Chapter 12 Mine Today
MINE TODAY
LILAH
When I opened my eyes, for one disoriented second, I didn’t know where I was. Then my brain caught up, recalling the cozy fire, the broken cot, the couch—with Holden.
His arms wrapped around me, him snoozing away with even breathing. Warm in his embrace, my entire body went molten in a traitorous ripple. But this shouldn’t feel this easy, not for a fling.
I pretended to stir, but he tightened his arm around me, tugging me closer into his side like we were puzzle pieces made to fit with precision.
“Merry Christmas, Frosty,” he croaked, rough from sleep.
I screwed around with the guy who was involved in the worst day of my life, but now we were somehow past that, and we’re—what? Fling friends? This was going to be awkward. So awkward.
“What time is it?” I asked, faking a yawn.
Holden lifted his head, squinting at the little antique clock on the mantel. “Uh… wow. Almost noon.”
“Noon?” I bolted upright, but only made it halfway because Holden’s arm weighed me back down. “I overslept. I should’ve been up hours ago because I was going to bake cookies all day. A cookie buffet for the staff when they return could be great for morale, and—”
He interrupted me with a growl, vibrating against my back. “You could do that. Or we could lie here a little longer and enjoy each other’s company.” His hips ground his twitching cock into my backside way too suggestively.
My face lit on fire. I buried it in the blanket, only that was worse with scents of us mingled there. “We need a shower.”
“That too.”
“I didn’t necessarily mean together.” I scrambled for distance, but he wouldn’t let go. “Let me shower first. You can rest. Or something. Come see me later in the kitchen when you’re hungry.”
“Nope, not today, Frosty.” His voice dropped into a maddening, playful command that woke up all the butterflies in my stomach.
He shifted, rolling us until I was pinned beneath him, wrapped in the blanket.
“It’s Christmas. And as your employer, I hereby forbid you to work. ” He nudged his nose against mine.
“You forbid me?” I sputtered. “You can’t do that.”
“I think you’ve forgotten who signs the paychecks.”
I wrestled out of his hold—half because I needed air, half because if he kept looking at me like that, I’d drag his face between my thighs for more of that tongue stroking he was so good at.
“What else am I supposed to do, then? I’m not great at lying around doing nothing,” I protested.
He opened his mouth—probably to say something ridiculous or seductive—but his gaze flicked over my shoulder, over the arm of the couch.
“Wait. Hold up.” He sat abruptly. “Come here. You need to see this view.”
He tugged me off the couch with him, and moved toward the windows.
I pulled a blanket around my naked body fast to guard against the chill in the air.
Forget the view outside, though. My breath caught at the sight of Holden’s backside, a fine landscape with those shoulders and muscles sloping down to a perfect ass.
“Good morning, mountain,” he greeted. Before us, the peak glittered in white, as if dipped in powdered sugar.
The storm had buried every branch and slope under flawless, untouched snow.
Like a pristine wonderland, the world outside had transformed, the bright blue sky almost too sharp against the snow to be real.
“It’s magical,” I whispered.
“It’s fresh powder,” he whispered right back, but with the fervor of a wild man-child. “I am itching to get out there and snowboard.”
“Well, have fun.”
“Nope.” He grabbed my wrist before I ran off. “You’re going with me.”
“Uh, I haven’t snowboarded in years.” Panic nibbled at me.
“Then that’s exactly what we’re doing today.” He grinned like I’d just told him the password to a secret club.
“Holden, you’re out of your—”
“Mind? Absolutely.” He beamed. “What better day to take advantage of these conditions than Christmas, before the crowds hit us? It’ll be just us on my mountain, like we were the first people to discover it.”
“I don’t even have my gear. My boots, jacket, and board are in storage in Europe.”
He stomped over, reached into the pocket of his discarded jeans and pulled out a heavy ring of keys. It jingled as loudly as his billionaire ego.
“Hello? I’m the owner. I have full access to the ski shop. You can have your pick of anything, on the house.”
I crossed my arms. “That’s nice of you, but no thanks. I’d rather bake.”
“Boss’s orders. If I have to put a lock on the kitchen doors, I will.”
“You wouldn’t.”
“Try me.” He crossed his arms, too.
I stared at him. He stared back. With neither of us budging, the stalemate could go on for hours.
“Look, you need a day off, Lilah. It’s Christmas.” He gave in, first to speak, stepping closer.
“It’s probably not even safe to ski out there for just the two of us today.” I attempted one last excuse.
He didn’t even blink. “I told the nonessential staff to go home for Christmas, but not the ski patrol. They don’t get holidays in the winter.
I’m sure they’ve already been out since dawn testing the runs.
I’ll radio them and see if they cleared the bunny hill and Run One.
They’d be perfect for you easing back in,” he explained.
“Even pros warm up on those after a storm, and Run One is as mellow as it gets. If patrol says it’s clear and can get the lift running for us, we’re golden.
We can take the underground access tunnel straight to the lift from here. ”
“You have an underground tunnel?”
He shrugged as if a tunnel was the most normal thing in the world.
“Technically, it’s a heated access corridor with a people-mover.
But yes, I built all the best conveniences into my mountain.
And believe me, I may fly by the seat of my pants, figuring out how to run this resort, but out there on the mountain, I take safety seriously.
