Ty dropped the tire down to the ground while I cautiously dragged my feet around the pickup bed, sweeping at the heavy snow to find the tire iron.
Fuck.
The tire iron that was still sitting by my wood pile.
I instantly shrank down into the snow. My whole body just sorta deflated, and I covered my face with my hands.
“Gin? What’s wrong?” His voice sounded more concerned this time.
I kept my face covered. Even I had to admit that this was super airheady.
“Gin?”
“The tire iron isn’t here.” I peeked over my mittens. “I got more firewood a couple weeks ago and took it out to sweep out the truck bed. It’s still sitting there by my woodpile. I can close my eyes and see it sitting right there.”
Ty laughed. Hard. A bit too hard for my liking, even if the sound did send my girly parts into a dither.
“Well, that’s gonna make it really hard to change the tire.”
Shoulders slumped, I began to carefully pick my way through the snowy truck bed back to the tailgate. But, as if my mortification wasn’t complete enough already, I slipped and careened toward Ty.
Then into Ty.
I knocked him flat on his ass with me sprawled out over him. A small clump of snow at the base of my neck began to melt, and a chilly little trickle worked its way down my spine.
“Oh my God, I’m so sorry,” I groaned, burying my face against his chest.
Ty just kept laughing. Harder. His gloved hands and booted feet arced in the heavy snow.
I lifted my head to look down at his gorgeous eyes, even more vibrant in the mid-afternoon sun. “Um, what in the hell are you doing?”
“Do you have any idea how long it’s been since I made a snow angel?”
His expression. His voice. His entire being all seemed so carefree, making me giggle. “You’re mental. You know that, right?”
I tried to peel myself off him, but his hand cupped my ass to stop me as he rolled us over in the snow. He lifted up to his forearms and shook his head. Thick chunks of snow cascaded down over me, and I squealed and wiggled in an attempt to escape.
But, at half his body weight, I was trapped. Plain and simple, at his mercy.
Not that I was complaining in the slightest. I loved that side of him. I’d witnessed it from afar when we were young, him always joking around. His blinding, light-hearted smile and easy-going nature. Yeah, he was stunningly gorgeous. Yeah, I now knew he was even better in the sack than I’d ever dreamed. But his playful energy and warm charisma made him infinitely more magnetic.
And I was still on some stupid, juvenile, weird-ass high because he’d broken into the bar just to find me.
“I’ll let you up,” he grinned, kneeling over me, “but first, you have to make a snow angel, too.”
“Ty—” I began as another giggle escaped. It was ridiculous. Hilarious, but ridiculous.
“Nope, I’m not moving until you make a snow angel.”
I motioned over to his own frosty creation with my mittened thumb. “I’m halfway in your wing.”
“Do it. Do it. Do it.”
Goaded on by Ty’s chant and my rapidly freezing ass, I let out an exaggerated sigh and began to swing my arms and legs.
He was right. It was amazing. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d felt so carefree, rolling around in the snow like a little kid. Letting go, allowing all the day-to-day shit to disappear.
It was simply delightful.
Satisfied with my efforts, Ty stood up, one foot on each side of me, and reached out his hand. He pulled me upright, dusting the snow from my body, paying particular attention to my numb ass until I playfully swatted his hand away.
I turned back to my truck, taking a deep breath to contain my lingering giggles, and looked up at Ty. “Good news is, we’re only about a mile from my place. And I happen to know exactly where my tire iron is. How about we head there, warm up and eat, and we can come get my truck later.”
“Great minds, Gin,” Ty replied with a wink that made my knees wobble. “Great minds.”
Chapter Six
My little cabin felt even smaller with Ty in it.
His presence was staggering, right down to his cedarwood scent. It melded quite nicely with the hot spiced-and-spiked cider that warmed our chilled bodies, although it was all too soon overwhelmed by the aroma of cumin and paprika. I was almost mad at my dinner for overpowering his intoxicating scent.
