Drake and Ashley: The Complete Story

by Noelle Stevens

  But as I think about the fun I’m having with him, and then my eyes drift to those broad shoulders and bulging biceps, then upwards to his face—those green eyes and full lips—I know he’s beginning to mean something to me. And I know if I let myself, I will fall for him. Hard.

  After settling onto the couch, I pick up the book, but have trouble concentrating on the words. Drake is stoking the fire, his back to me, and my gaze keeps straying in his direction. The memory of him kissing me fills my mind and I think how much I want him to repeat it. Desperate to think of something else, I blurt, “Do you have a girlfriend?” Then my eyes widen. I hadn’t meant to say that out loud.

  He turns and looks at me, his head cocked to one side. “Why?”

  What am I supposed to say to that? Because you’re the hottest man I’ve laid eyes on and I’m trying to decide if I’m going to allow myself to fall for you. “No reason.” I look back at my book, and with a tone of disinterest, I say, “Never mind.” Clearly, he doesn’t want to give me an answer, so I can only assume he has a girlfriend. I stare at the page, my mind wandering.

  He’s silent for several minutes. “I thought you said you’re a fast reader.”

  I look at him, my eyebrows pulled together in question.

  He gestures toward my book with his chin. “You’ve been on that same page for the last five minutes.”

  For some reason his comment puts me on the defensive. “How do you know?”

  A slow smile curves his mouth. “Usually when one reads, one turns the pages. You haven’t.”

  “Maybe I’m savoring the way Tolkien writes.”

  He laughs, then turns his back to me.

  Just to prove him wrong, I noisily turn the page, but then turn back to the one I was on since I haven’t actually read it yet.

  My gaze shifts to the front window and I see the swirling snow and wonder when this storm will finally stop. But when I think about what that means—me leaving—I decide I'm not in such a big hurry for the storm to end after all.

  After a moment I say, “You said you don’t live here full-time. Where do you live the rest of the time?”

  He turns around and faces me. “I have a place in Reno.”

  Reno? That’s where I'm headed. “How often do you come to this place?” I open my arms to encompass the room.

  “I try to come down a couple of times a month.” He frowns. “It’s nice to get away from the grind occasionally.”

  “Have you lived in Reno your whole life?”

  He’s quiet for a moment. “You know, I don’t want to talk about me. Why don’t you tell me about you? Do you have any brothers or sisters?”

  “Yeah, I have two older brothers.”

  He nods, like a great mystery has been solved. “The youngest child, and the only girl. It’s all starting to make sense now.”

  Knowing I should feel offended, I frown. “What makes sense?”

  He smiles smugly. “Your princess complex.”

  “I do not have a princess complex.”

  Laughing, he says, “Okay.”

  I narrow my eyes. “As long as we’re assigning labels, I’d say you’re bossy.”

  He shakes his head and laughs. “I can’t argue with that.”

  Smiling in triumph, I pick up my book and open to the page I was staring at earlier.

  “I’ll be in my office if you need anything,” he says, then he walks towards the hall.

  I watch him go, already missing him, then settle back and actually begin to read my book. After an hour I decide to see what he’s doing and find him looking at spreadsheets on his monitor. It doesn’t look all that fascinating, so I figure he won’t mind the interruption. “What are you doing?”

  He turns and smiles at me. “Just going over some numbers.”

  I peer over his shoulder at the screen. “What kind of numbers?”

  He shuts his laptop with a snap, which darkens the oversized monitor I'm looking at.

  “None of your business,” he says, then he turns to me with a sigh. “I think it’s time for a little fun. What do you think?”

  “What did you have in mind?”

  A grin blooms on his mouth. “Let’s go play in the snow.”

  My gaze goes to the window where the snow is still swirling, although I can see into the distance now. “But it’s still snowing.” I look at him. “I thought you said we had to wait until the storm finished.”

  “Are you going to follow everything I say?” His eyes seem to twinkle as he speaks.

  I'm not sure where he’s going with his question. “Uh . . . No?”

