by Livia Grant
“How? I mean…” A true sob escapes while Gina gets up to get a tissue for her niece, delivering it to her and sitting next to her to look over Hallie’s shoulder.
It’s Gina who looks up with tears in her eyes next. “Oh Troy. This is a priceless gift. When you called and asked me if I had any old photos of my sister and mother, and of Hallie when she was a little girl, I had no idea what you were going to do with them. What a thoughtful gift.”
Troy had spent hours tracking down photos of Hallie’s life, converting them to digital photos for the iPad. Other photos he had downloaded from her old school on-line yearbooks and against his better judgment, The Kings official website which had many photos of the band. He had intentionally left off any photos that included Eddie the Asshole as he likes to think of him, but considering managing the band had been such a major part of her life, he didn’t feel it was right to leave those photos off completely.
She had gone back to playing with her new toy when her eyes fly to meet his again, total surprise. “Troy, there is even music already loaded on here. How the hell did you do that? Please tell me you didn’t buy all of that music.”
“There’s not all that much, but since we both attended the Matchbox 20 concert together, I’m taking a guess that we might share the same taste in music. I just thought I’d give you something to get you started. There are a couple books on there too, but I’m not sure if we share the same tastes in those.” Glancing at his sister, he teases her. “I know Traci wouldn’t really care for the books I read.”
His sister gives him a threatening glare to keep his mouth shut about her addiction to erotic romances.
Hallie has gone back to looking at her new gift, but when he sees her shoulders shaking, he feels bad because he can see his gift has upset her. He is just about to get up to go to her, when she launches out of her seat, rushing around the coffee table and throwing herself into his lap, burying her head against his chest.
He should regret making her cry, but he can’t. She feels too perfect in his arms. So small… fragile in so many ways, and yet oddly strong in others. She is different than any other woman he has met, and twenty reasons or not, the bottom line is he wants her… and bad. He wants to comfort her… protect her… spank her until she moans with desire and then… fuck her long and hard until they are both spent.
“Sh. Don’t cry, Hallie. I never wanted to upset you. It was supposed to make you happy, not sad.”
Her face is mashed against his chest so her reply is muffled. “I am happy.”
Troy chuckles. “Well you could have fooled me. I’d hate to see you if you were sad.”
He holds her tight against him, stroking her back lightly to try to help calm her. He looks up over Hallie’s head that is tucked neatly beneath his chin and sees three pairs of eyes taking in the picture of Hallie and Troy in this intimate embrace. If he was worried Uncle Adam was going to kick his ass, he would have been dead wrong. When his eyes meet the older uncle’s, Troy sees nothing but approval from Hallie’s uncle. Shifting his gaze to his sister, he sees approving tears in her eyes, too.
He might be in a little trouble here.
Hallie stays in his arms for a few more heavenly minutes while the rest of the room visits. When she pulls away from him to finally look into his eyes, the depth of emotion in her eyes would have knocked him on his ass were he standing. He has to remind himself they are not alone.
“Are you feeling better now?”
She nods her head, afraid to speak. Her eyes are red rimmed from crying. He can smell her lip-gloss and longs to capture her lips in another kiss like the night before, but suspects that is best not done with an audience.
Traci breaks into their private connection by shoving cards in envelopes into both Troy and Hallie’s laps. “All right you two. Time for you to open my gift to each of you. I had already planned on getting this for Troy, but then Hallie started talking about this too last week so I thought it would actually be a great gift to give to both of you.”
That hint confuses Troy. “Well, you have my attention now. I can’t wait to see what you have cooked up here, Trace. You open yours first, Hallie.”
Traci replies. “No! You both need to open at the same time.”
Hallie and Troy’s eyes meet and they silently communicate the plan. Together, they open their envelopes and pull out the thick packet of information. Troy recognizes it immediately. Hallie is taking longer to figure it out. The gift itself is awesome, but the fact that his sister has given Hallie the same gift is the best part in Troy’s humble opinion.
Hallie finally asks. “What is it?” She turns her eyes to Troy and not Traci.
“I love to ski. We grew up in Colorado and I was on a ski team for several years. Unless I’m mistaken, Traci got me a weekend package at one of my favorite ski resorts, Copper Mountain. She knows how much I missed skiing when I lived out east.”
He looks at is sister. “This is awesome, Trace. Thank you so much. This is the perfect gift to get me back in the groove being home in Colorado.”
Hallie is looking at Traci now. “But why did you get me this too? You obviously weren’t listening. The story I told you about skiing was about how much I suck at it and how the one and only time I’d gone, my friends who promised to teach me had taken me to the top of a big mountain and then left me there to figure out how to get myself down the mountain. I hated every single minute of skiing. I would never go again. Not in a million years.”
Troy can hear real panic in her voice and tries to calm her. He’s glad she’s stayed on his lap so he can rub her back lightly. “Hey… it’s okay. It sounds like you just went with the wrong people is all. If they left you at the top to fend for yourself with no training, then they’re not real friends.”
“Still…”
Hallie is looking down at the packet in her hands and he can feel real fear as she trembles. He tries to reassure her. “I bet if you’d take some lessons and start out on the bunny slopes until you got your confidence up, you’d learn to like it. It’s awesome being out in the mountains, close to nature. Just you against the mountain.”
