Silver mountain, p.4
Silver Mountain, page 4
Rolling his eyes Stephen finally told them what they wanted to know. “I’m thirty-four and you are all babies compared to me.”
“Hey, that’s not that old,” Maggie retorted. “Old is anything over forty and you’re not there yet. Besides you look good for your age, I would have to say that you don’t look a day over thirty. Wouldn’t you agree?” Maggie asked Liz. Liz glared at Maggie and made another mental not to strangle her later.
“Yeah, I agree with you Maggie, he looks great for his age,” Liz said softly.
“Why thank you Liz, it’s always so nice to be complimented by an attractive young lady,” Stephen said with a hand over his heart. Liz knew that he was teasing her, but she chose to ignore the fact.
“So, Matt, how long have you been working here?” Liz asked changing the subject to get the conversation away from how she thought Stephen looked. Thankfully Matt started talking of how long he had worked at the lodge and how he had come to work here.
While Matt was talking Liz couldn’t seem to focus on what he was saying. Her mind kept drifting back to the man sitting beside her. Finally she gave up trying to listen to Matt and let Stephen occupy her thoughts. Liz had to agree that Stephen was definitely good looking, handsome would be a better way to describe him. His thick mass of dark brown hair fell to just below collar length and Liz had to resist the urge to run her fingers through his hair to see what it felt like. It was probably soft she thought to herself. She couldn’t imagine Stephen ever having put anything like gel or mouse in his hair like some guys did. No, Stephen looked like the type to towel dry his hair after a shower and leave it alone after that. Now that thought brought up whole new images to Liz’s mind like Stephen’s lean and muscular body dripping with water as he steps out of a shower. Liz’s pulse started racing and a warm tingling sensation began creeping throughout her whole body. Liz shifted uncomfortably in her seat and looked at her companions to see if anyone had noticed her present condition. Matt was in the middle of telling Maggie about some famous actor’s he had waited on and Maggie was listening with what looked like awe. Glancing to her other side found herself being studied by Stephen. Liz could tell that he hadn’t been paying attention to what was being said at the table either, but that he had been watching her the whole time. Liz felt herself begin to blush and quickly looked away. A light tap on her arm made her look at Stephen again.
Quietly Stephen spoke to her so the other two wouldn’t hear them. “It’s all right Liz, you don’t have to be nervous around me. I’m not going to bite you, unless you want me to,” he added jokingly. Liz felt herself relax after he said that and had to laugh at his humor. She knew he had been joking and didn’t get upset this time. “Just relax and enjoy yourself. That is why you came up here isn’t it?” he asked.
“Yes, that’s why I’m here,” Liz responded. “I’m sorry about the way I was acting, it’s just that I’m not used to having a man sit so close to me that’s all. But I’m fine now so let’s just forget about it please.”
“No problem, it’s forgotten,” Stephen said with a warm smile. “I’ll tell you what why don’t we start over again. Standing up he looked down at her and said, “hi, my name is Stephen Ashcroft and I would be pleased if you would allow me to join you and your friends for dinner.” With that he held out his hand waiting for Liz to shake it.
Liz was astounded by what Stephen had just done and didn’t respond immediately. Finally she offered him her hand with a smile and told him that she would be pleased if he would join them. The two of them held hands a little longer than was necessary but finally Stephen let go with what seemed like reluctance. While Stephen sat down Liz realized that the conversation to her right had ended and that Maggie and Matt were watching the two of them in confusion.
“What was all that about?” Maggie asked Liz. Clearly they hadn’t heard all of what had transpired between her and Stephen. Thankfully Stephen spoke and answered Maggie’s question
“We just decided that we would reintroduce ourselves to each other since we seemed to have started our acquaintanceship with each other on a rocky start. Now we get to try it again and hopefully it will be the start of a wonderful friendship.” But the look in Stephen’s eyes told her that friendship wasn’t the only thing he was hoping for. Liz’s heart started to race at the mere fact that she knew that Stephen wanted her. Quickly she cleared her voice and changed the subject away from them.
