Love & Compromise (Agents in Love Book 3) Page 16

  “Are you?” She smiled widely. “I must admit, you’re much better at this than I am, but it doesn’t count as a competition. We should go for something more sporting.”

  She wanted to compete with him? Was that good for a brand-new relationship? “What do you have in mind?”

  She moved her skates slowly forward, still trembling and obviously uncomfortable. “I heard one of the lodges here has pool tables, foosball, and even a bowling alley. Pick your favorite game, and we’ll see who’s the best.”

  He put on a small burst of speed to get in front of her, turning around to skate backward and hold both her hands in his. He couldn’t stop the grin that spread across his face. “So, you’re competitive too.”

  “Maybe a tiny bit.”

  “I’ll read that as you’re every bit as bloodthirsty as me.”

  She laughed. “I have a problem, actually. I hate losing.”

  It felt good, out here alone with her, having a normal conversation that had nothing to do with S.A.T.O. or anything else they’d dealt with the past week. It was even more pleasing to see how much alike they were. Kole knew healthy competition could push him further than he might try to go on his own. If it didn’t cause arguments between them, spending time with Jenessa could be good for more reasons than the obvious one of sex.

  He increased the speed at which he skated backward, forcing her along by his grip on her hands. While her eyes widened slightly with fright, she also looked perversely happy. He loved that she trusted him to keep her safe, trusted him enough to overcome her fears.

  “We have all the games you mentioned,” he told her, turning them in a gradual circle around the pond. “Also, a ping pong table, shuffle board, and air hockey.”

  She laughed and shook her head. “I think we’ll avoid air hockey. I always get my fingers smashed by that darn puck.”

  “That’s out then. How about you pick what we do, and I pick the stakes.”

  “Stakes?” She stopped moving her feet, allowing him to simply pull her along. “What sort of stakes are we talking about?”

  Kole flashed her a wink. “Don’t worry. Win or lose, I think you’ll like it.”

  “I’m not sure I should agree to this without knowing up front what you want.”

  He pulled her in close to him, careful to keep his feet spread wider than hers so he didn’t trip them up and cause them to lose their balance. He held her close and kissed her cheek. “I thought you trusted me, Nessa? Do you really think I’d do anything to hurt you?”

  “Hurt, no,” she replied. “Embarrass, maybe. You aren’t going to make me go streaking through the snowdrifts or something if I lose, are you?”

  He snorted, backing away from her but staying near enough to grab her in case his movements made her slip. “You think I want to risk anyone else seeing that body? Hell no! There’s no way I’d make you do that. I won’t pick anything horrible.”

  Maybe something to get himself even closer to her in an intimate manner, but he didn’t think that would be anything Jenessa wouldn’t like.

  After skating around a few more moments, she finally nodded. “Fine. I challenge you to a series of bowling.”

  “Uh... series?” Kole had rarely done any bowling. What did she mean by series?

  “Oh, you’re in trouble, aren’t you?” She laughed, though that caused her to become unstable and Kole grabbed her arms once again to keep her steady. “A series is three games. Whoever knocks over the most pins overall wins. What are the stakes?”

  She would most likely beat him, since it seemed she knew something about bowling. Kole had only played a couple times while staying at Camp David with his family. As much as he hated to lose, he’d go through with his original plan. It probably meant he’d get to pamper her tonight. That could earn him big points.

  “Winner gets a foot massage from the loser,” he said.

  Jenessa’s nose wrinkled. “Ewww... really?”

  He wiggled his eyebrows up and down. “Scared?”

  “Not scared. I’ll be the one getting the foot massage. Still, my feet will have been in those awful bowling shoes. That doesn’t seem sanitary.”

  The woman was entirely too confident in her ability to win. However, that gave him a great idea. Win or lose, he’d still come out a winner.

  “We could always use that big jetted bathtub in the room and get our feet clean first.”

  She squinted her eyes nearly closed. “Are you angling to get in the bathtub with me?”

  Kole put on his most innocent-appearing expression. “Would I do something like that?”