  He slaps his thighs and stands. “Good.” His eyes rove over my body, which fills me with a pleasant tingle. “Now, let’s see if we can figure out something warm for you to wear.”

  Thirteen

  ASHLEY

  Fifteen minutes later he’s rounded up a pair of winter boots and pants and holds them out to me. “A buddy of mine left these. They’ll be a little big on you, but they should work.” He pauses. “We should wrap your ankle though. Sit on the couch and I’ll wrap it for you.”

  “Okay.” Once I'm seated, he squats in front of me, then lifts my foot and rests it on his knee. He uses both hands to slide my pant leg up, and when his fingers brush my skin, electricity courses through me and I pull in a soft intake of breath.

  Evidently he hears me, because he looks at me with a smile. “You okay?”

  Trying to pretend he doesn’t have an effect on me, I nod. “Yeah. I’m fine.”

  He focuses on my foot, slowly sliding off my sock, then he takes a stretchy bandage and wraps it tightly around my ankle, clipping it securely in place. “That should keep you from twisting it while we’re outside.”

  “Thanks.” I begin moving my foot off of his leg, but he holds it in place.

  “Wait. Let me put some extra socks on your foot. That will help the shoe fit better.”

  “Okay.” I watch as he slides one sock over my foot, then two more. Then adds two more pairs to my other foot.

  “That should do it.”

  “I hope I can move my toes,” I say, staring at the thick socks on my feet.

  “I’m sure you’ll manage,” he says as he stands.

  I pull the snow pants on over my jeans and notice that the pants are about three sizes too big. I look at Drake and want to punch him when I see the amusement on his face.

  “I think you need a belt,” he says, obviously trying to hold back a laugh.

  “Well, instead of standing there mocking me, go get one,” I say testily.

  “Let me see what I have.”

  Several minutes later he’s back with a belt that looks way too big for me. He holds it up for my inspection. “I punched some new holes into it, so I think we can get it to work.”

  He reaches towards me like he’s going to put it on me, but I snatch it out of his hands. “I can dress myself.”

  “Sorry,” he says with grin.

  I thread the belt through the loopholes, then pull it tight and use the new holes in the belt to secure it closed. The pants are still big on me, but at least they should stay on over my jeans.

  I look at the boots he’s set on the floor and find I'm able to step into them easily enough, but bending over to tie them while wearing the oversized pants is going to be difficult. Feeling like a kindergartner who hasn’t mastered the art of shoe-tying, I look at Drake. “Can you help me tie the shoes?”

  He smirks. “Help you? Or do it?”

  I put my hands on my hips. “Can you just tie them, please?”

  He smiles, then kneels on the floor. After the shoes are secured, he stands and lifts a beanie from the couch. “You’ll want to wear this.” He puts it on my head. “To keep your ears warm.”

  “Okay. Thanks.” Again, I relish the feeling of him taking care of me.

  After he puts on his snow clothes, and I put on my own jacket and gloves, we head outside. The snow is falling softly, not like the day before when it pelted me as I w
alked along the road. The view is absolutely gorgeous. Tall trees coated in a fresh layer of snow, mountains in the distance covered in white, not a hint of civilization in sight.

  “No wonder you like to come here,” I marvel as I look around. “It’s beautiful.” When I turn to look at Drake, I see him watching me with a smile.

  “Yeah. I love it out here. I’d live here full-time if I could manage it.”

  “I can see why.”

  “Now let’s build that snowman.” His face lights up and he looks like a small boy getting a break from school on a snow day.

  We work for an hour, and when we’re done I’m quite proud that I’ve participated in building such a work of art.

  “It looks like crap,” Drake laughs as he stands back to appraise it.

  My mouth falls open. “Nuh-uh. It looks great.”

  With a patronizing smile, he says, “This is your first snowman, right?”

  I nod.

  “Then I’d have to say you don’t know what the heck you’re talking about.”

