Chapter 10
10
NIKO
If I was going to handpick who I’d want to be snowed in with, it would be Ivy Bell. Any day of the fucking week, I’d choose her.
That doesn’t mean I’m not worried about what’s happening, though. The weather here can be unpredictable on a good day, but during a Christmas snowstorm? Shit. I’ve got enough food for over a week, but with Ivy’s sickness and our lack of other supplies, we won’t need to last that long before things start going wrong.
They’ll have the plows out as soon as the snow stops, but according to the radio station, nobody seems to know when exactly that’s going to be. The power went out a half hour ago before the backup generator kicked in. If he were alive, I’d thank my grandfather for being so anal about keeping it in good shape.
“The heat’s back on. It’ll warm up soon,” I mutter, draping a thick wool blanket over her shoulders.
Bent over one of the four bins I’ve hauled up the stairs, she stares at me with worried, tired eyes. Maybe I should be as concerned as she is about all of this, but I’m just real fucking happy that I get more time with her. Her undivided attention will be on me and us for however long it takes for the storm to stop.
That’s a gift from the universe that I’m not deserving of.
“How are you so calm about this?” she asks.
“We’ve got a generator, food, somethin’ to drink, and a bed. I’m ready to ride out the storm.”
“You’re not worried about anything back home? No pets? What about Travis? His mother? Won’t they worry? I don’t have any cell service last I checked. My parents are going to freak out when they don’t hear from me,” she rambles, clutching the corners of the blanket beneath her chin.
I cover her hand and stroke her knuckles. “I’ve got no pets. And Travis is spendin’ Christmas with his mother, and she’d probably be grateful to see me trapped here forever. I’ve got nothin’ to help with your parents, but they’ll see what’s goin’ on and relax a bit. We’ll get the cell signals fixed sooner than later.”
“Why would your ex be grateful if you were trapped here forever?”
Her natural curiosity is one of my favourite things about her, but not when it comes to Tanya.
“Travis didn’t tell you about us?”
“You weren’t his favourite topic to talk about,” she says with a wince.
I blow out a breath and dig into the second bin, grabbing a tangled mess of multicoloured string lights. Beginning to untangle them, I say, “Tanya was incredibly young when she got pregnant. Both of us were fifteen, but she got the brunt of the judgment in town. It’s why she moved away and insisted on raisin’ Travis in Oak Point instead of Snowbell.”
“Why did you stay here?”
“Tanya and I didn’t get along on a good day.”
Ivy pulls a small light-up tree from her bin and starts fluffing its branches. “Because of what she went through?”
“Because I was an asshole. I was immature and angry with the world because I was exhausted and stressed. We weren’t ready to be parents, and we didn’t have a choice but to be. We loved our son but not each other. Every day we spent together made her resent me more.
“Our families were embarrassed by what we’d done and of the way everyone looked at us, so it was only us taking care of one another. I was hardly enough for Travis, let alone his mother, too. It was a fuckin’ mess until we graduated and Travis started kindergarten. My father handed me the bar when I turned eighteen, and I put all of my focus into keeping a roof over our heads. Tanya got a remote job working for some computer programming company and moved out of town, so she decided she’d have Travis. He always preferred his time there, and I let go of hoping that would change.”
I yank hard on the last tangle in the lights and fight to ignore the regret lancing through me.
“There are plenty of things I wish I had done differently in my life. Not spent so many late nights in the bar hiding from my fuckin’ life, for starters,” I spit, shaking my head.
Ivy sets the tree on a table and slips beneath my arms and into the space between them. With the scent of her sweet perfume flooding the air around us, she takes my hands and starts slowly guiding my fingers through where the lights are tangled. A calm in the storm.
“Everyone has things from the past they wish they could change. We’re all human, and that means we have flaws. You’re Travis’s father, but he’s not the perfect son, either. I was around to watch the way he spoke to not only you but those around him, and he didn’t make your relationship easy, either. I’ve met Mrs. Grady a few times, but she was never really my biggest fan. She’s very closed off and protective of Travis.”
Mrs. Grady. It was never Mrs. Shaw.
We weren’t dating when Travis was conceived, and even after he was born, we were together more out of necessity than want. I never contemplated marrying her, and I know how that makes me look. My mother loved to tell me.
Ivy releases my hands and reaches for my face instead. On her tiptoes, she rubs the tip of her nose against mine.
“You’re a good man, Nicholas Shaw. And you’re a good dad. I don’t regret coming here three weeks ago or getting into bed with you. And I certainly don’t regret winding up pregnant with your baby. You’ll treasure him or her, I know it,” she declares.
