Wilhelmina sat in front of the vanity of the hotel room, doing her hair and getting ready for her dinner with Connor. It had been a day that only few of privileged class knew, skiing the mountaintops of the Swiss Alps in the morning and the Italian in the afternoon. Refreshing amongst the beautiful people at Après Ski parties and indulging in the good life. Wilhelmina and Connor were finally free to be together without previous engagements, prying eyes or corporate drama to get in the way. It was the perfect day. She examined her reflection with the slight windburn on her nose and cheeks, flushing her face as though she had been frolicking on the beach. She kind of liked it. She smiled at her reflection subconsciously. Deliriously happy for the first time in a long time to be with the man she had fallen so head over heels for. She watched his moving form from behind her as he fidgeted with the buttons of his dress shirt.

[Wilhelmina's POV]

After the drama of the last few months, lord knows I was looking forward to this mini vacation with Connor. The drawn out and draining process to finally be able to be together, I needed to get him in a place where we could be free to be together, without the glare of the paparazzi or some nosey socialite waiting to spill the beans to some media source. What better place than a chalet in the Swiss Alps over the holidays? Now, I am not typically the lovey dovey type, tripping all over my feet like Marc over the new seasonal "it" colour Birkin bag across a room, but I have to admit I found myself, what's the word…feeling…things, like excitement and obsessing about every miniscule detail. I wanted the trip to be perfect and I hate to admit it but dare I say…romantic. It had been a long time since I desired a man the way I desired him. Could I even allow myself to hope that this man could be the one? Every one before him turned out to be such colossal disappointments and in came this man like a force of nature. His style, his eyes, his perfect body, his wit and his cutthroat business acumen, it was like we were cut from the same cloth. He was my match. Even him catching me staring at him in the reflection makes me melt like wax down a candle ignited by the heat of the flame. Lord, this man was fine! So smooth like the finest and most decadent piece of chocolate I've ever laid my lips on.

"What?" That Australian drawl deep and suggestive ripped through the quiet luxurious room.

"Nothing. I just realized I like watching you get dressed almost as much as I like watching you get undressed."

"Don't say such things to me Willie, or we won't make it out of this room for dinner." Connor played with the cuff link of his shirt as he debonairly crossed the room to meet his beloved where she sat. He leaned in over her shoulder and moved the silk of her robe to the side and placed fluttery kisses over her collarbone and neck as he tried catching her eyes in the mirror.

"I can think of worse things than not making our reservation." She moaned feeling his lips on her body. Connor dragged his lips over her skin massaging the flesh with his tongue and deeply uttered "As much as I would like to say lets skip dinner, I don't want you famished tonight, because I plan on keeping you… up… all…night…"

"Normally I would scoff at a man to make such bold promises but with your capabilities…" He placed his hands on her shoulders and gently massaged her, removing any last pangs of tension, as her head rolled into him and he whispered, "You know I'm a man of my word. Now go get dressed so I may have the pleasure of undressing you later."

Wilhelmina smirked and vacated the vanity. She did as she was told by her man. Not one to be bossed around by anyone, she figured she would have a little fun with him. She stopped in her tracks knowing he would watch her go as she crossed the room to the walk in closet. She turned over he shoulder and threw Connor a suggestive look, as she let her robe fall to the floor, switching her hips and disappearing out of sight to get dressed. She felt butterflies and bit her lip. She hadn't felt this flirtatious and giddy since her first real adult relationship. Everything felt new with him, like she had never teased or tempted a man before him.

Connor chuckled at her playfulness. It was a side of her he was waiting to see, the woman behind the mask. The one he fantasized before he went to sleep for months about what she would be like away from the scrutiny and glare of the cameras. "You are going to be the death of me woman!"

"Don't joke, it's happened!" Wilhelmina lightheartedly offered from the other room.

"I'm sorry, come again…" She got his attention.

"That's exactly what happened! We went round, after round, after round and then Boom! He just dropped dead, just like that! Poor bastard had a heart attack, I'm that good I guess…" She amusedly and enthusiastically offered her story and could feel Connor's gears spinning in the other room.

"Please tell me you're kidding?" He sounded panicked.

"Of course I'm kidding you dag!" She ripped from in the closet and could have sworn she heard him breathe a sigh of relief.

"That's it, I'm not teaching you any more Aussie slang! You're too good at everything, I'm scared your going to out Aussie me." It was his turn to play with her.

"Hey! No fair…I can't help it that I have a away with languages."

"I have to admit Aussie slang isn't as sexy as French or Italian coming out of your mouth, but it's still pretty damn hot!"

"No what's hot darling is that accent of yours! I wonder if you have an Aussie accent when you painfully inflict the Deutsch language. Uhhh…I hate German!" She emerged in a suggestive black cocktail dress open back with bustier front, and form fitting pencil silhouette. Connor figured she could only do playful to a limit without a bit of her bitchiness coming through. She grabbed her fur coat and clutch off the lounger and walked toward him. She wanted his lips.

"Was?! Sie mögen keine Deutsch?" He continued to try and get a rise out of her as she sat on his lap and wrapped her limbs around his neck and looked into his crystal blue eyes.

