Winter's Storm

by Gracie Meadows

  ****

  Jay was furious, but for some strange reason, he felt like shit about how he’d treated Winter. She genuinely seemed upset about everything. He had connected with her last night, and more than a free night of pussy. It was something on a deeper level for him. She had spunk, a fire he hadn’t seen in years. She may not have been from here, but she didn’t seem like a rich snob he had met in the past. He had grown up in the high society world, but he was so far from that now, he wouldn’t even know what he would do if he stepped back into the city.

  He made it to his truck, before turning around to apologize to her. She looked devastated when he threw her words back at her. But shit, her being a Stevens had thrown him for a fucking loop. As he turned to the lobby door, he spotted Travis with his arm around her. And this time she wasn’t pushing him away.

  Fuck it. He was done. She had played him. Travis was perfect for her, then. Playing the helpless damsel in distress card. God, he was such a God damn sap. And he’d played right into her hands like a damn fool. Fuck that shit. He was done. Jay would just stay up in his cabin, cut trees, help out at the mill from time to time, and mind his own fucking business. Only go into town when he needed to once, every three months. After that, he couldn’t give a rat’s ass what happened to anyone anymore.

  He might even get a damn dog just to show he wasn’t a hermit and had someone who would love him for him. He didn’t need pussy, he had a hand to ease his ache if one ever happened. It wouldn’t be the first time he masturbated, and now, it wouldn’t be the last.

  Making it to his truck, he made a list of supplies he would pick up. No one was getting his land, and no one was going to get into his heart again, either.

  Picking up his items from the store, he gave one last look at the hotel before heading up north to his cabin, to his land, away from everyone.

  The path was smooth this time of year, the July leaves and trees were vibrant, and the mountains sang a song as the wind blew through them. His land was home, a place he called his own. No games up here.

  Stevens had asked about his other investments, such as the land and small cabin his aunt owned, but he’d promised her he would never sell that. He looked after it when she wasn’t home, but with it being summer time, he didn’t need to do much but clean it out.

  Once home, he took a deep breath, trying to calm his mind with various thoughts of how things should have gone, but didn’t. And what should happen now? Picking up a box of supplies from the back, he went inside.

  There was no place like home.

  Chapter Four

  Two and a half years later…

  “It’ll be fine, dear. I promise. Everything you need is up in the cabin. Just relax. It’s been a while since you were able to rest properly. Please.” Opal James was the sweetest of ladies and had helped Winter so much since she’d left home over a year ago. Ha, ‘left home’ was an understatement. She was no longer welcome in her family’s high-society life anymore. Nope, she was a country girl. At least, that is what she kept telling herself anyway, as she wrapped herself in her large coat trying to fight off the chill. Maybe she should have gotten gloves too, but money was tight. Which was why she was so thankful that Opal was offering her a place to live.

  She’d found herself back in the small town she had been in when everything rocketed in a downward spiral. She took a job as a waitress and stayed in a tiny studio apartment above the local dress shop in town. It wasn’t much for cost, but her landlord had sold the property, so she was in a predicament with no place to stay. It would be easy if things went as planned. Life is never like in the story books or TV movies. It's messy, and people get hurt. A sad part of her coming back was the teeny hope that she would run into Jay one more time. Luck was never on her side, though. The only person she kept running into was Travis, and she had thwarted his advances the day she left to head home with her father. Unfortunately, life had a funny way of screwing with her, and Jay was nowhere to be seen. She didn’t even know where he lived; a few others told her he was just a hermit and worked for the logging company during spring time. Other than that, he came into town to grab supplies, and that was it. Never a time when she would see him, though, because, well, that would just be too damn easy.

  “Okay, I’ll take it.” Feeling like a weight has been lifted off her shoulders, she hugged Opal, who had acted like her fairy godmother since coming to town, before wiping away a stray tear. Maybe life would look up. She had enough money put away to help with a few bills for the next month, and if she needed to leave, she could come into town and work something out.

