Snowed In Read online

  As I stroke myself, a sudden knock at the door startles me, and I open my eyes.

  Yes, he’s come back. He must want this, too.

  I want him to barge in and see me standing there, breasts exposed and touching myself, moaning. I want him to grab me by the wrists and lick at my fingers before easing me down onto the soft mat in front of the bath. I can’t stand it any longer, I reach for the door to open it, but then he speaks:

  “I won’t bother you again,” he mumbles out. “Just wanted to let you know I’m leaving some clothes here for you by the door.”

  He sounds irritated. I have really messed this up. This sexy stranger has rescued me into his home, and I have been nothing but rude to him.

  “Oh,” I say, disappointment coating my throat. “Thank you.”

  I step away from the door, remove my panties, and dip into the warm bath.

  Daniel

  I stand there for another moment, my hand to the door. I can’t help but picture her tight little body stepping into the clawfoot tub, her breasts glowing beneath the light as she sinks down into the water.

  Goddammit, I just want to touch her again. Feel her soft skin pressed against me.

  I’ve got to stop it with these thoughts. Her feisty little tone has made it very clear that she wants to me stay far away from her. I’ll just give her a place to sleep, and in the morning, I’ll drive her back down the mountain and get her gas for her car. And that’ll be it. I’ll say goodbye to her and never see her again.

  I’m lost in my thoughts when I hear the tub start draining on the other side of the door.

  Shit, how long have I been standing here?

  I quickly retreat out of the bedroom and walk down the hallway to the linen closet. Out of the closet, I grab some sheets and a blanket and walk back into the living room. As I’m draping the sheets over the leather couch that sits just in front of the fireplace, I hear her clearing her throat on the other side of the room and I look up. She’s standing beneath the archway wearing one of my long-sleeved thermals and a pair of my plaid boxers. I gave her a pair of sweatpants, too, but I’m glad she chose to just wear the boxers. She’s pulled my wool socks up over her calves, highlighting her long legs. She’s breathtaking.

  “Hi,” she says. My eyes are drawn to hers and then they quickly graze down to her chest—she’s clearly not wearing a bra, her hard nipples are outlined beneath the thermal.

  “Hi,” I whisper out, my voice is raspy wanting to say more, but I can’t seem to form the words.

  “Is this for me?” she asks and nods toward the couch.

  "Oh…no. Actually, I thought you should sleep in the bed. It will be more comfortable. I'm fine out here."

  “Oh.”

  She sounds disappointed.

  “Or if you’d prefer the couch—”

  “Yes,” she interrupts. “It’s fine. The couch is fine.”

  “Are you sure? I don’t want it to be uncomfortable for you.”

  “No, really, it’s fine, it’s—”

  “Perfection?” I finish the sentence for her.

  She smiles quickly and then sucks in her cheeks as if to erase the brief moment of vulnerability. I can take a hint. I lay a pillow at the end of the couch and walk toward her on my way out of the living room. She stands frozen in the archway as I approach. Our eyes meet just as I’m walking past and I stop for a second to open my mouth. But, the words don’t want to come out. She looks up at me with those green eyes sparkling against the light of the fire and I swear for a moment, I think she wants to lean in. But instead, she drops her head down.

  “Goodnight, Daniel,” she says and retreats back toward the couch.

  “Goodnight, Allie.”

  Chapter Four

  Daniel

  I look at the clock again: 12:18 a.m. I've been tossing and turning for probably a half-hour now. I just can't sleep. I can't sleep knowing she's out there…wearing my clothes, curled up on my couch. I just want to go back a few hours and find her again in the snow, pick her up into my arms and start all over.

  Trying to get more comfortable, I kick the covers off when I hear the sound of glass shattering in the kitchen. Jumping out of bed, I run into the kitchen to find Allie standing behind the kitchen island.

  “I’m so sorry,” she says, her eyes wide with worry. “I was just trying to get a cup of water and this mug fell out of the cabinet when I went to reach for a glass.”

  “Well, don’t move, you’ll cut your feet,” I say and walk around the island toward her.

  And then I realize exactly which mug she was talking about. Standing in the center of the floor, her feet are surrounded by a dozen shattered pieces of red and blue ceramic. This wasn’t just any mug, this was—

  “My dad’s,” I whisper out.

  “What?” she asks.

  “That was my father’s mug.”

  As beautiful as she is standing there in the kitchen as the moonlight pours in through the bay window, I'm no longer focused on her. My father's face flashes through my mind as I stare down at the broken pieces around her feet. A rush of anger begins funneling through me.

  “You broke my father’s mug,” I say again, a soft growl thick in my voice. She shifts uncomfortably and crosses her arms across her chest. She can feel my anger.

  “Oh my god,” she chokes out. “I’m so sorry, Daniel. I was just trying to—”

  “Move please.”

  I lift her body straight up and place her away from the shattered pieces. Then, I crouch down in front of the mess on the floor. Holding one of the pieces in my hand, I can still see him sitting at the table behind me, sipping his coffee out of his favorite mug and laughing at the comic strips in the morning paper.

