“Well, you were moaning and I glared at you and then you smirked and I lost it.” I took a bite of my sandwich, stuffing some fries into my mouth with it.
“Well, it had been so long since I had a burger that you could taste the burger and not all the other crap on them. I like my burgers simple, and just slightly decorated. Like you.” He took another bite and winked at me. I could feel the fire in my cheeks at his compliment.
I finished my food quickly and decided that I would rather save the rest of the other meal for a midnight snack and get something sweet instead. I flagged down the waitress and asked for a menu so I could look at the desserts. Normally, I would get the apple pie a la mode, but tonight I wanted something rich. Like Daniel.
Alicia was back within a few moments with the menu and the box, making sure there was nothing else we needed before she went to her next table. It was starting to get more crowded the later it got, and the more people got off of work. I was starting to get uncomfortable with the crowd and was debating on getting dessert to go as well when Daniel spoke up.
“I know you want dessert, but if you wait until we go to the store I will buy you a whole chocolate cake if that’s what you want. Can we go? I hate crowds like this.” He looked around nervously.
“If you want to go I can get something at the store. Go ahead and get the check and we can go.” I grabbed our boxes and headed toward the door, stopping Alicia on the way out, letting her know we changed our mind and needed the check instead.
I turned to check on Daniel, to see Alicia handing him the check, touching his arm. I felt my blood boil at the simple gesture, as he pulled his wallet out and leaned toward her, handing her a couple of bills, motioning for her to keep the change. Daniel was much too nice, and if I had anything to say, we would never come back here when she was working. Daniel was mine.
Chapter Fifteen
Daniel
Alexa was waiting for me, looking pissed when I left the restaurant. I approached her with caution and weary of what she was feeling. I pushed a button on the keychain and unlocked the truck to let her in. She climbed in as I watched her. I was about to start walking when Alicia ran out of the restaurant, pushing a piece of paper into my hand. Alexa just glared at us, and I walked to the truck and got in, not even bothering to look at the napkin.
“Already pursuing your next conquest for after you are done with me?” The scathing tone of her voice made me flinch. I looked at her, startled at her change in attitude.
“What are you talking about? The waitress? She’s not even my type. I told you. I want you, Alexa. Fuck. I know it’s hard, but try to trust me. Like I have to with you.” I started the car and waited for her to tell me how to get to the store. When we pulled into the parking lot it was already closed.
I groaned in frustration. We needed some groceries and the store was closed.
“Anywhere else?” I hoped she would be able to shop somewhere else.
“Carrs. We can always go to Carrs. It’s just Safeway.” She pointed out the way to the store and we drove up the road until we pulled in. Twenty-four hours. Thank god.
I parked the SUV and Alexa was out before I had even turned the ignition off. I shook my head and hurried to catch up with her. She was tapping her foot, waiting for me at the door as I slipped across the ice.
“Okay, I will do the shopping, and you can keep me company. Is there anything you are allergic to or just plain won’t eat?” She got a cart and started walking through the store, with me trailing behind her.
I watched as she filled the cart with fresh produce, the ingredients for bread and noodles, fresh meat, before going to the dairy section and getting milk, creamer, eggs and cheese. I had never gone through a grocery store so fast with someone and was glad that she knew what she was doing.
“Now that we have food, we need to get something to cook and eat with. I was thinking about just getting some disposable silverware and plates, but I refuse to cook in foil. I need at least a couple of decent frying pans. After I get those I will be done and we can check out.” Alexa brought me down one last aisle before we headed to the checkout line.
One long line to another.
“Well, that was eventful.” Alexa was giggling as we walked the cart across the parking lot to the rig. Pots, pans, dishes and enough food to last at least a week. I had said to get that much just in case. What the hell was I thinking? Oh yeah. Snow. The white shit that was threatening to fall from the sky.
“This looks like it’s going to be an interesting drive back.” Alexa pointed upward. “Have you ever driven in snow?”