Troy suspects Hallie is holding it together, trying not to make Traci feel bad about not liking her gift, but looking up to see Traci’s face, Troy knows immediately his sister did this on purpose. While Hallie sits oblivious to the others in the room, Troy scans the room to find Adam and Gina smiling knowingly.
They’ve been setup by a room full of matchmakers.
Apparently, he forgot to send the memo outlining the twenty reasons why falling for Hallie Boudreaux was a bad idea to the other occupants of the room.
Troy has a brief moment of anger at being manipulated, but it fades quickly at the possibility of spending a weekend at Copper Mountain with Hallie. Ironically, it’s not the skiing he’s looking most forward to. He’s pretty sure he’s projected his less-than-gentlemanly thoughts to his face because he sees Adam’s frown.
‘Okay, get your mind out of the gutter, Jackson.’
“Hallie, look at me.” When she doesn’t comply, he adds a gentle, “Please.”
When she turns, he feels her fear. He links his open hand with her’s while he continues to stroke her lower back gently. “Okay, here’s the deal. I’d be honored if you would trust me enough to let me take you skiing and I promise you, we’ll start out with me giving you lessons and work up to small practice runs and bunny hills. I will never leave your side. Not even for one minute. I’ll push you a little bit, but never past what I think you can do and if you really want to stop, we will.” She was listening and he can see her softening. “The question is. Do you trust me enough to let me teach you to ski?”
They may be talking about skiing, but there are so many other important implications riding on Hallie’s answer to this question. Trust. It’s what every successful relationship comes down to. Without it, nothing else really matters. If Hallie can trust him to guide her through her fear of skiing, maybe there would be hope he could gu
ide her through her fear of other things… like spanking.
The second the thought hits him, he looks up to see his sister’s approving nod. She may guard Hallie’s private conversations carefully as her therapist, but he can see as Hallie’s friend, Traci is doing her best to help her new friend overcome some of her fears and build her confidence.
Troy doesn’t have time to reflect for long because Hallie has turned in his lap to face him. Her ass wiggling against his cock, pressing it into his jeans is the best kind of slow torture.
“You promise me. You won’t leave me on my own. Not even for one minute?”
“I promise, although people may look at me funny if I follow you into the ladies room when you need to pee.”
Her blush is sweet. In some ways Hallie is so worldly for a twenty-three year old, but there are moments, like this, that she seems so young… vulnerable. He’s not sure which side of Hallie he likes more.
“I guess I’ll let you off the hook then.”
“So… I need to hear it. Do you trust me, Hallie?”
The question hangs heavy in the air and they both know the question is way more than just about skiing.
Her answer is a whisper. It’s intimate, meant only for his ears. “I trust you, Troy.”
He releases the breath he hadn’t known he was holding, relief flooding in. He pulls her into his arms to hug her tightly to him. He’d love to kiss her, but thinks better of it with their current audience.
They are torn out of their brief interlude by Adam’s clearing of his throat and standing to walk across the room to deliver a gift to Hallie’s lap. “Here you go, Hallie. This is your gift from your Aunt Gina and me.” Troy detects uncertainty in the older man and suspects the confident HoH is feeling unsure. It makes Troy curious about what is in the package.
Hallie doesn’t open it right away. When she starts pulling at the ribbons and wrapping paper, he can see her fingers trembling. He whispers into her ear, “What’s wrong?”
She turns to him whispering, knowing everyone is watching them. “I know what this is. I… well… I heard them talking about it the other night.”
Troy doesn’t know what’s in the package, but he understands Hallie isn’t happy about it. “Well, okay. Is it something you don’t want?”
Tears are spilling from her red-rimmed eyes. Her answer is almost choked out. “I don’t know.”
He smiles, trying to comfort her. “Well, there’s only one way to figure this out. Go ahead and open it. It’s can’t be that bad, right?”
He sees her push her fear aside, and she finishes opening the gift box to uncover a big folder with the Corbin’s Bend logo all over the front of it. Troy doesn’t need to open the folder to know what’s inside. It isn’t a surprise to him at all.
Aunt Gina’s crying is the only sound to be heard over the Christmas carols playing softly in the background.
“Your aunt and I know you don’t have the money to buy into the co-op on your own, but this is where you belong, Hallie. Here with your only family. We’ve gone ahead and put your name in on an application and paid the down payment so you can stay here in Corbin’s Bend with us. Merry Christmas, honey.”
Adam and Gina obviously meant well, but Troy could belt them for springing this on Hallie like this. Deciding where she is going to live needs to be discussed. Deciding to live in a town based on the principles of the domestic discipline way of life is not something to be taken lightly for anyone, but for Hallie, who has obviously experienced violence in her life, it is a huge decision. No wonder she was afraid to open this present. She doesn’t want to hurt her aunt and uncle’s feelings by rejecting the gift, but she also doesn’t want to get railroaded into living in a place that could make her miserable.
