Hold On: A Play On/Big Sky Novella (Kristen Proby Crossover Collection Book 7), Page 4

  Butterflies. Wow. I didn’t think a grown woman could still get those.

  Oh boy, was I in trouble.

  Gray wore a small smile as he studied me. I noted he was in a warm jacket and jeans, like me, and not in full snow gear. He still hadn’t shaved.

  Yum.

  “You want to finish that coffee and meet me on the slopes?”

  I shook my head. “I’m not skiing. I hate skiing. What are you doing here? Don’t you have work to do?”

  “Nope.” His gaze dipped to my ereader. “What are you reading?”

  “The Devil in Winter.”

  He chuckled. “Is that a joke?”

  I couldn’t help but smile. The man made me want to smile all the time. What was that? “It’s not actually. Just ironic. It’s an historical romance. My favorite book.”

  For some reason this made him grin. “Your favorite book, huh? See, now I’m getting somewhere.”

  “I also told you I hate skiing,” I reminded him for some bizarre reason. I shouldn’t encourage the flirt, something I’d decided this morning after a night’s rest. As much as I was inexplicably drawn to this man, the whole reason I’d come to Montana was because people (mostly boyfriends) had tried to take advantage of me my whole life. I wanted to be the open person I was but I didn’t want to be vulnerable. I had to toughen up and find out who I was before I allowed myself to trust another man.

  No matter how sexy he was.

  “Yeah, I’m not sure I believe that.”

  I rolled my eyes. “No, you don’t want to believe that because the slopes are your life.”

  “They’re not my life.” Gray crossed his arms on the bistro table and leaned toward me. His proximity meant it was impossible for me to look anywhere but into his eyes. Eyes that were incredibly warm and sparkled with humor and intelligence. Goddamn this attraction! “They are a big part of it but not my life. I’m not an instructor here. I’m just helping Jacob out—the lodge owner. Grew up in Cunningham Falls so I’ve been skiing my whole life, know what I’m doing. During high season they can use all the experienced instructors they can find. I own a construction company that takes me around the state but these last few years the winters have been so bad we can’t work. Sometimes we get work out of state but not this year, which means my ass is on the slopes. If I’m going to be here anyway I don’t mind helping the lodge out when they’re struggling to keep up with demand for ski lessons.” He smiled. “See, now you know something about me, too.”

  “Isn’t that rough?” I asked, while mentally kicking myself for enjoying conversation with him. “Having months of no work?”

  He shrugged. “I’ve learned to manage it well. The company is successful. I work it so we make enough during the year to see my guys through the winter.”

  “Your own company. That’s impressive for someone your age,” I hedged.

  Gray chuckled. “You want to know my age, angel, just ask.”

  “Fine. What age are you?”

  “Thirty-three. What age are you?”

  “Twenty-five.” Thirty-three. Owned his own company. Was definitely confident in his own skin. I suddenly felt too young for him in every way and I was extremely annoyed that this disappointed me. It was, however, also a reality check. It wasn’t as if anything could happen between me and Gray. We lived on different continents for a start.

  “You’re just a baby,” he teased.

  You have no idea. I decided then and there we had to end this flirtation. I liked him too much. When he smiled I felt that flutter of butterflies. And I had the overwhelming desire to ask him to come to my room for no holds barred sex that would blow my mind, which was so unlike me. Time to put a stop to it all. “I am. Young, I mean, in comparison to you. In more ways than one. Plus, I really, genuinely don’t like skiing. Excluding the fact that I broke my leg during a high school skiing trip, I just don’t like skiing. It’s wet and cold.” I leaned forward now, too, and ignored the shiver that sprinkled down my spine at the way his eyes dipped automatically to my mouth. “I’m not outdoorsy. At all. I like reading.” I gestured with my ereader. “I like shopping. A lot. I like dancing. I like going to the ballet. To the movies. To the theatre. I like cooking. I love baking. I like organizing things, from my well-stocked closet to events. I don’t like”—I gestured to him—“skiing, chopping wood, running, mountain biking, hiking, fishing, hunting, or whatever the things are that mountain men like to do.” I sat back in my chair, a little breathless with exasperation. “So, I don’t know who you think I am but I’m not her.”