“Not since I was a teen,” I admitted, handing Alexa the keys. I didn’t want to relearn on the highway in the middle of nowhere. “You should drive. You know how to drive in this weather, and if it gets nasty you would be better at figuring shit out than me. I just want to get back to the house in one piece.” I smiled at her.
“Oh, well, thanks. I think. Load all this crap up so that we can try and beat this back to the house. I don’t want to be stuck driving in a whiteout.” She took the keys from me and got in the truck as I loaded.
I’d just finished loading the groceries and gotten in the Chevy when the first snowflakes began to fall.
“Well, good thing I let you drive. It’s already starting to snow. No outrunning this.” I looked at Alexa, as she shrugged.
She drove through town as the snow got heavier. The closer we got to the edge of town the thicker the snow got. By the time we got to the highway again it was almost a white out. I had never seen snow fall so fast and so thick. It was crazy, and Alexa was driving in it like a seasoned pro. I knew I would have been pulled over on the side of the road, crying like a little girl by now, if I had been driving.
She watched the road diligently as we drove through the park, waiting for an animal to run out on the road. We passed through the park without incident, and both began to watch for the turnoff. We almost missed it, the snow was so thick, and the several inches of snow didn’t help matters. The only thing that saved us was the tired tracks running down the road.
Alexa turned and drove down the road, almost plowing into the back of the truck that was parked in the driveway. She backed out and parked on the road so that they could get out and we could get back in.
We walked into the drive, holding our groceries, and the guys hopped out of the truck, coming over to help us. I handed over the bags in my hands, freeing them to take the bags from Alexa.
Big and tall number one spoke as we walked toward the house, to unload everything. Big man number two, went to the back of the truck and opened it, revealing everything I had ordered.
“Hey, sorry it took us so long to get here. We got stuck in Anchorage waiting on a truck to come in. We got here as soon as we could. We can unload everything once we bring this stuff in and put it where you want us to. Oh, by the way, I’m Sonny and that’s Charles.” He jabbed a finger at big and tall number two.
“Sure.” I walked up to the door and let them in, but Alexa had already beat me and was standing there with the door open. Oh well, it never hurt to have extras, and they could use the fresh stuff first. Life had taught me that. From cars to friends. I had grown up with little more than my mother’s love. At least until she had met the man I now called dad. Dad had helped me become the man who I was now.
He had helped me to become successful, to have the life and money I have now, but I would never forget what it was like to be poor. Though Mom would never let me miss a meal, I still knew what it was like to go to bed hungry. There were nights where I knew my mom didn’t know where our next meal was coming from, but somehow, we always had food.
“Hey Mr. Black, where do you want us to put all these groceries? I know the paperwork says to put them away, but you are here so I thought I would see if there was anywhere specific you wanted them instead.” Charlie pulled a box of cans out of the truck.
“Uh... yeah. Just stick them all in the kitchen. We’ll put them away while we put away everythi
ng else we just bought up in Fairbanks. We weren’t sure you guys were going to make it tonight, so we got some extra supplies to last in case.” I looked through the open door into the kitchen, sure that there was enough room between there and the dining room for all the boxes to be unloaded. I was glad I had thought about having an extra freezer installed for all of the food I had ordered for the house. This would be interesting if I hadn’t.
“Okay, that’s the last of the boxes. Sign here, Mr. Black.” Charlie handed me a clipboard with the delivery order on it. Signing quickly, I handed it back to him before the snow could ruin it, with a tip for each of them, sending them on their way. “Be safe guys! The roads are shit.” I waved as they pulled away. I turned back the house, hurrying inside to the warmth, out of the thickly falling snow. Alexa was already in the kitchen organizing things and had a pile for me to take down to the basement, and the storage setup for food. I wouldn’t call it a pantry. It was more like a storeroom.