  I cross my arms over my chest. “Well, I like it.” I turn my back on Drake and stare at the piles of snow we’re calling a snowman and wait for Drake to say something, but he’s quiet. As I start to turn to look at him, a cold ball of snow hits me in the side of the face. Gasping, my eyes widen, and then as the coldness seeps into my skin, I shriek.

  “Snowball fight!” Drake yells from ten feet away, then he beans me with another ball of snow.

  Hating that he’s caught me off-guard, and not liking the icy cold snow on my skin, I scoop up a handful of snow, pack it into a ball, then throw it at him as hard as I can. It sails right by him.

  “You throw like a girl,” he calls to me as he dashes behind a tree.

  “I’m so going to get you,” I call back, a wide grin on my face. Finding a tree of my own to hide behind, I kneel in the snow and form several snowballs, creating a small arsenal.

  Peeking out from behind the tree, I scan the tree-line, looking for the gorgeous man with the wicked aim. Movement catches my eye. I grin, then pick up two of my snowballs and carefully walk from tree to tree, trying to see where he’s hiding. A moment later I find him, but as soon as my eyes meet his, I know it’s a trap.

  I hurl my two snowballs at him—hitting him with both of them—but he has a large pile to draw from, and he begins throwing them at me the moment he’s recovered from my hits. Laughing, I scurry away, but he manages to connect with my back and legs. When I see a wide tree in my path, I move behind it just as two snowballs smash against the trunk in a shower of snowflakes.

  DRAKE

  I can’t believe how much fun I’m having. It’s like I’m a kid again and I don’t want it to end. Amazed at the way Ashley’s brought out the fun side of me, I scoop up another handful of snowballs and peer around the tree I’m hiding behind. My smile is so big, my jaw nearly aches. But I’m loving this.

  “There you are!” she says as she beans me in the back of the head.

  With a startled yelp, I spin around, ready to get her back, but she’s disappeared. I go on the hunt and a few moments later I find her.

  She screams in terror, although the grin on her face belies her fear. I pull back my arm to throw a snowball, and she ducks, but I manage to get her shoulder.

  Fourteen

  ASHLEY

  Half an hour later, after I’ve gotten in a few good hits and he’s landed many more on me, I realize I’m getting tired. He shows no signs of stopping, so I step out from behind the tree where I’ve taken refuge. “I give up,” I call out. “No more.”

  He pokes his head out from behind his tree. “Is this a trick?”

  I laugh. “No. You win.” I wave my empty hands. “See? No snowballs.”

  “Okay.” He walks out, a big smile on his face, and stops in front of me. “I think you need to practice your snowball throwing skills.”

  “What do you mean? I hit you a bunch of times.”

  “Maybe thirty percent of the time.”

  “Hey,” I say as I plant my hands on my hips. “I’m at a disadvantage here.”

  He cocks an eyebrow. “Oh yeah? How so?”

  “You seem to have forgotten that this is my first snowball fight.” I narrow my eyes. “How many snowball fights have you been in?”

  He nods, like he knows I'm right. “A few.”

  “Okay. So you need to cut me some slack.”

  “Fine. But as part of your initiation into snow-like activities, I think you need to make your first snow angel.”

  My face lights up. “Oh yeah. I’ve always wanted to try that.”

  “Do you know how?”

  “Duh. Who doesn’t?”

  “Okay, go for it.”

  I look behind me and see that though the ground is somewhat trampled from our play, it’s still a good spot to lie down. I sit in the snow facing Drake, then lie back, straightening my legs, then stretching my arms above my head.

  When I look at Drake, I see his gaze sweep over me, and when his eyes meet mine, I see undisguised desire. Matching desire floods me, and I hold very still, waiting for the feeling to pass, but it seems to go on and on.

  “Well?” he asks, his voice deep. “Are you going to do it?”

  My earlier enthusiasm vanishes as I try to control the sensations washing over me. As good as they feel, I wish they would stop. I’ve decided to focus on myself and what I need—to get my feet under me now that I'm a college graduate.

