by Tina Donahue
“That’s because there was no stuff, was there?” Her chin trembled. “You just wanted out. Why? Did I do something wrong? Something you didn’t like? Please, tell me.”
“You did nothing wrong,” he said, moving toward shore again. “You were perfect. You are perfect.”
She frowned. “Bull. You shouted at me for driving too fast. In your note you said I take too many risks. Boy are you wrong.” More tears slipped down her cheeks. “I let you walk away without knowing why, without telling you how I felt. I’ve missed you, Daniel. Not being with you nearly killed me. Know why?”
He hurried out of the water, dropping his pole on the bank.
Alexandra backed up again. He followed.
“I’ve wanted you from the moment we met,” she cried. “I know my feelings scare the shit out of you, but I can’t help it. I really like you. Hell, I’m probably falling in love. I know I shouldn’t but I can’t stop. Can’t you understand that? Can’t you—”
His kiss cut off her words, her tears salty on his tongue. He hated himself for having caused her a moment of unhappiness, and held her with all the tenderness he felt. Tension drained from her body, leaving her limp against him.
Daniel stroked her hair. She’d worn it down as he liked.
Oh hell, who was he kidding. She could’ve shaved her head and he would have thought she looked great. He hadn’t been yanking her chain. She was perfect. He kissed her for a long moment, savoring her warmth and flavor, reacquainting himself with the wonder of her, then eased away gently.
Alexandra lifted her face to his, awe, lingering sorrow, and doubt playing across her features. “Tell me,” she murmured. “I have to know how you feel.”
His heart beat too fucking hard, his panic returning, as it always had, but Daniel couldn’t kid himself any longer. He’d been a goner from the moment she’d shown up in the pizza parlor and asked if he’d wanted to play with her. God, had he ever.
He smoothed a stray tress from her cheek. “I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you.”
Her smile wobbled. “Seriously? Don’t lie. Please.”
“Lie? Why would I?”
“You’re afraid to hurt my feelings.”
“I’ve already done that.” He swallowed and whispered, “I’m so sorry. I’ve been so stupid.”
She searched his face. “Why did you leave the cabin that morning?”
Despite the chilly weather and fog, Daniel’s cheeks got hot. “I was scared. I liked you too much.”
Alexandra tried to smile but couldn’t seem to manage it. “I know. Well, I didn’t know for sure,” she amended. “But I considered it at least once. If I hadn’t caught up with you, would you have looked for me?”
“I kept thinking about calling you.”
“You didn’t. Why not?”
Because he was a damn fool. “Is this really necessary?”
“It is to me.” She touched his cheek. “Don’t you know how to answer, or is it you do and don’t want me to know how you really feel?”
He huffed out a sigh. “Until you showed up, I felt crappy. I’ve been that way since I left Alaska and figured I wouldn’t be seeing you again.”
“And you were just going to accept it? Tough it out until you felt better? You wouldn’t have come looking for me? You wouldn’t have even called me to—”
He stopped her with another kiss, this one deeper, more impassioned than the last. When Daniel finally pulled his mouth free, he growled, “Eventually, yeah. I would have.”
She rested her fingers on his lips. “Thank you.”
He eased her hand away and kissed her palm. “I’m the one who should be saying that.” He couldn’t and wouldn’t fight his emotions any longer. Hell, his resistance might have lost him these moments. Their future.
A scary thought, but he’d survive, just like guys did every day when they fell in love.
Love. Shit, another frightening matter. If it’d been up to him, Daniel would have stopped time so he and Alexandra would never have to leave this spot or move on to unchartered territory. Knowing how crazy that was, he asked, “So, what now?”
“You mean you and me?”
“What else?” With him traveling from site to site for months on end, he wasn’t certain how this could work.
Alexandra’s smile squeezed the last of the tears from her eyes. “We go back to Alaska and finish the project.”
“Your grandfather’s?” Daniel frowned. “What happened to the guy who took my place?”
