Christmas Ever After Read online

  Sky tapped her glass against hers.

  Was it rebound sex? She almost wished they were alone so she could confess her changing feelings for Alec. “Where’s Em? I tried calling her earlier and she didn’t answer.”

  “She’s not feeling too great. Ryan says she has a winter bug. Feeling sick and generally crappy.”

  “Oh, no. I’ll call her tomorrow. We should get together, just the three of us.” She put her glass down as Alec approached. She’d thought he looked his best in sexy outdoor gear, but now she decided that maybe she’d been wrong about that. He looked handsome and sophisticated in a tailored suit, the fabric skimming shoulders that were broad and powerful.

  He had an indefinable strength and presence that set him apart from most of the men in the room.

  She wondered whether that was one of the things that had drawn Selina to him. Strength was an appealing trait to someone who was insecure and vulnerable.

  “Dance?” He held out his hand and Sky felt her heart race like a teenager’s.

  She stood up and glanced at her friend expectantly.

  Brittany laughed. “Are you kidding? Reindeer will fly across the sky before Zachary Flynn joins me on the dance floor.” But there was a wistful note in her voice and Sky saw Zach frown slightly.

  Leaving them to it, she took Alec’s hand and sashayed onto the dance floor in time to the music.

  They did it all. Jive, salsa, tango—the band, clearly motivated by the enthusiasm of the dancers, kept changing the tempo until Sky and Alec were the only two people dancing and everyone else was watching.

  They carried on until her less than perfect attempt at an Argentinean tango almost resulted in an uncomfortable encounter between her high heel and a certain delicate part of his anatomy.

  With an alarmed look, Alec scooped her up and carried her off the dance floor.

  “It ends now,” he muttered, “while I can still walk. When you threatened to put your stiletto somewhere it should never go, I didn’t realize you intended to do it in public.”

  That awful night seemed like a lifetime ago.

  Breathless and laughing, she slid her arms round his neck. “That was so much fun. I thought you said you couldn’t dance.”

  “I said I didn’t love it. I didn’t say I couldn’t do it. My mother sent me to dance classes with my sister when I was a teenager. At the time I hated her for it, until I discovered it gave me a head start over most other guys.” He set her down gently and she saw that Brittany and Zach were dancing slowly in a corner.

  Zach’s hand was cradling her head and he was saying something softly in her ear that made her laugh up at him.

  Sky’s insides turned over. Zach hated dancing, but he was doing it for Brittany.

  That was what love was, wasn’t it?

  It was doing something you didn’t want to do, just because you knew it would make your partner happy.

  Alec handed her a drink. “Thirsty?”

  “Yes. And hot.” She drank and swept her hair back from her face with her fingers. “Will we freeze if we go outside on the deck for a few minutes?”

  “Probably, but we should still do it. Wait there.”

  He returned moments later with their coats and draped hers around her shoulders.

  Leaving the noise and laughter behind, they walked out onto the terrace.

  The snow had been cleared but the air was freezing, cooling her heated skin in seconds.

  Alec was standing behind her and he wrapped her in his arms and rested his chin on her head.

  She stared into the darkness, listening to the sound of the ocean, shaken by the realization that she hadn’t been this happy in a long time.

  And that was because of Alec. Not just his body, or his family, but him. The man.

  Leaning against him, she felt safe and warm.

  Alec Hunter was a man who could handle anything life threw in his direction.

  Anything, she thought, except a serious relationship.

  He wasn’t prepared to handle that again.

  “What a perfect night. I feel very Christmassy. It’s time to make plans and wishes for the next year.” She slid her hands over his. “Tell me about your next big adventure, Shipwreck Hunter.”

  “Antarctica in January.”

  She gave a gasp and half turned. “Antarctica? It happened?” She thought back to the conversation he’d had with his father. How much he’d wanted it. “You weren’t sure. Oh, Alec, I’m so thrilled for you.”

  “Are you?” He said it cautiously. “Why?”

  “Because it’s what you wanted more than anything.” She turned so that she was facing him properly. “When did you find out?”

  “I had an email yesterday.”

  “And you didn’t share it with me? We should have opened champagne. We’ll do it when we get home. I have a bottle in the fridge ready.”

  “Ready for what?”

  She locked her hand in the front of his coat. “For occasions like this one. I happen to agree with your mother that we should celebrate small moments. In the meantime—we’ll toast without the alcohol.” She lifted her hand to his face. “To dreams coming true.”

  He looked at her for a long moment and she had a feeling she’d surprised him in some way, but before she could question him he cupped her face in his hands and lowered his mouth to hers.

  “To dreams.”

  As his mouth touched hers she felt the punch of physical awareness and something else. Something indefinable but equally powerful.

  It uncoiled deep inside her, warming all the chilled parts of her body.

  It made her heart swell in her chest and her body feel as if she’d had a shot of adrenaline straight into the vein.

  She didn’t know what it meant, but she sensed it wasn’t good.

  Any feeling that went beyond the superficial wasn’t good.

  He’d made it clear this thing they shared would never go deeper and she not only understood but agreed with their arrangement.

