Chapter 17
Chapter Seventeen
Thank fuck for that.
Relief filled him as he headed toward the garage. He really hadn’t thought that she’d let him come and get her.
And maybe he was being too pushy. But he needed her back with him, where he could keep a proper eye on her. He drove slowly up the road. She needed time to pack, anyway.
When he got to Caldwell’s cabin though, he was shocked to find her standing on the front porch with her suitcase next to her. She picked up one suitcase and headed toward him. He opened the door, ready to get out.
“Stay in the truck,” she called out. “I just have to pack up my food. I won’t be long.”
Hmm.
It could have been because she didn’t want him walking around in the dark and cold. But he had this feeling it was something else. She quickly lifted the suitcase into the back of his truck and rushed back inside.
“Alice! No running!” he called out.
He got out of the truck after grabbing a flashlight and headed inside.
It was warm in the living room and he glanced around, spotting blankets and a pillow on the couch.
Moving to the fireplace, he saw there were a couple of bits of wood next to it and it was roaring.
There was definitely something going on here, he just wasn’t sure what.
He made his way back to the bedrooms, noticing that the air grew decidedly colder.
Checking the thermostat, he noticed that it was turned right up.
Looking into the bedroom, he saw all the blankets were stripped off.
“Oh, I didn’t know you were in here.”
Turning, he saw that she was carrying some blankets and pillows. “I came back to check you had packed everything. What’s going on, baby? Were you sleeping on the sofa?”
She grimaced and sighed, putting everything down. “I was going to make the bed even though I’m tempted not to.”
Anson moved over to her, grasping hold of her chin so he could tilt her head back. “You don’t look so good.”
Her skin had a gray tinge to it and there were dark marks under her eyes. Under her nose was slightly red and so were her eyes. Like she’d been crying.
“Baby, you’ve been crying?” What the hell? What was going on?
“I cry when I’m angry,” she told him. “It’s so annoying.”
“Why are you angry? And why is it cold back here even though the thermostat is up?”
“That’s why I’m angry. The heat has stopped working.
Luckily, I managed to get the fire going this morning with some smaller bits of wood I found.
But it only really heated up the living room and the kitchen if I kept the door open.
So I moved all of the bedding out to the living room.
But I’m running out of wood and the water is cold and I didn’t know what to do . . .”
“Whoa. Deep breath. Come here.” He drew her close to him and held her tight.
“I try to see the bright side of everything, I really do. But there’s only so much I can take.”
“Where the hell is Caldwell?” he said in a hard voice.
She felt so small in his arms. So delicate. He wanted to demand to know why she hadn’t contacted him earlier, but that wasn’t going to be helpful.
“On vacation.”
Okay. He had to have heard her wrong. She didn’t just say what he thought she had.
“Say that again?” He drew her back and she reached into her pocket and opened up a message thread with Caldwell.
What. The. Fuck.
“That fucking bastard,” he snarled. “I’ll kill him. He seriously thinks he can go on vacation and leave you here with a broken furnace and no hot water?”
“I threatened him with my lawyer. I’ve emailed her but she won’t be back at work until the new year. I didn’t know what else to do. I could go back into town, I guess.”
“You’re coming home with me.” It was a statement.
“I . . . I want to,” she confessed quietly. “But I don’t want you to feel like I’m using you because I don’t have anywhere else to stay.”
“Baby, fuck. I wouldn’t care if you were.” He held her tight again. “I don’t care why you’re coming to stay with me. I’m just glad that you are. Now, leave the bed. Have you got everything you need?”
“Yes.”
“Then let’s get out of here.”
He’d deal with Caldwell later.
Relief flooded Alice as Anson parked his truck in the garage. He limped around and opened her door, holding out his hand to help her down. She stumbled slightly, a wave of exhaustion hitting her hard.
“Sorry,” she said as she bumped into him.
“Baby, do we need to go over the rules again?” he growled.
She winced. Shoot. “No. I just . . . temporarily forgot because I’m tired.”
Exhausted, more like. But she tried to push her tiredness aside and concentrate. “I’ll get my suitcase.”
“No, you won’t.” Anson turned her toward the door and slapped her ass. “Go inside. Use the bathroom. Get ready for bed.”
“I need my stuff, though.”
“I’ll get it.”
“No, you . . .” Shoot, how to say something without insulting him? It must be extremely hard to suddenly have limitations after being so fit, an athlete. Especially for a man like him.
“There are no stairs and your bag has wheels. I’ll wheel it in. Now, get yourself into the house and get ready. I’ll grab you one of my T-shirts to sleep in.”
Lord. He was demanding. She opened her mouth to argue and then realized that she didn’t want to.
“Or would you rather hang out here and get your butt spanked?” he murmured to her.
A squeal left her. No, she would not prefer that.
Liar. Liar.
She rushed inside.
“No running!” he told her.
Oops. She took off her shoes in the warm mudroom.
She’d really like a shower. She walked out into the kitchen and living room.
And there it was. Her mouth dropped open. It was bare, but there were containers of decorations sitting around it.
It was beautiful.
“Starting to think you really do want that spanking,” he told her as he walked in.
But she ignored his words, turning to him with tears in her eyes. Urgh, it was so annoying being a crier.
“You have a Christmas tree!”
He ran his hand over his face. “Yeah, thought about putting it in your place, but I wanted you to have it on Christmas Day. And I wanted you here on Christmas Day.”
“This . . . it’s for me?” she whispered.
He gave her a strange look. “Of course it is.”
“You got a Christmas tree for me? Because you knew I would want one?”
“Yeah, baby. That so hard to believe?”
“I just . . . no one has ever done anything this nice for me. You don’t like Christmas.”
“But you do.” He moved up to her, taking her hand in his. “Come on, little girl. You need to go to bed and I won’t hear any more arguments about it.”
There would be no arguments from her. He’d gotten her a Christmas tree even though he didn’t like Christmas that much.
For her.
“George would never have done that.”
“Think we’ve established that George is a dick.”
Yeah. That was definitely true.
He led her into his bedroom. Setting her suitcase to one side, he turned her to the bathroom. “Go do what you need to do. I’ll grab you a shirt and get your food from the truck.”
“Oh, I can do that.”
The look he shot her made her bite her lip. “Or I can go get ready and you can carry the food inside.”
“That’s better,” he growled. “Go. Have a shower if you want.”
She felt dizzy with happiness at the idea of a hot shower. “All right. Thank you. Really. For everything.”
“Don’t thank me yet. I haven’t forgotten that you took so long to tell me that you didn’t have proper heating or running water. There’s gonna be a reckoning for that. One your butt won’t like.”
Yikes.