“Attention, ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain. Due to inclement weather, the airport will be closing shortly, so make sure you see the agent at the gate to make arrangements for local transportation.”

Lana groaned. “Crap. Now what?”

“I’m sure we’ll be able to find rooms.” Mark put a comforting hand on her arm.

“I hope so. I have so much to do…” Her voice drifted off and she grabbed her planner, making notes in the margin of a page, completely lost in thought.

Mark watched her because he couldn’t seem to tear his eyes away. Once they’d stopped flirting and started talking about random things, she’d stopped being shy or nervous and was a lot of fun. He wished she wouldn’t think so hard when he flirted with her; she was so damn pretty when she smiled.

They gathered their things and got off the plane, immediately getting in line to talk to an agent. Lana pulled out her phone and made a call, tapping her foot impatiently. “Hello, this is Lana Callahan… I’m a platinum member, yes. Account number 536658153. Yes, I’ll hold.” She glanced at Mark. “You want me to book one for you too?”

Mark glanced at the mile-long line and instantly nodded. “Yeah, that would be great. Thanks.”

Lana nodded and turned back to her call. “Yes…okay. Thank you. Perfect…that’s lovely. By the way, I’ll need another room as well. I have a client with me.” She paused, narrowing her eyes. “What do you mean? There are always rooms for platinum members… I see. Well…no, I guess I don’t. Thanks for your help.”

She turned to Mark. “I guess I got the last room. She said if I didn’t have such high status, I wouldn’t have gotten the one I got. It’s the presidential suite.”

He raised his eyebrows. “All for you?”

She cocked her head. “There’s a pullout couch in the living room.”

“I’ve slept on worse,” he chuckled. “Come on, let’s go.”

They walked around the growing lines and made their way to baggage claim. Mark didn’t have a checked bag but she did and they waited patiently until she got it. The rental car booths were all closed so they headed outside to get a cab. The lines were long and Lana sighed, wisps of red hair whipping across her face. She reached into her bag and pulled out something pink and proceeded to put her hair up in a loose, lopsided bun, but on her, it was adorable. Mark smiled to himself, trying to keep from complimenting her since it would inevitably lead to some sort of disaster and that was all they needed outside in the snow and ice.

“We’re lucky the plane landed,” she noted, looking around at the snow that was starting to come down harder.

“Yeah, this storm is going to be a mess.”

An hour later they’d settled into the nicest hotel room Mark had seen in a long time. The pullout bed was almost as nice as his bed at home and being in such close proximity to Lana was more than he could have hoped for. Of course, she immediately started to work, setting up her laptop on the dining room table and calling Kate, Aaron, and at least four other people before he’d even had a chance to read the room service menu. She was a force of nature when it came to work and he was somewhat enthralled.

“Stop staring at me,” she called over her shoulder without even looking up. “You know I’ll undoubtedly burn the place down if you get me flustered.”

He snorted with laughter, loving her sense of humor. “I can’t help it—you’re beautiful.”

She turned slowly, her eyes meeting his. “Mark, I’m clumsy and have zero game with men, but I’m neither a virgin nor a prude. I like sex, I have sex when the opportunity arises, and I’m down for sex. I’m just not good at getting from point A to point B.”

Mark had no idea how to respond to that but refused to miss an opportunity to flirt with her. “Honey, I can handle all the points from A to Z. You just have to tell me what I have to do to relax you enough to get started.”

Surprisingly, she scowled but he realized it was because her phone was ringing, and she answered with the Bluetooth device in her ear. He waited impatiently for her to finish, and finally she set her phone on the table, closed her laptop and turned to him.

“I don’t like being the aggressor,” she said softly.

“When I was the aggressor you almost hurt yourself,” he pointed out.

She chewed her lip thoughtfully. “What if…neither of us was the aggressor and we just kind of…did stuff…together?”

“Like go to dinner?” He got up and held out a hand to her. “There’s a steakhouse inside the hotel. Let’s go eat and get to know each other some more. You don’t have to be nervous with me, Lana. I’m a nice guy.”

She slowly got to her feet, her eyes trained on his. “Not too nice, I hope.”

Mark was positive this was going to be his favorite snowstorm ever.

Lana couldn’t remember being on a dinner date that went so smoothly. She didn’t knock anything over, she ate what she wanted, and he made her laugh. His stories about his non-combat military escapades were hysterical, and he was well-read, interesting and oh-so sexy. When he focused on her, she felt something stir inside of her that made no sense. He was handsome in a rugged way, with a military haircut, blue eyes and a muscular but not overly bulky frame. His biceps were clearly visible through the gray Henley he wore and she was pleasantly surprised she could enjoy looking at him without being obvious about it.

