“That’s it?”
“Well, it does explain why you’re so free of inhibitions.”
“I’m so not.”
“Oh, you are. You went from wide-eyed hot chocolate master to panting ‘please fuck me this second’ mistress. In the moment it was bloody great but last night when you’d gone to sleep, I did wonder if you were letting yourself go because you’ll never see me again.”
“I will admit to feeling quite free and not having to try to keep quiet. The thing about apartment living is I’m always careful not to be too vocal. Besides that, though. It was just you, and this place. I was the real me.”
Her words soothe something inside me. Some little niggling worry that whispers how last night was just a fluke. Not something to ever be repeated. If it was a perfect storm and I can never have that again, I’ll still die happy. But a guy can dream of a repeat. Or a three-peat.
Chapter Fifteen - Cherie
I put the last clean dish into the cupboard and turn when the phone rings again. Brant answers it like before and like before his caretaker is calling to check on him. I smile to myself as I wipe down the dining table and return the cleaning cloth to the sink.
“Are you sure? How long until I should attempt the roads?” He listens, then says, “Hang on.” He puts his hand over the phone and turns to me. “How did you get here? Where’s your car?”
“I had a driver. He’s supposed to pick me up tomorrow morning at ten.”
Brant frowns and turns back to his call. “She has a car coming in the morning. He won’t get through if the roads aren’t cleared. Okay. Yup. Call me before you come, okay.” He replaces the handset and leans against the counter. “Luthor says you might not be going home tomorrow. You might need to call your airline.”
“I’m not flying straight home.”
His head snaps up and his eyes bore into mine. He’s been different today. A little subdued, even while his hands haven’t strayed far from me. I’ve wanted to ask why, but I don’t want to know the answer. I’d rather imagine that he’s sad that I’ll be leaving. If he were to confess that he needs to get home to feed his cat, my illusions would all be shattered. I want to stay in this new fantasy bubble we’ve created just a little longer.
“Where are you going from here?”
“I don’t know.” Those words sound silly to my own ears and he frowns at me with confusion clearly showing. I raise a hand and explain. “I planned to jump on the internet once I was here and make a plan for the best way to spend a week. I didn’t realise there’d be no service. So, now I’ll get the car to take me back to New York and probably hire my own car. Either that, or I’ll fly to LA and spend a few days there. It’ll be a lot warmer at least.”
Brant nods, his arms crossing over his chest. “You need to call the car service and let them know about the conditions before they come.”
“Okay.” I pull my wallet from my handbag and remove the card the driver gave me. Then I make a quick call while Brant stretches out on the couch, his hands behind his head. A few minutes later I hang up, my plans having changed again. “He says he’s not coming.”
“Not tomorrow?”
“Not at all. They’re refunding my money because they can’t complete the service.”
“Just like that?”
I sit on the end of the couch and he moves his feet into my lap. My fingers stroke the top of his foot as I consider what to do. “If I can get to town, I can get a taxi I guess.”
“You’ll have to book something to take you all the way to New York. Taxis aren’t in the habit of making that trek without suitable cash payment.”
“It’s fine. I can pay.” I stare at the fire, idly noting that the logs never change in a gas fire. The flames lick in a kind of pattern that never alters.
Brant shifts, then he’s sitting beside me. I lean my head on his shoulder as my options swirl around in my head. “There is another option.” His deep voice vibrates through his chest and I raise my head.
“And that is?”
“Come home with me.” He says the words in a simple way, no inflection, no cajoling in his tone.
I add this option to the others and let it swirl, too.
I’m tempted. I can’t say I’m not. But a holiday fling in a mountain cabin becomes something else when you go home with the object of your desires. In his house a certain level of domesticity creeps in, and what if I like it? What if we do more of what had me moaning last night? What if I don’t want to leave when it’s over?
I didn’t plan to go home heartbroken and longing for someone. This trip was meant to set me free.
“How would that work?” I’m careful not to show too much interest. I want to stay aloof, so I make the correct decision, and come out of this stronger than ever.
“Well.” He takes my hand and runs his finger over the palm. It’s another intimate gesture, one that worms its way under my defences. I love the way he does tiny things that make me feel wanted. “We pack up your stuff, including the ridiculous amount of food you purchased, and move our base camp to my house, which is just a mile away I might add.”
“I could make those cookies I planned on.”
He nods, his fingers still moving over my skin. “I have movies. A real fireplace for you to create those s’mores I’ve been waiting on. There’s a generator for when the power goes out, and an enormous king-sized bed. My shower is big enough for two and the bathroom is heated.”
Those last words hang in the air between us until it becomes clear my two choices are this. Continue my holiday adventure alone or go home with Brant to make more holiday memories, and run the risk that one, or both of us, isn’t satisfied with a casual fling. I’m kidding myself, of course. We live in different countries so the option to want more isn’t a real thing. It’s a myth. A warm fuzzy daydream to sigh over, but to never have within my reach.
You’d think I’d have learnt my lesson about daydreaming by now, right?
Chapter Sixteen - Brant
“There could be another option.” Cherie is silent, and I panic a little, convinced she’ll choose the exploring option. It’s her first trip to the States. I’d choose that option, too, if it were me. “I go home and pack, and we spend the week together going wherever you want.”
Her head turns toward me, a soft light dawning in her eyes. “You’d come with me?”
“I could if you want me to. I haven’t seen nearly enough of this place and to do it with someone else would be a nice change. My mum would be glad to see a proper photo, instead of the constant stream of selfies.” She laughs and squeezes my hand. Then she’s moving, her legs straddling me, her hands snaking around my neck. I gulp, immediately hard when she hovers above me. “This position can only end one way, just so we’re clear.”
