Winter's Heat (4 page)

What had just happened? Had she just agreed to be Eric’s date for the evening? Looking back, she realized she hadn’t said no at any time and an alarmingly large part of her hadn’t even wanted to. She was shamelessly looking forward to sending some real time with him.

Snapping out of her daze, she looked at the clock on the stove and panicked when she saw she only had eight hours to pull off a Cinderella makeover.

Quickly jotting down the list of things she needed to do, she got ready to leave so she could be back in time to meet Eric. Looking down at what she’d wrote, she knew figuring out what to wear was the least of her worries. Trying to get a hair appointment at the last minute on a Saturday was going to be a miracle.

*****

Later on that evening as Eric stood in the foyer staring up at the vision of exotic beauty walking downstairs towards him, he had one fleeting thought: How the hell was he going to keep his hands off of her?

There on the stairwell she stood smiling down at him with her hair artfully swept back from her lightly made up face like she had no clue how beautiful she was.

As his eyes traveled over the long sleek, form fitting black strapless dress to the matching strappy heels, he couldn’t help but be amazed at her transformation. And to think she’d been hiding all those dangerous curves under baggy clothes.

“
Too much?” She asked stopping at the bottom of the steps.

“
No, you look absolutely beautiful Winter.” The quiet sincerity in his voice caressed each word as he closed the gap between them and leaned forward to plant a gentle kiss on her cheek.

“
Thank you. So do you. Handsome I mean. You look handsome…” Winter nervously said as she accepted his compliment and kiss. She was glad he approved of what she was wearing because it had taken her some time to pick everything out.

“
Are you ready to go?” Eric asked drawing back to extend his arm to her.

Looking into his warm blue eyes, she smiled at the chivalrous act. “As ready as I’ll ever be.” She said accepting it.

And they were on their way to begin the evening.

****

An hour later after arriving at their destination, they had met everyone of importance there from businessmen to a few local celebrities as they mingled their way around the historic mansion were the event was being held.

As Eric knew she would, Winter had charmed everyone she’d come in contact with. The men especially. They’d pretty much hung on every word she’d said when not covertly ogling the way her breasts defied gravity. Because of that, he had to stake his claim early on by sticking to her side like glue. But at some point, he had to leave her to take care of the donation he’d pledged to the local children’s charity they were here to support.

“
Sweetheart, I need to take care of some business. I’ll be right back.” Eric said excusing himself.

Winter stood there sipping on a second glass of champagne and feeling its tingling effects as she watched him move across the crowded room. She wondered at the attentive way he had been acting all night. It was thrilling because it made her feel like they were on a real date, but it was also confusing too. What did it mean? And how much of it was real or for show?

Whatever the case, she finally knew what it felt like to have his undivided attention for the whole evening and she was giddy with it. Especially when he was looking good enough to eat tonight.

Every line of well cut material of the dark blue dress shirt and black pants perfectly draped his tall bulk and flawlessly off set his piercing blue eyes and newly cut dark brown hair. His long confident stride and GQ good looks set him apart from any other man present and she found herself boldly following his every move as he made his way back to her.

She also couldn’t help but notice that she wasn’t the only one who was getting their drool on either. Women within a ten foot radius were checking him out and he just seemed to be completely oblivious to the attention.

“
Would you like another?” He asked indicating her now empty champagne glass as he casually placed his free hand at the small of her back.

“
No thank you, I think I need to quit while I’m ahead.” She laughed while trying to play down how his nearness affected her by focusing on the music that was playing.

When Eric felt her swaying to the slow sultry beat of the song that was playing, he hesitated in asking her to dance. He was not a big dancer himself, but as she repeatedly brushed up against him he found the request slipping from his lips. When she said ‘yes’, he lead her onto the small dance floor.

On the fringes of the crowded dance floor, Eric slid his arms around her sweetly curved waist forcing her to form a loose circle around his shoulders as she followed his lead. From there the music wrapped around them as they both got lost in a sensual spell created by the sexy soulful beat. And with every shift of Winter’s body against his own, Eric was having a hard time trying to control the growing evidence of his desire.

Thankfully he was saved in the nick of time by the DJ putting on a fast bass pumping song. They both reluctantly broke apart and started to dance in time to the faster beat.

“
Think you can keep up?” Suddenly a playful gleam entered Winter’s sparkling eyes as she met his gaze.

“
Try me.” He dared.

Before he knew it, she began to sensually gyrate around him. A few times he tried to grab her around the hips, but she easily danced right out of his reach. On her next pass, he finally caught her and pulled her into him. There was only so much teasing he could take.

Gazing down into her smiling face he threw caution to the wind and found himself leaning down and sampling his first full on taste of her soft lips. With no hesitation, he went boldly pass the soft moist pillows of her lips and sampled the honeyed depths within and felt her slowly lean in and responded to him.

She was a surprising mix of seductive innocence and far more than what he had expected. All he knew was that if he didn’t step away now he was going to rip off both their clothes in the middle of the dance floor and give into his most sensual desires.

