscle. Stephanie hated herself for eye humping him like
this, but it didn’t matter. Nobody else was watching, and it wasn’t
like anything was going to happen.

After a way too long of a pause, the man
leaned towards Stephanie, his face within inches of hers. He
finished his sentence.

“
We’re stuck. Together.”

For a split second, Stephanie looked at his
lips, expecting them to come closer.

They didn’t.

The man stood back up and backed away from
the open door.

He walked away without a care, while
Stephanie stared out to the increasing blustering weather. It was a
strange feeling for Stephanie. The winter winds whipped up blasts
of icy air along with snow but yet she felt so hot. Burning hot.
She knew her cheeks were red… and other parts of her body were
warming faster than she cared to acknowledge.

Stephanie stepped back and closed the door.
She stared at the large wooden door and then down to the lock. She
reached forward and twisted the lock. Just like that. Locked in
Wolf Top Lodge. With…
who?
She hadn’t caught the stranger’s
name yet.

The
sexy
stranger.

After sighing and letting out a small moan,
hoping to release herself of the erotic nonsense flowing through
her mind, she turned around to track the stranger (the sexy
stranger) down.

“Nathaniel Anders.”

Stephanie yelped and put her hand to her
chest. Her heart felt like it was ready to explode from her
chest.

He stood against the steps, his elbow
resting on the post, his face looking gorgeous. His other hand
remained in his pocket.

“Excuse me?” Stephanie managed to say.

“Nathaniel Anders,” he said. “Figure if
we’re alone all weekend, we’re going to have to get to know each
other.”

The way Nathaniel spoke made Stephanie’s
heart twist, hoping to wring out anything that would resemble lust
or feelings. That part was easy. It was in her panties that made it
very hard.

“I’m Stephanie Miledon. I was supposed to be
here for an executive meeting, but…”

She nodded to the door just as a large gust
of wind knocked at it. It sent Stephanie into a mild panic, her
heart jumping. She hated storms. Any kind of storms. The power of
nature was hands down the most terrifying and cruel power in the
world. It just didn’t seem possible to have something bring the
most picturesque flowers and creatures that could also bring
terrifying, violent weather.

“So, you’re an executive?” Nathaniel asked.
“A big shot?”

Stephanie scoffed. “Hardly. I’m not even an
employee.”

As she stared at Nathaniel, she realized the
same glazed over kind of look from him that she was used to seeing
from other men. Stephanie had been in a rut that had gradually
started to become the norm. Between her working hours and life in
general, not to mention her constant need to tell people she was a
temp and nothing more, confidence really wasn’t much of a best
friend to her lately.

“Not even an employee,” Nathaniel said. “And
they asked you up here?”

Stephanie shrugged her shoulders. “I thought
it was the chance of a lifetime, to be honest. I was going to
present some ideas and hope I’d leave with a job offer. Or
more.”

“Or more,” Nathaniel whispered.

He smiled. Stephanie forced her eyes from
his chiseled face to the steps. “I guess we have our choice of
rooms.”

“Oh, no,” Nathaniel said. His voice quickly
changed from it’s calm almost sarcastic tone to something more
serious. Stern. Commanding. “I’m in the first room on the left,
you’re in the one next to it.”

“I am?” Stephanie asked. “Is that what your
friend, Charles, said?”

Nathaniel stepped towards her. She shuffled
back but stopped when her back hit the door. Nathaniel crept
closer, his eyes not blinking. He had the stare of stone, making
Stephanie feel like time had stopped.

“It doesn’t matter what Charles said,”
Nathaniel said. “Or anybody for that matter. It’s what I said.
You’re in the room next to mine.”

“Are there other people here?”

Nathaniel shook his head. “Just us, Steph.
Just us.”

“Don’t call me that.”

“Call you what?”

“That name. My name is Stephanie.”

Nathaniel reached out with speed, grabbing
Stephanie’s wrist.

Her knees bent and she moaned, thinking it
was going to hurt her. Her mind flashed images of cheesy horror
flicks. Isn’t this how it happens? A woman at a lodge in a
snowstorm… with a stranger… who’s the killer…

Nathaniel lifted her wrist and forced her
hand open.

Stephanie was breathing heavily, her lips
quivering. She wanted to be afraid and parts of her were, but she
had to be honest with herself. Most of her was completely, utterly
turned on.

Nathaniel brought his other hand forward and
using just his pointer finger, he started to make circles in
Stephanie’s hand. She tried to pretend it had no affect on her, but
she knew her cheeks were flush. She knew how desperate she looked.
And she could feel as her breasts ached to be touched and the soft
spot between her legs moistened.

Her mind gently pointed out to her that all
this was happening just from the single touch of Nathaniel’s
pointer finger.

Imagine what the rest of his body could
do…?

Stephanie took in a shaky breath as
Nathaniel opened his hand. When he moved away, he closed her and
smiled.

“There’s your key,” he said. “Why don’t you
get settled? Then we can eat.”

Stephanie opened her mouth but nothing came
out.