I don’t know how to put my feelings to words, so I kiss her instead. She leans into it, accepting that this is my way of telling her thank you. That I’m happy she moved to this town and took the job that led her here to me.
I’ll take care of you , I promise with every press of my lips. Of both of you.
Ivy stretches up onto her toes on the top step of the ladder and hooks the string of lights on a nail she’s hammered in. I steady both her and the ladder, hovering at her back.
The blinds are closed on all of the windows now that the sun’s set, but she’s flicked on every light in the bar, complaining about how dim and yellow all of the bulbs are. I’ll have to pick up white ones once the storm has passed.
“I can do this, angel,” I offer for the millionth time.
“And so can I,” she insists for the millionth and one.
My hold on the ladder tightens when she leans to the right and reaches across the window to hook the opposite side of the lights on another nail.
“You’re not balanced at all.”
“That’s fine. I have to move windows now anyway.”
“Ivy,” I mutter.
She pushes at my chest, and I inch back once she starts down the ladder. “Yes, Niko?”
“You’re pregnant. There are plenty of other things for you to do to decorate.”
“See, there’s one thing you’re going to learn quick about me.” Her lips tip up into a smug smile as her finger pokes my chest. “I love being commanded in the bedroom, but outside of it, I’m pretty content taking care of myself.”
I dip my head and speak against her temple. “See? Fuckin’ stubborn.”
Her white teeth gleam when she grins and sidesteps me, heading for the near empty bin of decorations. We’re already on the third one, and the bar is starting to look brighter. Cheery, almost.
The final string of lights is gripped in her hand as I haul the ladder over to the next window and wave a hand at it.
“Up you go, then.”
She blows me a kiss while climbing the steps. “Thank you, kind sir.”
“I thought I was Scrooge.”
“More like Scrooge’s twin brother. The one who can be kind from time to time,” she teases.
The skirt of her dress is pulled tight across her ass as she lunges up the final step and balances herself there. I’ve never hated a dress more than I do this one. It’s so fucking long that it hides everything from her ankles up.
My heart jolts as I bring a hand to an exposed ankle and start dragging it up her calf, my fingers tapping softly the entire way. The smooth skin grows bumpy when she shivers and huffs a breath.
“Concentrate, angel,” I coo, climbing higher to the curve of her knee and inner thigh.
She whips her head back to glare at me and hisses, “I’m trying.”
“Try harder.”
The heat from between her legs basks my fingers as they ghost over her bare slit. Her panties are in my pocket, stolen after my meal in the kitchen. I’m real damn thankful I chose to remove them when I did.
Her moan escapes at the same time my finger glides between her lips and sinks inside the tight hole that I’ve grown obsessed with.
“Hang the lights, Ivy,” I grunt, stroking her walls.
She lifts her arms, shaking while hooking the first side. Her pussy ripples around my finger, and I’m already done with not being able to see her properly.
“Take your arms out of the dress,” I demand with a curl of my finger.
The lights clatter against the wall when she releases the string and quickly works her arms out of her sleeves. Pale skin splattered with dark freckles appears, and then the dress is falling down her body and pooling at my elbow.
“Flawless,” I whisper.
Even from behind, with only a view of her elegant back, round, grippable hips, and plump ass, she’s a masterpiece. A photograph wouldn’t do her justice.
“Be honest, Niko. Be real,” she pleads.
I can tell that she’s got her arms folded over her front like the last time I had her naked in this bar. With her face hidden from me, I can’t see the pink tint to her cheeks or neck that I’d bet money on being there.
“You want me to be real, baby? Fine.” Gripping her hand, I pull her down the ladder and then force her to spin to face me, her dress forgotten on the floor. “One look at you and I knew I’d never seen anything so perfect. You’re gorgeous in looks, in figure, but also brains. There’s no part of you that I’d change. You were created with my every fantasy in mind.”
With a softer touch, I move her arm from her chest to rest at her side. Large, soft breasts with rosy nipples, a round belly, hip dips, and thick thighs I’ve grown to love pressing against my ears. Staring at her is enough to have my cock hard and aching.
Her eyes glisten with unshed tears. “I’m going to look different in a few months.”
“You mean when you’re round with my baby?”
I cup her belly, rubbing the centre of it. She nods, lip quivering.
“I can’t wait to love you through every change. The good and bad.”
She blinks, and a tear drips down her cheek. “Promise?”
“I fuckin’ promise, angel.”