Chapter 12
Chapter Twelve
Boone flipped the bacon, grinning when a sleepy Mila came stumbling from the bedroom into the kitchen. She must have rifled through his dresser because she was wearing one of his T-shirts. It covered her to mid-thigh and was sexier than any lingerie he’d ever seen.
She gave him an adorable grin. “Hope you don’t mind,” she said, gesturing to his shirt.
“Looks a hell of a lot better on you.”
She stepped next to him. “I smelled bacon, but the power isn’t back on.”
“Grabbed my camp stove from the storage closet. Got enough propane that we can probably cook breakfast, lunch, and dinner on it if we need to. Problem is it’s only a one-burner deal, so we might have to get creative.”
“I can do creative.” Mila glanced out the kitchen window. “It stopped snowing.”
“Yeah, but the wind is still kicking up pretty good, so the drifts are going to be a bitch. Not to mention there’s another pocket of weather heading this way, and forecasters are saying it could dump another two to four inches on us. Looks like we’re stuck inside another day.”
Mila perched on one of the stools by the kitchen island, watching as he loaded the cooked bacon on a paper-towel-covered plate, then cracked a few eggs in the pan. “I’m okay with being stuck here with you.”
Boone chuckled, because he was more than okay with it. He was a bit of a workaholic and not the type of man who liked to sit still for long periods of time. If he’d gotten snowed in by himself, he would currently be climbing the walls, bored out of his mind.
“Afraid I can’t make toast or coffee, but there’s some orange juice in the fridge.”
Mila rose and grabbed the juice, filling two glasses and taking them to the island as he followed her with plates loaded with bacon and scrambled eggs.
“Smells good,” she said, picking up her fork.
“Cooking breakfast is where I shine in the kitchen,” he joked, as he claimed his own stool. His gaze drifted to her legs, bare from mid-thigh down, except for the socks she’d also stolen from his dresser to add to her outfit. “You look cute as hell.”
Mila grinned at his compliment, shifting slightly on the stool. The action caused the shirt to ride higher.
Boone narrowed his eyes. “What do you have on under that shirt?”
Mila’s instant blush answered his question before she could. “Nothing.”
“Show me,” he demanded.
“Boone,” she said, giggling.
“Lift that shirt, darlin’.”
Mila grasped the hem, flashing him a way-too-fast peek at her lack of panties.
Unable to resist, Boone leaned forward, reaching around her hip to run his hand over her bare ass beneath the shirt. He gave it a playful squeeze, as she grasped his upper arm.
Mila was a very tactile woman, constantly exploring his body. Last night, he’d fallen asleep to her fingers slowly circling his nipples, toying with the smattering of hair on his chest.
He loved her hands on him, loved the way her eyes darkened with desire and appreciation.
Boone figured he was in decent enough shape for a forty-year-old man, but Mila made him feel like he was a hell of a lot more than just decent.
It felt good to know he could still turn the head of a beautiful young woman.
Once they finished eating, Boone rinsed their plates, leaving them in the sink. He’d do a proper cleaning when the power was back on.
Her phone pinged with an incoming message as he reclaimed his stool.
“Jace just texted the family group.” She read the message, then summarized for him.
“He’s about halfway through plowing the main road.
Trying to make it passable enough that the electric company can get here to fix the power lines.
Said he probably won’t tackle the side roads or driveways until after the next storm passes. ”
Boone nodded. “Smart. If we get another four inches, he’ll only have to plow them all again.
He’s definitely going to have to give the main road another pass or two, thanks to the drifting.
Got one of those auto-texts from the school.
You called it. They’ve closed for today and tomorrow, so Sadie lucked out. She won’t be behind at all.”
“Have you spoken to her?”
Boone pointed to where his cell sat on the island.
“She texted me when she and Lena made it to Williamsburg, and I got a good-night message late last night.” Boone didn’t mention the text had come through at two a.m., so clearly Lena enforcing any sort of reasonable bedtime was out the window.
“I’ll call her later.” Given her late night, he suspected Sadie wouldn’t be up before one.