She rocked on her heels and grinned. “Fired his damn ass.”
There was a surprise. “Lucius let you do that?”
“If he wants me to keep being his granddaughter.”
“You actually threatened to leave the Waite fold?”
“I should have done it years ago. My dad should have done it too.” She cleared her throat and continued, “When I found out Lucius had fired you and the others—by the way, I hired all them back—I quit and told him he’d never see me again. Took him a week to come around. At first, he tried to pretend nothing happened. I kept hanging up on him. I changed my number. He finally showed up at my condo in San Diego. He snarled a lot, never apologized but he did cave. Big-time. Said he was getting too old for this shit and wanted to relax a little. Told me I could run the show as I saw fit. Only me. What I say goes.” She reached around and smacked Daniel’s ass. “Got it?”
Hell, he’d barely felt her love pat through his rubber clothes. What she’d said was great, but his heart still sank. “I have another job. It starts in two weeks. I’m going to Canada.”
She moaned. “Why did you do that?”
“I have to work.”
“Not there. You can’t take it.” She gripped his jacket. “You won’t, will you?”
He’d already signed on.
“We won’t be able to see each other,” she whispered.
He tried to imagine going through these last three weeks again, only for nine months on end. Fuck. This was why he’d never wanted to fall for anyone. Love complicated his career. Made his decisions painful. Impossible.
Alexandra’s chin quivered again. “Will you at least call me sometime? Text? Something?”
“Please don’t cry.”
“I’m not.” A fat tear hung from her bottom lashes.
“I’ll work it out,” Daniel promised, then took a plunge he’d never thought he would. “I’ll find someone else for them.”
Alexandra threw her arms around him, hugged hard, then stopped and eased back. “Not the jackass I fired. I mean it. I’m in charge now. Got it?”
Daniel rested his forehead against hers and forced himself not to laugh. “A hostile takeover, huh?”
“More like a carnal takeover.” She ran her tongue over the seam of his lips.
Damn, that felt nice. A delicious tingling that sent so many waves of warmth through Daniel, he could barely speak. “Does this mean I have to call you Ms. Waite from now on?”
“Only at the site,” she murmured. “In bed, you can start being the boss.”
He pulled back. “Start?”
Her cheeks pinked up even more. He knew it wasn’t because of the chilly weather.
She dragged her fingers down his jacket. “It’s been so long, I kind of forgot what we did.”
“That right?” Daniel cupped the back of her neck and drew her into him, sin on his mind, relief in his heart, desire in his voice. “I’ll have to remind you.”
“The corporate jet’s waiting at the airport.” Her voice was husky as all get out. “You can start reminding me there.”
“Too far.” Taking her hand, he led her up the incline to his campsite. “Inside.”
Alexandra regarded the domed tent. Large enough for two. Snug enough for lovers. “Wow. Nice. But the jet’s bigger and warmer. It has booze.”
“This has me.” Daniel turned on the portable heater outside the tent, then pulled her inside. Warm air whooshed through the hoses. “Get naked.”
“Don’t wax those babies off again,” he ordered, “or there’ll be hell to pay.”
“Oh yeah?” She smirked. “Prove—”
She gasped at him pulling her over his knee. Daniel paddled her hard, just as she liked, her hearty moans guiding him to continue. After a time, they both breathed hard.
“Damn,” she gasped. “That was nice.”
It had been. “Ready for more?”
With no hesitation at all, she whispered, “Always.”
Epilogue
“Hey,” Alexandra called out. “Did you get lost in there?”
Daniel had been in the kitchen far longer than it took to make simple hot chocolate.
“Can’t find the mix,” he yelled.
“You left the packets in the steam room so you could smear—”
“Right. I’m on it.”
He gave her a thumbs-up as he left the kitchen. Their kitchen, actually. In their cabin.
Alexandra’s stomach fluttered at the wonder of it all. How bold she’d been to have made it happen.