As they finished eating and sat back to polish off the bottle of wine they’d ordered, she relaxed into the warm atmosphere and his wonderful company. Whatever this was tonight, she liked it too much to try to overthink anything. Maybe, just this once, she could have the upper hand in a one- or several-night stand. Based on the uncertainty in his life and the possibility of moving here to Montana, keeping things casual would be best. Because they had mutual friends and would be together in Eagle Rock for a few weeks, it was likely he would be on board with that kind of arrangement. They were adults and had a mutual attraction, so there was no reason for them to deprive themselves just because they didn’t have a future. He wanted to sleep with her and she desperately needed to get laid. It had been far too long. Hell, she’d never slept with anyone as sexy as Mark Garrison, so that was unique in and of itself.

“What are you thinking about?” Mark asked, startling her back to the present.

“How nice this is,” she admitted, meeting his eyes. “How nice you are. Thank you for going out of your way to keep me from embarrassing myself—dating is always stressful for me.”

He frowned. “Really?”

“I think guys find me difficult because I get so flustered and inevitably say or do something silly and it goes downhill from there.”

“I don’t know what they’re talking about. Being with you is easy.”

“Being with you is easy too.” She kept waiting for that anxious, awkward feeling to wash over her, but it wasn’t happening. It was like she’d turned a corner with Mark, and it was fantastic to be so at ease with him.

“Dessert?” he asked, his eyes twinkling as if he’d read her mind.

“No, the wine is plenty.”

They talked until the wine was gone and then ordered another bottle. By the time that one was gone as well, they were both feeling the effects and Lana took his arm as they walked towards the elevator. Neither spoke as they rode up to the top floor and Mark took the key from her to unlock the door. He didn’t give her time to get nervous once they were inside and pulled her into his arms. She stumbled, landing squarely against his chest, and they both chuckled.

“You’re not going to blush if I kiss you, are you?” he asked quietly, moving his mouth towards hers.

“No…” Her breath left her as his lips found hers and everything faded to bliss. His tongue sought hers with gentle exploration and she kissed him back. It was heavenly. Everything about it was hot and delicious and perfect, like the colorful sunset on a sandy beach after a day in crystalline waters. He’d been waiting for this chance for a couple of years and it was far better than he’d imagined.

Deepening the kiss, he wrapped one arm around her waist and brought the other up to slide through her soft, thick hair. She moaned and he kissed her harder, deeper, until they were both breathing hard. The fingers of one of her hands had dove under his shirt and were kneading the taut muscles of his abdomen. Her soft, warm body was glorious and he yearned to lick every inch of her, but a tiny sliver of doubt had somehow planted itself and now he was suddenly unsure this was a good idea.

Abruptly, he broke away, shaking his head. “Babe, I don’t think we should do this when we’re this drunk.”

“I told you I wanted to sleep with you before I took the first sip,” she murmured, looking into his eyes in confusion.

Crap. She had. She wanted this. He wanted her too, but his gut told him it was too soon. Lana wasn’t a one-night stand kind of girl, at least not with him. She might not know it yet, but they were good together. She was everything he’d hoped she’d be and even though the erection straining against his jeans desperately needed release, his rational mind screamed he would lose her if he rushed into this much intimacy too soon.

The look in her eyes gave him pause and he put his hands on either side of her face. “I can’t explain it, but I feel like I already know you, Lana. You’re thinking about sex and I don’t want to be that guy, the one who uses you for one thing and walks away, proving everything you already think about yourself.”

“Wh-what?” She was blinking furiously and he hated the shimmer of tears in her eyes.

“Trust me,” he said softly. “It’s better if we don’t. Not tonight.”

“But…” She searched his face and he watched as hers closed down. She took a step back and nodded. “Okay, sure. You’re probably right. Why mess up a nice friendship with mindless sex, right?”

“Oh, babe. That’s not what this is.”

“It’s fine. Really.” She turned and picked up her purse from where she’d dropped it. “Uh, good night. I’ll see you in the morning.”

“We’ll talk about this over breakfast, okay?” He didn’t know how he’d resist if they kept talking right now.

“Sure. Thanks for dinner.” She hurried into the bedroom and shut the door behind her.

Mark let out a sigh of frustration. That had gone wrong in so many ways, he wasn’t sure where to start. He wanted to respect her, show her he cared about more than just sex, and she’d taken it as rejection. He should have followed her, but they were both a little drunk and probably emotional, so it might be better to sleep it off and talk in the morning. Hopefully, she’d see how much he liked her and would want to spend more time getting to know each other the way he did. Hopefully.