"Ughhh…Learn French! I beg of you!"

"Not until you learn German."

"N'est pas possible!" He kissed her longingly and softly and ran his strong hands down the length of her arm.

"Ok, let's go gorgeous. We're going to be late for the reservation." He lifted her from his lap and gently ran his fingers over her jawline.

"I'm Wilhelmina Slater, I'm never late. Everyone else is just early!" She turned and Connor playfully pinched her backside at the snide comment and winked at her as she shot him a look of shock and horror. No one ever had the gall to do that to her as an adult woman, afraid she would take their head off, but Connor wasn't afraid of her and she kind of liked it.

"Don't ever do that to me again!"
"Stop pretending you didn't like it Sassy pants!"

"Sassy pants? I am so horrified at this moment!"

"Well then I guess I will have to take my chances you will cook up a punishment worthy enough of how horrified you are at this moment, which I will gladly endure as long as you're on top of me." He wiggled his eyebrows at her as he slipped his suit jacket and pecked her lips, eliciting a small giggle from her. Connor grabbed her hand and led his lady to the lavish dinner he planned for her that New Year's evening.

[Connor's POV]

This woman is just amazing. Everything she says is like words I have never heard before. I always imagined what she would be like without the world watching her. I mean Florida was one thing, but the circumstances were different, Molly was still in the picture. But now, she is mine and only mine. I am the luckiest son of a bitch in the world. God she is gorgeous, enough to bring a man to his knees.

"Are you even listening to what I am saying? You have this …look… on your face."

"I'm sorry Willie. Truth is no.

"No?"

"I'm having a hard time concentrating, you're just so bloody gorgeous."

"Go on then…as you were."

Connor laughs. "You kill me. Your vanity is strangely endearing."

"Let's see if you'll be saying that in a few months."

"Months, challenge me at least to years."

"Years?"

"Yes, years. I think you are the woman for me Willie."

"Let's not get too ahead of ourselves. I mean you just got out of a long term relationship, and I am not the easiest person to be in a relationship…"

"Hey…my previous relationship was more of a companionship than anything. There were circumstances that made it very hard to just get up and leave. There was no future there, we couldn't grow together because I think we out grew one another, which was why it was so easy for me to fall for you so quickly."

"What do you mean circumstances."

"I wasn't going to get into it on this trip since this is about you and I…"

"this is about you and I, about getting to know one another better."

"In that case…are you sure you want to hear this?"

"Yes."

"Well, like I told you before, we met and it was opposites attract story. We fell in love and that was that, differences cast aside. About a year and half into the relationship, Molly became ill with cancer. I was there for her through the bad and the things many people would have… anyway, there was a moment where we thought her time was um, running out, so I proposed to her to make her dreams come true. She would get her dream to become a wife and I was the man privileged to give her that. And she chose me." He watched her face soften, a rare feat by any man to affect Wilhelmina Slater. Connor nervously played with the champagne flute, spinning it at the base as he continued, "Anyway, she had surgery and intensive chemo and a miracle of god she went into remission. We stayed engaged, but never followed through with the plans to get married. The relationship changed after that. We became companions, not lovers. Our futures became very decided and the present became a routine. And when she broke up with me that night of your party, we both wished one another well because we both knew how fleeting and precious life is, and finding happiness is so rare in this very ugly world. I knew the moment I laid eyes on you, you were my happiness. You were the woman who was going to challenge me, push me, and make me better. And something told me I was going to be good for you too."

"I had no idea. It makes so much more sense now… You are a good man Connor."

"I try. But I also have a polar opposite side, a sinister side. I guess it's the Gemini in me."

"Oh really? To be sinister you have to have a patented sneer."

"How's this?" He gave her his best attempt at a dirty look and she just shook her head at him, like an expert opinion in the matter.

"Negative. Stick to numbers Connor! This is a real sneer…" and then came 'the look' that made grown men quake in their Gucci's.

"Lord knows you have a good one!" Wilhelmina let out a throaty laugh and leaned into the table and provocatively enticed Connor to lean in like she had a secret to tell him. "You get a good one when you've shaken hands with the devil." Wilhelmina's throaty whisper and suggestion intrigued the man in front of her. He decided to challenge her.

"Well I've sat at his table and played cards."
"Ha! I rigged those cards Connor, and I taught him how to count cards."

"My evil queen! I bow down to your sinister side as mine is not as sly and skilled."
"You have no idea the shit I have pulled over the years!" She laughed to herself.

"So what's your story Willie?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, tell me something about yourself that's not in your official bio."

"Ugh, I hate talking about myself. Let's keep talking about you."

"No, no…enough about me. And besides I don't believe that, I bet you love talking about yourself. Your vanity proceeds you"

"Vanity and transparency are two very different things."

"Which I am sure I will find both on you to be endearing. C'mon I'm not going to hurt you, or use it against you. What does it take for you to lower that shield to at least eye level?"

Wilhelmina sat still at that moment, not sure what to do. Did she want to risk the biggest pot and gamble her heart? Could she open up once and for all to man who could possibly love her the rest of her life?