Heart of Ice Read online

  “Why didn’t say you something! I’ve totally made a fool out of myself. He caught me!” They sat at a nice little table off to the corner and away from the bar. It was still in sight, so Christina figured she could still sneak peeks at the delicious looking man at the bar. He probably was out of her league anyway and experienced. She could feel her neck heating up at the last thought. Why was she thinking about sex anyway? She needed a drink. Like magic, two drinks appeared. She studied the drink in front of her.

  It was in a short glass and amber in color.

  “Just drink it. See how it taste.” She looked at Sarah with one eyebrow raised as the leggy blonde began drinking her cocktail.

  “But where did they come from?”

  “Sometimes you’re so oblivious Chris. The gentlemen at bar…does that ring a bell?” Sarah said turning to wave at the men at the bar. Christina grabbed her hand.

  “What the hell are you doing? They’re going to come over here. I can’t do this.” The panic was racing around in her veins; she still couldn’t help glancing at the dark haired one. She quickly averted her eyes and her legs automatically clasped together. What was wrong with her? Why was her body acting this way?

  “Chris calm down, they aren’t going to devour you,” she said trying to place a reassuring hand on her. Christina didn’t understand how Sarah could just be so calm and relaxed. She hated social interaction.

  “This is going overboard; I’m clearly out of my element. Eek! They’re coming this way. Hide me!” she said desperately, as her eyes shot around the room looking for an escape route. Sarah simply smiled at her.

  “You little devil you purposely called them over here! I’m leaving!”

  “Oh sit down Christina; it’s not the end of the world. Who knew a little intellectual conversation would scare the child prodigy off.” If there was one thing Christina prided herself on, it was her intellect. Sarah knew this and took advantage of the fact, calling her out. Christina tossed her drink back. The burning feeling at the back of her throat made her feel better.

  “Let the games begin.”

  ***

  Matt and Collum entered the lounge area. The bar looked very inviting tonight, its cherry oak wood shined in the soft light. Immediately the bartender served them their drinks. Matt had a scotch on the rocks, while Collum had a long island.

  “I was prepared to be uncomfortable for the rest of the night, but you’ve done well my friend,” he said sipping from his drink and taking a look around. There were already a few women there who’d tried to catch his eye, but they weren’t exactly what he was looking for. Not that he was looking anyway.

  “Would I steer you wrong my friend? Wait a minute don’t answer that.” Matt joined his friend as they roared with laughter. It felt nice to get out, although Matt would never admit that to Collum. If his friend knew how right he was, he’d never hear the end of it.

  “Hello, southern hospitality.” Collum whispered. Matt saw the two women that entered. The shorter and curvaceous one caught his eye. She walked practically hunched over; perhaps she was in a predicament similar to his own. He called the bartender over, and order two house drinks for the pair of ladies that came in. In the midst of ordering, he felt a heavy gaze settle upon him, turning he was surprise to encounter a pair of bright grey eyes. A masculine chuckle escaped him, as he noted the blush that swept the young lady’s face. The night just got better. It was time to make their acquaintances. It seemed him and Collum were on the same page. They moved towards the women.

  ***

  Christina thought she was going to hyperventilate as an angel of darkness made his way over towards her. Her appearance projected that she was calm, cool, witty and collected but on the inside it was a different story. It took everything she had to not get up and run screaming from the table. On her second drink, she gulped it heavily. It wasn’t her fault, she was nervous and it was the only thing she could do. She wiped her sweaty palms on her dress, before handing her hand over to the sun-kissed Apollo. He looked like a player, and a knowing smile spread across her face as she saw Sarah’s expression. It seemed like Sarah may have met her match. It was handing her hand over to the dark haired devil that made her nervous. The man looked like he would devour her on the spot, hell she wished he would. Uh oh, that last thought wasn’t hers, maybe she had too much to drink; at least that was what she told herself.

  “It’s a pleasure,” he said kissing her hand. Christina wanted to swoon. This guy was pulling out all the stops and it was working! Oh no. She was done for! A goner, her heart leapt in her chest. Was it her or was it getting hotter? She restrained herself from throwing her drink down like some crazed woman with no manners.

  “I’m sure it’s all mine,” she managed to squeak out. Joining his friend at the table he sat across from her. Now, how was she going to survive? Sarah patted her hand. Christina snatched it away. It was all her fault after all, dragging her out here, getting her drunk, and throwing this hunk of a man in front of her. Her interaction with the opposite sex was the equivalent of a two year old trying to perform heart surgery. Impossible. She would not fail, she breathed a little easier when Sarah started the conversation. That’s right girl, she got them into this mess she could get them out.

  “So what brings you two down, to little ole’ Tennessee?” she asked as she sipped her drink. The server disappeared after replacing Christina’s drink in front of her. She lost tracked of what number she was on three or four, at least she wasn’t driving tonight.

  “We’re here on vacation, sightseeing, touring, Nashville is anything but small,” Collum answered the blonde. Sarah wanted to roll her eyes, that question was for Matt. Christina’s attraction to the man was all but glaring obscenely at her. Lucky for them, both men were dense and didn’t pick up on such things, or maybe they did only when it suited their needs, it was her job to find out which one applied to this situation.