When they’d returned here from his campsite, she’d proposed a year of living together to see if things would work out between them. Getting to know each other—the good, bad and ugly—after the initial haze of pleasure wore off.
It did, of course. Replaced by a deeper bond, private jokes, Daniel introducing her to what really went on in the village that didn’t involve energy production. They’d raced snowmobiles, taken the polar bear tour, danced to a local group at the community center. She’d met his relatives and childhood friends. All of them good people with the same dreams Alexandra had always had.
To be happy.
So far, she and Daniel had made it through the year with a few weeks tacked on. They’d finished the original project and were about to begin another here. Nat and Red had agreed to stay, with Junior deciding to return to the lower forty-eight. Very little had changed from before, yet everything had. She and Daniel no longer talked about his work taking him elsewhere. He’d committed to her grandfather’s company for the long haul to be near her.
After a time, Lucius had finally accepted that Daniel was in her life. He’d had little choice after his usual attempts at sabotage failed.
Repeatedly, he’d offered Daniel extra money and gifts, insisting they were for a job well done. Alexandra knew they were bribes. A way for Lucius to expose Daniel as a greedy opportunist. To prove that he didn’t really want her, he craved the Waite wealth and what it could do for him.
Daniel had refused it all.
“I don’t want a cent of your money, a new pickup or anything else except what I earn,” he’d finally told Lucius. “Don’t insult me by offering it again.”
How Alexandra adored him for that.
He returned, waving the packets.
“Want me to help?” she asked.
“Nope. I’m an engineer. I can handle this.”
She rolled her eyes.
He shouted over his shoulder, “Are you making a funny face?”
“Never.”
He said something she didn’t hear, then finally emerged with two steaming cups in his hands. So appropriate for Christmas Eve.
Red and green candles decorated the living room, lending the scent of apple cider and cinnamon to the heady pine fragrance. In the corner stood a huge Douglas fir, its colorful lights blinking. She and Daniel had decorated it with popcorn garland they’d made. Simple, homey stuff he’d done as a boy and Alexandra loved.
Growing up, she’d always awakened in her dad or Lucius’ various mansions to winter wonderlands complete with her own Santa. High-priced decorators had come in while she’d slept, making everything gorgeous and perfect.
None of it had any soul.
This cabin finally did. They’d made it a home, the first Alexandra had experienced.
Daniel handed her a cup, then joined her in front of the fire. Both of them nude, sitting cross-legged on the sheepskin rug.
He sipped his chocolate and sighed. Not entirely out of delight.
“Come on,” she said, rubbing his thigh. “It won’t be so bad. He’ll only be here for a few hours tomorrow.” Lucius had insisted upon the visit, giving them notice of it when he’d sent the Christmas tree. “He wants to make nice.”
“Better not let him see the loft or the steam room, then.”
True. Daniel had turned both into a Dom’s lair with cuffs, chains and hooks to display her belts and his.
Just thinking of it made Alexandra shiver in delicious expectation. Leaning toward him, she murmured, “Wanna play with me now, while we have the time?”
He smiled. “Maybe.”
Oh hell, she had to change that to definitely. “Could be this will convince you.” She dragged a gaily-wrapped box from beneath the tree and plopped it on his lap. “Go on, open it.”
He looked over at the clock. “Won’t be Christmas for another few hours.”
“Santa won’t mind.”
Smiling, Daniel shook the box next to his ear. “Condoms?”
“In a box that big and long?”
He eyed his stiffening rod. “You’re right. I’ve got several inches on this thing. Hey, are you about to laugh?”
“Nope.” She pressed her lips together.
Again, he shook the box. “Socks? Underwear? Good god, not ties. I never wear those damn things. I’m not wearing one for Lucius. He’ll be lucky if I put on clothes for his vis—”
“Oh for godsakes, I’ll open it.” She tore off the red paper and tossed it in the fireplace. Flames shot up. Alexandra handed him the plain black box and murmured, “For you, sir.”
