by Ostrow, Lexi
“Yes, well, most men need the help.”
She winked at him and tugged him out of the bakery with barely more than a nod to Leena and Jake. There were more people out, it was a little after noon after all. He didn’t mind the frequent stops they had to make every time someone realized who Tasha was. Watching her, he found it rather endearing. She genuinely knew that her fans made her career, something that actors couldn’t always be taught to get. It was likely why she’d risen so quickly, aside from her actual talent and stunning looks.
“This,” she said as they stopped in front of a carriage, “is what I want to do now. I’ve never been on a horse drawn carriage, and I can’t think of a thing more magical than this.”
She was practically glowing with excitement and he nodded. She grinned happily and climbed on board.
“Well, the rumors are true then,” the coachman smiled at them as he picked up the reigns. “Nick DeMarco has landed the amazingly too good for him Tasha Morningstar.”
Nick climbed up and sat next to Tasha, not even bothering to shy away from wrapping his arm around her. “Oh shut it, Tanner. You know I’m perfect for her,” Nick fired back at the coachman who’d practically known him his whole life.
Tasha looked at him, curiosity in her dark eyes, and he explained.
“My family has a thing for beautiful carriage rides, and Tanner is the best. He’ll show us the beauty of the mountain and maybe stop teasing me and let us enjoy it.” He passed Tanner his usual fare, and a little extra for the holidays, before pulling Tasha against him. “He’s a bit of a blabbermouth, so you’re stuck playing girlfriend to the max again.”
She smiled up at him, and he was struck by how perfect she was, snuggled against his body.
“I think I can handle that,” she whispered back as the carriage began to move.
Nick could scarcely take in the surrounding splendor. His heart was beating so rapidly in his chest that he thought it might burst free. He had feelings for Tasha, real ones. Ones that might have developed from all their acting but were anything but fake. The realization wasn’t even startling, she was a wonderful woman, with everything that Leena had in spades, as well as the wisdom and spunk that made her stand out all on her own.
Tugging her closer against him, he forced himself to stop looking down at her and start looking out at the beauty of a forest covered in snow. The silence wrapped around them like a comfortable blanket, and he enjoyed that there was nothing awkward about it, despite them truly only getting to know each other at the start of the week.
“Awfully quiet back there,” Tanner said with a devious grin as he turned around and glanced at them.
“What can I say? The two things in my view are so perfect that I’m at a loss for words.”
Tasha elbowed him playfully, probably not believing he’d meant the words. Tanner laughed and turned back around, taking the horses a little farther away from the main road and closer to the trees. He always did try to weave in and out a little.
Just then, a crystalline snowflake landed on his nose. He laughed and brought his hand up to wipe away the wet snowflake.
“Is it snowing?” Tasha asked, sounding rather giddy.
“I believe it is. So before we have to end this ride or freeze, tell me, what did you truly want to do with your life? You’re quite amazing as an actress, and in the public sector, but it can’t be what you wanted.”
She was quiet for a moment, and he wondered if he hadn’t pushed too far. Relationships weren’t like the boardroom, and even though he’d never had trouble finding women who liked to be told what to do, Tasha had never seemed like one of them. Brilliant. Screw up the arrangement between you because you don’t know how to speak to someone like a human being.
“I wanted to be a teacher,” she finally said. “I wanted to teach, well, anything really. I just wanted to know that I was helping people learn more about the world around them. I think I would have liked science best.” She sighed wistfully.
Nick was relieved he hadn’t pushed too hard or been too invasive and gave her a little squeeze. “I think your students would have loved you as much as your fans love you.” He smiled down at her and ran a hand over the top of her red beanie, knocking the gathering snow off it.
“That, sounds like the charming CEO Nick trying to woo a client,” she teased.
“Well, it might be. But I never said that the work version of me wasn’t the real me.” He wanted her to see that he was not a whole lot more than work. Leena had always known that, and perhaps that was why Jake had been the better match. Tasha though, Tasha lived for her work. She would understand.