  She giggled. “Yes, I think you would.”

  “Maybe... So, is it a deal?” he asked, not wanting her to change the subject or back out.

  “Fine,” she said. “Deal. I’ll enjoy that foot massage. Sucker.”

  For the second part of their date, Kole worried he should have warned Jenessa about the hiking. She looked a bit fatigued, which wasn’t how he wanted her feeling. Maybe it was still too much this close to her having been exposed to the toxin.

  “You okay?” he asked, slowing his pace up the large hill and pulling her up a steep area.

  Her breath puffed out in a white plum, matching his but at a faster rate. “I have to admit,” she panted, “when you said we would go sledding today, I imagined a small hill we’d go down multiple times, not a hike to the top of the tallest one.”

  That might have been a better idea. There was a perfect hill right outside Laurel Lodge. Kole hadn’t wanted anyone to bother them, though. He could just imagine Carter crashing their date and trying to get Jenessa to ditch Kole and leave with him. Not that Jenessa would do that, but it would ruin the closeness and happy feeling he aimed to create.

  “It’s not too much further.” He pointed to a bright blue tent about fifty feet above them. “See that there?”

  She looked upward, then nodded.

  “Some of the employees here set that up for us. It’ll be warm inside with a nice lunch waiting.”

  “Wow.” She shook her head in amazement. “I hope you paid them well to drag everything up this far.”

  Kole squeezed her gloved hand, wishing the gloves weren’t in the way so he could kiss it instead. “I paid more than they said was fair. Trust me, they’re very happy. Now, I want you to be very happy.”

  She smiled and squeezed his hand back. “I am happy, Kole. This whole day has been wonderful.”

  “Then let’s power through and get to our lunch.”

  Jenessa nodded and plodded upward once again.

  Before long, they reached the tent. Heat radiated from it and Kole was pleased the crew had found a way to heat it as requested. Unzipping the front door, he gestured Jenessa inside. “After you, my lady.”

  She grinned. “Chivalry, huh? Didn’t know you had it in you.”

  “There are a lot of things you don’t know about me yet, but I promise you’ll like most of them.” He winked and Jenessa giggled as she ducked into the tent.

  Kole followed inside and then zipped the door closed before turning to survey the inside. Several blankets were pillowed together in the center of the space for them to sit on. A bottle of white wine sat chilling in a bucket of rapidly-melting ice, and a picnic basket sat next to a small heater that must have been battery operated since there wasn’t power this far up.

  Jenessa had shed her gloves, coat, and boots, setting them away from the edge of the blankets. “Get your wet stuff off,” she ordered.

  “You’re telling me to strip already?” He peeled off his gloves. “We haven’t even made it back to our room and the jetted tub.”

  She tossed her damp hair over her shoulder and snorted. “I’m going to be the one needing that bath because you’re the one giving the foot massage.”

  Kole finished taking off his wet clothing and sat on the blankets, pulling Jenessa down beside him. He flashed her a fake pout. “I thought we were both bathing. After this hike, our muscles are going to be sore.”


  “Still trying to get in it with me, I see.” She didn’t sound angry though. If her smile was anything to judge by, she enjoyed him showing obvious interest.

  Kole was glad. Jenessa was a good woman. She’d put up with his awful initial behavior and seemed to be letting it go. Kole wasn’t sure he could have been that magnanimous if their roles were reversed. Certainly, none of the high-society ladies he used to date would have been.

  He brought her hands to his face, kissing each palm and then pulse point. “I have to tell you, Nessa, you’re the most amazing woman I’ve ever had the pleasure of meeting.”

  “I’m considering letting you in the bathtub, okay? No need to lay it on so thick. Maybe we can wear our underclothes? It’d be no different than swimsuits.”

  Great. She thought he wanted only to get her naked. How could he make her see that wasn’t a line intended to get her to sleep with him? Not that he’d mind sleeping with her, especially if she felt up to it after such a long day, but it wasn’t his primary goal.

