by A. K. Evans
“Are you ok?” Zane asked, tenderness and concern in his voice.
How could he not know? His voice was enough to make me ok. I said, “I am now. You had perfect timing with your text.”
“Would it help to talk to someone?” he asked.
I stayed silent. I was so not going to tell him about my nightmares and what I knew they meant. I couldn’t imagine the reaction he’d have.
“I’m not saying it has to be me, Emme. You had one last night and another tonight. You told me you get them from time to time. Seems like they are pretty frequent. Maybe talking to someone will help.”
“I’m sure it’s a passing thing. I used to have them all the time and they stopped once I moved here. If they don’t stop soon I’ll consider talking to someone about them. Nikki, Charley, and Monroe have all told me the same thing.”
Now it was his turn to stay silent, so I spoke again.
“So, you couldn’t sleep?” I asked.
“Keep seeing your face every time I close my eyes, sweetheart.”
I didn’t know if that was a good or bad thing. I’m sure he thought it was a good thing, but I knew it didn’t help my take on this whole Keep Zane Only as a Friend mission.
Since I didn’t respond Zane took the opportunity to further detract me from my mission by saying, “And I keep remembering the feel of your body pressed up against mine while I savored the taste of you.”
I closed my eyes and thought about that exact moment from mere hours ago. It was pure bliss.
“Fuck, Emme. Seriously?” he asked, a slight edge of humor in his voice.
“What?” I asked.
“You just moaned in my ear.”
I did??
“No I did not,” I said.
“Yes, you did. But it’s ok. At least I know you enjoyed it at least as much as I did which, just saying, was a whole fuck ton.”
I whispered under my breath, “Zane.”
We stayed silent for a while before Zane said, “Ok, Emme. Going to let you go back to bed, but first, do you work on Wednesday?”
“No, I don’t have any shoots planned until January. Why?”
“Good. On Wednesday, we’re hanging out.”
“We are?” I asked.
“Yep. Going to do something fun and we can either get dinner out or if you really want to use my kitchen, I’m down for that, too.”
“I’m not sure that’s such a good idea, Zane.”
“What? Using the kitchen?”
“No. I’m not sure us hanging out is a good idea.”
“Told you I want to get to know you better. I’ve got the time off this week, but next week starts hardcore training in preparation for the X Games. Won’t have much spare time at all once that starts. I’m asking for one day for the very foreseeable future, Em.”
“Why Wednesday?” I asked.
“Figured I might need the next two days to try to convince you.”
I laughed.
“Ok, then. I’ll call you in the morning and give you my answer.”
He chuckled before saying, “And you called me a tease.”
“Did you just call me a tease?” I asked, incredulously.
“Sweetheart, don’t play innocent. You bit my lip, shoved your tongue in my mouth, ran your fingers through my hair, and pressed your sexy-as-fuck body up against mine a few hours ago. And you moaned through the entire thing. You bet your ass that was a big fucking tease…but Emme, I enjoyed the shit out of it.”
“Oh,” I murmured.
“Tomorrow morning then,” Zane began. “Good night, Em.”
“Good night, Zane.”
I disconnected the call and set my phone back on the nightstand. I tried to go back to sleep, but now all I could think about was kissing Zane, which got me all worked up. My body needed release so I let my hand travel down my body to the spot right between my legs. Between thoughts of him taking me on the island in his kitchen to the very real make-out session we had earlier, it wasn’t long before I was in the throes of an orgasm trying not to say his name. Within minutes, I was fast asleep.
I woke up late the next morning. I was surprised, but also thankful that I hadn’t had another nightmare. Last night’s events played through my head and I thought how fortunate I was the past two nights with Zane having seemingly excellent timing to pull me out of the nightmare hell before the beatings started.
I looked to the clock and saw that it was just before eleven. Considering there wasn’t much time left before it would no longer be considered morning I realized I needed to contact Zane. Instead of sending a text I decided to give him a call.
The phone rang three times before Zane answered.
“I sure hope you’re calling with good news,” Zane said. He sounded sleepy and if it was even possible he sounded even sexier first thing in the morning. If I was going to say no to hanging out with him on Wednesday I would have changed my mind that quickly. He could easily get me to do anything with that voice.
“I’m sorry for waking you.”
“No need to apologize…unless, of course, you are going to turn me down.”
“Well then I guess it’s a good thing I’m not turning you down. I just need to know where to be and when on Wednesday.”
“I’ll pick you up at your place, but we’ll need to leave pretty early.”
“Where are we going?” I asked, genuinely curious now.
“It’s a surprise. Just be sure to dress warm…really warm. And, make sure you bring your camera.”
“Will I still be allowed to cook dinner for us at your house?” I asked.
“Not going to turn down the opportunity to have you in my kitchen so, yeah, you can cook dinner at my house.”
“Ok. I’ve got to admit I’m a little excited now.”
“That’s good because it means you’re smiling.
And I was. I had gotten nearly nine hours of uninterrupted sleep, I had just agreed to spend my Wednesday with Zane, at the end of which I was going to be able to cook in my dream kitchen. I didn’t get happy very often, but considering Zane was going to be busy for the next month with training I was going to soak this up while I could.