Once the enchiladas were in the oven, I threw together a tres leches cake that I’d top with whipped cream for dessert. Through my Bluetooth speaker, Jimmy Buffet cheerfully sang of swaying palms on a bright Hawaiian Christmas Day. I told Ty we'd warm up faster if I played the song on repeat, but he just rolled his eyes with a chuckle and stoked the fire instead.
A short time later, I pulled the cheesy, gooey Mexican perfection from the oven and took the seat across from him at the table.
“This is a great little place, Gin.”
I glanced around the main room of the cabin. It had an open layout with the kitchen on one side, a sitting area on the other, and my little Christmas tree with its glimmering white lights in the front window. Up a spiral staircase in the back was a small loft, which had served as my room when I was a kid, but now pretty much only housed my elliptical and yoga mat.
Next to the stairs, a wide doorway opened to the bedroom and a large en suite bath. Through the window, darkness was setting in. The sun had long since dipped below the mountaintops, and thick snowflakes floated to the ground, painted by the colorful lights outlining the roof and porch outside.
As nervous as I’d been to have Ty there initially, there was a strange comfort in his presence, and I flashed him a genuine smile. “I grew up here. It’s small, but cozy. Now, at least. It was a disaster when I first moved back.”
“Moved back from?” he prompted, scooping up a large helping of enchiladas and handing me the spatula.
“Denver. I made it through one semester at college, but then my dad died, and I came home to sort his affairs. My plan was to fix this place up and sell it, then go back, but it just started feeling like home again. I couldn’t leave it.”
Ty grimaced, raising a brow. “I’m sorry to hear about your dad.”
“It was a long time ago, but thank you.” I sadly toyed with my enchilada, momentarily remembering that first Christmas after high school, then forced a cheerful smile back up at him. “Enough about my daddy issues. What about you? Why aren’t you with your folks for Christmas? Where are they living now?”
Ty wrinkled his nose. “Florida. Mom got tired of the snow a few years back. Initially, Amber and I were supposed to go visit after Christmas, but I suppose I’ll be flying alone.”
“Shit, I’m sorry.” I lifted my hand to my mouth, eyes wide.
“Actually,” he said, thoughtfully, “it’s okay. At first, yeah, it was a shock. But, if I’m completely honest, I think I only asked her to marry me because she was starting to get close to him. I know it was stupid, but I’ve spent my entire life in his shadow. I was always Cory Sievers’ little brother. I was never Ty. For the first time, I felt like someone wanted me for me, and I guess I proposed to lay my claim. I suppose she would have inevitably gone after him anyway, though.”
I slammed my fist down on the table, incredulous and angry. “Ty, that is such horseshit. She’s a fucking idiot. So your brother could ski. Big whoop. I wasn’t kidding last night. I think you’re ten times the man he is.”
He blinked across the table at me as I spoke, his mouth slightly ajar. “I don’t think anyone’s ever said that to me before.”
“If I’d known you felt that way—that you think he’s so much better than you—I might’ve had the courage to talk to you just so I could call bullshit. I always thought your brother was kind of a dick, but you?” I bit my lip, my tummy whirling as I studied him closely. “I crushed on you so fucking hard in high school.”
“No way,” he shook his head at my breath
less admission, brushing his dark hair back out of his widened eyes.
My fingertips ached to touch those tousled locks. “Yeah way. I damn near fainted when you walked into the bar last night.”
He straightened in his chair, folding his arms over his chest. “Why didn’t you ever come talk to me back in school?”
“Why didn’t you ever come talk to me?” I chuckled.
“Um, some of your friends were downright scary. You though…you were sexy as fuck.”
His emphasis on the as fuck did a number on my tummy. My fork hovered in the air before my jaw dropped. He’d said something similar last night, but I’d figured that was more of a beer goggles situation. My mind reeled, and my breath caught deep in my chest.
“How long are you here?” I finally asked in a quiet voice, setting down my uneaten bite of dinner.
“I fly to Florida tomorrow afternoon,” he frowned. “Unfortunately. Mom hasn’t seen me in a year. She’d kill me if I backed out.”