  He leaned inward, pressing a soft kiss against her cheek. “I don’t want you to think everything I say is about getting you naked.”

  She pulled back and arched an eyebrow. “So, you don’t want me naked?”

  He couldn’t tell if she was serious or harassing him.

  “I definitely want you naked,” he assured her. “But more than that, I want you to realize that I see the woman you really are. Maybe your ex was focused on money and couldn’t see what was right in front of him. That’s only good for me. If the man had been smart and swept you off your feet and away from the dating market, I’d never have met you and I’d still be bitter, angry, and hating the world.”

  She pursed her lips, looking skeptical. “I cured you of all that in a week?”

  “No, I’m not cured.” He busied himself getting their lunch out of the basket, deciding she’d had as much intensity as she could handle. “As long as I have you to trust, though, someone I know I can count on to be honest with me no matter what, I feel like I don’t have to be so cautious. Maybe letting myself feel something is okay because it doesn’t all have to be the bad stuff.”

  “You mean it, don’t you?” She accepted a wrapped sandwich from him, and Kole felt her eyes boring into him. “I’m really sorry people hurt you so much in the past.”

  “And I’m sorry people hurt you,” he replied. “Let’s make an agreement, shall we?”

  She shrugged. “What sort of agreement?”

  “If one of us isn’t feeling this and decides the romance just isn’t there, we’ll be honest and tell the other, and the two of us can remain friends.”

  “You’d be okay just being friends?”

  He shook his head. “Probably not, but I’d rather have you in my life that way than not at all if you decide you don’t want to be my girlfriend.”

  “Or you decide not to be my boyfriend.”

  “No. There’s something you should know about me,” he said. “Once I make a decision, I stick with it no matter what. I’ll do whatever it takes to ensure our relationship works out. It’s the reason I stayed with my ex so long, even though I should have seen what she was earlier. For you, I believe sticking out the tough parts will be worth it. You’re genuine and real. I don’t have to worry about what you’ll do behind my back.”

  She blinked rapidly, and Kole wondered if she was about to cry. If so, why? Sometimes, he didn’t get women. It seemed his earlier assessment that she wasn’t ready for all this heavy talk was correct. Some people took longer to decide what they wanted. He could give her that time.

  “Let’s eat,” he said, unwrapping his sandwich. “I can’t wait to grab the toboggin they left outside for us and take you down this mountain. It’s going to be epic.

  She nodded and took a bite of her sandwich, chewing thoroughly before looking back up at him. “No trying to injure me by going over big jumps so I can’t bowl well tonight. That’d be cheating, and I think you’d lose our bet by default.”

  “I wouldn’t dream of it.” He flashed another wink. “I’m sure you won’t be able to resist me after one of my famous foot massages.”

  Chapter 16

  Jenessa threw another strike ball on the last frame of their third game bowling. She turned to flash her best gloat at Kole. “You do realize you have no hope of winning, haven’t had since the second game?”

  Kole’s upper lip curled in a mock growl. “Damn you, woman! You cheated by picking something you’re good at.”

  “My mom and dad bowl on a league. As a kid, they let me practice with them on weekends.”

  “Cheater, cheater,” he cried, though happiness sparkled in his warm eyes.

  Jenessa sat on the seat next to him, flicking hair over her shoulder. “Are you sorry I’m the one who knows how to correctly handle balls? I thought you were a cross dresser when we first met. I had no clue handling balls was a skill you wanted to perfect as well.”

  Kole sputtered for a moment and then burst out in laughter. “Oh, God,” he said through his laughs, “you’re definitely not the dainty little society girl.”

  She leaned toward him and kissed his cheek, pleased that her lips no longer hurt when used. “That’s my secret plan,” she whispered. “It’s how I’m going to make you fall for me.”

  “I’d fall faster if you massaged my feet,” he said. “It could help my bruised ego at having my ass kicked in this game.”

  Jenessa punched him lightly in the shoulder. “No way. I won. I’m the better player and I get the reward. Go throw your last frame, and let’s get out of here.”