“Oh, we’ll get to that, don’t you worry.”
“We will?”
“We will. You’ve been very patient while I cooked. I think you deserve a reward.”
I pucker my lips and she dips her head, kissing me with soft lips and teasing me with an equally soft tongue. She lowers herself until she’s fully on my lap, her mouth not leaving mine until she speaks again.
“I think I’d like to explore with you. But we’d have to reassess the rules.”
“Rules? We had rules?” I cross my eyes and she laughs.
“We said one night.” She’s still laughing, but her eyes turn serious above the smile. “What would this be if we squeeze in a little bit of travel?”
A flippant reply touches my lips, but I don’t give it voice. She’s serious, her eyes searching for another kind of answer. One I would not have given twenty-four hours ago, but now I’m willing to chance.
“They say if you can stand to travel with someone, you can stand anything. You know, the couple that backpacks together stays together, and all that.”
“Stays?”
I wrap my arms around her waist and pull her closer while I let her consider my words. “Why not? How about we give
it a go? Luthor can look after things here.”
“And after?”
“And after, I’ll fly home with you.”
She gulps, and pulls back, staring at me with a calculating stance. “Why?”
“Well, if how I feel about you now is amplified even by a factor of one after a week together, I’ll want to marry you.” We both laugh. “And I planned to go home in January for a visit. I’ll just bring it forward.”
“And after that?”
“After that, we’ll see how we feel. We can’t know what’s in store for us. I’d love this to work, though. When I’m with you it feels like the real deal.”
She nods, then lifts her eyes and stares over my head. I’m prepared to give her time to decide but she looks down at me a moment later and tightens her grip around my neck. “Are you open to moving home for good? To leaving this place?” She points to the window where snow can be seen leaning against the glass. “Can you leave this winter wonderland and be happy back in Australia?”
“I could.” I nod and give her a squeeze.
“I guess I’m asking if you would move home for me?” She pauses, a little crease showing between her eyebrows. “If things worked between us, I mean. If we find we’re more than sexy times and satisfaction.” She groans, then laughs. “Deep satisfaction.”
“I’d move home for you. I would. But I want more than deep satisfaction. I want a connection. I want a partner who’s there for me. Who won’t stray. I don’t want to muck around with a fling if we take this home with us. I want someone to grow old with.”
“Me too,” she whispers, her fingers moving into my hair. “This is so crazy.”
We kiss again and I wrap my arms around her back and squeeze her tight. “Do you want children?” I watch her face. “I want children.”
“Yes, I definitely do. Not immediately, but yes, I want them.”
“Anything else you think we should cover in this negotiation?” I grin up at her, wanting to get all the talking out of the way before I begin nibbling on her skin. Once that starts, I won’t be able to think straight to ask any questions, besides wanting to know how she likes to be touched. Not that I didn’t discover a lot of that last night.
“I think that’s the big points covered.”
I tap her shoulders and help her side off my lap, then I push her down onto the rug. Her eyes are bright with excitement as I begin a slow unbutton of her shirt. “There’s one more thing you should know about me.”
“I know one thing. You take my clothes off far too slowly.”
I grin and continue my torture, making sure my fingers graze her skin with every button I undo. “Tut, tut. So impatient.”
She closes her eyes and stretches in front of me, arching her back like she did last night, and almost undoing my resolve to take this slow.
“What’s the thing I should know?”
She’s looking at me in an adoring kind of way, all tension bled from her body by our earlier words. Her fingers rest on my wrists, and when I finish the buttons and pull her shirt away from her naked breasts, I groan. “God, I love looking at you.” I waste no time cupping the ample handfuls, flicking my tongue against my lips as I watch her reaction. Her hands cover mine and she urges me to squeeze.
“What’s the thing, Brant?” Her words rush out on a groan, as though she’s holding herself back. Waiting for me to take her into my mouth or pinch those buds hard like I did last night. I want to do all those things, but I have an important message for her before I lose myself in her body. Something I want her to understand.
“The thing to know is this.” I lean forward and flick my tongue over her nipple. Then I adjust my stance and crush my mouth against hers. She drags me closer, her hands holding my head as our tongues tease.
Against my mouth she says, “Tell me the thing. I can’t wait much longer, Brant.”
I love the way she says my name. The way hers tastes on my tongue. I want to hear my name on her lips again and again, maybe forever, so I share the thing I think she needs to know if I’m to follow her home and convince her to have my babies.
“I’m a white diamond kind of guy.”
* * *
The End
Also by Tracey Pedersen
Finding Sweet Love Series
All At Sea
All Afloat
All Adrift
All About Us
* * *
One Week Love Story Series
Seven Days To Me
Seven Days To Us
* * *
Married This Year Series
Married This Year
Simmering Love
Adventures In Hiring
Ticket To Ride
Married This Christmas
* * *
Men About Town Series
Tap That!
Tempt Me!
Tight Ass!
Thigh High!
Turned On!
Tinsel Time!
* * *
Famous Love Series
Contracted For Love
Contracted For Life
* * *
The Secret Billionaire’s Club Series
The Billionaire’s Heart
The Billionaire’s Luck
The Billionaire’s Treat
The Billionaire’s Duty
The Billionaire’s Spark
The Billionaire’s Club
The Billionaire’s Scare
The Billionaire’s Feast
The Billionaire’s Gift
The Billionaire’s Surprise
* * *
Secure My Heart Series
Track
* * *
Standalone
Vermont Christmas
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