Stuck With A Stranger (2 page)

"I'd offer to buy you a drink," he said, sweeping his
gaze around the dimly-lit diner. "But I don’t think alcohol is on
the menu here."

"You could buy me a coffee,” she said. "As long as
it’s decaf.”

"Decaf it is." He waved at the waitress, who was
staring out the front window at the ever-increasing snowstorm, a
worried look on her face.

"It doesn’t look like they’re going to re-open the
highway until tomorrow at the earliest," the man said to Rachel.
"So I guess we’re stuck in this little truck stop town for the
night."

“That’s the way it looks,” she agreed. “And if you
wanna know the truth, I don't really
want
to get back on the
roads tonight. I don’t need the stress, and nothing’s worth getting
into an accident for, especially since I’m on a sort of
mini-vacation and I’m not on a time clock."

"Same for me," he said. "And fortunately I found a
room at one of the motels here in town, just in case."

Rachel file that away for future reference. She
wasn't into picking up strangers--especially in roadside
diners--but she also wasn't into sleeping on the floor in roadside
diners. And the thought of bedding down with a sexy guy on a cold
winter night certainly had its appeal.

“Now I’m jealous,” Rachel said after a pause. “I’ve
been sitting in this diner all evening, hoping that this was some
sort of bad Twilight Zone episode and I’d wake up to find it warm
and dry outside. And now, unfortunately, all the rooms in town are
probably taken.”

The waitress came by and filled both their coffee
cups.

"So are you from?" The man asked her when they were
alone again.

"Dallas," she said. "Which is a lot warmer than
Colorado right now."

"I’ll bet it is.” He sipped his coffee, musing. “I'm
from Denver, by the way, and the weather there is about like this
right now, I’m afraid."

They both reached for the sugar at the same time, and
their hands brushed momentarily. Rachel felt a bolt of electricity
race up her arm, and her heart rate increased accordingly
.
Christ, I've gotta lay off the coffee. Or get laid more often
.
She wondered if the man across the table felt it too, or was this
just her hormones running amuck?

"I guess maybe we should inter-introduce ourselves,"
she stammered. She was feeling more like a sexually-starved, social
misfit by the second. "I'm Rae."

"I’m David," he said, extending his hand across the
table. “David Ramsey.”

Giving his hand a quick squeeze, she again noticed
the same jolt of electricity streaking up her spine. This time her
nipples pulsed in unison, and she felt a warm tingle in that
special place between her legs
. I
definitely
need to get
laid more often
, she told herself, and wondered if this
dreamy-eyed stranger might be able to help her out with that.

“Nice to meet you, David.”

“Call me Dave. All my friends do.”

He looked away from her, and let his gaze wander
around the room. Back in the kitchen, an old Dire Straits song was
playing on the radio, the music mixed with the sound of clanking
dishes. Rachel was once again struck by David’s dark, handsome
features, and brown eyes that seemed to look right through her.

"So what brings you up into the mountains on a night
like this?" She asked him. "Are you a skier?"

"I’m a ‘boarder,” he said. "But I’m not up here for
that. I came up to meet someone, but it doesn’t look like that’s
going to happen. It's just bad luck I guess. Which is the only kind
of luck I seem to have these days."

She gave him a wry smile. "And that sounds like a sob
story if I've ever heard one."

"Guilty as charged," he said with a smirk. "I am
prone to self-pity on occasion. So what about you? Why are you all
the way up here in the Colorado Rockies during a November
snowstorm?"

"Rest and relaxation. I’m sorta in between jobs right
now, and I flew up to get away from things for the weekend. I'm up
here to meet someone too, but you’d think I was crazy if I filled
you in on the details."

"Try me," he said. "It can't be any crazier than my
story."

"I'm a little embarrassed to say, actually," Rachel
told him. "I mean doing it was one thing, but telling a complete
stranger about it makes it seem...well...crazy."

"Ah, come on, now you’ve piqued my curiosity.” Those
brown eyes of his, boring holes into her. “There’s no harm in
sharing a secret with a stranger--we'll probably never see each
other again after tonight anyway. And I’ll bet my story is a whole
lot crazier than yours.”

“All right,” she said, grinning mischievously. “But
you go first.”

He shifted in his seat and said nothing. He looked
uncomfortable, and she had the feeling that he was almost
embarrassed to tell her. But finally he cleared his throat and
said, “I’m up here to meet a woman.”

“Okay, you sorta told me that already.”

“But I’ve never met her,” he went on. “It’s one of
those Internet blind date set-up things that you hear about on TV."
Even in the dim light, and with his dark complexion, he appeared to
be blushing. “And what’s even crazier is she isn’t expecting me, so
it’s going to be a total surprise.”

Rachel blinked at him. She felt something warm
tighten in her stomach. “Why wouldn’t she be expecting you?”

“Because I’m sort of filling in for someone else,” he
said. “A buddy of mine. He was the one who set the whole thing up,
through the Rich & Amorous service, but something came up at
the last minute and he couldn’t make it. So he asked me to take his
place, and here I am.”

Now Rachel’s body was on full alert, and she could
feel her pulse pounding in her ears. “Would your buddy’s name
happen to be Andy Hubbard?”

David’s mouth fell open. He squinted at her. Then he
looked like he wanted to crawl under the table. “Rae,” he
whispered. “As in Rachel?”

Holy shit
. This wasn’t the “Twilight Zone,” it
was an episode of “Lost.” Things like this didn’t happen in real
life, did they? Did they?

“Say something,” David told her. “Please.”

“Andy Hubbard is your buddy?” Her surprise was
quickly turning to anger. “And you’re “filling in” for him? On a
weekend getaway that is supposed to include sex at some point?”