  “Great. Here are the directions. I have already put some supplies and stuff inside. I don’t want to hear any arguing about me spending money. Let me do this. Take it as an early Christmas from an old woman.” Winter laughed and smiled. “Now, give me one more hug before I leave. My bus will be here soon, and I don’t want to miss it.”

  “You sure you want to go to Florida for the winter?”

  “Honey child, I love the sun. Plus, maybe I can find me a hot little thing to bring me drinks by the pool.” Opal gave her one more hug before pulling away and waving. Winter looked down at the key in her hand. Clutching it close to her chest, she took a deep breath as the cold air blasted her again. Looking down into her car, she saw she had everything she needed inside. Giving herself one last nod, she looked over the directions one more time before getting into her car. It was at least warm and still working just fine. Giving herself one last pep talk, she pulled out onto the main road before heading up the mountain. It was going to be cold up there, but Opal had assured her it would be great, and things would be better for her.

  “Our luck is finally turning around. Okay, let’s do this.” And the light turned green.

  ****

  “You have got to be shitting me.” Winter looked at the sweet little cabin sitting in the middle of nowhere. It was small, but it would work, hopefully. Oh, who was she kidding? The placed needed a lot of work, and she didn’t have a lot of time or money to fix it. Damn it. Well, when life hands you lemons, you make something, hopefully with vodka added in. If she could afford the vodka.

  Looking into the back seat, she smiled. At least she had everything packed safely, and taking what she needed most inside would only be a few trips. Opening the door, she smiled as she unpacked. This was her new life. Time to put on her big girl panties and deal with it.

  Walking inside wasn’t as bad as she figured. Sure it was cold, so she went to work on the fire right away, noticing that she would need to chop some wood tomorrow to keep warm. Everything else was in place. One bedroom was set up, and Opal had put some supplies in the cabinet. Electric seemed to work fine, and at least she could do a hot shower if she had time.

  The fire was lit, and she did a small happy dance that she was actually able to do it correctly and not burn the cabin down. Maybe she really could make this work. She had to make it work.

  ****

  “Seriously? Why would you give someone your cabin? That place needs so much work, and it’s not fit to live in.”

  “Boy, I have lived in that cabin most of my life. It’s perfectly fine.”

  “Really? When was the last time you were in there?”

  “Yesterday, actually. I dropped some things off. Even put some wood in the house.”

  “And the winter wood? Is that cut, stored, and ready? How about the small hole in the kitchen that lets the draft in? Or the fact a storm hits and all power goes out. Opal, it’s not safe to live in. And we have a nasty storm rolling in any day. Tomorrow, I was going to cut some more wood just in case. Does your tenant know how to cut wood and all that living in this part of the land requires from a person? There isn’t a coffee shop—hell, once the road ices over, no one can leave, and I really don’t think a city slicker would make it.”

  “She isn’t some city slicker, Jules Brennon. I know her, and she is strong. Stronger than people give her credit for.” Jay pinched the bridge of his nose and
tried to hide his annoyance while he talked to his aunt on the phone. She meant well with everything she did, but this, well, it could be a death sentence if the roof caved in and left them stranded in the dead of winter. What was his aunt thinking? Oh, right—she wasn’t.

  “Fine. I’ll check on her tomorrow and see if she survived the night.”

  “Great. Just what I wanted to hear. Love you, boy. Be good.” Before he could respond, she hung up the phone. Crazy old bat. God, he loved her, but she drove him nuts. She’d helped raise him and his sister when their dad turned to alcohol to deal with their mother’s death. Holy Hell, if she didn’t drive him batty. Looking at the clock, he saw it was just a little after two in the afternoon, so it was the perfect time to start a stew for dinner and get some more wood cut before the storm came.