“So what do you recommend on the menu Matt?” Liz asked burying her face behind her menu. Beside her she could hear a small chuckle emanating from Stephen. He obviously knew that she had changed the subject on purpose.
“I would recommend any of the steak or pasta dishes,” Matt told everyone. “I would especially recommend the Angel hair pasta with sautéed vegetables and shrimp. It’s one of my favorite dishes.”
“Mmm, that sounds delicious,” Maggie said. “I think I’ll have that with a small Caesar salad.”
Liz looked over her menu and decided that she would have that same as well. When the waiter came to take their orders, everyone ordered the same thing and Stephen decided to order a bottle of white wine as well, his treat. A few minutes later the waiter returned and poured a little into a wine glass for Stephen to try. Stephen inhaled the scent of the wine then swirled the liquid around in its glass before taking a small sip. He then informed the waiter that it was excellent and with that approval the waiter proceeded to pour everyone a glass.
Liz was impressed and with a quick glance at the bottle she knew that what he had ordered was not the cheap stuff. He had ordered what was probably one of the most expensive wines the resort stocked. She wondered if he ordered the good wine for every new person he met or if Liz and her companions were just lucky. Somehow though Liz didn’t think either idea was the answer, but she was not going to dwell on it, as it wasn’t important. Besides it had been an extremely nice gesture on Stephen’s behalf to order everyone wine. Like her mom had always told her, ‘never look a gift horse in the mouth’. Besides she was going to take Stephen’s earlier advice and sit back, relax and have fun.
Dinner went by with lots of laughs and the exchange of everyone’s pasts. By the time dessert had arrived everyone felt as if they had known each other for a long time and that they were all old friends just sitting around having dinner. Liz had enjoyed hearing about everyone else’s life and hadn’t minded telling her new friends about her life while growing up. Of course she hadn’t told them the full story of Bruce, just that she had recently come out of a longtime relationship and everyone was content with that. They had no reason to know that she wasn’t telling everything, besides no one needed to know.
For some reason though, Liz felt that when Stephen had told his story that he had held back on some things that he didn’t want everyone to know. He had seemed to be a little guarded as to what he said when it came to his ex-girlfriend and his job. Liz knew it was none of her business as to what he had kept to himself just as she hadn’t told everything either. But she wanted to know more about him and she hoped that maybe she would get the chance sometime because she knew better than to pry into his life without him offering to tell all. What she did know however was a start and she was impressed with what he had done with his life so far. However, Liz did not know that Stephen was rich and owned the resort, as Stephen had not told any of them.
Liz watched as Maggie sat back groaning and complaining that she had eaten too much. She was surprised that Maggie had been able to stuff all that food into her small body. As it was Liz couldn’t even finish her dessert. Mind you dessert had been a large slice of rich black forest cake with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, and that had almost been a meal in itself in Liz’s opinion. Why she had agreed to having it she didn’t know but what she had eaten was delicious. Liz wondered if she was going to be able to get up after all that. She wished she had opted for dress pants instead of jeans now. Looking around the table it seemed that even the guys were regretting how much they had eaten.
The waiter came by with the bill a few minutes later and placed the bill in the middle of the table since he wasn’t sure who was paying. Before anyone could do anything, Stephen picked up the bill and took a quick glance at it. He then told the waiter to put the bill on his account and he would deal with it later. Liz started to protest but Stephen insisted that he would take care of it and that he didn’t mind treating everyone to dinner. A very expensive dinner Liz thought to herself. She wondered why she hadn’t put up more of an argument for paying her share of dinner. Normally she would have fought until she had won. But for some reason she just didn’t want to argue over it with Stephen, it was if the fight wasn’t in her anymore. Just like she had never put up a fight with Bruce.
Just like Bruce. Oh my God Liz thought to herself. She was letting another man dictate what she could or couldn’t do again without a fight. It may be a minor thing like dinner but that was part of how it had started with Bruce until she couldn’t do anything at all. She was not going to let that happen to her again. Stephen may not be Bruce and she had a feeling that he was nothing like him, but she was not going to let him pay for her dinner. Taking out her wallet she took some bills out and slapped them on the table in front of Stephen.
