Page 3 of One Snowy Seduction
But if there was anybody Kendrick would want to spend the holidays with, he realized in those moments, it was Teesha.
She blinked and then stared at him as if he were a stranger. The blank gaze was quickly replaced by a tinge of irritation noted in the way the corners of her mouth tilted upward. That, as he recalled, was her barely tolerant look.
“I wasn’t leaving,” she said. “I won this vacation fair and square and I’m not letting anything…or anybody, stop me from skiing on those slopes and enjoying every moment of the next seven days.”
His lips spread into a slow, wide grin. This was the Teesha he knew well. The spirited and resilient woman he’d spent so many days and nights admiring.
“I’m happy to hear that,” he said, just as she eased her arm from his grasp.
He wasn’t ready to end their connection and tried to take her hand, but movement at his waist had him pausing. Before he could think to stop it, the towel had come undone and slid down his hips.
“Shit…” His hands fumbled as he reached for the towel, grabbing one end as the other dangled behind him.
A snicker from Teesha brought his gaze back up to her. She’d folded one arm across her chest, while the opposite hand moved to her mouth. She cleared her throat. “Um, I guess you’re not the only one happy that I’m staying.”
CHAPTER2
Kendrick was fine as hell.
No lies there.
And he was staying in this chalet with her. Him and that magnificent erection that she, for the life of her, couldn’t now unsee.
That had been forty-five minutes ago and Teesha’s pussy still throbbed at the memory. She’d grabbed her bags and come straight up the stairs, heading toward the bedroom where there were no lights on because she figured he’d already staked his claim on the larger one to the left of the staircase. Once inside the room she’d closed, and locked, the door behind her before wheeling her suitcase into one corner and dropping her duffel bag beside it. The backpack with her laptop and items she would normally have in her purse inside, was set on the chair across the room from the bed.
Now, she stood at the patio doors which led to a balcony and gazed out at the mountains of the Méribel Valley. It was like a picture on a post card, or in the fancy brochures she’d glimpsed the one time she’d ventured into a travel agency years ago. Méribel was the heart of the largest ski area in the world, split into various districts located at different altitudes. This chalet was situated just above a lively area grouped around a central square with shops, bars and restaurants. It was a large spacious property that boasted fabulous luxury ski in/ski out access with fantastic outside entertainment areas. The only thing Teesha had planned to do outside was ski. Shopping might’ve been an option if she hadn’t spent the last of her extra cash on the bid that got her here. Still, the brochure said there was a cinema room, game room, library, sauna and a hot tub on site. In between snoozing on the eight-hour plane ride, she’d thought of all the things she could do inside the chalet during her week alone.
Only now, she wasn’t alone.
Gritting her teeth, she yanked down the zipper of her coat and tossed the puffy material across the room. It barely made it to the bed, but she didn’t care. There were more pressing—and irritating—thoughts at hand. Kendrick, the last person she’d ever thought about seeing again was here in Méribel. Inherchalet. Wearing a towel that she should’ve been wearing after the long hot bubble bath she’d thought about taking later tonight.
Leaning forward, she let her forehead rest against the cool glass of the patio door. Her eyes closed and she squeezed her arms around herself again, this time trying to ward off the shaking from the anger she’d felt that cold winter’s night so long ago.
Her best friend had betrayed her. He’d done the unthinkable and she’d sworn that night to hate him forever. She’d been successful at that promise, never once looking back to the day her heart had been irrevocably broken. That feeling that a part of her had been ripped away, the burning sting of each word Kendrick had hurled at her that night, had lingered with her for far too long after the argument was over. And when he’d won the internship, she’d felt like she was suffocating being at the same school with him. Nothing she’d experienced up to that point had ever made her feel so broken and desolate. Not the bullying she’d endured as the smartest child in her elementary and middle school classes, or the insults that had been hurled at her every day of her high school years because her glasses were too thick, her hair too nappy or her clothes weren’t stylish enough. It hadn’t taken her long to form a layer of resistance against that treatment from the children she’d grown up around. They hadn’t done anything for her, hadn’t meant a damn thing to her and so their words and actions weren’t worthy of her time or concern. But Kendrick had been different. During her freshman year in college, he’d seen her and not only liked her, but he’d related to everything she did because he’d been just like her. They were two peas in a pod, the very best of friends and confidants. They’d been each other’s savior.
And then he’d done the unthinkable.
As if that needed to be the last thought she recalled about him, her phone rang, ending the reverie.
Easing away from the patio door, she crossed the floor to the bed and reached into her coat pocket to grab the phone.
“Hey, Mama,” she said into it after seeing her mother’s low afro wearing Bitmoji on the screen and swiping to answer. “Sorry. I’m here.”
“Well, that’s good to know,” Pam Palmer said in a tone that almost mirrored Teesha’s brittleness. “Had me over here wondering where my child was after receiving a cryptic text about flying outta the country on Christmas Day.”
Teesha rolled her eyes and shook her head. She’d known her family wasn’t going to take the news of her trip or the non-negotiable travel dates well. That’s exactly why she’d informed them via text.
“I just told your father I don’t know who’s gonna make the macaroni and cheese now,” her mother continued. “You know since you started making it with that fancy cheese nobody wants mine anymore.”
The fancy cheese Pam spoke of came from the local butcher and was simply a fresh chunk of sharp cheddar instead of the plastic package of pre-shredded cheese her mother bought from the grocery store. There was a difference in price of about a dollar, but in Pam’s mind that translated to a million dollars and thus it was too high for her to pay.
“I try to tell ‘em I’m not the one with the bigtime computer job, making the big bucks.”
“I don’t make big bucks, Mama.” It was a statement Teesha had made to her family more times than she could count. Working in the IT Department for the County of Arlington was nowhere as glamourous or lucrative as they all thought. “And the cheese really isn’t fancy.” But it did taste better than the store-bought cheddar, of that Teesha was certain.
“Well, you’ve flown clean out of the country, haven’t you? Only people who have money can do that.”
Which is exactly why Teesha hadn’t taken a trip to ski in the French Alps before now.