  Gray seemed visibly surprised by my outburst, blinking slowly for a second or two. And then he grinned that wicked, crooked smile of his. “Chopping wood? Hiking? Fishing? Mountain men like me?”

  Crap. Had I just been unbearably ignorant? “You don’t like all that?”

  “I don’t chop wood. You can buy it chopped. I hate fishing. It bores the fuck out of me. But I do like hiking, mountain biking, running, and anything else that gets my blood pumping. However”—he leaned toward me—“I don’t need you to like all those things. Though I have a feeling I can talk you into hiking.”

  “How’s that?”

  He studied me carefully. “Saw you come out of the lodge before you came here this morning. You just stopped and stared out across the valley wearing this sweet little smile. You appreciate the beauty of where you are, I can tell. I could take you hiking to some beautiful spots in the summer.”

  Ah there’s the rub. “I won’t be here, Gray.”

  His eyes heated at my soft reply. “I like the way you say my name, angel.”

  “I’m not an angel.”

  “You like to bake?”

  It was my turn to blink at the random question. “Yes. Do you?”

  Gray shook his head. “No, but I sure as shit would love to taste whatever you can bake.”

  I laughed at his persistence. “You’re tireless.”

  “Yeah. So if you’re done trying to put me off—stellar job by the way—will you have dinner with me tonight?”

  Before I could answer, a young woman, perhaps a few years younger than me, approached our table wearing snow gear and clutching a to-go cup. “Hey, Gray.” She smiled prettily down at him.

  He gave her a warm smile in return that immediately made me pay close attention to their interaction. “Whitney, hey.”

  “You’re not going on the slopes today?” She shot me a curious look.

  “There doesn’t seem to be a need for me today. You booked up?”

  “All day.” She nodded and looked at me again.

  Gray caught it and gestured to me. “Whitney, this is Autumn. Autumn, this is Whitney. Whitney’s a ski instructor during high season, college junior otherwise.”

  She smiled politely at me. “You’re a guest?”

  “I am.” And deciding to try to push Gray again, I blurted, “I take it Gray is the resort’s local player? Flirts with all the guests and persistently asks them out to dinner?”

  His head snapped my way at the question and I could feel his frown even though I kept my gaze locked on Whitney.

  Her eyes widened and she turned back to Gray. “Did you break up with Yvette?”

  Yvette? Who was Yvette?

  “Almost a year ago,” he answered but kept his focus on me.

  “I didn’t know. I’m sorry.” She looked at me. “To answer your question, no, Gray isn’t the resort’s local player—far from it. Last I heard he was in a serious relationship. But, you know, maybe you should ask him yourself since he’s sitting right there.” She shot him a look that clearly said ‘good luck’ and strode out of the coffeehouse.

  Squirming a little, I forced myself to meet his gaze.

  He did not look happy.

  “She has a crush on you,” I said for some inane reason.

  “I know,” he replied through gritted teeth. “I’ve known her since she was seventeen so it’s not going to happen.”

  I nodded and tried to appear like I d
idn’t care about anything one way or the other.

  “Want to tell me what the hell that was about? You got something to ask, babe, you ask me.”

  I suspected the transition from ‘angel’ to ‘babe’ in the endearment department wasn’t a good thing, and I hated that it caused this horrible ache in my chest. The truth was just because I couldn’t give in to my attraction to Gray didn’t mean I wanted him to dislike me.

  “I thought I made it clear I’m not trying to play you.”

  “You did.”

  “So you want to explain the attitude with Whitney?”

  We stared at each other in silence and then he sighed, not hiding his disappointment. “Swear to God, you walked into that restaurant and everything about you drew me like I’d been trekking through snow for days and you were a roaring fucking fire just out of reach. But I guess I was wrong.”

  Hurt, I flinched, not wanting him to think I was cold.

  Frustration crossed his expression. “Now why the hell do I feel like I need to apologize?” he practically growled.