I stepped into the kitchen and grabbed a box full of food and brought it over to Alexa to quickly sort through so I could bring it downstairs. It was frozen goods, and I didn’t want them to start melting or thawing. She dug through the box and came up with a satisfied smile on her face.
“Hey! I was wondering where this box ran off to. I wanted some of the stuff left upstairs for tomorrow.”
“Oh. Well, I didn’t think you would need any of this with everything we just bought. glad I decided to have you double check the boxes before I brought them down to the freezer.”
She dug through the boxes, pulling out some of the chicken, bacon, and steaks to leave upstairs in the kitchen before she let me take the box downstairs.
I was thankful I was finally alone with my thoughts. Having been stuck in a car with her all day, then even longer because of the lateness of the truck arriving, had been hell. I needed to calm down and putting everything into the storage freezer would be perfect for just that. I opened the freezer, it’s empty shell staring back at me as I began to unload the frozen foods.
Frozen meats, vegetables, noodles, broths, even a few pizzas slowly filled the freezer as I methodically placed the items in their spots. I hadn’t even noticed Alexa come down behind me until the box was beside me. She smiled at me and walked back upstairs, swinging her hips from side to side, wearing just a long t-shirt.
This woman was going to be the death of me.
Chapter Sixteen
Alexa
I was teasing Daniel and I knew it. I never swung my hips like that, and I always wore pants, but I needed to get out of them after the large dinner, and I was planning on eating my brownies. When I got back upstairs into the kitchen I started working on the marinades for the meat that I had kept out, so that I could just put them in the marinade once the meat was thawed.
One was a three-day marinade and it needed time to rest before I put any meat in it. The first was a teriyaki marinade with pineapple, the next I decided needed to be a little more complex. A mango, jalapeno pepper marinade. It was my specialty and took two days just to prep before you could put meat in it. And it was a steak marinade. I made with olive oil, vinegar and an assortment of spices, before adding the pepper extract on the last day. This was a favorite at John’s — though he preferred it on ribs, not steak — and whenever I made it, there was never any leftovers.
But, then I wasn’t sure if Daniel would like it as much as they did. I knew that he liked red meat, and I sure knew about his taste in women now. I really hoped he would like it and that he wasn’t allergic to anything in the marinades. I looked out the window at the snow piling up. Daniel being allergic would be a bad thing.
I finished putting things away in the kitchen and heard the television turn on. Static. Had he never worked a satellite in a snow storm? I would be amazed if he got a signal out of it. Unless he’d figured out how to get them to run the cable line out here, and I hadn’t seen any cables. After a few minutes of him fiddling around, I heard the fuzz begin to change to the news from Anchorage. I walked into the living room and over to the couch where he was sitting.
"Here, I thought you might like one after everything today. All the driving and then the shopping." I handed him a beer and set my tea down on the coffee table.
"Thanks. Definitely better to watch some television with a beer and a beautiful woman." He grinned as he grabbed me around the waist and pulled me onto his lap. Daniel started nibbling on my ear, working his way down to nibble along my collarbone. Shifting in his lap, I turned away from him laughing and tried to pull out of his grasp. Standing I pulled away before Daniel grabbed my hand and spun me back toward him. I balled my fists, letting him drag them into his chest as he tugged at me. Hitting his chest, he let me go and took a step back.
"Why did you do that? I was just playing with you." I was out of breath from laughing so much and slightly affronted that he had stopped playing.
"I didn't want to overstep my bounds. I thought you were telling me enough. But... If you're sure you were only playing," He grabbed me again and pulled me to his chest, before he kissed me hard, the butterflies and tingles taking over my body as I leaned into the kiss. Melting. I was melting the way I wished the snow would. I hadn’t seen the master bedroom yet, all of our stuff was in the living room, but I was sure that would change soon. He drug me to the couch with him, but instead of taking me, like I was hoping, he settled with his arm around me and turned back to the news.