Pulling back, he looked down into her upturned face and almost gave into his body’s demand at what he saw. Winter stood looking up at him with need burning in her eyes as if waiting for him to continue.

“
Let’s get out of here.” He said over the beat of the music.

Without waiting for a response, he escorted her off dance floor and made a straight path for the entrance. Making it out into the cool spring night air, Eric once again pulled Winter back into his arms to sample more of her tempting taste. Knowing he had to stop or they’d never make it out of there, he slowly pulled away and ran his thumb lightly over her moist bottom lip as he stared into her passion dazed eyes.

“
Are you sure?” He asked the one question that encompassed so many.

“
Yes…” She gave the only answer she could without hesitation.

“
Be sure sweetheart, because there’s no turning back once we do this.” He needed her to be sure.

“
Yes, I’m sure.” Her words were followed by a gentle kiss to his thumb as she continued to boldly meet his gaze.

Eric hadn’t planned on the night ending like this, but right now as they waited for the valet to bring the car, he knew that the vibe between them could not be denied. He wanted Winter with every fiber of his being and tonight he would have her.

On the drive back, a quiet anticipation ran rampant between them. Winter glanced at Eric periodically as he navigated through traffic and couldn’t believe she was about to do the unimaginable: sleep with her boss.

She closed her eyes and tried to fully wrap her mind around it and couldn’t. He’d been ‘hands off’ for so long that she couldn’t fully imagine going pass the kisses they’d just shared. But one thing was for sure, she didn’t need to. Pretty soon she would have firsthand knowledge thanks to her pent up need and a little liquid courage from the champagne she’d drunken earlier.

Driving up to his place much later than he expected, Eric pulled into the garage. With every mile that brought them closer to home, his mind had conjured up all the ways that he would quench his thirst for her. And now as he cut the engine, the silence in the car that greeted him had him turning to Winter in anticipation.

Unbelievably, she had gone to sleep. He couldn’t help but groan as he silently cursed this current twist of fate.

Here he was with a hard-on that could possibly kill him and she was sleeping like an angel. Shaking his head, he couldn’t help but chuckle at the irony.

Since he didn’t have the heart to wake her, he carried her inside and took her into one of the guest bedrooms. After making sure she was comfortable, he called it a night himself. He had waited this long to have her and one more day wouldn’t kill him.

But it was not to be.

Winter woke up fully clothed in a guest bedroom the next morning to a note from Eric informing her that he had to go out of town unexpectedly. Her embarrassment was endless as she thought of how she had fallen asleep before one of the biggest moments of her life could happen.

What must he think of her?

Recalling the sexual tension between them last night, she had her answer. He probably thought she was a tease.

The only question was: what was she going to do to correct the situation?

******

The following Saturday Winter parked the SUV in the garage of Eric’s home and dropped her head on the steering wheel as exhaustion rolled all through her mind and body in a unrelenting wave.

She had hardly gotten any sleep in the last couple of days and if she didn’t find some place new to move to soon, she was going to snap on somebody.

And this time it hadn’t been just Randy and Cheri’s on and off again arguments. The frat boys above them had gotten in on the action with their spring break partying all into the wee hours of this morning.

And if that wasn’t enough, she still hadn’t heard from Eric.

Each hour she lay awake had left her to wonder if she had messed up royally with him.

Now thanks to all that turmoil, she had firsthand knowledge of what a two year old without a nap felt like.

And it was not cute.

Her eyes felt like they had sand in them and her hair was a kinked up mess.

Winter wanted to cry she was so sleepy. She had just barely made it here her eyes were so tangled up in her head. She never thought she’d be thankful that Eric wasn’t home for the weekend, but today she was. At least she didn’t have to keep up appearances by pretending to be alert for his sake.

Finally making her way into the quiet interior of the huge sunlit house, Winter put down her purse and all but fell down onto a kitchen chair. She didn’t know how she was going to make it through the day feeling the way she was.

Just when she was about to put her head down on the table in defeat, a thought popped in her head. Getting up, she made her way over to the walk-in pantry and desperately ran her tired eyes over the contents there. Seeing the package of flavored coffee on one of the many fully stocked shelves, she almost fell to her knees in relief.

Thank God Eric always kept it in stock to ward off jetlag. She grabbed the package and took it to the counter where the high-tech coffee maker was located. She commanded her tired mind to focus enough so she could make the thing work.

After a few minutes of pressing buttons and a few choice words, she finally got it to work. Watching as the first drops of coffee came out, her tired mind briefly flirted around with the idea of running an I V of the stuff. Once it was finished brewing, she poured herself a large cup of the hot steaming liquid minus her customary cream and sugar. Instead she got some ice from the ice dispenser to cool the coffee down so it would be drinkable immediately. At the first bitter taste of the dark liquid, she closed her eyes and tried not to gag as she continued to chug it down.

Desperate times called for desperate measures…

*****

As the day wore on Winter was able to go through her list of duties almost like she normally did. By the time she worked her way up to the master suite to finish up for the day, the caffeine was wearing off at a rapid rate and she felt exhaustion once again pulling at her. And to make matters worse, she now felt grubby to boot.