  “You don’t.” I shook my head and bravely stared right into his gorgeous eyes while I gave him the truth. “Gray, this can’t happen. You want to know why I came here? Because my life is a mess. I have no job, no idea what I want to do with my life, and my last boyfriend hit me and then started to harass me when I broke things off with him for hitting me.”

  The air at the table suddenly felt stifling as Gray’s face darkened with fury.

  His intense reaction at once frightened and thrilled me but I forged ahead. “The guy before him stole my money. We decided to open a catering company together, I handed over the start-up funds without any legal paperwork, and he took off with my money instead. There was nothing I could do unless I wanted a long and lengthy legal battle where a court full of people would hear how trusting and foolish I’d been. Before him, my boyfriend cheated with someone I thought was my friend. And before him was my first real boyfriend. He was older than me—looking back, much too old for me—and I learned too late I was one of many ‘young things’ he liked to ‘collect.’” My chest tightened at the anger in Gray’s eyes, knowing that it was on my behalf. “I’m not saying I don’t trust people, trust men. I’ve proven time and time again that I wear my heart on my sleeve. And my brother is a prime example that good men exist. But the last guy was kind of the straw that broke the camel’s back.”

  Gray’s eyes flared and he gestured to me. “You can’t keep all that beauty from some lucky guy because of a couple of assholes.”

  I smiled at his terse compliment. “I don’t intend to. I love being in a relationship too much. I’m an affectionate person. I need that in my life. But the timing is all wrong.” I squashed the hope flaring to life in his eyes. “It’s not just about what Darren did to me. It’s about me. I’m floundering. I came here to try to figure my life out and a guy just can’t factor into that.”

  “Why not? I’m just asking for dinner, angel.”

  “Exactly. But what if I end up wanting more?” I bit my lip, my heart pounding at putting my honesty out there. Usually I had no problem sharing my true feelings with anyone. But that’s how they’d gotten trampled in the past and I had a feeling Gray could really, really hurt me.

  His voice turned husky as he leaned even farther across the table. “Angel, I’m hoping you do.”

  I shook my head, trying to ignore the heat between my thighs at the sexual promise in his gaze. “I mean more than that, too.”

  I held my breath, waiting for him to flee.

  Instead he studied my face with a sweet reverence that made me want to meet him across that table with my mouth. “Fuck me,” he muttered, “you’re right. Heart on your sleeve.”

  He finally understood, which made me blush like an idiot.

  That for some reason made his expression soften to a look of such tenderness I felt a little breathless. “You gotta know I think you’re the sweetest fucking woman I’ve ever met.”

  I huffed, blushing harder. My goodness, I’d never blushed so much in my life. “You don’t know me.”

  “I think I’m starting to. And what I do know, I really like.” Sudden determination hardened his features. “Have dinner with me tonight.”

  Startled laughter burst out of me before I could stop it. “Didn’t you hear anything I said?”

  “Yeah, I did. Every word. And I’m going to prove to you that there are men ready to treat you like the angel you are and I’m one of them.”

  “It’s just physical attraction, Gray.” Even I heard the panic in my voice.

  It made him reach out and thread his callused fingers through mine and I couldn’t stop the flutters in my belly. “After what you just laid out, do you really think I’d keep on you if all I wanted to do was fuck you and walk away?”

  I flushed hot at the thought. “Gray.”

  “Though”—his voice lowered—“you laid it out so I’m laying it out. I do want you in my bed.”

  My breathing stuttered at the sudden flurry of images his words provoked. “Gray.”

  “Keep saying my name in that breathy voice, in that sexy accent, angel, and I’m going to haul you out of here and up to the condo I’ve rented across the way.”

  My fingers tightened in his, unwittingly letting him know I wanted that, and Gray groaned. “You’re killing me.”

  I wrenched my hand out of his and sat back. “We can’t.”

  He shook his head. “Not leaving here until you agree to dinner.”

  My God, I’d thought Killian was the most stubborn man I’d ever known but Grayson King could give him a run for his money. I let out a shaky breath. “Fine. Dinner tonight. But on one condition.”

