The car stopped at two heavy iron gates and Mak pulled out his phone, opening an app and entering his code on the touch screen. “Only myself and the manager of the property knows the code. And on the rare occasions when some of my employees have stayed over during long assignments, I’ve had the code changed afterwards,” he said as the gates swung open. “As I said, this is my place. It’s private.”
“I get that,” she said as they went around another S-curve and the huge log chalet came into view.
It was set into the side of the mountain, the front of it built up on supports, giant triangular windows, mirroring the lines of the roof, overlooking the incredible mountain vista.
The car pulled up in front of the home and Mak opened the door, sliding out and then holding it until she got out behind him. He rounded to the driver’s side and spoke to Hans for a moment, before handing the other man a thick roll of cash and stepping away from the vehicle.
Two staff members came out of the house to greet him and, she assumed, to collect their luggage.
Eva followed Mak through the large, square door and into the foyer of the chalet. The ceilings were high, the windows flooding the space with natural light. There was a huge fireplace with a stone hearth and chimney that dominated the center of the room, filling the room with warmth and a homey orange glow.
“I can see why this is your place,” Eva said, wandering to the staircase and running her hand over the natural wood railing. “It’s special.” It said something about Mak that the opulent jet had not. Spoke of his desire, his need, for solitude. Of his enjoyment of a simpler, more stripped-back existence.
“It’s quiet,” Mak said.
“And you like quiet.”
“I do. And you don’t.”
“I’m thinking of changing my opinion on that after the trouble I got myself into.”
“You didn’t act without intent, Eva. Stand by it, or abandon it.”
The harshness of his words struck her like a blow. The only reason they carried so much weight was because they were true. Even so, the reality of it was crushing.
She looked at the fire, watched the flames snake around the logs. “It went further than I intended it to. I mean I wanted … I wanted. Not this.” She’d wanted her father to ask her, just once, what she wanted. That had been nothing more than a foolish fantasy.
“As often happens. People typically don’t mean any harm. And those who don’t mean to … they’re usually the ones who cause the most damage.” His tone was rough, heavy. Then he paused, his demeanor changing, his face setting into a smooth granite mask. Unmoving. Unemotional. “Your room is up the stairs.”
She bit back a tart reply, something to bring back the moment of reality that had just passed between them. He’d been real there, even if it had been painful. She’d felt connected to him, at least.
Which was a pretty stupid thing to want. They didn’t really have anything in common. In point of fact, they wanted very different things since Mak was working for her father, and her father wanted things for her that she didn’t want for herself.
But somewhere, somehow, Mak had stopped seeming like the enemy. He felt more like an ally. Although, at the moment, he felt more like a cold stranger than the man she’d danced with in the garden.
The memory suffused her body with heat. Dancing with Mak, having him hold her so close, had transcended anything she’d ever felt before. She’d danced with men before, but it hadn’t burned her from the inside out. It hadn’t made her feel reckless and shaky, achy with a need she’d only ever felt in the privacy of her own room, late at night, with a fantasy lover’s hands on her body. A man who could be perfect because she’d created him to be.
But Mak, and the way he made her feel, had been very real.
Mak started up the staircase and Eva followed behind him. Trying, and not succeeding, not to check him out. But he was hot, and his very tempting, muscular rear was right in prime view.
If only she were half as audacious as the news story had made her out to be. That Eva wouldn’t blush when she looked at his body, when she thought of having his hands on her skin. No, that Eva would take what she wanted, when she wanted it.