Holiday Hideout (Polar Bear, Alaska)

My hands fly into her hair as her nails scrape down my back.

“I’m so close,” she tells me.

I want to say a million things to this woman right now. Things with words like love, commitment, and happily ever after.

But I keep my mouth shut, not saying all the things I hope she’d like to hear from me.

Instead, I kiss her lips, tasting the forever promises I wish she’d whisper to me.

We both crash, tumbling into an endless blissful abyss as we come in unison, our bodies holding each other closely.

As soon as my body’s calmed, I gaze into her eyes...and I know.

Twelve

Rachel

* * *

Fender’s light snore in my ear and his arm across my chest wakes me the next morning. Is this heaven? I’m sure this is what heaven feels like. Endless orgasms given to me by Fender Fallon.

I slip out of bed, sneaking off to the bathroom to freshen up.

I need coffee. In the kitchen, I look high and low but can’t find any. Who doesn’t like coffee?

I open the fridge and remove eggs and bacon to make breakfast for Fender. I’m still not able to come to terms with what happened between us last night. My body gets all tingly when I think about how his strong arms held me all night long.

My god. He’s somebody I could fall in love with at the drop of a hat. Hell, I’m already seventy-five percent of the way there.

I start on the bacon, and once it’s sizzling, I fry the eggs in a separate pan.

“I thought I smelled something good,” Fender says, walking into the kitchen with only a pair of black boxers slung low on his hips.

“Morning, sleepy-head. How did you sleep?”

“Better with you in my bed.”

My chest warms at his words. “I slept better too.” He crosses over to the stove and I rise on my toes to plant a kiss square on his lips.

“I like waking up to that,” he says.

“Me too.” I finish up the eggs and slide them onto a couple of plates already loaded with bacon. “Did you want some toast?”

“Nope, just the protein for me, please. I’ve got another movie filming soon.”

“Oh, right.” I hand him the plate and make my way over to the table in the dining room.

I never thought about the ramifications of what sleeping with Fender would mean for the long term.

Of course, he’s going back to Hollywood. Of course, my heart will break when he leaves.

We sit down, both of us silent as we eat breakfast.

“Listen,” Fender finally says. “I don’t know what’s going to happen when I get back to LA, but I really like you.”

I smile. “I really like you too.”

He reaches out his hand for me to take, and I do. “Let’s not think about the future and just enjoy our time together.”

I nod. “I’d like that.”

Yes, I would like that a lot. Because any time with Fender Fallon is golden. A once in a lifetime agreement. Don’t think about the future.

That should be easy.

“What are your plans for today?”

He arches his eyebrow at me with a soft laugh. “You’re such a smartass.” He grabs me, pulling me into a hug.

I laugh. “Maybe.”

“When I asked what your plans were for the day, this is not what I had in mind.”

“Oh, come on, it’ll be fun.”

“The things I do for you, Rachel. I want you to know I’ve never done these sorts of things anywhere else.”

I glide around the frozen pond on ice skates as Fender watches in amazement. We’ve been skating at this pond for as long as I can remember, and it always gathers a crowd at this time of the year. They’ve commercialized this pond as much as possible by adding food trucks and making other refreshments available. It’s quintessential, and exactly what you’d imagine a small-town skating pond would look like.

I zip back and stop right in front of Fender. “Don’t worry, I won’t let go of you.” I take his arm, and together we glide, ungracefully I might add, around the pond. “You’re doing great,” I tell him.

He teeters on the ice but stays upright. “This is definitely not for me.”

“No, I’m serious. You’re doing better than I expected.”

He wraps both arms around my waist, making us lose our balance and tumble down to the ice. I land on top of him, and he kisses my nose. “So, you had no faith in me?”

I pinch my forefinger and thumb together. “Just a little.”

I help him to his feet, just as Mandy O’Brady swoops in next to us. Mandy, and her little gang of wannabe models have always been the town’s typical mean girls. I’ve never gotten along with them, and I don’t plan on starting now. “Who’s this, Rachel?” She studies Fender. “Haven’t I seen you somewhere?”

“No, you haven’t.” I try to move Fender away without crashing to the ground but her get-along gang joins us before we can escape.