She might not technically be a teenager yet, but she sure as hell slept like one. She’d remain in bed until the afternoon every weekend if he’d let her. Which he didn’t. The weekends were when they did their chores—laundry, cleaning house, yard work, and so on.
If Sadie wanted her allowance—and she did—she was expected to chip in. Boone was determined to raise an independent, responsible young woman.
“I’m glad you didn’t have to cancel her trip. She was excited about seeing her mom.”
Boone nodded but didn’t add to the conversation because the last thing he wanted to think about now, when he had Mila dressed in nothing but his shirt, was his ex-wife.
“So, what should we do?” Mila asked, though the twinkle in her eye let him know she had some definite ideas.
Boone placed his hands on her waist, tugging her off the stool until she stood between his thighs. He pressed his lips to her cheek. “Once we take care of the matter of your punishment, the day is ours to do as we please.”
Mila shifted her face back, slightly confused but, more importantly, intrigued. “Punishment?”
If there’d been an ounce of fear in her tone, he would have backed off immediately, but the breathless, excited quality of her question had his cock rock hard in seconds.
“You put yourself in danger yesterday, Mila. You didn’t think I was going to forget that, did you?”
She tilted her head. “And you think it’s your place to punish me?”
He gave her a wicked grin. “You made it my place last night.”
Boone could tell Mila had a million questions to follow that pronouncement, but she held back. And he understood why.
Neither of them had brought up what would happen once they got out of this cabin. He wasn’t sure what was holding Mila back, but for him, he’d held his tongue on the subject because what he wanted wasn’t…
Fuck. It wasn’t smart.
Most of his reasons for not starting a relationship with Mila continued to exist. She was still, to some extent, one of his bosses, and he could be jeopardizing his livelihood if things ended poorly between them.
Not to mention there was thirteen years between him and Mila. Would that start to feel like too big a gap at some point? Kasi and Levi seemed to do just fine with the age difference, but their relationship was new too, so he wasn’t sure he should be looking to them as a case study.
And then there was Sadie. He’d never brought a woman into their lives. But maybe it was time to take her off his list of excuses.
For the first few years after Lena took off, Boone clinging to his bachelor status wasn’t as intentional as he liked to pretend.
The truth was, he worked a full-time job, then came home to a very young child.
Most days, it was all he could do to get Sadie ready for daycare, work a long shift, then come home to tackle the dinner, bath, and bedtime routine.
Those early days of single fatherhood all blended together into one never-ending period of exhaustion and fighting to keep his head above water.
It had gotten somewhat easier when Sadie started school, but by that point, Lena had introduced their daughter to no less than three new “uncles,” and Boone refused to add to his little girl’s confusion.
With Sadie in middle school, wiser to the ways of the world, it was stupid of him to keep using her as an excuse to stop looking for romance or a second chance at love.
The problem was, he’d let enough years go by that he really had become set in his ways.
Before Mila, the idea of trying to meet women and going out on dates sounded fucking exhausting and like more trouble than it was worth.
She had him rethinking a lot of things, and it was terrifying.
At what point was he just too damn old to start over?
Jesus. Boone needed to get out of his head.
Especially when he realized Mila had gone quiet too.
“You’re not answering,” he said, “so let me do it for you. It is my place. To protect you, and to show you the error of your ways when you do something dangerous.”
Mila bit her lower lip, but not from nervousness. He got the sense she was trying to stop herself from saying too much.
Boone hated that she felt like she had to hold back with him, even though he knew he had no one to blame for that but himself.
Placing a light kiss on her cheek, he tilted his head toward the couch. “Go stand by the couch. I’m going to put you over my knee. I appreciate you saving me the time of having to tug your panties off before your spanking.”
Mila took two steps toward the couch before self-preservation overruled that sweet submissiveness of hers. She started to speak, but he cut her off.
“You remember what you said last night?” he prompted. “About what you want?”
“I remember,” she whispered.
“You said none of that would change. Has it?”
She hastily shook her head.
“Good girl,” he praised. “Then we’re going to spend the day exploring those things, giving you a chance to test them out, maybe figure out where some of your limits are.”
Mila’s eyes brightened. “I’d like that. Does this mean we need a safe word or something?”