I’ve been in unsafe conditions before. I wouldn’t ask you to do this with me if I didn’t think we’d be fine. ”
I chewed my cheek. With his past injury snowboarding, I shouldn’t have insinuated how reckless this could be. Of course he’d make the proper checks before a single snowboard hit the slopes.
With a hand, he gently brushed my bedhead hair back. “Let’s enjoy today together, Frosty. Just you and me.”
The word together sent a jolt through me. How nice it might be to have nothing better to do than enjoy myself in a fun way with Holden today.
I exhaled, long and dramatically, like the entire mountain needed to hear my suffering. “Fine. One day. One run down the mountain. Then I’m stress-baking gingersnaps.”
His grin was immediate, of course, because he got his way. “Deal. But you won’t stop at one run. If it’s been a while, it’ll take you at least one time to get back into it again.”
“You’re impossible.”
“And yet, you’re here with me, in what I’ll bet is turning into the best Christmas you’ve ever had.” He brought me in for a hug, with a brush of a kiss against my temple. “Come on. Let’s shower together and then raid my ski shop.”
After a playful smack on my ass, he grabbed my hand, fingers lacing with mine like we’d been doing that our whole lives.
“Showering together is pushing your luck.”
He winked. “It’s Christmas. I expect miracles to happen.”
“Whatever you say, Mr. Snowman,” I laughed.
Suddenly I went airborne, yelping as he lifted me over his shoulders, smacked my ass again, and carried me off to the employee lounge showers.
I hated to admit it, but for the first time in a long time, Christmas didn’t feel like a holiday I had to work through or avoid, and was definitely not lonely. Forget Snowzilla. The way Holden got me to open up and let down my walls had been the true storm.
He pulled me under the spray, as if the most natural thing in the world between two people intimate for less than a day. His hands slid along my waist, my hips, my back, learning me under the warm rush of water. I pressed my forehead to his chest. He kissed the top of my head.
“Good morning again,” he murmured into my hair.
“I guess our fling for Christmas continues. Day two.”
“We haven’t expired yet,” he laughed. “I haven’t gotten my fill of you.”
“This doesn’t mean I’m not sneaking into the kitchen later to bake cookies.” I sighed, melting against him because resistance was pointless, but also because the water felt amazing and so did he.
“And I’ll help, because I agree. Nothing boosts morale coming back to work like a good old food bribe.”
“You’ll help?”
“Yep. And I promise not to set your kitchen on fire.” He lifted my chin with a possessive hand around my throat so he could kiss me, smiling. “But until then, you’re mine for today.”
A thrill rolled through me at the way he said it. “Yes, yours for today,” I agreed as he backed me against the tiled wall.
His lips seared mine, water streaming over our skin, turning our bodies slick with heat.
He trailed kisses down my throat, then lower, catching the bead of water that slid between my breasts with his tongue.
My breath stuttered, and his growl vibrated against my ribs.
But when he nudged my leg up around his hip, and his thumb pressed on my clit with the right amount of pressure, I let out a sound I couldn’t define, wild in my ears.
His wicked grin came too easily. “There she is.”
Two fingers entered my channel, and I moaned his name.
My body lit up, stretched deliciously from last night.
He moved another finger inside of me, pumping in a way that weakened my knees.
His other hand braced around my waist, holding me against the wall.
I bit my lip while he watched me intensely in a way no one had ever looked at me before.
“Fuck, you’re the gift that keeps on giving, Frosty,” he cursed into my ear, like I was the most priceless gift he’d ever unwrapped.
“Holden…” My back arched, water rushing over my scalp, legs shaking.
“That’s it. You’re such a good girl the way you come for me.”
His encouragement cracked my chest open, like I needed it in the most desperate way. I kissed him hard, swallowing the wave of release as it surged through me, my body jerking into his hand.
Before I could catch my breath, he lifted my legs around his hips. He guided himself between my thighs. Hot and hard and already pulsing, his cock made my body spark all over again.
God, I missed sex—the weight of someone, the heat, and closeness. Or maybe I missed having a man in my life who sees me, but not just any man. I suddenly hated the thought of the weekend ending.
Holden moved with deliberate control, thrusts rolling my body up the tile with the perfect angle that had him hitting every nerve he’d just spent minutes unraveling. I clung to his shoulders, breathing hard, water splashing around us as our bodies met again and again.
“You feel incredible,” he growled through the rhythm. “You’re the kind of woman to drive a man insane, Lilah, because he could never get enough of you.”
His words, his body, the way he held me—like this wasn’t a casual thing, like he needed me—tore through every wall I’d built to keep him in the “temporarily fun” category. Nothing temporary was supposed to feel this good.
My legs shook, and he felt it, too. He quickened his pace, his breath ragged. Pleasure broke over me again, sharper, harder, pulling him under with me. Holden thrust deep, groaned my name into my shoulder, and trembled with release as I clung to him, both of us impacted from the force of it.
We stayed like that, breathing each other in while the water pounded around us. His arms remained locked as if he couldn’t quite let go.
I should say something casual. Remind us again that this is a fling. A Christmas indulgence. Nothing more.
“Best Christmas ever,” he whispered, his breath feathering across my skin.
“Yes, best.” I rested my forehead against his, heart racing, and let the truth whisper through me… Maybe I want more than a fling.