“Here this should cover the cost of my dinner and I will not take ‘no’ for an answer.” Liz said with authority in her voice.
Everyone looked at her with surprise and couldn’t believe what she was doing. The look on Stephen’s face clearly indicated the he was going to protest but then it turned into a big grin and then he started laughing. A deep laugh that was full and boisterous. Matt and Maggie sat there watching the display unsure of what to do.
“What are you laughing at,” Liz demanded.
Wiping a tear from his eye Stephen stopped laughing long enough to answer her. “In the eighteen years that I’ve been dating I have never had a woman refuse to let me pay for her dinner let alone have her force money on me. You’re quite a woman Liz and I’m not going to refuse your money since I’m afraid of what you’ll do if I don’t take it.” With that he started laughing again but not quite as loudly as the first time. On the other side of her Maggie and Matt began laughing as well. Sheepishly Liz looked around the table and couldn’t help but join in after a moment. She had actually surprised herself a little at how aggressively she had given the money to Stephen, but she was not going to admit that to the others.
“I’m sorry Stephen I didn’t mean to sound rude or anything but I just thought I should pay for my dinner. It was enough that you paid for the wine for all of us. I just didn’t feel comfortable with you paying for everything. I can’t speak for how the others feel but that’s how I feel. Please accept my money and apology.”
Stephen took her hand and kissed the back gently and said, “I accept your apology and money, but next time I pay for you.” He held her hand for a moment longer than necessary and sensing her discomfort he released it and looked at the others. “Do any of you want to pay for your dinner as well? However, my offer still stands to pay for you.”
“Well, I had actually invited Liz out to dinner my treat,” Maggie spoke up,” and so I’m really the one who should be paying.”
“But I’m the one who invited the two of you to dinner and I should be paying,” Matt protested.
Stephen rolled his eyes and wondered just what exactly he had gotten himself into. He had thought that paying the bill would be a nice gesture and hadn’t realized this was going to happen. He listened to everyone argue over who was going to pay and finally come up with a solution to their problem.
“Why don’t I pay for your dinners, with the exclusion of Liz’s here because I’m definitely don’t want to tangle with her, and we’ll all go to the dance and you guys can buy me a drink and maybe the ladies will save a dance for me.” Stephen said waiting to see what would arise from his suggestion.
“That hardly seems fair but...” Matt started to say but with a look from Stephen he didn’t finish his sentence. Liz wondered what he was going to say and why a glance from Stephen would make him clam up. Obviously, there was something that Stephen hadn’t wanted Matt to say but what it was Liz didn’t know. It would seem the two men knew each other from more than the dinner they had all just shared. Maggie however didn’t seem to have noticed what had just happen. Maggie was just sitting there finishing off her glass of wine. But before she could dwell on it more Stephen was nudging her and asking her something that she didn’t quite catch since she hadn’t been paying attention.
“I’m sorry, what was that?” Liz asked.
“I said, are you game for a little dancing and sitting around the fire for the evening with us?” Stephen asked
“Oh, I don’t know,” Liz said. “It’s been a long day and I really am tired. I should probably retire for the evening and get some sleep since I’ve got a full day ahead of me tomorrow. Thanks for the offer though.”
“Awe come on, just a couple of dances and then we’ll let you go get you beauty sleep. It won’t be half as much fun without you. Besides who am I going to dance with if you don’t come?”
“I’m sure Maggie would be happy to dance with you and this lodge is full of women to dance with.”
“But I don’t want to dance with anyone else,” Stephen told her in a lowered voice and Liz clearly caught his meaning. Looking at him Liz found herself hard pressed not to refuse him. Her body wanted to go and dance with him and feel him close to her again like she had on the ski slopes earlier today. Just thinking about them pressed closely together on the dance floor sent shiver through her body and awakened parts of her that had been dormant for so long. She wanted so much to go but she knew that if she did she would want more than just the dancing and was she really ready to go that far with someone she had just met.