“Sorry, I want to watch the weather. I hope this isn’t as bad as it looks.” He adjusted on the couch and I took the opportunity to try and get away from him. Daniel wasn’t going to have any of it though and pinned me down across his lap. I sighed, defeated and watched the news with him. This was a large snow storm and they were expecting it to last through the weekend, if not longer and dump at least five feet of snow in the next three days. Not unheard of, but not very common in Alaska. Even in the Interior, it was rare to get that much snow in such a short amount of time.
I remembered when it happened in Anchorage, four feet of snow almost overnight, and the city almost completely shut down. It was insane. Even the airport, which never shuts down, was shut down that day. I was in my teens and it was the last weekend of Spring Break. We got a longer break because it took them four days to clean up the city enough to open schools.
“What are you thinking about?” Daniel pulled me back up to sit beside him.
“Last time I remember it snowing like this I was a kid. We ended up with four feet in under twenty-four hours, and an extra-long Spring Break. It was a mess. People forgot how to drive, kids went snow stupid…”
“Snow stupid?” Daniel laughed at my comment.
“Yes. Snow stupid. When you go off and do stupid shit you wouldn’t otherwise do in the snow because you know better. Sledding through trees, skiing in the street, sliding through the road on their shoes. Playing chicken with the snow plows. Happens all the time, but it’s worse after a huge snow dump like this.” I rolled my eyes at him.
“Does that make more sense to you?” I waited, hoping he would get it.
“Yeah. Don’t go sledding or skiing on fresh powder. What about snowmobiling?” He smirked at me.
“Snow machining!” I corrected him.
“Whatever. Let’s go to bed. I’m fucking beat.” Daniel stood up, throwing me over his shoulder. I beat against his back to let me down and all he did was slap my ass. I couldn’t help but laugh at the situation. He was so freaking funny.
“Put me down! Put me down!” I begged for mercy.
“Okay,” he threw me onto the bed, and I bounced against the super soft, fluffy mattress, and then he launched himself at me. I gasped as his teeth caught my lip between them, kissing him back. This was better than the hotel already. There was no shyness. No learning. We just were. Daniel made short work of our clothes before he was back covering me.
“I’m sorry, nothing sweet about tonight. I just need you.” He slid into me, causing me to moan in pleasure as he moved
. It wasn’t long before we were nearing the edge, both sweaty and clinging to each other, I wrapped my legs around his hips, forcing him deeper into me. I let out a strangled cry as I fell over the edge, tightening around his cock, bringing him crashing with me.
Falling off me, we laid there in the afterglow, catching our breath. I moved first.
“Let’s get under the blanket so we can get some sleep. It's been a long day. I can’t wait to see the sun stream through those windows!” I was giddy at the prospect of doing much more in front of those open windows. But for tonight, watching the snow fall through them was enough.
Chapter Seventeen
Daniel
When I woke up the next morning it was still dark out. I would have to get used to that. Looking at the clock on my phone, I saw that it was seven already and I had slept in. That wasn’t something that happened that often. Alexa was still asleep, sprawled across the bed. I didn’t want to wake her, so I just left the room and wandered out to our bags. It was still snowing, so I wanted something warm to wear.
I was going to shovel the driveway. I didn’t care if we couldn’t get out, I wanted to bring the vehicle in so we wouldn’t have to worry about digging the truck out again if we needed the battery for backup power for the generator.
I liked to think I knew what I was doing.
I pulled on my jeans, boots, sweater and a warm jacket, and started the coffee before I headed into the garage to get the shovel. I should have invested in a snow blower, but of course, I didn’t think about that when I was equipping the house. I wasn’t planning on coming out this winter. It was something I had planned to buy next fall. Hindsight.
I was shocked when the garage door opened and there was already three feet of snow against the door, some of it falling into the garage. I got to work, I needed to at the very least make a path to the front door and around the car. The problem for me was that I had never shoveled this much snow. And it was still coming down thick and fluffy.
Snowed In (Lost and Found Book 1) Page 8