  Brittany and Zach came out onto the terrace to say that they were leaving and soon after Sky and Alec left, too.

  To take her mind off the intimacy of the short car journey, she asked him more about the Antarctica trip.

  “The BBC is making a documentary on Ernest Shackleton, the polar explorer. He planned to cross Antarctica via the South Pole, from the Weddell Sea to the Ross Sea. His ship, the Endurance, became trapped by pack ice and they couldn’t free her. Ten months later she sank.”

  “Ten months? It took ten months to sink? So he didn’t make it.”

  “He didn’t succeed in crossing Antarctica, but he brought his men home. It’s an incredible story. They couldn’t drag their boats and stores, so they camped on the ice and drifted with it until the ice started to break up.”

  “Sounds precarious.”

  “They launched the boats and made it to a barren island. Shackleton knew their only chance of rescue was to reach the whaling station at South Georgia, an island eight hundred miles away, but that meant crossing one of the worst seas in the world in an Antarctic winter.”

  She didn’t know which was more soothing and seductive, the soft purr of the car or the deep timbre of Alec’s voice. She decided that he could read the telephone book and still keep an audience captivated.

  “I’m guessing this didn’t have a happy ending.”

  “Surprisingly enough, it did. He took one of the ship’s boats, the James Caird, and a handful of men. They knew they’d be facing hurricane winds and high seas, so they reinforced the boat, did what they could.”

  “They made it?”

  “Yes, and then rescued the men left behind. Shackleton showed tremendous leadership.”

  “You’re going to talk about him?”

  “I’m going to talk about the Endurance and the James Caird.”

  “So you’re their go-to boat guy.”

  He smiled. “I suppose I am.”

  And he was good at it.

  She didn’t
tell him that the day before when he’d been working, she’d sneaked onto the internet and watched him on YouTube. It had taken less than five minutes for her to see why he had such a large female following. She’d watched everything, sometimes twice, and it had been clear why he was in such demand as a presenter. “I’m envious.”

  He slowed as they reached the turning to the cottage. “Why? I can’t imagine you’d particularly like Antarctica. Harsh, inhospitable, temperatures that make winter in Maine seem balmy—”

  “It would be an adventure. And there’s no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothing. And think of the light, the shadows, the luminous effect of low sun on ice—”

  He was silent for a moment and then he killed the engine and stared out to sea. “You’re a surprising person, Skylar Tempest.”

  She told herself that surprising could be good. So did that mean he’d just paid her a compliment?

  It bothered her how much she hoped it did.

  She was acutely aware of him. Of the power of his thigh so close to her own, of the strength of his hands and the width of his shoulders.

  He’d go to Antarctica, he’d fly off on his next adventure, and then what?

  He’d come back here and live in his cottage on the cliffs, buried in his books.

  “Will you promise me something?” She felt the tension ripple through him and carried on quickly. “Don’t shut yourself away here when you’re back from Antarctica. Get out there again. You’re a smart, interesting, fantastic guy and you should be with someone equally fantastic.”

  It was a moment before he replied. “You’re taking over the role of mother?”

  “No, I’m taking the role of friend. You shouldn’t be using what happened with your ex-wife as a reason to avoid relationships.”

  “I’m not avoiding relationships, just a certain type of relationship.”

  She laughed. “The one that requires you to book early if you want the Plaza in June.”

  “That’s the one.”

  Her laughter faded and she put her hand on his thigh. “You should get out there again, Alec. You should bury your cynicism somewhere in the bay along with all those shipwrecks and you should move on.”

  There was a long silence and then he turned his head to look at her. “Why?”

  Because she couldn’t bear to think of him alone, believing he wasn’t capable of making someone happy.

  Her heart thudded in her chest. “Because you deserve to be with someone. You deserve to be happy.”

  And with that she fumbled with the door and almost fell out of the car in her haste to escape before he asked her the question she didn’t even dare ask herself.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  THE SNOW BECAME their playground.

  They wrapped up in layers of down and waterproof and explored the groomed trails through the forest, sometimes on Alec’s snowmobile and occasionally on cross-country skis.

  Apart from a couple of hardy outdoorsmen who passed them, they had the place to themselves.

  Which was just as well, she thought, as she fell on her back again trying to balance on her skis while taking a photo.

  Fewer people to witness her humiliation.

  It made it worse that Alec was so competent at everything that had a physical element. She was convinced he could have been dropped anywhere in the world with nothing more than a backpack and survived.

  “I’m crap at this,” Sky said as she struggled with her skis. “I’m better at downhill.” But she had to admit it was fun and she was laughing as she levered herself up again. “And how come you ski? You’re British. You don’t even have mountains.”

  “I was on the college ski team.”

  “Of course you were.” She awkwardly rose to her feet, brushing off the snow. “Is there anything you’re not good at, Shipwreck Hunter?”

  “Marriage.” He rescued her ski pole. “I was exceedingly bad at marriage.”

  The forest was still and quiet, the only sound the occasional rush of snow falling from the trees onto more snow.

  She took the pole from him. “So when you’re bad at something you give up on it? That’s crazy logic.”