  “Daniel, please,” I can hear Allie whisper out as she places a gentle hand on my shoulder. “I feel just terrible about this. I’m so sorry, I—”

  “It’s fine,” I say with a grunt, but I do not turn to face her. I feel her hand retreat from my shoulder.

  As I start to gather up the rest of the pieces, a calm suddenly falls over me. It’s as if my dad is sitting here with me telling me it’s okay.

  It’s just a thing that is broken, Daniel. Your memories of me will never be broken.

  He was always so cool-headed and tried so hard to teach me how to control my temper. I was so angry when he died, but I’ve slowly started to overcome the anger and try to live a life that would make him proud. I haven’t lost my cool in months…until this moment.

  And I lost it on her. Someone so beautiful. Someone so unexpected. Someone my heart is telling me is so special. Someone who—

  …is gone. I turn around and she is no longer in the room. I must have scared her off.

  After I place the broken pieces on the counter, I retrieve a glass from the cabinet and fill it with water. When I bring the water to her in the living room, I find her curled back up on the couch with the blanket pulled up around her chin. Her eyes are closed, so I just set the water glass on the side table. A lock of her hair has fallen over her face. I gently brush the hair back behind her ear and whisper, “I’m sorry.”

  When I fall back into bed, I can’t seem to fall asleep; I feel like I just stare at the ceiling all night long until the morning sun finally peeks through the curtains. When the light hits my face, I can’t stand it any longer. I have to wake her up. I have to apologize.

  I have to kiss her.

  I tiptoe back into the living room hoping to catch another glimpse of her sleeping so peacefully on my couch, but when I enter the room, my heart drops. The fire has gone out and in front of it, there are two folded sheets and a blanket sitting neatly on the edge of the empty couch.

  She is gone.

  Allie

  I feel terrible. Not only have I acted so unappreciative toward him with everything he has done for me in the past few hours, now I have broken what seems to be an important physical memory he has of his father. I have royally mucked up this entire situation. In my heart, I feel as though it was fate that led me to him. I was supposed to move here, I was supposed to take this mountain road on my way to the party, I was supposed to run out of gas in the middle of this snowstorm. And it all somehow led me to him…But, with me being so terrified of allowing myself to be vulnerable and willing to take a chance with my heart, I have screwed it all up.

  Before I broke his father’s mug in the kitchen, I had been tossing and turning on the couch unable to sleep. Thoughts swirled through my mind picturing him lying in that bed with nothing on but a pair of boxers, the sheets tangled around his shirtless body. And then I thought about how gentle he was when he rescued me. It felt so good to be in his arms. To feel so safe. I mean, he saved my life. This man saved my life and how do I repay him? By being a bitch and breaking something incredibly precious to him.

  After flipping around on the couch, my thoughts refusing to shut off, a boldness came over me. I shot up from the living room, determined to waltz right into his bedroom, rip the sheets off of him, climb up onto his hard body and finally feel his lips pressed into mine. So, I charged forward to his room and as I was about to open the door, a tickle hit my throat and sent me into a coughing fit. I quickly walked away from his door—this was certainly not the passionate way I wanted to rouse him from his sleep. That’s when I went into the kitchen to get a glass of water to calm my coughing. And that’s when it happened. The mug fell from the cabinet, and along with it, shattering my plans of making him mine.

  Although his words were, “it’s fine,” when I tried to explain what happened, the anger behind his words made it very clear that it was not fine; it was not fine at all. So, I walked away and pretended to fall back asleep on the couch. Once I heard him walk back into his room and shut the door behind him, I found a power cord i
n one of his drawers and charged my phone back to life. Early this morning, I was finally able to reach Claire and asked her to drive down the mountain until she found my car and I would be waiting for her. The roads had been salted by that time, making it safe to drive again. As Claire drove me back down the mountain, she quizzed me the entire way.

  “What happened to you? Where did you stay? Who was he? Are you okay? Did he hurt you?” she continued to ask, but I kept a very tight lip. It hurt too bad to talk about him because all I wanted to do was run back into his arms, but I couldn’t. Not yet anyway.

  Now, it is almost evening again, and I’ve had all day alone with my thoughts. The temperature is dropping, and I’ve decided to take a warm bath and just call it a night. But, as I am about to strip out of my clothes, I quickly change my mind.

  I know what I have to do.

  Daniel

  Today was rough. Not only did I not get any sleep, but I can’t stop my mind from thinking about Allie. I didn’t even get her last name—I would have no idea where to even start to look for her. And this fact sends a pain through my heart knowing I may never see her again. On top of this, I had a lesson with one of my least favorite clients. In the winter, I teach snowboarding lessons at one of the resorts. I prefer to teach kids—they’re so much easier than adults. They listen and don’t complain like the adults do. Aside from that, the majority of my clients are bored housewives who are constantly hitting on me. And my client from today is particularly aggressive.