  With the stew cooking in the crockpot, he made his way outside to cut logs until the sun started to go down. During the winter months, the sun set sooner, making nights longer, and colder. He honestly loved it. Warm fire, a good book, whiskey or coffee, and no one to drive him bananas with a million questions. Granted, he did wish he had someone to talk to or hold. It seemed like forever since he had a woman in his arms. The last one was Winter. Damn, she was something. Fuck if she didn’t screw with his head, and then screw with his heart over two years ago. Fucking chicks suck. He had bedded her several times that night, fallen asleep with her lush curves wrapped around him, and awoken to a bed of cold sheets. But, damn it if he hadn’t got the shock of his life when he saw her in that fucking meeting room. He’d had no intention of selling to that shithead Stevens. It helped keep people from thinking he was dead, so he popped in town here and there. It was his land now. After years trying to battle in a crazy city full of people who didn’t give a rat’s ass if you fell down, or actually kicked you, he didn’t need that in his life. He didn’t want drama. Fuck, drama was for girls in high school and shit.

  Taking all his aggression and frustration out on the wood in front of him, he let the ax fly. This was one thing he was good at. That and what was in his work shed. Most people didn’t know about his secret pastime. Even Aunt Opal was in the dark about it. Gritting his teeth, he brought the ax up over his shoulder before swinging it down, watching the wood splinter into two. Over and over he did this, until the wood that had been too big for the fireplace was now in manageable pieces.

  After wiping the sweat from his brow, Jay stacked the wood, covering it with the tarp in the wood area before heading back inside. He had time to take a quick shower before he locked himself in the cabin for the night. Walking inside, he took off his boots, set them by the door, and placed his ax on its wall hook.

  Taking one look at the stew, Jay went to the back room and started his shower. God, with all these fucking things he needed to think about right now, it was Winter’s lush body that made his cock hard. For fuck's sake, she’d rocked his damn world to the point he could feel himself ready to pop just thinking of how well her body had responded to his. The memory of her taste alone almost made him come in his pants. Shit, looked like he was either going to ease his throbbing cock or take another fucking cold shower. And since he had enough cold around him, he went with option one.

  He let the hot water and steam warm the room before he stripped and climbed in. Turning his back to the spray, he let the water hit his sore muscles, easing the ache before he even had time to process it.

  Grabbing the soap, he worked on washing himself, before he went to his cock, which was hard and standing at full attention. He rested his head against the cool tile and worked his erection, stroking it up and down as visions of Winter swarmed him.

  She was down on her knees, shy, and so delectable. Her uncertainty of what to do made him want her even more. The vulnerability in her eyes tugged at him, making him want to wrap her up and keep the world away from her.

  She opened her plump lips as water cascaded down her big tits, before gently putting his cock into her mouth. Slowly she sucked him down, moving her head up and down. Her bright green eyes never left his as he wrapped her hair in his fist, encouraging her to keep going. She didn’t stop this time, only to hollow out her cheeks, truly giving it her all. The water poured down her body, her sucking sounds bounced off the tile walls.

  “Grab my balls.” His voice was gruff, laced with his need for her and to blow his load all down her throat and over her tits. Shit, seeing his come on her skin.

  Faster and faster Jay stroked his cock, keeping her in his mind as she sucked him in earnest now.

  “Fuck, Winter.” She reached his balls before pulling him all the way to the back of her throat, making a gagging noise, but that didn’t stop him from thrusting his hips forward and into her eager mouth. Over and over, he gave into his desires before he grunted out, coming quick and hard on his hands and the floor of the shower.

  Shit. The last thing he needed was her back in his life, screwing with his head once again.

  Washing the remnants from his cock, he finished his shower before stepping out and dressing in sweatpants and heading into the kitchen.

  Dinner ready, he settled for the night. As long as his mind stayed off the spicy, curvy woman who floated in his dreams, he could handle anything his aunt threw at him tomorrow. If he could make it to tomorrow without having his cock hard again.