  “But it protects the innocent.”

  From what she’d heard his ex-wife sounded more manipulative than innocent, but Sky decided not to voice that thought aloud. “Well, you know what they say about being bad at something—you need to practice more.” She wavered on her skis and he shot out a hand and steadied her, his expression amused.

  “You need to get your skis into the tracks, then you won’t lose your balance.”

  “Strangely enough I was trying to do that. You’re probably thinking it would help if I stopped taking pictures.”

  “Why would you do that? For you, the pictures are the important part, not the skiing.” He kept his hand on her arm, holding her securely. “Have you taken anything you can use?”

  She still hadn’t got used to the fact that he didn’t mind her stopping all the time to take photos. “Possibly. I took a few of the sunlight through the snowy trees. I should have brought the Nikon but I can’t ski with that round my neck.” She shuffled back into the tracks. “You’re very patient.”

  “I’m not patient.”

  “You are. You never complain when I stop to take photos.”

  “Why would I complain?” His eyes seemed darker than ever against the untarnished white of the forest and she turned away and tried to focus on where she was putting her feet. She knew that if she kept looking at him, she’d fall over.”

  “Because of me you do a lot of waiting around.”

  “There’s no point in being outdoors if you don’t stop to breathe the air and enjoy the view.”

  He was so different from Richard.

  “I’m very dreamy and unfocused.”

  “I think you have tremendous focus. Anyone who can turn a creative talent into a business has focus. You’ve achieved your dream. Tempest Designs.”

  “It’s a work in progress. And it’s not my whole dream.” She breathed out, blowing clouds into the freezing air.

  “You want love. I know. You want the sort of big love that makes you feel as if your heart is going to burst.”

  She laughed. “The sort that makes my heart feel too big for my chest. Not burst, thank you very much.”

  “That’s a relief.” He reached out and zipped her coat up to her neck to keep out the cold. “Because that option could be messy. You have a big heart, Skylar Tempest. I wouldn’t want to be there when it bursts.”

  “You’ve already fixed my bruised head and my cut finger. I’ll take responsibility for my heart myself.”

  His hand rested on her hip and his face was close to hers. “You,” he said softly, “deserve to meet someone incredible.”

  He took her face in his hands and kissed her, and the contrast between the warm skill of his mouth and the cool bite of the winter air intensified every sensation.

  All it took was that one slow kiss to make her head spin and her knees go heavy.

  She felt his hands run slowly down her back, drawing her against him. Through the layers of clothing she could feel his body, hard and powerful, and then he deepened the kiss, searching and exploring until she was swamped with dizzying waves of pleasure. Desire sank its teeth into her and she pressed against him, frustrated by the layers of clothing.

  “No one kisses the way you do.” She murmured the words against his mouth. “If we get naked here, will we be caught?”

  “No, but we risk getting frostbite in certain vital parts of our anatomy. It might make a stiletto through the balls seem like the soft option.” He always managed to make her smile.

  “We probably won’t see each other once Christmas is over so maybe we should make a date for a hamburger in the summer.” She hadn’t intended to say it, but it slipped out, as if her subconscious was reluctant to let go of something that felt so good. “That was the wrong thing to say. Don’t freak out.”

  “Sky—” he put his ha
nds on her shoulders “—I don’t ever want you to watch what you say with me. There is no ‘wrong thing’ between us, ever. And I’m having fun. More fun than I’ve had in a long time.” He held her gaze, looking at her with such an intense expression that her heart started to pound in her chest and her palms grew damp.

  Instead of making the situation easier, it made it more complicated.

  “Right. Well—good. It’s good that we’ve cleared that up.” She peeped at him. “You’re hard to read. You have a serious face. I guess it wouldn’t do to be talking about some serious historical matter on camera and then suddenly collapse with laughter.”

  “It happens.”

  “It does? I can’t imagine you losing control. Whenever I see you on-screen, you’re very smooth and polished.”

  “You’ve watched me?”

  It wasn’t something she’d intended to confess. It made her feel like a schoolgirl with a crush. “I might have sneaked a little peep at that episode where you took your shirt off—just for research purposes. I can see why it has had so many views and why Liv’s friend wants an introduction.”

  His eyes darkened. “You’ve seen more of me than that over the past couple of weeks.”

  Much more. And still it wasn’t enough.

  Her stomach flipped. “I wouldn’t mind seeing it again, so let’s get off this trail before I break something essential. You can tell me all about your embarrassing filming out-takes over a bowl of hot soup and a glass of good wine.”

  “Go ahead of me.”

  “Why? You want to look at my butt?”

  “No, I want to be there to pick you up when you fall.” His eyes gleamed. “But I can’t promise that I won’t look at your butt at the same time.”

  He always made her laugh.

  “That would make a perfect alternative wedding vow, along with ‘I solemnly promise always to remove strands of my hair from the shower,’ or ‘I solemnly promise to try not to sever parts of my body when I’m making soup.’” She saw his expression change. He lost the relaxed, easygoing smile and she gave an embarrassed shake of her head. “Oops.”