David seemed lost for words. “Andy’s a good friend of
mine, I’ve known him for years. He got called away on a business
emergency, and it was too late to cancel the weekend. He knew you’d
made plane and rental car reservations and everything. So he asked
me if I’d like to...If I would...”

“If you’d like to spend the weekend fucking me, all
expenses paid of course.”

Rachel didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. She’d
been stood up before–-more than once, actually–-but never quite
like this. This whole Rich & Amorous thing hadn’t just turned
out to be a bad idea, it had turned out to be a total fucking
disaster...

Still, looking at David’s forlorn face and she
couldn’t help but feel for the guy. He’d driven all the way up here
too, and he was stick in same blizzard that she was. And he seemed
to be a genuinely nice guy, even if he did have bad taste in
friends.

“Andy fucking Hubbard,” she said, shaking her head.
But then she giggled. “Can’t you imagine a rich country-club guy
like that eating in a place like this?”

David smiled and said nothing. Rachel realized then
that he was probably a rich country-club guy himself. “So what do
you do for a living?” she asked.

“I own a chain of specialty sporting goods stores
Colorado and Utah,” he said. “It’s sort of the family business,
started by my father years ago. It’s interesting work, and a little
crazy with the holiday season in full swing right now.”

“Wow, cool,” was all she could think of to say.

“Listen,” he said. “I know this is pretty shitty the
way I sprung this on you. I can imagine how you must feel, and this
is more than a little awkward for me too. I don’t want you to feel
obligated.... I mean if you want we can finish our coffee and go
our separate ways.”

Rachel looked away. This certainly wasn’t the
surprise she’d been expecting, but was it really that bad? After
all, Andy Hubbard was more or less a complete stranger, too, and
she’d been willing to spend a weekend in the back country with
him.

And now that she’d been sitting across the table from
David Ramsey for half-an-hour, he was starting to look pretty damn
good to her.

“I realize I’m probably a pretty poor substitute for
Andy,” he said.

“I don’t know,” she said, her lips curling into a sly
smile. “Maybe you’re an upgrade.”

CHAPTER THREE

Forty minutes and three vodka tonics later, Rachel
was feeling no pain. She was lying on the bed in David’s motel
room. It was typical of an inexpensive roadside motel: double bed,
a small but clean bathroom in the back, outdated wooden paneling
and one of those combination heater/air conditioners that ran
continuously.

David was sitting at a tiny round table by the front
window. He was leaning back in his chair, staring at the ceiling,
his right leg propped up on the table. He was working on his third
glass of scotch, and was prattling on about selling high-end
fishing gear to visiting tourist.

“I’m sorry,” he said finally, glancing over at her.
“All this shop talk is probably boring the crap out of you.”

“No, not at all,” she lied. The vodka combined with
the room’s soft lighting was only making David look more handsome,
and all she really wanted him to do was shut up and take his shirt
off.

Jesus, Rachel, when did you become so easy?
She’d only slept with a man that she’d just met once, back in her
college days, and a small voice in her head said:
hit the brakes
girl, this is a bad idea
. But another, much louder voice
screamed:
he’s a hunk, go for it!

“Ready for another?” he asked, pointing to the
near-empty glass in her hand.

“I’m good,” she said. She hadn’t expected to do any
drinking tonight–-the bars and liquor stores in town were probably
already closed because of the storm--and she’d been astonished when
David had opened up the back of his black BMW to show her the
well-stocked wet bar built into the folding back seat. “I don’t
want to pass out or anything.”

“I don’t want you to pass out, either,” David said.
There was a twinkle of barely-concealed lust in his eyes. “You’d be
no good to me in that condition...”

Rachel giggled, then gulped down the last of her
vodka. The sexual tension in the room was so thick that it seemed
to hang like a mist in the air between them.

“I’m cold, David,” she said finally. “Why don’t you
come over here and warm me up.”

“It would be my pleasure.” He tossed back the last of
his scotch, then climbed a little unsteadily out of his chair. He
had already removed his sweater when he slid down on the bed beside
her. The next thing Rachel knew his mouth was on hers, his hands
fumbling with the buttons of her blouse.

“Andy’s an idiot,” David murmured between kisses. “He
doesn’t know what he’s missing out on.”

“I agree. On both counts.”

His lips found her ear, his teeth nibbling the soft
skin of her earlobe. She trembled slightly, her desire apparent in
the way she moved into him, her pelvis pushing into his crotch.

"I want you," she breathed.

“How much?”

“Enough. A lot.”

Her blouse was off now. She wrapped her arms around
him, her hands clawing at his strong muscular back. Desire burned
like a hot knife between them, and her panties were getting wetter
by the second. David unclasped and removed her bra, and then she
felt his hands working on the zipper of her jeans.

“Can you turn the lights out?”

He paused. “Why?”

She shrugged. “My thighs. They’re kinda...big.”

“Nonsense,” David told her. “You’re beautiful, and I
want to see every inch of you. I want to fuck every inch of
you.”

She sighed and let him strip off her jeans.
Maybe
my luck’s beginning to change
, she told herself as she ran her
fingers through David’s thick brown hair.
Maybe this time it’ll
be different
.

He was like an animal now, his lust palpable as he
pulled off her soaked panties with a single tug of his strong arms.
He went down on her, and she felt his tongue probing her slit. She
gasped as he licked into her satiny folds, his teeth nibbling
gently at her sensitive clit.

Dear God
, she thought, the pleasure coursing
through her like a white hot freight train. She moved her hips into
him, her pussy begging for more, her hangs tugging at the sheets.
I need to get stranded in snowstorms more often.

She thought David would give her a quick going over
and move on, but he kept going, his teeth and tongue working over
every centimeter of her throbbing labia. She hissed and tried to
keep her mind in the room, on David, on the ceiling spinning above
her.