  Then, thinking that if I can’t see him I can compose myself, I close my eyes, then swing my legs wide apart, then back together, wide apart, and back together. At the same time, I sweep my arms over my head in time to my legs. After going through the movements several times, I stop and open my eyes.

  Drake’s gaze is riveted to me. I focus on his eyes, but that doesn’t help as it seems he is able to see right into my soul.

  I push myself to a sitting position, then Drake reaches out a gloved hand. I take it, allowing him to pull me up. Ignoring the craving I read in his eyes, I turn my back on him and look at the snow angel I created. “That looks pretty good, don’t you think?” When he doesn’t reply, I turn to face him. “Well?”

  He smiles. “Yeah. You did good.”

  Trying to pretend that there’s no electricity flowing between us, I say, “Are there any other snow activities I should do?”

  He shakes his head. “No, but I do have a different activity in mind.”

  “What?”

  “When I started chopping the firewood this morning, I turned on the jacuzzi. It feels good on the muscles, so I figured we might want to use it after all that running around.”

  “You have a jacuzzi?”

  He nods.

  “Where is it?”

  “Out back. You can’t see it from the kitchen window, but it’s back there.”

  “Oh.” Sitting in steaming hot water while it’s snowing sounds like heaven. There’s only one problem. “Uh, I don’t have a swimsuit.”

  He smiles. “I’ll loan you a t-shirt.” He gazes at me a moment, then says, “Will that work?”

  Wanting to soak in the jacuzzi, I decide that wearing a t-shirt over my underthings is pretty much the same thing as wearing a bikini. “Yes,” I say. “That’ll work.”

  “Good.” He turns and goes into the house and I follow behind.

  A few minutes later he hands me a t-shirt and says, “I’ll meet you outside.”

  With a nod, I go into my room, and while changing, I look out the window and see that the snow is drifting down in gentle flakes. Which means the storm is coming to an end. Which means I will be leaving soon.

  I'm not sure how I feel about that. At first I’d been eager to get back on the road and on to my new life, but now, not even twenty-four hours after sliding off the road, I'm really beginning to like this hot, yet sweet man who rescued me.

  Excited to spend more time with him, but also a little apprehensive about giving myself so much time to fall for him, I make my
way into the kitchen. Drake is nowhere to be seen so I assume he’s already in the jacuzzi. I look out the kitchen window but don’t see a jacuzzi out there.

  Well, dummy, he said you couldn’t see it from the kitchen window.

  Frowning, I reach for the back door, but hesitate.

  “This is your last chance to change your mind,” I mutter. Wiping my suddenly sweaty hands on the t-shirt, I take a quick breath, then twist the doorknob and open the door. A blast of cold air hits my bare legs and arms, and I shiver.

  “Over here, Ashley,” Drake calls from somewhere to the right.

  He knows you’re there. No backing out now.

  I step onto the covered patio and close the door, my gaze darting to the large jacuzzi nestled under a glass roof.

  “Get in before you freeze,” he says.

  I realize I'm shivering in the t-shirt/mini-dress, so I walk to the jacuzzi and climb in on the opposite side from Drake. Hot water envelopes me as I sink onto a bench seat. Closing my eyes, I moan with pleasure. “This feels so good.”

  “I know.”

  I open my eyes to see Drake watching me. Bubbles rise to the surface all around me, and a hot jet sprays against my back.

  “I’m glad you suggested playing in the snow,” he says. “I haven’t done that in a long time, but it was really fun.” He smiles. “Especially the snowball fight.”

  I smile in return. “You’re just saying that because you won.”

  He laughs. “Maybe you’ll win next time.”

  Next time? Will there be a next time? I can only hope.

  Drake looks up at the snow that falls gently on the glass roof. “I think the storm is almost done.”

  I look up as well and feel a stab of disappointment. “Yeah.”

  “Once the storm stops, my Internet will be back up, and then we can call a tow truck to pull your car out of the snowbank.”

  My gaze shoots to him. “You have Internet?”

  He laughs. “Yeah. Through a satellite dish. But when the snow piles up on the dish, it blocks the signal.”