“The travel agent just dropped these off,” Jonathan said as he handed Elle an envelope with her name scrawled across the front.
Elle turned the envelope over. So this was it. Now she had to go on the trip … no pretending she didn’t get her tickets. When she realized that Jonathan was watching her, his handsome face confused, she plastered a smile on her lips. “So now you’re the mail boy?”
“I once was, you know.” Jonathan shoved over stacks of folders so he could lean his tall, athletic body on the edge of her desk. “To keep me out of trouble during summer break.” He picked up the cheesy snow globe she’d gotten from her Secret Santa and turned it over, then reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone, which was vibrating loudly.
Elle opened the envelope with a little sigh and looked at the documents. First-class ticket to Aspen, Colorado, via Denver. A hotel reservation in her name. And, unfortunately, everything was spelled correctly.
Behind the tickets and confirmations was a paper with itineraries for everyone who was going. Elle frowned as she scanned the dates. “We aren’t flying together?”
Jonathan slid his phone back into his pocket. “Cunningham and I are stuck here until Monday afternoon. Nolan will be here most of the weekend, too. But it’s an employee’s dream … a whole weekend without the bosses crowding you. Speaking of which—” He leaned in and lowered his voice to a throaty growl. “I’ve been so busy that I’m forgetting what my cock is for.”
It hadn’t been that long. Elle rolled her eyes playfully, but she couldn’t stop from blushing; he knew how to make her feel wanted. And thank heavens for that because Nolan’s cocky behavior frustrated her, and half the time Cunningham acted like he didn’t care if she lived or died. If she wasn’t completely and totally addicted to Cunningham’s cock, she’d have … Oh, who was she kidding? It wasn’t just Cunningham’s body she was addicted to; she was in love with him, and everyone damn well knew it. But they didn’t suspect her secret, that she was falling for all three of her lovers, flaws and all.
Jonathan stood and pulled her to her feet, his eyes hooded as he drew her in close. Even after working at Cunningham & Associates for six weeks, Elle was still amazed at how unbelievably gorgeous Jonathan was, with his messy blonde hair and carefree, playboy demeanor. He looked like an A-list actor, and she’d heard stories of people shyly asking him for an autograph. It was inexplicable that such a man showed any interest in her. Not that she was an ogre … she was pretty in a girl next door way, but no one would ever mistake her for a celebrity.
“Know what I can’t stop thinking about, Elle? You in tight ski pants, wiggling your sexy ass all the way down the mountain,” Jonathan said breathlessly. “I’m going to be behind you until they kick us off the slopes.”
Elle gulped. Jonathan had this crazy notion that she was good at everything. When the trip was announced, he’d just assumed she was a consummate skier, and she hadn’t corrected him.
And now that she had the tickets, it was too late to back out. She tried to think fast. “Yeah, so … I was thinking I’d snowboard. I mean, I haven’t done it since I was a kid, so I’ll be pretty rusty.” Liar, liar, ski pants on fire. She couldn’t ski or snowboard. At all.
“It’s muscle memory. Within an hour, it’ll all come back,” Jonathan said. “I should know. I used to be an instructor. Suited me better than mail boy.” His voice lowered as he traced her lips with his thumb. “God, I bet you’re killer in the half-pipe.”
Former instructor? Crap. And what the hell was a half-pipe?
He leaned in to tease her mouth with his full lips, and thoughts about embarrassing herself in Aspen flew out of her head. The things he did with his mouth … He gently ran a hand down the curve of her waist, then pulled her in
Learning to Kill: Stories