“Is there anything you won’t eat for dinner?”
“Peas and lima beans. As long as it doesn’t have either of those two items, I’m good.”
I laughed. “Peas? Really? Lima beans I can understand, but peas aren’t so bad.”
“Peas taste like dirt.”
I laughed again. Hard. It felt fantastic. After I regained control of myself I said, “Alright, no peas or lima beans.”
“Appreciated. So I’ll pick you up by seven thirty on Wednesday morning,” Zane said. “That work for you?”
“Yes. I’ll be ready.”
“Ok. Going to go get a workout in and then have a few things I’ve got to take care of. What size shoe do you wear?”
“Seven and a half. Why?”
“Don’t worry. I’ll explain on Wednesday. Got to go now, but I’ll call you later.”
“Ok.”
“Bye, Emme.”
“Good bye, Zane.”
I spent the rest of my day coming up with a plan for dinner and dessert with Zane. I figured I’d spend the day today taking care of grocery shopping, getting all the ingredients I’d need, and making sure my camera equipment was good to go.
To my surprise, Monday and Tuesday passed quickly. I went to bed Tuesday evening feeling pretty excited. Before I knew it, my alarm was going off and I was up getting ready for my day with Zane. He said to dress very warm, but I still had no idea what we were going to be doing. I decided on a pair of jeans, a heavy sweater over a scoop neck tank, and a pair of tall riding boots. I put on makeup and made my hair decent before I put a slouchy white knit hat on. I then went to the kitchen to pack up the cooler. I was doing my very best to stay quiet so that I didn’t wake Charley. While I was loading the cooler, I got a text from Zane saying he had just parked and was coming to the door. I walked over an
d unlocked it and texted him back to let him know. Not even two minutes later Zane walked in carrying a duffel bag.
I looked to him and saw he had a look of amusement on his face.
“What’s so funny?” I asked, whispering.
He took from my cue and quietly said, “Tell a woman to dress warm and she still makes the effort to do it cute. You look great, Emme, but you are going to need to change. He then held out the duffel bag to me.”
“Why?” I asked.
“You aren’t going to be warm enough with what you are wearing. Had a feeling you wouldn’t be dressed the way you need to be, so I brought back up. Go change so we can get out of here. If you want, you can pack the clothes you are wearing now in the duffel bag so that you can change when we get back to my place.”
I didn’t want to delay and risk waking Charley so I took the duffel bag and walked down the hall to the bedroom. Once inside my room I set the bag down on the bed and opened it. I pulled out tons of Blackman Boards snowboard apparel. There was a snowboard jacket, a pair of pants, a long-sleeved pullover fleece, thermal leggings, two pairs of socks, some hats and gloves, and a pair of snowboard boots. I tried not to dwell on it so much and quickly changed into all the clothes so that we could get going. I packed my clothes into the duffel bag and met Zane back out in the kitchen.
The smile on his face grew as he took me in.
“Ready?” he asked.
I nodded, pointed to the cooler, and said, “Can you carry that while I get my camera bag?”
He picked up the cooler and took the duffel bag from my hands. When I came back with my camera backpack he took that out of my hands too.
“I can carry something, Zane.”
“I know, Em, but it doesn’t mean that you should. Let’s go.”
I shook my head at him and locked the door behind us as we left the condo.
Zane put the cooler and bags in the back of his Ford Raptor, which had a small enclosed trailer attached to it, then opened my door and helped me climb in. He walked around to the other side, got in, and started the truck.
“Are we going snowboarding?” I asked.
He shook his head. “Would love to do that with you one day, sweetheart, but not today. We are going to be in the snow, though, and it’s going to be really cold so that’s why I brought all the gear for you to wear.”
“So where are we going?”
He looked to me and asked, “Ever been to Yellowstone?”
I sat up in my seat and turned toward him.
“Yellowstone as in Yellowstone National Park? Like Old Faithful?” I practically shouted because I was so excited.
He chuckled. “Yeah, Em, that Yellowstone.”
“I’ve always wanted to go there. Oh, man. Thank you for telling me to bring my camera. I bet it’s going to have incredible scenery for pictures.”
“It does and I figured you’d want to capture that.”
I smiled big at him before sitting back in my seat and settling in to the happy I was determined to have for just one day.
A little over an hour later we had arrived at the east entrance to the park. We parked, Zane opened the trailer, and pulled out a snowmobile.
My eyes got big and I asked, “Please tell me I get to drive that!”
Zane laughed.
“Really? You want to?” he asked.
“Um, yes,” I said, disbelievingly.
“Have you ever driven one before?”
“I lived on the beach in California my whole life, Zane. What do you think?”
He tilted his head to the side as he looked at me for a moment.
“I promise you we’ll plan to ride snowmobiles together another time, but today I’m driving in the park. You aren’t learning on this one in this park.”
“Ok.”
I grabbed my backpack with my camera, lenses, and mini-tripod and put it on my back.
“Ready?”
I nodded.