  Her name is Veronica. She’s a younger woman who, from what I understand, married a rich, older man, but clearly likes to pursue other men in his absence. And apparently, I am at the top of her list. The past few afternoons I have spent with her have gotten more and more uncomfortable with her hands always trying to roam all over my body as I attempt to teach her the proper positions on the board. She’s even asked for my address to send me thank you gifts which I declined several times before finally giving in. Since then, she’s sent several presents to my house. And today, on our last ride up the mountain, we had an entire gondola to ourselves, so she took the opportunity to kick her flirtation up a notch. Just as the gondola started up the lift, she moved from the other side of the bench and stood in front of me. Without warning, she started straddling me and immediately went for my neck with her lips.

  “Woah, woah, woah,” I said, gently pulling her back just as her tongue started to travel toward my earlobe. “What are you doing?”

  “Oh please,” she whispered out. “Don’t tell me you don’t want it.”

  She leeched back onto my neck, and for a moment, it felt good to have her lingering there, but then Allie’s face flashed through my mind. I quickly realized that the only lips I wanted nipping at my neck were Allie’s.

  “No,” I said and pulled her entire body off of me. “I’m just your teacher, okay? I’m flattered, but can we just focus on the lesson?”

  She gave me smirk, stifling a coy laugh.

  “I’m serious,” I said.

  “Yeah, we’ll see about that.”

  She kept her distance that final run down the mountain, and I was so glad to get out of there and get back home.

  I’ve just finished dinner, and I still can’t get Allie out of my head. I have to find her. I don’t know how I’ll do it, but I have to. For now, I start a fire and sit down on the couch to think of how to go about it.

  And then there is a knock at my door.

  Oh my god, it’s her.

  I rush up from the couch and over to the door.

  “Allie,” I say out as I turn the handle.

  The door swings open and my stomach sinks.

  It’s Veronica.

  “What the hell?” I say.

  “Well, that’s no way to welcome a guest,” Veronica says, biting her lip.

  “What are you doing here?”

  Anger coats my words and I cross my arms in front of me.

  “You gave me your address, remember? I know you didn’t mean all that bullshit about being my teacher. Well, you’re not at work anymore, so now…we can play.”

  She grabs at the waist of my pants and pulls me forward, sliding one hand down my pants and grabs my neck with her other. She smashes her lips to mine as I fight to gently pull her off of me.

  “Veronica,” I say, grabbing her hands off of me. “Please stop. I meant what I said earlier about—”

  And then I see her.

  Just behind Veronica, I see a pair of green eyes staring right at me. She’s standing there beneath the garage light at the top of the driveway. It’s Allie.

  Chapter Five

  Daniel

  “Allie, wait!” I yell out to her as she places a bag down on the driveway and runs back to her car.

  Before I can run after her, I turn back to Veronica.

  “Leave!” I growl out at her.

  “What, is that your little girlfriend or something?” she says with a smirk as she saunters back to her car. “You’re no fun. I’m out of here.”

  I push past her and just as I’m stumbling toward Allie, I notice the bag she has left on the driveway. I stop quickly and pick it up. Inside I find a mug. My father’s mug. She has taken all the pieces and glued them back together.

  “Oh my god,” I whisper out. Then, I look up and see Allie is in her car already. I place the bag back down and sprint to Allie’s car. Grabbing the handle, I realize she’s locked it.

  “Please open the door, Allie,” I plead with her, lightly tapping on the window.

  I hear Veronica’s car start up behind me and leave down the driveway, and I only hope she’s gone for good.

  Tapping again on her window, I watch Allie turn her key over a few times before she realizes that her car isn’t starting. I step back from the car, relieved. She looks over at me, and I give her a playful shrug of my shoulders. She stares at me for a moment before unlocking the door and stepping out. We look at each other for a moment before she finally speaks.

  “My car won’t start,” she says, looking down at her feet.

  “I can see that,” I say with a grin. “You sure do seem to have your fill of car issues.”

  “Look, I’m sorry to just show up here like this and ruin your date. I just felt so terrible about your father’s mug, and then how I just left without thanking you for everything you did for me, and how I just wanted to…I just wanted—”

  “That was a not a date,” I interrupt her and take a step toward her. She is still staring at her feet, refusing to look up at me. “That wasn’t a date, Allie. And even if it was, it would never have worked out.”

  “Oh yeah?” she mumbles and finally looks up at me, her green eyes shining against the light. “And why is that?”

  I can’t take it anymore.

  “I think you know why…”

  I rush toward her. Grabbing a hand behind her neck, I twist her hair through my grip and press my lips into hers. The moment I touch her, a warmth flushes over me and I deepen the kiss. I wrap my other hand around her ass and lift her up against the car, pressing my body into hers. She makes the sweetest little moan before abruptly pushing me off of her and holds me back at an arm’s length. We are both struggling to take in a breath.

  “What’s wrong?” I ask.

  “You…you’re so…I’m just…I don’t want to get hurt.”

  I take a moment searching her face when I realize she is speaking the truth. I don’t know why she would think I would ever hurt her—I take one look into those eyes, and the last thing I want to do is to hurt her. I want to do the opposite. I want to lift her back into my arms again and protect her from any hurt.

  Once she finally relaxes her arms, and I frame my hands around her face.

  “Allie,” I say. “I know we barely know each other, but in my heart, I know this isn’t just some fling. You do something inside of me that I’ve never felt before. I promise you, I am not going to hurt you. In fact, I want you to know that—”