“So you’re a Nancy Drew fan?” Heath asked, pouring me some wine.
“How’d you know?” Had I mentioned what I’d done that afternoon?
“I saw your stack of books by the couch.”
“You’re such a sleuth.” I told him all about my love of the quick, fun read, from YA to romance to zombie apocalypse mayhem. Turned out he had a liking for a good dystopian end-of-the-world read, too.
“You’ve got to be prepared at all times,” he told me gravely, only a slight twinkle in his eye indicating he might be joking around. But he might not be.
“You never know when a rogue flu is going to knock out the civilized world.” I nodded in agreement.
“Tell you what, Violet. If it does, you know who you want to be with.”
I smiled, picturing him wearing some kind of a leather holster laden with weapons strapped across his manly chest. Preferably with no shirt underneath. This fantasy would have to take place during the summer if it were in Vermont.
“You do know how to live off the grid already,” I acknowledged.
“I’d keep you safe.” The way he smiled at me, that intense intimacy, made my stomach do a slow flip. He made my pulse race and put me at ease at the same time. I’d never experienced the two of those together at the same time. In the past, either a guy was sexy and exciting until I got to know him or never even got the chance, or he was comfortable like an old shoe. This blend of exciting and “I’ll catch you if you fall” instinct I had to trust him? It was wild.
And it got me talking. I found myself telling him all sorts of stories from growing up, everything from how much fun I’d had at my mom’s hair salon to the kinds of things I didn’t usually share, like how much it had sucked when my father hadn’t even shown up for my high school graduation.
“Don’t feel bad.” Heath took my hand. “My father did show up for my high school graduation. But he brought his flavor-of-the-month girlfriend who was maybe five years older than my classmates. My mother about had a heart attack.”
“That sucks.” I squeezed his hand, and we made each other smile and even laugh a bit even as we relived painful moments from the past. That’s how good we were together. And then I couldn’t even blame it on the wine when I found myself bragging, telling him how I’d earned my college degree completely on my own, online and at night, while working full time in L.A. and then making my way into becoming an assistant producer last year.
“That’s amazing.” He looked at me with such admiration I instantly blushed and realized how much I’d been tooting my own horn.
“I’m sorry, I don’t know why I’m telling you all this.”
“No, I love learning about you. You have a lot to be proud of. I don’t even have a college degree.”
“Well, there’s nothing to be ashamed of about that!” I rushed in, kicking myself. I bet I’d sounded like an ass, and I hoped I hadn’t made him feel self-conscious. “Lots of people can’t afford a four year degree. And look at what you’ve accomplished without one! You’re making amazing stuff, furniture and art, and it sounds like people are snapping it up!”
He shifted in his seat, looking down and playing with his dessert, a house-made ice cream. Man, I’d been on so many dates where the guy wouldn’t shut up about how awesome he was, and now here I was finally out with a man who blew me away and I’d spent the whole of it talking about myself.
“I feel like I don’t know much about you.” I looked up, shyly. “I mean, I know you’re really talented and you live here up in the woods, but…” I shrugged.
“What else do you want to know?” He looked tense all of a sudden. I hadn’t meant to pry. I’d meant it in a good way.
“I’m not trying to do a background check,” I said defensively. “Unless I should?” I tried to tease.
“No criminal record.” He shook his head, looking slightly amused.
“Well, did you grow up here in Vermont? What’s your family like?”
The waitress passed by. Heath let go of my hand to signal that we were ready for the check. I sighed and put my napkin on the table. Here I was trying to get to know him better and he’d basically flagged down a taxi to head out.
“Violet.” He reached over and took my upset hand once again in his. Something about his touch, the warmth, the roughness of his fingers, the way he enveloped me, stroking my skin. Ooh, that man knew how to hold hands. He looked into my eyes and there it was again, that rushing sense of just right.
“I didn’t grow up here and my family’s not like me,” he said, level. “But none of that matters. What matters is right now.”
Right now I was feeling all kinds of tingly, looking at him sitting across from me. That table was a whole lot in the way all of a sudden, such a barrier between me and his lap. I could almost feel him pulling me there, his huge arms wrapping around me, his lips down to meet mine, drinking me in.
“Let’s get out of here,” he said. My thoughts exactly.
He waved away my offer to pay. Honestly, I could expense it so it really made sense, and I couldn’t imagine he made that much as a metalworker. But he insisted.
“Thank you so much,” I said as he helped me into my parka. “I love this place. What a lovely surprise.”
“This isn’t the surprise.”
He caught my hand in his again and had a gleam in his eye like a kid with a secret hiding place. “Are you ready?”
A half an hour later Heath had me standing in the pitch dark at the top of a hill in the middle of nowhere.
“Um, this is…neat,” I said, not exactly sure what was going on. He’d driven me there in his truck and then told me to stand and wait for a sec while he got something.
He chuckled. “Hold on.”
When he returned, he had a large, round plastic disc big enough for two. As if on cue, a full moon emerged from behind the clouds and illuminated the hill. Before us stretched a smooth, clear and seemingly endless expanse of fluffy, new snow.
“Are you ready?”
Before I could answer, he grabbed me and pulled me down to sit between his legs on the plastic thing. Right at the top of the long, steep decline. “What are we doing?” I gasped.
“Hold on!” I wrapped my arms around his large thighs on either side of me as he brought us forward with two strong pushes and suddenly we were up and over the top and speeding, sliding, hurtling down the wild hillside as I screamed at the top of my lungs. Trees passed in a blur, my heart hammered and I gulped in lungfuls of cold air as we flew through the night. It felt like a magic carpet sailing through a path in woods, until we slowly, gently came to a halt.
It took a second to catch my breath, until I could say what all kids did right after they did something Totally Awesome, “AGAIN!”
We must have climbed on back up, huffing and puffing, then flown our way down seven or eight times, each launch plotting our course and strategy to gain maximum velocity. Growing up in New Jersey, there’d been a small hump near a school people had called a sledding hill. I remembered rides there as slushy, crowded and short. Nothing like what we had going. We were ready for the Olympics.
“You ready?” Heath asked, whispering in my ear, prepping us for our flight.
“OK, remember, we lean right at the third tree,” I reminded him.
“Then left at the rock.”
Off we flew, leaning and guiding our course, probably breaking the sound barrier we rocked it so hard. At the bottom, we lay together, laughing in exhilaration, so warm I didn’t even feel the cold of the snow. Up above, limitless stars shown in the now cloudless sky, the full moon illuminating each and every branch with a pale glow. Our breath puffed together, and Heath reached over, pulling me next to him, my head resting in the crook of his arm.
“That was fun.” He kissed the top of my head.
“That was amazing.” I rested my hand on his chest, perfectly content in the middle of the snowy winter’s night.
CHAPTER 14
Heath
In the morning light, Violet looked even more beautiful than I could believe. Delicate and curvy and delicious. So much smaller than me, I wanted to protect her as much as I wanted to ravish her. I knew I never wanted another man to touch her ever again.
The sheets had slid down and she lay there, revealed entirely to me. Reaching over, I traced my fingers along her smooth stomach, up and over the curve of her hip. She was like a work of art, and I was the lucky man allowed to touch the exhibit. Sliding my hand along her smooth, pink skin, I reached around and cupped her ass, so round and perfect. My cock hardened at the memory of spanking her the other night, how wet she’d gotten from it, the feel of her soft buttocks under my firm hand.