In her bed, it had meant she’d be smiling for days.
“Let me guess. You used the height to do something outrageous and reckless.”
“I got spinning so fast.” He maneuvered the snowboard hand into a single snowboard finger and demonstrated it twirling around and around in the rising steam from the cup. “Observers say I spun well over a thousand degrees. Guys frequently spin nine hundreds or ten-twenties, but this was beyond that.”
Tessa cringed. How could he be proud of an accident that nearly killed him? “And you lost control?”
He frowned and stared at his pantomimed performance as if he didn’t know where to move the players next. “More like I lost concentration for a fraction of a second. I think I let myself enjoy the moment for an instant, and in that nanosecond, I miscalculated the landing.”
He allowed the finger snowboarder to fall over and careen downward past the cocoa cup to land in a heap on the wooden bench. “I didn’t just hit the pipe and fall, I flew butt over boot heels halfway down the mountain.” He shook his head as his gaze turned from the drama of his fingers and locked on her. “I lost control.”
The regret she discerned in his eyes almost made her want to throw her carefully constructed professional persona to the wind and reach out to him.
But she refused to dare anything more with this man.
She had another dare she planned to honor, and it involved thinking with her head instead of her heart.
“I’m sorry, Mitch.” Too late, she realized her voice conveyed all the emotions she had sought to suppress. The throaty whisper reverberated in the silence like the echo of a far-off church bell.
Embarrassed by her transparent feelings, she stared downward, only to spy his hand laying on the bench beside her thigh. Almost touching.
He yanked it back after a moment and drained his cocoa. “It was a good lesson,” Mitch declared, crinkling the cup and tossing it into a nearby trash can with a hook shot. “I’m more cautious now. I have a business of my own and employees to consider. I can’t afford to be reckless anymore.”
Tessa chose her words with care. “You’ve invested a lot of yourself into Mogul Ryders.” He might be creating some stability with his business. Yet she’d be willing to bet if given a snowboard or skis—or a meaningful relationship, for that matter—he’d be as impulsive as ever.
“It means everything to me, Tessa.” He leaned forward with his elbows on his knees, eyeing the action on the ice like a benchwarmer eager to get in the game. “That’s why I’m so glad you’re going to help me get the new product line off the ground. You’ve got the expertise I need.”
“Westwood Marketing has a great team. They’ll make sure your line makes an impressive debut.” She knew her first pang of regret about leaving her firm next week. A part of her would have liked to supervise the implementation of her plans for Mitch’s company.
“Your firm has quite a reputation. But it’s you I trust.” He winked.
A warning buzzer went off in Tessa’s head. She had to make certain he understood that she wouldn’t be part of the package after Friday. “Of course, my contribution is complete once your plan is polished and approved.”
Mitch straightened. The music from inside MacRae’s stopped, and the dinner crowd applauded. “What do you mean?”
Silence surrounded them but for the scrape of blades on the ice and the far-off giggles of the skaters. The falling snow insulated them from the rest of the world.
“I’m leaving my firm. Setting up the marketing plan for Mogul Ryders is my last project.”
Mitch’s jaw flexed in silent testament to his vexation. “Why? They don’t pay you enough? Because I can hire you—”
“No.” She didn’t care to hear how much he needed her brains when he’d never had any need for her heart. “It’s not that. It’s the pace. I don’t want to spend all my free time in airports anymore.”
He clasped her shoulders in his hands. Logically, she knew his skin must be cold from their time outdoors. His touch sent heat waves through her anyhow.
“But this is big, Tessa. This is my whole life.”
He’d said much the same thing to her eight years ago when he asked her to trot the globe with him while he chased his dreams on the pro circuit. She hadn’t been able to make him happy then, either.
“I’m sorry, Mitch. I’ve already given my notice.”
“How much longer will I have you?”
She knew he didn’t mean the question in the provocative way her ears heard it. That didn’t stop the shiver that tripped through her in response.
She took a deep breath and told herself she only had a few days to endure the sensual torment of just being in the same room with him. She could do this.
Braving his gaze, she repeated the motivational mantra she had been using to fulfill Ines’s dare. “I leave in just one week.”
3
MITCH STARED into her green eyes, willing her to change her mind. Yet he could tell by the mutinous thrust of her chin he wouldn’t be any more successful at a Vulcan Mind Meld now than he had been the last time they’d parted.
As he walked her to his truck, however, it occurred to him that he had infinitely more life experience than the last time she’d left him. And he had more than his heart to forfeit this go-round. The job security of everyone in his company rested on whether or not he could get his snowboard line off the ground.
That meant he’d have to commit himself to making Tessa stay. If she was quitting the job because she worked too hard, maybe he could woo her into helping him by showing her a good time. When was the last time Ms. Trench Coat and Heels had some fun?
With only one week to change her mind, Mitch knew he couldn’t afford his slower approach anymore. As of now, he was a man on a mission.
TESSA OPENED a reluctant eye and scanned her hotel suite for the source of the incessant pounding that woke her before her alarm sounded. She abhorred the thought of leaving her nighttime cocoon of flannel sheets and down comforter. She also couldn’t go back to sleep until the knocking ceased.
“Tessa?” Mitch’s gravelly baritone drove through her door. “You awake?”
She groaned a reply, hoping her incoherence would be enough to send him away. She’d have a hard time living up to the dare if she had to confront such a sexy voice first thing in the morning.
“There’s at least a foot of new snow from last night,” he called. “You should see it.”
Like a child rooting for a snow day, Tessa brightened at the weather report. She shimmied partway out of the covers. “Did they clear the pond yet?”
“Nope. It’s pristine. Untouched. You can be the first snow angel out there if you hurry.”
A little tremor of excitement skittered over her, but she couldn’t be sure if it had to do with eagerness to get outside or a desire to see Mitch again. What would it hurt to have a little fun? And they wouldn’t be anywhere near a bed….
She tossed off the remaining blankets and slid to the floor. “Ten minutes, tops. I’ll meet you out front.”
“I think you’ll want to let me in,” Mitch persisted.
“Not a chance. Unless you have coffee?” She dashed around the room, flicking on lights, pressing the button for a gas flame in the fireplace, running a comb through her hair.
“Among other things.”