“I’m sorry Stephen but I really should turn in,” Liz said. ‘But if you’re free tomorrow night I would be glad to join you for a couple of dances.” Now why had she gone and said that Liz asked herself.
“If that’s your choice then I’ll have to live with it. Besides, I have to be up early tomorrow so maybe I should turn in too. Why don’t I get back to you about tomorrow night later? I’m sure I’ll see you around.”
Liz could tell that Stephen was disappointed, but she couldn’t back out of her decision not to go now, although looking at him made her want to change her mind. “Sure, that will be fine. Well I guess I should get going and it was a pleasure having dinner with you.”
Liz turned to Maggie and told her what her plans were and said goodnight to Matt. Maggie said she would walk her to her room as she wanted to talk to her and told Matt and Stephen that she would return shortly. The men rose to let the two ladies out and then sat back done to wait for Maggie’s return. Liz quickly glanced at Stephen and offered a small smile and then followed Maggie out of the restaurant. Liz knew without looking that Stephen was watching her leave until she was out of the restaurant and out of sight. She sighed to herself and thought that it had been a long dinner, but it had been fun.
Liz opened the door to her room and flipped on the light switch. Maggie followed her into the main room and sat down on the sofa. Liz offered her a drink, but Maggie declined.
“So, what did you want to talk about?” Liz asked sitting down next to Maggie.
“I wanted to talk to you about whether or not I should stay,” Maggie replied.
“Ah yes, that. I had wanted to talk to you about that earlier but I never got the chance to. I would really like it if would stay. We had so much fun today and I would actually sort of miss you if you leave.”
“Really, you would miss me.”
“Sure I would. You’re great to be with and a lot of fun. Without you today I’m not sure what I would have done. Let’s just say that I was in the same situation as you were in, I’m here by myself as well.”
“Oh Liz, I would love to stay especially since you want me to, but I don’t know how I could afford the cost by myself.”
“I was thinking about that and I think I have the perfect solution to that. Why don’t you give up the room your friend and you were sharing and you could bunk with me? I have two beds and we could split the cost of the room. It’ll save us both money and you won’t have to leave,” Liz said hoping that Maggie would accept the offer.
“Oh Liz, you’re the greatest. Now I can stay and afford it. I’ll move my things in tomorrow since it’s too late now, besides you need your rest and it would be better if I wasn’t here, otherwise I’d just want to stay up all night and talk.” With that Maggie threw her arms around Liz and gave her a big hug. Liz smiled and returned the hug, happy that Maggie was going to stay. Maggie finally let go of her and got up off the sofa. “I must get back downstairs since Matt is waiting for me. Now I can tell him that I don’t have to leave tomorrow. He’ll be so happy. What do you say we meet up for breakfast around eight in the main restaurant and I’m paying,” Maggie said with a mischievous grin?
“Okay, that sounds good. I’ll see you tomorrow around eight.” Liz walked Maggie into the hallway where they could see down into the front foyer.
Below the two of them could see Matt and Stephen waiting for Maggie’s return. Maggie gave Liz a quick hug again and then started off down the hallway towards the stairs. Liz watched her join the two men down below and wished that she had decided to go as well. But it was too late now. Liz watched as the three of them talked and then Maggie and Matt left Stephen and headed towards the room where the dancing would be.
Stephen watched Matt and Maggie walk away arm in arm with envy because he wished that it was Liz and himself going to the dance arm in arm. But she hadn’t wanted to go tonight, and he was going to respect her wishes. But she had mentioned tomorrow night and Stephen wasn’t going to pass up that opportunity. The only reason why he hadn’t answered her was because he didn’t want her to know just how much he had wanted that. He would play it cool for now and Let Liz set the pace. The last thing he wanted to do was scare her away. Sighing he stuffed his hands in his pockets and turned towards his office since it was still early and he might as well get some work done. As he walked towards his office he glanced up and saw Liz watching him from the balcony above. She looked at him with those large brown eyes for a moment and then turned and disappeared into her room.