A pregnant pause has fallen over the room, all eyes on Hallie. Maybe he’s being a hypocrite by jumping in with his opinion on the matter. At least Adam and Gina are blood relatives. Who the hell is he to butt his nose into this decision? Yet, when Hallie turns to him, vulnerable and sad, there is nothing he wouldn’t do to make her feel better.
Troy looks up to the HoH in the room, choosing his words carefully. “That’s quite a generous gift, Adam. I know having Hallie here with you and Gina has made you very happy. Hallie is lucky to have family that loves her so much.”
The men are in a visual showdown. Adam is intuitive enough to pick up on Troy’s protective stance. “But…” Adam is defensive.
Troy stays calm. “But, nothing. It is a very generous gift. I’m just not sure Hallie is ready to decide where she wants to live yet. She still has a lot to work through with Traci.”
Adam snaps back. “And she will be able to do that since she’ll be living in Corbin’s Bend full time.”
“But what if Hallie decides this isn’t the right place for her? Let’s face it. This is a very unique town with very unique rules and customs. I’m not sure Hallie is ready to commit to living in Corbin’s Bend. I thought she had more time before the January Housing Board meeting to make up her mind?”
“She doesn’t need to wait that long. She needs to stay here with her family.” Each of Adam’s answers are coming back faster and more terse. He isn’t used to having his decisions questioned. As the only other male in the room, Troy suspects he’s the only one who can say what needs to be said with a hope of getting through to the older man.
“With all due respect, Adam, none of us, including myself, can push Hallie into accepting a domestic discipline way of life. To make her live here if she truly cannot accept the way of life is actually worse than the kind of judgmental crap all of us who have lived outside of Corbin’s Bend are faced with when friends and neighbors find out about our unique kinks and practices. You choose to live here so you could be with like-minded people who won’t judge you. Doesn’t Hallie deserve the same courtesy?”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about, young man. You don’t live here either. The people of Corbin’s Bend will welcome her with open arms. They will love her and protect her as their own.”
“I’m sure they will, but that isn’t the real problem now, is it?”
Adam looks like he is about to blow, so upset he is not able to come up with a new retort to Troy. Troy looks down at Hallie in his lap and finds her staring up at him in awe. It gives him the courage to push forward.
“Let me give you just a couple of examples from the last twenty-four hours. Last night at the party, we were welcomed with party gifts. Hallie was given a lotion for TiH’s to use on her ass after receiving a harsh punishment. She took her gift in stride, but you should have seen the look of fear on her face when I opened my heavy wooden spoon. We all know the men of Corbin’s Bend are not home using those spoons to cook Christmas brunch today, now don’t we?”
Adam is listening intently so Troy continues on. “The biggest example however was that the woman who was passing out the gifts happens to be the same woman Hallie got to know by innocently walking from your house to Traci’s for a counseling session. Hallie heard a submissive crying out in pain while being paddled by her HoH through an open window. Hallie had to go through the torture of having to walk by without helping. To you and me, we understand what was happening in that house was consensual and if done right, even loving. But to Hallie, she had to turn her back on someone who was being abused. Are you really sure you want your niece with you so much that you are willing to constantly put her into these types of uncomfortable situations as she goes about her normal everyday life? Trust me, Adam. I’ve been doing a lot of thinking on this very topic myself.”
Troy stops and looks back down into Hallie’s eyes, tears now streaming down her face. His anger at Adam is fading as he reaches out to cup her face, never taking his eyes from hers as he continues on. “If we really care about Hallie, we need to give her the space and time she needs to figure out what it is that’s going to make her happy. I don’t know all of the things she’s had to go through, but I know it’s been a long time since she’s… since y
ou’ve got to decide what you really want in life. I’m not willing to force you into something I know you could never accept in the long run. You’re too important to me for that.”
There. He’s said it. He’s outed himself. Twenty reasons or not, he wants Hallie in every sense of the word. They barely know each other, but it doesn’t matter. During the two weeks apart, he had convinced himself his memory was faulty. He was sure that when he saw her again last night he would realize his attraction to her had been a fleeting result of the extraordinary events that brought them together. Now, less than twenty-four hours after being back in Corbin’s Bend, he is just as sure that his life has been irrevocably changed by the spitfire in his lap. The depth of his feelings for her should scare him, but the only emotion he can recognize is excitement.
Adam clearing his throat brings Troy back to the moment. Looking up, he can see he had gotten through to the older man. Troy can hear the emotion in his warbling voice as he addresses his niece. “Hallie, honey. I never thought of it that way. You have to know, your aunt and I just love you so much that we want you to be happy and safe. I’m sorry if I tried to railroad you into staying here with us if you aren’t going to be happy here.”
Hallie speaks for the first time since opening the gift. “I know you both love me and I love you too, but I am just so confused right now. I’m not saying I won’t want to stay here… but I’m also not ready to say that I am ready to stay for good. Can’t you please give me a little more time to figure things out before I have to make a decision?”
Aunt Gina tries to reassure her. “Of course, honey. You can have as much time as you need.”
It’s her husband that corrects her. “Gina, we both know that’s not true. She has some time to decide, yes, but as an adult, she is going to have to join the co-op if she decides she wants to stay. I’m on the Housing Board. I can’t go breaking the rules, not even for family.”