  “What about you ladies?” Collum asked sparing a glancing at the dark haired beauty that held Matt’s attention. Matt had been oddly silent, since meeting her. He gave her a friendly smile. She blushed. Look at that. Collum’s smiled grew, she became all the more endearing.

  “Christina’s an associate professor at Vanderbilt University.” Sarah said with pride.

  “Sarah!” she gasped. She didn’t like people knowing what she did for a living, if they put two and two together—her age and the position together, she’d be the weird one again, being a super genius apparently made you different, and people felt inferior to you no matter how hard you tried to be in their terms ‘normal’. Interest flashed in Matt’s eyes. He called for the server, ordering another drink.

  “If it’s intellect you want, Matt’s your guy.” Christina faintly heard what Matt’s friend said, the second she became the center of his attention, her body reacted. Her hair follicles stood on end, her heart raced in her chest, and sweat dripped between her breasts. Her nipples were instantly hard. She hoped he couldn’t tell. She felt like some wanton whore. She hoped someone would rescue her from her latest predicament, sad to say, the friend who was to do the rescuing was busy flirting with the player across the table from her.

  “What do you teach?” Matt’s smooth voice slid across her skin. She fought the instinct to close her eyes and surrender to his touch.

  “I work in the criminal justice department teaching security management courses.” She said in a rush.

  “You must be very good at your job, to be an associate professor. How old are you anyway?” he asked her, leaning in. She inhaled deeply; she could smell the alcohol on his breath. His lips were so close, losing her cool at his close proximity, she shouted,

  “I need to go to the bathroom, err, ladies room. Please excuse me,” and she fled from the table. Once in the privacy and safety of the bathroom, she wetted a paper towel and tried to cool herself off. Her chest was red and her eyes were bright, at least she thought they were or it could be the effects of the alcohol finally hitting her. She ac
hed to let her hair down, the bobby pins were killing her, but she didn’t want to hear a lecture from Sarah.

  “You can do this Christina. You just walk out there, give Sarah the signal, make up an excuse and get the hell up out of there.” She nodded at her reflection. She totally had this under control; there were no bombs going off, no stampede of people. She could handle one single man. Exiting the restroom, she was surprised when someone grabbed her wrist and slammed her against the wall. Before she could cry out, a hot demanding mouth came down on her, silencing her.

  Chapter 3

  His tongue invaded her mouth swiftly, plunging itself into the back of her throat. Christina had never been kissed with such force. Breaking the kiss, green eyes that burned with lust stared back into her startled grey ones. He leant forward dragging his nose along her collarbone before biting down on her ear. A small gasped escaped Christina as hot liquid seeped from her. Placing her hands on his chest she tried to get her bearings.

  “Wait,” she said breathlessly. His hand clasped her thigh and he hiked it around his waist, pressing his hard length into her. My god, they were in a bar lounge. Surely, Sarah and Collum was able to put one and two together.

  “I have to have you,” he whispered, dragging his tongue down the side of her neck. She whimpered. She was not some woman who would toss her morals aside, despite what Sarah may think or want.

  “I can’t, I’m not this kind of person.” Stopping, Matt looked her in the eyes, she was serious. He never ravaged a woman in public like this, it was out of the norm for him, but when he saw the curvaceous creature making her escape, he had no choice but to follow. Taking one whiff of her, he could no longer contain himself. He didn’t ask for much, but when he wanted something he got it. In that moment, he could think of nothing he wanted more than the grey eyed angel, and he would have her.

  “What do you want?” he asked her.

  “I don’t do one night stands. This was fun, but now it’s over.” Christina fixed herself and forced herself to move. If she didn’t force herself to leave, this man would continue to ravage her and she wouldn’t have the power to stop him. As she walked away, she felt his eyes on her. Her legs shook, she was emotionally drain, sticky and just wanted a bath. Taking a seat at the table, she hoped her red cheeks didn’t give her away. Seeing the knowing look in Sarah’s eyes, she knew she wasn’t going to get away without an explanation. Pleading with her eyes, she hoped Sarah got the message. She was ready to call a quits.

  “I was just telling Sarah here, that it’s a shame we wouldn’t be in town longer,” Collum said to Matt as he took his seat at the table. His friend was very hard to read at the moment. There was a frustrated look in his eyes that wasn’t there before. Ah, the black haired beauty must’ve turned him down. This had suddenly got interesting.

  “Well you know Matt’s off he’ll be vacationing in Colorado.” Matt grumbled looking at his friend, he was playing with fire. Matt didn’t want anyone knowing about his status.

  “That’s too bad, I’ll be working,” Sarah said giving Christina a wink. She was going to kill Sarah, she was being so obvious. She avoided making eye contact with Sarah. The night was going downhill and fast.

  “But Christina is off,” she said coyly.

  “Sarah! That’s not nice. He already has plans,” she whisper yelled at her friend.

  “Au contraire, I don’t. Would you like to accompany me,” he asked her. Christina looked at everyone with wide eyes. They were setting her up. It was obvious; everyone was in on some major secret and conspiring against her. Who were these people? Her tongue stuck to the roof of her mouth. She felt so hot she thought she would faint, and the liquor whatever it was had caught up to her.