“I think you hide behind that, your work I mean. I will not deny that you are a smooth talker and as dedicated to your client’s success as the client likely is. But I’ve seen more than that from you this week. You love your family. I can tell by the way you all fit together. And you humored me on this carriage ride, set an entire day aside to make me feel like a real girlfriend simply because and made a snowman as happily as a kid would have.”
He didn’t like the slight flush that rose to his cheeks. Nick didn’t think he’d ever blushed, but Tasha was certainly succeeding. She’d succeed in a whole lot that week. She’d let him realize that there was a reason things had happened last Christmas, even if the how was still appalling to him. She’d unleashed a playful side he didn’t even think he had, all because he’d wanted her to enjoy their fake relationship while it lasted and feel like she hadn’t wasted her holiday break.
The sun was beginning to set, and the sky was on fire with oranges and pinks. The falling snow against the backdrop was truly beautiful, and he could understand why Tasha would sometimes miss the beauty of the reservation. Though, he was glad she’d admitted she didn’t ever wish to live there again. The idea of her being so far from the city, so far from him now that they’d established a weird relationship of sorts, wasn’t appealing.
He was staring down into her eyes when the carriage stopped back at the post in town. “Well now, not that was I being nosey, but it sounds like you two kids are moving along in the right direction.” Tanner grinned at them and helped Tasha down before Nick had even had a chance to get down. “You be safe driving back to that fancy chalet, you hear?”
They both laughed and Nick clasped Tanner’s hand, shaking it firmly. “Will do. Give my best to your family too.” Nick said as he slipped his gloved hand through Tasha’s, wishing that the fabric wasn’t in the way.
They walked back to the car in a comfortable silence, seeing that his parents, Annie and Marshall, had joined Leena and Jake in the bakery. All he could think about was Tasha. He knew it was inappropriate, but she was on his mind and holding her hand was only influencing it further. Tasha Morningstar was far too good for him, but he couldn’t help but wonder how she would react to finding out he was developing feelings for her. Feelings that made him completely at odds with their sham relationship, and even more at odds with the idea of letting her go after the New Year with some stupid excuse about holiday magic creating a relationship where one didn’t belong.
They did belong.
Tasha didn’t want to admit it aloud, but she didn’t think there was a problem in admitting it just to herself. She was head over heels in like with Nick. The day had only proved that to her. His hand was warming hers, even through their gloves, and she leaned her head on his shoulder as he fumbled in his pockets for the car key.
“There you are. I need to get a push start vehicle up here. Keeping track of keys is not my forte.” He grinned at her.
“No, I’ve seen the little color-coded key rings Leena had to make for you.”
He smiled at her, and she was dazzled by it. Nick could make any woman swoon simply by looking at him, pair it with his charm, and she hadn’t stood a chance against him.
He kissed the top of her head. “Sorry,” he shrugged. “It’s hard to remember that none of this real after a perfect day like this.”
She felt her hear
t pounding in her chest. Tasha had never thought she’d find anyone’s desire for her so powerful. But, she knew that if Nick wasn’t feeling what she was feeling, she would be the one going back to the city with a broken heart.
Ever the perfect gentleman, he opened the door for her and she slid in, shivering at how much cooler the SUV was than the sun-warmed, outside air. Nick slid in next to her and gave her that sideways smirk that Leena had always swooned over, and Tasha felt her mouth go dry.
“So, on a scale of one to a million, how did I rank as perfect boyfriend for the day?” His eyes never left the rearview mirror as he backed out of the spot.
She laughed and shook her finger at him. “The perfect boyfriend wouldn’t need to ask questions like that. The perfect boyfriend would just know,” she teased as her heart fluttered in her chest, daring her to tell him that he’d been utterly amazing.
“Well, the flaw there is that I’m not actually your boyfriend.”
