Big Daddy

I walked over and wrapped my arms around him. “You’re impressive. You never cease to amaze me.” He brought his mouth down on mine and our lips mingled in a wild dance of passion that had me tingling in all the right places.

“You know the only problem with this place?”

He met my eyes with a grin. “It’s freezing cold at the moment?”

“Bingo!” I turned and headed up the stairs, and he followed close behind. He fixed a couple of sandwiches, and soon we sat at the kitchen table, eating together in silence. For a few moments, the world seemed perfect, and my life seemed normal.

“We can watch some movies if you want or play cards. I’m not picky, but I know you’re probably bored.”

“I’m safe, I’m with you, I’m not bored.”

After we ate, we retired to the couch again, and this time, he put on the TV and popped in a movie.

I snuggled close and closed my eyes, the exhaustion of our current situation wearing heavily on me.

Before too long, I had fallen asleep. I dreamed of being chased in the car, and the snow was blowing so hard outside that I couldn’t see what was out in the road ahead of me. I knew it was only normal to have strange dreams under stress, but once I opened my eyes when Chance had woken me up and carried me to bed, I didn’t want to go back to sleep.

Chance pulled me tightly against him and wrapped his massive arms around me after pulling the covers up over us. As much as I wanted to lose myself in his warmth, I knew we needed to stay alert. I settled back against him and closed my eyes again, finally falling into a fitful sleep.

CHAPTER 17 – CHANCE

I woke up to find the power out and Dream sleeping peacefully beside me. She’d been through so much, and she needed the rest, so I let her sleep while I got up to fire up the emergency lights and stoke the fire.

When I got to the living room, I glanced out the window and noticed how deep the snow was and that if we needed to leave in a hurry, we’d be shit out of luck. I brought a light back into the room and heard her stirring. I crawled back into bed beside her.

She was sleeping soundly and look so innocent with her hands tucked tight up around her neck. Her long, dark brown hair was stuck to her face and spread across her pillow.

She whimpered as her legs jerked beneath the covers, and I stroked her back until she calmed down and turned over to snuggle against me. I knew I wouldn’t ever let anyone hurt her, and as the thought entered my brain, another thought dawned on me as well.

I’d been so wrapped up in making sure she was safe, that I hadn’t realized how hard I was falling for her.

Not only had I disrupted my life, and sent Star and Cynthia away to deal with her problems, but I’d let her into my home and even showed her my secret arsenal, which was something not even Cynthia knew about.

The truth was, I wanted her so badly I didn’t know how long I was going to be able to resist. And sleeping beside her, feeling her warmth, it was enough to make me forget of our troubles and get lost in the moment.

I knew better than to let my emotions get the best of me considering Nick was still out there, and I wasn’t sure I’d be able to get her to stay once he was no longer a problem.

I knew I had to spend what time we had alone trying to convince her to stick around.

She stirred next to me again, this time opening her eyes. “What time is it?”

“It’s morning. The electricity is off, and we’re snowed in. I stoked the fire if you want to move to the living room. We can bring the blanket and lay on the couch if you want?”

“I’m good right here for now,” she said, snuggling against me.

“You seemed to sleep ok,” I said, brushing her hair out of her eyes.

“Yeah, I feel pretty rested actually. It’s probably the best night sleep I’ve had in months.”

“Good,” I said, placing a kiss on her forehead. I took a deep breath and asked the question I was almost afraid for her to answer. “What happens with this is all over?”

“What do you mean?” she asked, propping up on her elbow to look at me.

“I mean, when Nick is dealt with, what happens then? Do you stay? Do you go?”

She looked at me for a moment before answering. “Nick can’t be ‘dealt with’,” she said. “He’s like a cancer that just keeps coming back.”

“What if he didn’t come back?” I asked, pinning her with my gaze. I couldn’t help but think that the only way she’d ever be free was if he were dead. “Would you stay and let me handle that? Could you trust me to protect you?”