  Sensing her anxiety Matt placed his arm around her, “It’s okay, give me a call.” He didn’t think that grey eyes could bring out his protective side. He didn’t like how quickly the woman was getting under skin, but she called to him. He didn’t know if it was her vulnerability or something else. Pulling out the black card, he wrote his personal cell phone number on it. It was a number that only two people now three had who could reach him at.

  “Well, gentlemen I think we’ll call this a night,” Sarah said finally realizing the magnitude of Christina’s anxiety. She wondered how Matt picked up on it.

  “Do you guys need an escort home?” they asked in unison. This made Christina laugh and some of that panic that she had been feeling eased away.

  “I’ll take that as, you’ll be fine,” Matt stated. Christina looked up as Sarah excused herself to go to the ladies room and Collum exited the restaurant, leaving her and Matt at the table. She was waiting on that inevitable awkward silence to descend, but surprisingly it did not. Her heart jumped in her throat as he pushed the loose strands of hair that escaped the tight bun behind her ears. It was when he leant in taking a whiff of her perfume that made her nervous.

  “Exquisite,” he mumbled before placing a kiss on her neck and getting up from the table. Instantly her nipples harden and a little moan escaped her.

  “Call me,” he said before leaving out of the door.

  Once the gentlemen left, Sarah sat down beside her. “You’ve got it bad doll face.”

  “What are you talking about? I don’t have anything.”

  “C’mon, Chris, do you take me for a fool. I want to know what exactly happened while you were away in the ladies room?” she asked leaning in.

  “Sorry honey, I don’t kiss and tell.” She said getting up from the table. The guys had already covered the tab.

  “But Christina, that’s not fair!” she whined follow her friend out the restaurant and into the crisp air. The girls had no idea; the men sat in their car, watching every move they made. Once they ladies were safely in their car, they preceded to the hotel where they’d been staying until they catch their flight to New York the next morning.

  ***

  Sarah mumbled a quick goodnight to Christina as she turned in for the night. She did have exams to study for. Christina was lucky, being an associate professor did have its perks; she only had to work a half a day tomorrow. She’d go in, hand out exams to anxiety filled students, and then go home. Piece of cake. Drinking two bottles of water, in hopes of trying to prevent a hangover, Christina ran herself a bath. She used oils, bath beads and bubble bath, she couldn’t help it, she enjoyed her soaks in the tub. All she was missing was some rose petals and that hunk of a man. Sliding into the tub, she recalled the night’s events.

  ***

  “Tell me dear friend, did you enjoy your cup of southern hospitality?” Matt bit back a smile as they sat at the bar in hotel having additional drinks.

  “Yes.”

  “Well, do tell. She turned you down didn’t she?”

  “Yes and no.”

  “Care to elaborate.” Looking over at Collum, Matt wasn’t sure he should tell him what he thought about Christina; then again he had to be grateful to the man because he never would have met Christina.

  “I had a chance to taste her, but she pushed me away, before things could get anymore steamier.”

  “Interesting, go on.”

  “I think she’s an innocent.”

  “Innocent as in the cherry hasn’t been popped?”

  “Well yeah.”

  “No. That’s not possible. Women are promiscuous, probably not her, but she had to have some experience. I mean unless she’s a prude, and that’s not good for you my man. If she’s an associate professor, I’m putting her at twenty-seven years of age, even though she looks younger.”

  “But what if she is?” he asked worriedly.

  “And what if she isn’t.” Collum asked his friend. Matt sighed dragging his hands through his hair.

  “So is the Billionaire Matt Dallas, going to give up?”

  “Well no.”

  “You always get what you want right?”

  “Yes.”

  “Do you want the girl?”

  “Well yes, I want her.”

&
nbsp; “Then what the hell are you waiting for?” Collum asked finishing the rest of his drink.

  “A phone call,” Matt said dejectedly, causing Collum to roar with laughter. Tears sprung to his eyes. Who would’ve thought the ice man himself would be vying for the attention of a small woman. This was going to be good. Collum hoped the woman would call Matt; it wouldn’t be good for his self-esteem if she stood him up. Ever since the treachery surrounding Natalia, his friend questioned everything about himself. There was clearly nothing wrong with Matt, but he insisted on working himself to death and shaping himself into what he perceived as perfect. Matt had no idea that he was no longer living life. Instead he was bound by laws of a hierarchal stereotypical society that limited his growth. Collum knew that in this world he and Matt were each other’s family. They couldn’t even trust those closest to them. Collum had even been used to get to Matt, but he wouldn’t talk about that right now. All he wanted was his friend’s happiness and he would ensure that it happened.

  “Alright man, I’m calling it a night. We do have an early flight tomorrow.”

  “I suppose you’re right.” Collum wished Matt a good night as his eyes surveyed the area. There was a brown eye brunette who caught his eye. He flashed his million dollar smile as he made his way towards her. It seemed tonight wasn’t a complete lost.

  “I’m Anna what’s your name?” she asked seductively trailing a finger down his chest.

  “Call me David,” Collum said as he followed her to her room.