She swallowed and blinked, hardly noticing that the fluffy falling snow had turned to wet slick sleet. Her palms were sweating in the gloves, and not because Nick had turned the heat up on high to warm them.
“Nick, about that…” She paused to try taking a deep breath. Instead, the air was stolen from her lungs.
The car was spinning, she wasn’t certain how she new in the haze of terror, but she could tell that they were flying out of control. She couldn’t tell if her eyes were squeezed so tightly shut all she saw was white, or if the car had flipped and she could only see white because of the blanket of snow on the ground.
“Tasha!”
She heard Nick shout, and she tried to turn her head to look at him. The vehicle really did flip, slamming into the ground on its side like a building crushing under wrecking ball. Something slammed into her side, and her head cracked against the leather dashboard of the Mercedes SUV. Something squeezed her shoulder, but she couldn’t focus on anything.
Pain unlike anything she’d ever felt prickled over her senses and mingled with the sharp spikes lancing through her. Another jerk, as the car rolled onto its top, and she couldn’t hear anything but the rush of blood in her ears.
The last thing she thought was how she’d never gotten to tell Nick she had feelings for him. The cold from the outside was inside, racing in through the shattered windows. She shivered, and surrendered to the pain, to the blackness.
Nick felt as if he had died on the round yesterday. In fact, all he’d garnered was a nasty slice to his forehead and a little whiplash. Tasha though…. His eyes drifted to where she slept on the hospital bed. She was all right, just resting, but it didn’t make his heart panic any less.
With one wrong turn of the wheel, his tires had slid across a patch of black ice, and because he’d been too consumed with what she might have been trying to say, he hadn’t been holding the wheel tightly enough. He could still feel the four different times the car had slammed into the ground, and he knew that the only reason they were both alive, and fairly uninjured, was because it had been a warrior of a car.
She’d been bleeding and unconscious when he’d grabbed for his phone and called for help. The town hospital was more like a clinic, but her pulse had been steady. He hadn’t wanted to rush her back to Denver on plane. He had just wanted to rush her to help.
Tasha Morningstar had been a welcomed surprise because she’d been a means to a very selfish end. She was so much more than that now, and he was going to tell her as soon as she was awake enough to understand him. Rejection or not, he wouldn’t live life on the sidelines again. He’d spent eight years doing that, and another year moping. It was time to live and Tasha had shown him that.
“Hey,” Leena said and slid her hand over his shoulder as she walked into the room.
He put his hand over hers, but Tasha spoke.
“Hey there.” She pushed herself up weakly in the bed. “So tell me,” she said softly, “how much blood is there?”
Leena laughed so hard, Nick could feel her shuddered mix of pain and relief through the hand on his shoulder.
“Oh, you know, not as much as Night’s Gone To Hell,” Leena joked, her voice breaking on a cry.
“Hey, hey. I’m sore, I’m not dead,” Tasha said, forcing strength into her voice. “Did anyone call my dad?”
Leena shook her head, and Nick instantly felt like an ass, an entire day had passed and no one had done that.
“Good. He worries too much, and if this managed to stay out of the news, lets save him the heart attack.”
“Tasha, do you feel up to leaving? The doctor cleared you, said you weren’t showing any signs of a concussion, and the slices on your cheek and hands didn’t require stitches. We were lucky. But if you’re not ready, we’ll stay here all of 2016.”
Leena squeezed his shoulder. “I think she’s in good enough hands. I’ll leave you two to it then.” She nodded at Tasha before slipping her hand out from under Nick’s and leaving.
Without anyone else in the room, he stood up and went to stand beside the small bed. She smiled up and him, and he felt himself crumble under the weight of that smile. He’d been a terrible person, from the start of this proposal to the accident. He wanted to tell her how he felt, but he knew that if he said anything right that minute, she’d likely write it off as guilt talking —which it wasn’t.
He might not have realized how he felt as the car was sailing across the icy ground, but the way he’d been feeling all day, the way he’d needed to hear what she’d been about to say right before the crash, was a good indication.