I sat behind Zane on the snowmobile, held on to him, and took in the beauty of the park. Our first stop was Yellowstone Lake. I pulled out the camera and took tons of pictures. The lake was mostly frozen with gorgeous snow-covered mountains sitting in the back. The beauty of it all was almost too much to bear. I felt my eyes get wet at the peace and serenity I felt in that moment. Zane came up next to me and wrapped an arm around my waist.
“You ok?” he asked.
“It’s so beautiful,” I rasped out.
Despite all the layers I was wearing I could feel Zane’s fingers press into my hip as he gently squeezed and pulled me into him. We stood there together for quite a while. I think Zane knew I needed that time to reflect, even though he didn’t know why, and I was grateful he gave it to me.
“Before we go will you do me a favor?” I asked.
Without hesitation Zane answered, “Anything.”
“I don’t think I’ll ever forget this, but I want to capture this memory forever. If I pull out the tripod and set the timer on the camera, will you take a picture with me?”
“One condition.”
“What’s that?” I asked.
“I get a copy of the picture, too.”
I thought a moment and said, “Deal.”
I found the perfect spot to set everything up, told Zane exactly where to stand, and set the timer. I jogged over to him, but with my lack of practice wearing snowboarding boots I tripped and fell forward into him. Thankfully, he caught me as my hands went to his shoulders.
“Sorry,” I said, looking up at him.
He looked down at me and smiled.
I couldn’t help but smile back. Then I heard the camera. It had taken the photo.
“Crap. I think we might need to retake that picture,” I said as I stood straight and started to walk back to the camera.
I knelt behind the camera and reviewed the shot preparing to trash it, but sucked in a breath at what I saw. It was Zane holding me in his arms smiling down at me as I looked up and smiled back at him. Our position in the frame was perfect, the lighting was perfect, and the scenery was breathtaking.
Zane knelt down beside me and his sexy voice filtered into my ears, “You want another one, I’ll give it to you. Please don’t trash that one, though.”
I turned my head to look at him. The intensity of his piercing blues sent shivers through me.
“I’m good with this one,” I said quietly.
He smiled at me and gave me a wink before asking, “You ready?”
I nodded.
We hopped back on the snowmobile and continued heading west. We stopped at the Old Faithful Geyser next. I was so excited to see it erupt. We were told that it had been erupting consistently roughly every seventy-five minutes and given that timeline it was set to erupt sometime within the next ten minutes. Zane had chosen the perfect time to come visit because there were only four other people waiting to see the geyser at the same time as us.
I snapped a few shots as we waited and five minutes later it happened. I kept clicking away with my camera, but eventually lowered the camera from my face and stared up in awe of its magnificence. It was truly an incredible sight to see.
When it finished, I looked to Zane and said, “I’ve seen pictures and videos of that before and none of it does it justice. I’m so happy I had the opportunity to witness that in person.”
“Glad you enjoyed it,” he began. “You hungry?”
I thought a moment and realized I was, in fact, very hungry. “Yes, actually, I am.”
Zane walked to the snowmobile and opened the cargo carrier he had attached to it. He opened the carrier and pulled out a bag.
“You packed lunch?” I asked.
“Not going to bring you out all day and not feed you, Emme,” he started as he pulled a foil-wrapped packet out of the bag and handed it to me along with a bottle of water. “It’s already a little past lunchtime. Egg salad good with you?”
I took the packet and water from him and said, “That works for me. Thank you, Zane.”
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“You’re welcome. Sliced up some apples, too, if you want some.”
I sat down and Zane sat next to me. I opened the foil, took out the sandwich, and said, “I’m impressed.”
We ate and talked for a while before loading up and getting back on the snowmobile. Zane said he wanted to show me one more spot before we called it a day. We were going to be heading north, but back toward the eastern side of the park in order to get to what was known as the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. It was a bit of a ride there, the scenery was beautiful, and I was still trying to soak up all the happy that I could for the day. With my arms wrapped around his waist and the front of my body pressed against the back of his, I put my cheek to the middle of his back. At that moment, I felt one of his hands wrap around my hands and squeeze briefly before it was gone again.
It felt good.
I felt good.
And best of all, I felt safe and happy.
We arrived at our destination and I was floored by the views. Snow covered the walls and trees of the canyon, the waterfall was frozen, and the view was absolutely spectacular.
“Wow,” I whispered. “This is incredible, Zane.”
“Amazing, right?”
I took out my camera and did my best to capture the exquisite beauty of the place. I only hoped my photos would do it justice. After, I put away the camera and grabbed my phone out of the backpack.
“This goes against everything I stand for as a photographer,” I began. “We need to take a photo here, though, using my phone.”
Zane chuckled and asked, “Are you asking me to take a selfie with you?”
I dropped my head in defeat. When I looked back up at him I said, “I’m afraid I am. Promise not to tell anyone? I do have a reputation to uphold.”
He grinned at me before he said, “Your secret is always safe with me.”
Zane stood behind me and wrapped both arms around my shoulders. I attempted to extend my arm in front of us. With his arms around me I couldn’t reach out far enough to get both of us in the frame. He took the phone from my hand, but kept one arm wrapped around the entire front of my chest so that his hand was resting on my opposite shoulder. We smiled at the camera, I counted to three, and he clicked.
“Let’s take one more,” he said.