  Watching as he bent to pick up his ball, Jenessa couldn’t help but notice the way his hard, tight ass filled out the jeans he’d changed into after sledding. His body was so perfect, and while Jenessa had been glad he held off on doing anything last night when her mouth was still so sore, today she felt a whole lot better. He was insistent about taking the bath together. Even if they wore underclothing to keep it relatively innocent, Jenessa hoped the night wouldn’t stay innocent.

  Their day had been perfect. Seeing the real Kole under all the layers of hurt and walls put up to protect himself had made her like him even more. He was the perfect guy—smart, driven, funny, and absolutely romantic at times. Of course, he could also be pigheaded, ornery, cocky, and stubborn, but she kind of admired those sides of him as well, now that she knew where it all came from.

  Kole lined up and took a few steps forward, releasing the bowling ball. As usual, the ball hooked too far left at the end, only taking out three pins. He came back off the lane to wait for his ball, baring his teeth in a silent growl of frustration.

  He definitely didn’t like losing. Things had stayed friendly between them, but she could tell he really had tried to win. Unfortunately, he sucked at bowling, not knowing the first thing about technique.

  Kole’s next ball went straight into the gutter, and his face was crestfallen when he turned back around. “Real manly, huh? I tell you I’m competitive, then prove how much I suck.”

  She wanted to get back to their cabin and take advantage of him, but he truly was distraught at her seeing him do so poorly. “Want some pointers? Now that I won, I mean? I can show you how to get it to go more where you need it.”

  “Now you offer?” His frown morphed into a grin, though, and he waved her toward him. “Show me what to do.”

  “First, you need to release the ball better.”

  Jenessa crossed to him, standing behind him and grabbing his right arm on the underside with her own. She pressed her body close to his, loving the feel of his muscles against her. “Swing your arm more naturally.” She pulled back on both their hands to demonstrated. “Release the ball when your swing is here.” She stopped moving their arms, and Kole nodded.

  “Releasing isn’t my problem,” he said. “I don’t know why my ball keeps going so far left.”

  “Are you looking at the pins when you approach or the arrows on the lane?”

  “What arrows
?”

  Jenessa giggled, feeling a little bit guilty. Such an easy fix, if only she’d told him at the beginning of the night. She pointed midway down the lane, pointing at the arrows going across the boards. “Those arrows. She pointed to the dots closer to them. “Or these dots. They all line up with the pins. Your view of the pins is distorted, being so far away. If you’ve been aiming for the head pin, that’s why you go so far off. Distortion.” She pointed at the second arrow from the right gutter. “Try hitting that second arrow. Don’t even pay attention to the pins. See what happens.”

  “Arrows...” Kole shook his head, but picked his ball up again.

  When Jenessa moved to the side, he did his approach, releasing at the right time, and barely missing the arrow she’d told him to hit. The ball went slightly left, hitting the head pin on the wrong side but still toppling all ten of them.

  “I did it!” He pumped his fists and ran toward her, scooping her up in a hug and twirling her around. “I’m not a complete failure. You were just holding out on me.”

  She laughed as he set her on the floor. “Let’s get back to our cabin, and maybe I won’t hold out anymore.”

  Kole’s eyes grew wide. “You’re not too tired?”

  “I feel great.”

  “And your lips?”

  She leaned in, connecting sweetly with his lips.

  Kole groaned and his arms tightened around her, clutching her against his chest.

  Despite the way it revved her heartrate, she knew nothing could happen in the middle of a lodge where anyone could walk in any second. “Take me back to the cabin.”

  “You know the way to my heart.” He took her hand and led her through the lodge.

  He paused near the front door. “Uh... not real sexy, but it’s a twenty-minute ride back to our cabin, and I had three beers.”

  Jenessa grinned. She’d figured his bladder would catch up with him sooner or later. The two times she’d stopped the bowling game to use the restroom, he’d given her a hard time about being afraid he’d beat her and trying to slow things down. Of course, she was already slaughtering him before the first break, but it was fun joking and teasing with him.