“I feel fine. Honestly, I could really use a non-liquid diet back at your family’s place.”
It took everything in him not to bend down and kiss her, to claim her as he so badly wanted to do.
“Okay then, I’ll get the doctor.”
Nick opened the garage door and wasn’t shocked to see the lights in the house were off. He took his coat off and gestured for Tasha to do the same. He took them and hung them in the closet before following her down the hall. He wasn’t shocked that the electric menorah in the window was lit, since everyone was out, it made sense they’d skipped lighting the real and doing the blessings a little earlier.
Nick couldn’t help but wonder why his family didn’t make as big of a deal over the Jewish holiday, and he just figured it was because the world made it much harder to ignore Christmas. Not that they’d ignored Hanukkah, but aside from potato pancakes, there wasn’t a whole lot of DeMarco tradition surrounding it. He couldn’t help but focus on anything but the feeling he was experiencing.
The car ride had been eerily quiet, as if they were both afraid he would crash again. Jake had left him his car, and Nick had been utterly paranoid driving back, but they’d made it okay.
Tasha walked past him and was staring out the window, watching the snow fall against the darkness of the night. He could scarcely see the flakes with the light he’d flicked on, and he shut it off. He was merely a few hundred feet away from her when she turned. He couldn’t read the expression on her face.
“Thank you for a nice day, Nick. You are going to make someone very happy, when you’re done wallowing in your own misery of course.” She kissed his cheek and walked past him to the room she was staying in.
Heat spread from her kiss, and Nick felt his entire body come alive at the small skin-to-skin contact. Then his feet were following her down the narrow hall. She paused just inside the doorframe as if she knew he was behind her, which she likely did, given the quiet in the cabin.
Nick could practically hear their hearts beating in tandem, both rapid and erratic. He could smell the scent of her shampoo, wheatgrass and coconut, and he inhaled deeply. Blood rushed to his cock, hardening it in an instant. Tasha still hadn’t turned to face him, and when he took a step behind and dropped a kiss to the only section of skin that wasn’t bundled up on her neck, she shuddered and leaned backward into him.
That was all it took. The barrier he’d attempted to place between them as they’d dr
iven back to the chalet shattered like pieces of a mirror that had been struck with blunt force. His hands wrapped around her waist and spun her to face him. Their lips crashed together, both of them moving at the same time, and Nick groaned at the contact.
Every feeling, every lick of desire and heat of passion that he’d been suppressing since he’d tasted her on the couch last week came to fruition. His body was on fire, screaming at him to claim her. His hands worked to undo the button on her jeans, and as their tongues entwined, he tugged them down by the belt loops, not giving a damn at the tearing sound that was slightly louder than their breathing. Her hands mimicked his, only he released her waist to jerk them over his hips, letting them lay at a heap around his ankles.
Taking a step, he pushed Tasha up against the bare section of wall and jerked his hips as her body instinctively ground against him from their position. Their actions were fierce, abrupt and needy. Her hands were all over his body until they settled at the bottom of his shirt and tore it over his head, disengaging from the kiss only long enough for it to slide over and be tossed lifelessly to the floor. Gripping her carefully, he picked her up and angled her body against the wall. Her legs wrapped around his waist, and he felt a ripple of pleasure race through him as his dick rubbed against her wet thong.
He pressed a finger against the black thong, dipping inside her core, relishing in the dampness he could feel through the cloth. Tearing his mouth free from hers, he stared into her eyes, growling at the heat that seared out of their dark depths.
“Tell me to stop, Tasha,” he commanded breathlessly as his finger began to work in and out of her body, rubbing the cloth against her sensitive nub as he did. He bit the place under her ear gently. “Tell me now, or I’m not going to stop. There’s no one here to interrupt us this time. If you don’t, I’m pulling this scrap of cloth off and sinking so deep inside of you, you’re going to scream from how good I’m going to make this.”