  Chapter Five

  “Come on, Winter. It isn’t that hard to cut wood, for goodness sake.” Last night had been rough, to say the least. She hadn’t gotten much sleep, to begin with, because of being in a new place, and no real heat inside the small bedroom. Winter spent most of the night in the living room burning the wood that had been left in a pile next to the fireplace. At least that worked. Tonight she planned on tugging the mattress out of the bedroom and sleeping by the fire. Maybe she should have asked Opal about the roof, but what did she know about cabins? Nothing, absolutely frickin nothing. She was way out of her league and life just sucked monkey balls right now. She tugged on her giant coat, which worked fine enough, but the no-glove thing really made this so much harder.

  At first, she thought there was wood in the back shed thing, but nope. Just a few tools and a planter that looked like it had held some type of herb at one point. Whatever. She grabbed the stupid ax and made her way to the weird pile of wood scattered around the yard. It looked like a storm was rolling in, and since she didn’t really know how to do the whole cutting-wood thing, it would take some time. So a little here and there during the day today and tomorrow should hopefully be enough to get her through this storm.

  Shrugging the ax over her shoulder, she braced against the cold wind as it whipped her hair around her ponytail, sending shivers down her body. Okay, so it was apparent she wasn’t used to the cold. She could do this, though; she had to. Finally finding a piece that looked like it could be cut, she placed it on the small round wood block. With it sitting upright, she brought the ax high in the air; closing her eyes for just a second to avoid wood splinters getting into them, she dropped the ax down on the wood, listening to the sound and jumping as it made contact.

  However, when she opened her eyes, the damn ax was stuck in the wood, and nothing split. Well, shit. Okay, she could totally do this. How hard is it to chop wood? Guess harder than she thought. Tugging the ax out, she placed her foot on the base, and the damn thing sent her falling back on her ass, in the snow. Blowing out a deep breath, she stood one more time, tugging at it until it finally gave. Giving a small fist pump, she took a swing, this time cracking her eyes open just a smidgen to see if she could hit the same spot. She didn’t. But she did manage to get some wood to come off the giant log. Okay, score one point for her, and one for the log.

  Okay, at least the stupid ax didn’t get stuck in the log this time. Trying to repeat her last swing, she did just that. Again, the wood splintered some more. Dang it all, if her arms weren’t tired. No wonder other people paid for logs from men with giant machines or men with huge arms. Suddenly, she felt really sad, and hurt when her mind thought
about the only man she knew who could do this job without much effort.

  Jay.

  She hadn’t known him long, less than twenty-four hours, but it was enough to leave a lasting impression in her heart and mind. Her father said she was a sap, and tried to push her off on that little weasel Travis after the meeting, but she didn’t want anything to do with him. That man hurt her and Jay. Now, because of his antics, her father’s determination that she be better than what she was, and her mother disowning her, it all seemed like a distant memory.

  Trying not to fall into her pity party, she continued to chop the wood. It wasn’t that long before her arms tired, and she went inside with the few pieces she had cut. She made a mental note to come back and cut some more in a few hours.

  Okay, she had gone through more wood than she thought she would just over the last few hours. It was time to figure out Plan B. Pulling up Google on her trusted phone, she did a search for wood people, and didn’t find much. She sent out an email to Opal, asking if she knew anyone who could help her out, and approximately how much it would cost for some cut wood. After that was done, she opened her wallet and looked inside. Sure enough, she had a total of fifty-seven dollars and thirty-two cents. Yup, she was swimming in cash. She would need to rethink her bill situation for sure now. All the money was in the bank, and it would be easy to pay them and be fine, but she hadn’t expected any other issues to arise. Nope, she needed to get wood, and more food for sure. She couldn’t live on macaroni and cheese forever. All she could think was the bitch had lied.

  Doing a quick check of everything in the cabin, she made sure it was warm enough before heading back outside to cut some more wood. Night would fall soon, and if she didn’t hurry, it was going to be twice as cold as it had been last night. Sometimes life just sucked lemons!