Lorraine Wilson - Secrets of a Chalet Girl:

“Excuse me for a moment Zac.”

She took a few steps towards Tash, reaching her before she got to the exit.

“Did you set me up?” she whispered furiously in Tash’s ear. She could feel Zac’s eyes on her from where he stood at the bar. They trailed over her body, over the fabric cupping her breasts, lingering on her legs…she didn’t know how she could sense it but the sexual chemistry in the air felt palpable.

It feels like magic.

She shivered again, half with desire and half with fear. She had a choice – go back to the chalet and get ribbed by the girls for being a coward, not to mention spending a sleepless night burning with frustration. Or she could stay here with Zac and let this go further.

Her body screamed an instant ‘Stay!’

“You haven’t been laid in six months Flora,” Tash hissed back, a little too loudly in Flora’s opinion.

“Great, shout it a little louder would you, I think there was a guy over in the far corner who didn’t quite catch that,” Flora muttered, her jaw clenching and molars grinding. “Thanks a bundle for making me sound desperate.”

Breaking up with Tom had been so bloody traumatic, especially with all the hassle she’d been given afterwards about calling off their wedding. Leaping into bed with someone else hadn’t been top of her to-do list given she’d suddenly had nowhere to live, no job and oh yes, had been the most hated girl in town.

“Let me see the Dare bag,” Flora asked, a suspicion occurring to her. She made a lunge for the bag and managed to grab it. She opened card after card.

Each one read ‘Kiss the sexiest man in the room’

“Did you switch the bag?”

Tash shrugged unrepentantly. “That’s what friends are for. I made some spare cards in case you needed a little push to get back out there. These ones were for you. So what? Have fun, you deserve it and you’ll be thanking me in the morning.”

Sophie lurched in the direction of the barman and Tash grabbed her arm, knocking the cards out of Flora’s hands in the process.

“Amelia and I will get her back safe safely. Seriously Flora you need some fun, it’s way overdue.” Tash put on her stern, ‘don’t mess with me face’ that worked so well on the chalet guests who thought it was funny to pinch her bum.

That was true at least.

Could I?

As the possibilities fluttered into her mind her attitude softened towards Tash. Tash knew how hard her last relationship had been, how traumatic ending it had been for her. She didn’t know all the details, but she knew enough. They’d all talked long into the night about their love lives on more than one occasion.

If I can’t have fun here in Verbier when is it going to happen?

It’s time.

Zac bent down for one of the cards that’d fallen to the ground before Flora could stop him.

Shit.

His eyebrows shot up and he grinned. “So, I’m the sexiest man in the room am I?”

Flora’s face flamed again. She cursed her inability to stop blushing, really she should have grown out of the habit by now, she was twenty-four for frick’s sake.

“Well, the bar’s a bit short of talent tonight,” she replied stiffly.

There was nothing worse than a gorgeous man who knew exactly how sexy he was. That knowing smile was irritating and annoyingly…attractive.

Damn.

He laughed and took her hand, tugging her back towards the bar. She went unresistingly, aware of the gentle but insistent pressure of his other hand at the small of her back. The force of his will seemed sufficient to drive her but a part of her rebelled against this assumption of control.

After all, Tom had assumed control so slowly, so subtly at first that she’d thought she was imagining it and over-reacting.

These kinds of charms often acted as a mask and who knew what lay beneath?

I’ll just have to be careful.

“I’m all for you doing what the card says.” He lowered his mouth to hers and before she knew it they were kissing again. Her body pressed so firmly against his it was as though they were magnetised, relentlessly and ferociously drawn to each other.

She forgot the girls, even forgot she was angry as her fears melted away with the heat of his kisses. When he eventually pulled away the room seemed to spin a little. Her mouth opened but no words came out.

“Shall we get some fresh air?” he asked.

She nodded and averted her gaze from the smug smile of the barman. She had to see where this might take her. And she really, really needed to have sex. It’d been too long and her wakening senses demanded satisfaction.

“Why don’t we continue Truth or Dare back at my chalet?” Zac’s arm snaked behind her, his fingers lightly caressing the small of her back through the silk fabric of her dress, making her skin tingle in a very nice way. “It sounds entertaining and it could be much more fun in private.”

A thrill ran through Flora’s body and she pushed her anxieties to the back of her mind where they hovered, buzzing at her like insects, just present enough to be annoying.

I need to lighten up.

“It would sure beat holding Sophie’s hair back at two in the morning.” She joked, stalling for time, not making a move towards the coat rack at the door. If she left with him there would only be one outcome tonight.

What would sleeping with a man like Zac be like?

Only one way to find out.

She’d been with Tom since…well, it felt like forever. It actually had been forever. She’d never had sex with anyone other than Tom; that couldn’t be normal.

If she could find out what it felt like with someone who really knew what they were doing, just once…

Her body screamed at her to go anywhere this man asked her, to do anything he asked. Only the tiny trickle of fear running down her spine kept her feet from moving. She could hear Tash in her head, berating her and telling her she didn’t deserve this chance if she was going to be a wuss.

Aren’t you supposed to feel the fear and do it anyway?

“I promise you, if you spend the night with me it will be a hell of a lot better than the alternative you described.” Zac murmured in her ear, his stubble lightly grazing the side of her cheek.

“Oh really?” She laughed, looking down at her new boots. From now on they were going to be her lucky boots. “It doesn’t exactly set the bar very high does it?”

“Are you okay?”

That he sounded curious, not scornful or impatient made her like him even more. Her weird behaviour hadn’t sent him running for the exit yet and she was sure with his sexy smile he could have his pick of the girls in this bar or any of the other Verbier bars for that matter.

“Erm … ” She fiddled with her bag strap, picking at a loose thread and absently thinking she must do something about it. “It’s just I don’t really know you, it feels a little…Well it’s not something I’m used to doing, you know?”

She looked pleadingly at him, willing him to understand she was inexperienced and not dismiss her for being totally pathetic.

“If you’re worried I’m about to kidnap you, you don’t need to be. Let’s see, I’m a respectable management consultant with a flat in Geneva and a chalet here in Verbier. I love to snowboard. What else? Well, I’m quite fond of après ski and I like sex.”

“Right. Your English is very good but I can definitely hear something else in your accent?” She tried not to react to his mention of sex.

Great, now you sound like you’re making conversation at a church garden party! Not sexy Flora.

“My father’s Swiss,” Zac’s smile tightened. “Hence the Swiss surname. But I was sent to boarding school in England and my mother’s English.”