I looked down at my half-eaten plate, no longer hungry.
Not for food, at least.
After a long moment, I stood, walking around the small table to his side. He scooted his chair back to stand, but I placed my hand on his shoulder to stop him. His eyes grew heated as he lifted his hands and placed them on my hips, tugging slightly. Just the signal I was waiting for. I slipped down on his lap, straddling him. Heat pooled low in my gut as his hands lowered to cup my ass.
I lowered my head to kiss him, stopping just before contact. “We shouldn’t waste any time then.”
“Agreed,” he murmured. “Too bad we’re not Jewish. We’d have eight crazy nights.”
“Mmm, yeah…if only.” I tilted my head to press a kiss on his neck, then nipped at his earlobe. His resulting growl sent ripples through my depths.
“Fuck, Gin, I’ve been dying to touch you all fucking day. I woke up so hard I could have broken the window with my dick.”
“Oomph,” I laughed, quiet and low in my throat. “I’m glad you didn’t do that. I can think of much better things to do with your dick.”
“You should probably show me.”
I ended up getting enchiladas in my hair. And my ears. And my buttcrack.
One minute I was simply kissing him, and the next I was flat on my back, Ty slamming into me until I forgot my own name. It wasn’t until afterward when the dishes had hit the floor and I lay gasping beneath him that I realized we were pretty much covered in melted cheese and enchilada sauce.
Ty laughed and pulled a hand out from under me, sucking green chili sauce from his finger. “Goddamn, these are the best fucking enchiladas I’ve ever had.”
“Oh jeez, I need to rinse off in the shower,” I softly chuckled. “Care to join me? Maybe soak in the tub after?”
We gingerly made our way through the mess of globs of food and broken dishes towards the bathroom. I started the shower and pulled the curtain around my old clawfoot tub, then turned back to Ty. Unbuttoning his flannel shirt, I tugged it from his body and tossed it aside. A smidge of enchilada lay on his bare chest just over his heart. It was simply too much to resist, and I leaned forward, licking it off before nipping at his skin.
His gasp made me ache for him all over again, like he hadn’t just about pounded me right through the table.
In the shower, I rinsed my hair thoroughly while Ty laughed and picked out the last remaining bits of enchilada. Then he slathered on the shampoo, his thick, strong fingers massaging my scalp. My eyes closed and my body felt limp with the bliss of his touch.
Once the last of our mess disappeared down the drain, I plugged the tub and plunked in a juniper scented bath bomb. Ty relaxed back into the rapidly rising water, and I lit a three-wick candle, flicked off the sconces above the sink, and joined him in the tub. Warm, low light danced around the room, painting us in a flickering glow. I could have fallen asleep right then and there, melted against his broad chest.
“This is the best Christmas ever.” I hadn’t really meant to say it out loud, but the thought was so intense in my mind, like it needed to be released into the world.
“Mmm, yeah it is.” Ty turned his head to press a light kiss on my ear, and even in my advanced state of relaxation, a tingle shimmied through me. “I keep trying to imagine you here as a kid. This is a small cabin for a family.”
“We were a small family. Just the three of us. The downstairs bedroom was my parents’ room. I slept in the loft upstairs.”
“I remember your dad a little, but I can’t picture your mom.”
My heart pinged faintly. Thoughts of my mom did that to me. “She passed away a long time ago. Cancer. Not long after my ninth birthday.”
“Shit, I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay. Like I said, it was a long time ago. I was a kid. Not to oversimplify and play it down, because losing my mom was awful, but that was just kinda the beginning. In losing her, I lost my dad, too.”
“What do you mean? I thought he died after you graduated.”
“Yeah, but he wasn’t the same after my mom died. He started drinking heavily. Every so often, he’d make some concerted effort, promising sobriety. Telling me he was going to get his act together. He just never stuck with it. The glimpses of the man who’d been my father came fewer and farther between. By the time I left for college, I just wanted to stay away. I didn’t even come home for the holidays. I stayed in the dorms because I didn’t want to sit there and watch him drink himself into a stupor for Christmas.” I took a deep breath, swallowing back the raw sensation in my throat. “So he went up in the mountains and shot himself.”