The corner of Daniel’s mouth lifted in a smile. His eyebrows shot up when he saw her gift. A leather flogger for discipline with his initials engraved in gold on the handle.
Like a true Dom, he whipped the thing. Its ends snapped in the air. Alexandra’s body responded instantly, her pussy growing wet.
“Upstairs,” he growled. “Now.”
She raced him there and stopped abruptly by their bed. On it was a large box wrapped in hot-pink paper that screamed “Happy Birthday!” She pointed. “What’s that?”
“All the wrapping paper I could find at the grocery store. The clerk told me you’d bought out the Christmas stuff.” He edged close and whispered, “If you don’t want to piss off everyone in this village, you better learn how to share.”
“Sorry.”
“Too late. You’re going to pay.”
She looked longingly at the box. “Right now?”
“Go on,” he murmured, patting her ass. “See what’s inside.”
She ripped it open faster than she’d done with his gift. “Ohmygod.” Her hand flew to her mouth. On top was a black leather corset that laced up the back and exposed a woman’s breasts, cunt, ass.
“Put it on,” Daniel ordered, his voice thick.
He didn’t have to tell her twice.
He laced her well, the mirrors he’d put on the walls showing Alexandra how the garment caused her breasts to lift and her ass to stick out. She’d never felt more naked, wonderfully vulnerable, or beautiful.
Happiness had softened her features and brightened her eyes. Her skin glowed with excitement.
Standing behind her, Daniel ran his thumbs over her nipples. They peaked instantly. Alexandra rested the back of her head against his shoulder and sighed, “Nice.”
“There’s more.”
Oh yeah? Turning into him, she pushed to her toes and whispered in his ear. “Gonna punish me now, while you have me in this thing?”
“There’s a thought.” He cupped her naked ass and squeezed her cheeks. “But I meant, there’s more in the box. Go on, che
ck it out.”
She’d never heard him so eager, nearly uptight.
Curious, she lifted the tissue paper the corset had rested on. Beneath it was a leather slave collar and blindfold lying on more paper. Damn. He’d gone all out. She rubbed each item against her cheek. “Sweet…but no gag?”
“Makes it too easy.” Daniel brushed her hair aside and kissed her shoulder. “I want you struggling not to make any noise.”
Alexandra turned her face to his. “Ready to test me?”
“You haven’t gotten to the bottom of the box yet.”
What else could he have possibly given—
Her thoughts stalled at the box of Twinkies at the bottom, one individually wrapped sponge cake taken out and resting on top. Not knowing why it was special, she pulled it from the box and stared, her pulse leaping.
Alexandra turned to him.
Looking suddenly shy, he murmured, “Well?”
“Oh my god, yes, of course—yes!” She threw her arms around him, Twinkie in hand, the engagement ring displayed in the center of it. He’d Scotch-taped the end of the cellophane he’d opened, sealing it after he’d done this amazing, wonderful, precious thing.
Because he loved her.
“You like?” he asked, hugging her fiercely, stealing more of her breath than the corset did.
Tears stung her eyes. She cried, “Yeah.”
“You want?” he added.
She’d waited an eternity for a moment like this. A real future. “More than anything.”
Alexandra kissed him fiercely, then tenderly with all the love she owned. While he was still catching his breath, she opened the Twinkie, wanting at the ring and treat.
“Uh-uh.” He took the package from her and put it on the mattress.
She pushed out her bottom lip. “You’re taking it back. Already?” She’d hoped for at least fifty or so years.
“I’m keeping it from you,” he corrected. “To see how much you really want it.”
“I’m prepared to beg.”
He fought a smile. “That’s not what I had in mind.” He lifted the flogger. “Five licks from this without you making one sound, or fisting your fingers, or pressing your toes into the floor. Yeah, I’ve noticed you doing that.”
He paused to take a breath. “Then—”
