Snow and Mistletoe

“But you…” I search my brain, trying to put everything together. So much of this has seemed one-sided for so long. “I didn’t think you wanted me.”

“Does this feel like I don’t want you?” His cock slides out of me a little and thrusts back in.

“You’re a man. The wind makes you hard,” I tease, wiggling my hips, wanting him to do that again.

“I hadn’t gotten hard since the accident until I heard your voice. Now I can’t seem to get un-hard.” The smile on his face lets me know that this doesn’t seem to bother him in the least.

That shouldn’t make me happy, but it does. That I have some special power—that only I can get him off—pleases me.

“What happened?” I reach up and touch one of his scars, and he leans into my palm, craving the feel of me.

“Wrong place, wrong time. Got hit by a car.”

“Oh, God.” Horror fills my voice, but he brushes his thumb across my cheek, soothing me.

“I’m fine. It happened years ago,” he says, his voice devoid of emotion.

“Is that why you’re all the way out here in the middle of almost nowhere?” I know his company is pretty big and he has a few other people working for him. I have to deal with them from time to time.

“At first, yeah. It’s kind of grown on me now. Life’s not so busy. I like the quiet a lot more than I thought I would.”

I know the feeling. I’ve always been a homebody. I just stay in the town so I can have some human contact from time to time. I know if I lived out in a beautiful cabin like this, I’d probably never see another soul until my mom came and dragged me from it kicking and screaming.

“Don’t you get lonely?”

“I was at first. Then I found you.”

“Liar, you hardly talk to me.” I playfully smack his arm.

“I don’t talk much because I want to hear you. If I’m talking, you’re not.”

“But I like hearing you, too.”

“Then I’ll talk until I can’t utter another word if it makes you happy. As long as you stay here with me.”

“You want me to stay here with you? Like, for the holiday?” My heartbeat picks up as I wonder what he’ll say.

“Yeah for the holiday.” He pauses for a second, and I see what looks like uncertainty creep into his eyes. “And after.”

“After?” I push, wanting more. It’s hanging in front of me, so close I can almost grab it. I want his words and for him to ask me to stay.

“Forever,” he finally says, and I can tell he’s worried what I might say. My chest fills with warmth, but it feels too good to be true.

“Is it too soon?” I know it’s a stupid question. Hell, we just had unprotected sex. Our baby could be growing inside me as we speak, but I need him to give me more. He’s hiding so much of himself from me. I want to know we’re on the same page, that he’s just as crazy about me as I am about him.

“I’ll make you so fucking happy, Noelle. I know you’re perfect for me. I’ve listened to you talk for hours on end. You’re it for me. I know it to my core, and I’ll spend every day showing you that I’m it for you. That we belong together.”

“Why aren’t you using the audios I made?” The question has been hanging in my mind, and after all the sweet things he’s said to me, this one thing is still not adding up. He liked my voice so much, and he used me for so many jobs…

He blushes at my question like he’s embarrassed.

“I-I…shit.” He brushes a few strands of hair out of my face. “I didn’t like the idea of others hearing you say all the sex stuff in the audios. I wanted it to just be mine.”

“You kept them for yourself?” He must have a stockpile of my audios hidden away. I don’t know why, but it is adorably cute. I wonder what he does with them. I’ll have to ask him later, for sure.

“God, this makes me sound crazy, but yeah, I kept them for myself. Seems I do a lot of things I shouldn’t when it comes to you.” He says it like he has a few more secrets he’s keeping, and I want them. If we’re doing this, jumping into this so quickly, then I need to know it all.

“Are there more things I should know?” It should be freaking me out, but thinking that he’s been stalkerish makes me feel warm inside. Like he’s got all these little dirty secrets about me just for himself.

His grip tightens on me like I might try to get away from him. “I ran a check on you when I first found you. Learned everything I could. I also might have hired someone to watch you for me.”

“You have someone watching me?” Now that I can’t believe. Watching me would have to be the world’s most boring job. I maybe leave the house once a week, and that’s just to go to the store. I get everything pretty much just shipped right to my front door.

“I was worried someone would steal you,” he says with such certainly. He says it like it’s a real possibility that someone is really going to come and take me away.

“Steal me?” I don’t even know what to do with that.

“Yeah. If I had met you, I would’ve scooped you up and never let another man near you. I got scared you’d meet someone and then…” His words trail off. He doesn’t even want to finish the sentence. I can see the uncertainly in his face. He’s scared I’m going to run from him now that I know the truth. But the grip he has on me won’t let me go anywhere, even if I wanted to.

Nope. He’ll never be rid of me now.