Ty pulled me tight up against him, holding me securely. “God, Gin, I’m so sorry.”
His comforting grip soothed the weary ache in my soul. In his arms, that old festering pain began to fade somewhat. I couldn’t think of any better balm for my wounded heart than his gentle voice and solid strength.
“I was pursuing a degree in psychology, thinking I could maybe help him get his shit together. But in reality, I completely failed him.”
He leaned back, tipping my chin up to face him and locking on to my gaze. “You know it wasn’t your fault, right?”
“It’s easy to say that, Ty. It’s a lot harder to believe it.”
His arms tightened around me, and his lips pressed against my forehead. “So last night, you mentioned your penance. That’s what you were referring to? Your need to be there for those old guys?”
I simply nodded at first, tipping my head to rest against his neck, soaking in his comfort. “Larry and Phil did construction before they retired. After my dad died, I hired them to help fix some shit on the cabin. Stuff that had fallen apart because Dad rarely made it out of the bottle. I got to know them pretty well while we were working on the place. After a while, they told me about an opening at Breck’s. It was then I took a good look around and realized how much I love it here. The cabin was starting to feel like it did before, when my mom was alive. When it was a home. And those guys, they felt like grandads. So I stayed.”
Ty’s fingertips traced the steampunk fairy tattoo on my arm, then moved up to the inked raven that stood on a branch at my collarbone. Solace radiated out from his touch. “I think you need them as much as they need you.”
I bit my lip hard, using the pain to blink back the burn of tears. I hated allowing myself to feel vulnerable, but there in Ty’s arms, I gave in. I felt protected. Safe. For the first time since my dad died, I didn’t feel so alone.
“When did you get married?”
One miserable topic down and off to the next. It seemed my life was one failure after another. At least I could laugh about it.
“A couple months before I got divorced,” I chuckled wryly.
Ty grimaced at my sorry excuse for a joke. “Lasted that long, huh?”
“A couple years after high school, all my friends started getting married and having kids. They set me up on a date, and I just sorta went with it. I guess I felt like I was supposed to foll
ow in their footsteps. We were married just long enough for me to change my name, but we both quickly realized it wasn’t meant to be.”
After all, he’d never sent butterflies swirling around in my stomach the way Ty did. He never even came close. Ty’s presence, his very being, set fire to my body and mind. Even just daydreams of his touch wound me up and made me breathless.
I thought back, wondering to myself why I’d fixated on Ty as hard as I did back in high school. Yeah, he was stunning. Charismatic. Friendly to everyone. He’d never noticed me, or so I thought, but on the rare occasion he crossed paths with some of the freaks I ran with, he’d always been kind. Standing up to bullies who picked on us weird kids.
But to center on him as hard as I did for as long as I did?
Looking back, all I could think was that he represented something solid in my nebulous world. His life seemed so average. Routine. Something I wanted so badly. A home with parents who cared. I’d fantasized about him constantly, about him noticing me and pulling me out of my dreadful existence.
It seemed wondrous that now, years after I’d pulled myself out, I was in his arms. A fleeting moment, sure, but one I’d treasure forever.
Chapter Seven
I tightened the belt to my robe and piled our soiled clothes into the washing machine as Ty, clad only in a dark green towel wrapped low around his hips, scraped up the last of our ruined dinner from the floor.
Barefoot, I meandered out by the fireplace and settled a fresh log on the blaze. It snapped and cracked when it caught the flame. Warmth spread over my skin as I knelt and watched it burn, aimlessly prodding it with the poker. Ty’s footsteps padded close, and he sat behind me, wrapping a thick arm around my waist and resting his chin on my shoulder.
It was way too easy. All of this, with him. I wondered for a second how it was going to feel to go back to the way it was before last night. Before I spent Christmas with this veritable god of a man. When I was alone.
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