Dinner with this man? This addicting
stranger?

Dinner with a man alone was a feat… it would
the closest thing to a date for Stephanie in months.

Nathaniel turned and walked towards the
living area, hands back in his pockets.

He was mysterious and it gave Stephanie
something to wonder about. The dozens of questions in her mind. Her
body’s instant reaction to him.

She started to smile and then Nathaniel
froze and looked over his shoulder. He looked like a model in a
magazine, gazing off the camera, hoping to sell some kind of musky
cologne.

“Don’t be too long…
Steph
.”

He moved again and Stephanie felt her lip
curl.

She hated Nathaniel Anders already, but she
couldn’t stop staring at him, and she didn’t move until he was out
of sight.

This was going to be a long weekend.

(4)

When Stephanie got to the top of the steps,
she paused, taking note that all the doors were slightly open
except one. The one door was, of course, Nathaniel’s room. She
still could have taken any room in the lodge. The place was
deserted, the snow collecting outside with a reminder every now and
again from a rush of wind.

Stephanie defiantly clutched the key in her
hand and walked to the third room. She pushed on the door and
looked down to where the carpeting in the hallway met with the
carpeting in the room. The brown carpet in the hall complemented
with the tan color in the room. As Stephanie’s toe touched the
line, she felt wrong. Nathaniel wanted her to stay next to him.

But what did he matter?

Who exactly was he even?

Stephanie sighed as she backed away from the
third room. Something about Nathaniel, the stranger, the really
good looking stranger, just felt familiar. Just felt right. It
occurred to her that something within herself didn’t think this was
casual by any means at all.

She walked to the second door and pushed it
open with a grunt and walked inside.

The room smelled clean with a hint of wood,
and had a beautiful dark wood trim around everything. The floor,
the ceiling, the window. The first thing Stephanie did was toss her
suitcase and laptop bag to the bed. Next she took her jacket off.
She had chosen a casual outfit for the flight – jeans and hooded
sweatshirt – and was well aware that it said nothing to what her
body offered or what she wanted to offer to her job. Her plan had
been to get to Wolf Top Lodge first, get changed, and then dazzle
the executives as they showed up.

Her eyes looked to the window in the room,
seeing the whiteout separated by the pane of glass, and knew that
idea had been shot to hell.

Oh well.

It felt comfortable being in casual clothing
right now. Much better than a business suit. There was nothing like
being warm and cozy on a bitter cold winter day with snow flying
around. Even if she was well over a thousand miles from home.

Stephanie walked to the window and admired
the outside. It was all white, at first, but as her eyes focused,
she could make out the slight difference of color in the mountains
along the horizon. The trees were already covered, the tips of
evergreen barely showing. It hadn’t been much time and there had to
be a couple inches of snow already on the ground and trees.

There was nothing Stephanie could do about
it now, as if she ever really had a decision in the matter. Nature
did what it wanted, when it wanted. All she could do was deal with
it.

Right on cue, her stomach churned, reminding
her that there was an amazing smell coming from downstairs.

Food.

Hot food.

Fresh cooked food.

And Nathaniel Anders.

The very sexy Nathaniel Anders.

Waiting for her. For their date.

Date.

Stephanie giggled to herself and turned,
leaving the window and the snowstorm behind her. She paused for a
second to look at herself in the mirror, pointing out that her hair
looked great, cascading along the back of the hooded sweatshirt and
around her shoulders. Her hair ended where her chest began, her
chest large enough that she was visible even in a hooded
sweatshirt.

She bit her lip and touched her hips,
feeling her subtle, sexy curves.

As her cheeks burned red, she closed her
eyes and moaned.

What was she doing?

She couldn’t believe she was checking
herself out in the mirror as though she were really going on a
date.

Stephanie refused to look back at the mirror
and rushed to the door instead.

She left it open, the key on the bed. Nobody
was in the lodge, so it didn’t matter.

She took the steps with speed, following the
growing aroma of food. In the living area, she found Nathaniel
Anders standing near the fireplace, looking out the windows. The
light of the fire wrapped around his face, distinguishing his
features that made Stephanie lick her lips. She couldn’t contain
herself, thinking about the tip of her tongue running along his
smooth jaw line. Nathaniel had to only be a few years older than
Stephanie, in his early thirties at best. But he carried himself
with a strength and confidence that she’d never seen before. This
wasn’t ego or attitude, this was reality. This was how Nathaniel
acted and Stephanie knew he had good reason.

She just needed to find out what the reason
was.

Stephanie cleared her throat, feeling like a
fool for doing so.

Why did it matter if he knew she was
there?

She could have just walked along the back
wall of the room to the kitchen and found food. Part of her hoped
to open the kitchen door and find people there. It didn’t seem
quite possible that the entire Wolf Top Lodge staff would be gone,
leaving two strangers there. Two strangers who were guests.

“Steph,” Nathaniel gave a devilish smile.
Stephanie opened her mouth and Nathaniel put his hand up. “Did you
find your room?”