  Triumph and something I thought might be anticipation smoldered in his gaze. “Anything.”

  “If I decide that whatever this is between us ends at dinner tonight, you’ll respect that decision and leave me alone.”

  He didn’t hide that he hated the idea but he held out his hand and offered, “Deal.”

  I tentatively accepted his handshake, concerned by how delicious even that simple touch felt. Just as I went to release his hold, his tightened and he pulled me across the table. I let out a surprised gasp as he leaned in to whisper in my ear, “Just warning you: I’m going to make sure you want another date.”

  Goosebumps cascaded down my neck at the feel of his warm breath on my ear and I felt my nipples tighten.

  Oh God.

  Then he released me and I slumped back in my seat, staring up at him, I’m sure dazedly, as he towered over me with a promise in his blue gaze. “What’s your room number?”

  I gave him it without thinking it through.

  “That one of the suites?”

  “Yes.”

  His brow wrinkled. “Look forward to hearing how you can swing that on no job, angel.”

  “I—”

  “Tonight.” He cut me off. “You can tell me tonight. I’ll pick you up at seven.”

  “Okay.”

  He gave me one last assessing look before he turned and walked out of the café.

  Feeling completely thrown, confused, excited, scared, and more confused, I looked down at my ereader and wondered what Killian would say if he found out I had feelings for a man I’d just met. He would not be happy. I knew that. Shit.

  Before I could let that thought fester, something made me look up and I watched with widening eyes as Gray marched back through the snow toward the coffeehouse. His features were taut with tension and I wondered what the heck had happened in less than a minute to put that expression on his face.

  I would understand seconds later when he threw open the coffeehouse door, strode purposefully toward me, and my now pounding heart, curled a hand around my wrist, and hauled me out of my seat with such force I collided against him.

  His arm banded tight around my waist while his other hand tangled through my hair to clasp the back of my head. It all happened so fast I had no time to stop the crush of
his lips against mine.

  I gasped into his mouth in surprise and he took the opening, his tongue tangling with mine.

  And that was how I received the deepest, wettest, sexiest kiss of my life.

  I clung to him as fire lashed across my skin. I wanted to burrow into him, feel every inch of Grayson King wrapped around me. Thankfully he remembered we were in public and reluctantly broke the kiss but not his hold on me.

  Staring up into his eyes in a lust-filled fog, slowly the titters from the other customers in the café filtered into my awareness and I tensed against Gray.

  He felt it and his grip on me tightened. Then he treated me to a shivery brush of his gorgeous mouth against mine and he said, his voice hoarse, “Best. Fucking. Kiss. Ever.”

  At that I laughed because as crazy as it was, it was also bloody true. “Ever,” I agreed as he grinned back at me.

  Then, like he couldn’t help himself, he brushed his mouth over mine once more, gave me a squeeze, and said, “Tonight.”

  Then he abruptly let me go.

  I was still standing, watching him walk out of the coffeehouse and across the snow toward the condos when it occurred to me that as much as I loved my brother, I suddenly couldn’t care less if Killian was happy or not that I had feelings for a man I’d just met.

  Grayson King was unlike any man I’d ever been kissed by before and I knew even if I fought it, I’d only end up kissing him again. Deep down, in my secret heart of hearts, I knew I wanted him more than I wanted to be sensible.

  Chapter Four

  A knock sounded on my door at seven o’ clock and I blew out a shaky breath.

  When I told Catie and Kyle I was going on a date with Gray, Kyle had looked pensive while Catie beamed from ear to ear.

  “You came here to relax, Autumn. I can’t think of a better way to do that than multiple orgasms via Hot Mountain Man.”

  Kyle had wandered off at that point, not wishing to participate in that kind of conversation.

  “Multiple orgasms, really?” I’d laughed. “You know that how?”

  “Because he gave you the best kiss ever—your words—and I refuse to believe a man that looks like Grayson King isn’t capable of giving a woman fantastic orgasms. I couldn’t live in a world where that wasn’t true.”