Chapter 24
LAUREL
When we pulled into the parking lot of a big box store, Jason handed me a few hundred-dollar bills and said it’d be faster if we shopped separately.
I found several tops in my size before heading to buy some underwear and socks. At first, I breezed right past the sexier stuff and picked up a pack of simple cotton underwear, but when a pair of pink lace panties in a clearance bin caught my eye, I tossed them in my basket.
I shopped for toiletries next and hesitated when I passed the condoms.
Earlier, I hadn’t wanted to go any further with Jason, at least not in the front seat of a crappy car in broad daylight. Plus, I didn’t usually sleep with someone on the first date, and we certainly hadn’t had one of those.
But I liked sex, and I definitely liked him, and I worried if he kissed me again like he had in the car, and this time with a bed nearby—things would get out of control.
Maybe not buying them would keep me from acting on my desire. Plus, I had no idea how I would explain them when, not if, he found the box. I hurried away from the aisle.
After checking out, I changed into new clothes in one of the stalls of the bathroom, ripping the tags off the pink panties and sliding them on.
He had changed too by the time we reconnected at the front of the store, looking better and more enticing to me. Our things were put in the trunk along with the groceries he’d bought, and we hustled into the car to get back on the road and out of the cold.
The temperature had dropped significantly throughout the day and dark clouds rolled in, blocking the afternoon sun. Fat drops of freezing rain pelted the windshield as we began the ascent into the lonely, hilly landscape.
“Shit,” he muttered, turning on the wipers. “The driveway’s long and steep.”
If the rain continued, it’d be coated in ice, and he worried out loud that the car wouldn’t be able to make the climb. We sped along the winding roads, and it caused me to grit my teeth.
I’d escaped from Frey twice now, so it’d be ironic to die skidding off the road and into a tree.
The heavy rain made the atmosphere inside the car tense and quiet. The forest closed around us, exaggerating the narrowness of the road, and the thick rain clouds made it all that much darker.
There didn’t appear to be any other houses around. Every once in a while, a mailbox would jut out from the trees, but the driveway beside it wound into the dense forest and disappeared.
When there were no more mailboxes, I was sure we were in the middle of absolutely nowhere. “Are we lost?”
The rain beat down on the car in a constant roar. “No.”
Seconds later, he turned off the road and the car powered up the drive, tires slipping the whole way. It wasn’t that bad of a hill, I thought, as we reached the top of the crest—
“Oh,” I said, my face falling.
The path led down and then rose up into a much bigger, much more serious hill.
The sedan barely made it ten feet up the drive before we started to slide backward, the rear of the car drifting to the right in a horrifying, out-of-control feeling. Jason’s second attempt was more terrifying, and I closed my eyes, willing the car to stop.
When it did, he stilled and took a breath. “Damnit.”
Ahead, a set of wooden stairs led up the hillside.
“Shall we take the stairs?” My poor attempt at a joke fell flat. Neither of us had rain jackets, and it was only going to get darker and slicker with time.
“It’s freezing out there.”
Obviously. “You want to stay here?”
“No,” he said, “but I should warn you, it’s a hike.”
It wasn’t like we had a choice. I buttoned up my jacket as much as I could, took a deep breath, and flung my door open.
We hurried to get what we could carry out of the car, but by the time we reached the steps, we were already soaked to the bone.
My hair was plastered to my face, and no matter how many times I tried to push it back, it returned, blinding me.
How the hell did the wind seem to blow from every direction?
A crack of lightning encouraged me to quicken my pace, and a dull roll of thunder reverberated through the trees.
“Why didn’t we stay in the car again?” I yelled over the storm in another humorless joke that he ignored. He hadn’t been joking, either; it was quite a hike.
I could not wait to get out of the cold rain pelting me, yet when I reached the landing at the top of the steps, I jerked to a stop.
“Where’s the cabin?” I demanded.
He continued moving forward. “You’re looking at it.”
I’d expected an old, small, one-bedroom house that his brother used for hunting or fishing trips, maybe something marginally more than a shack. A cabin.
Not a sprawling, modern-looking mansion nestled in the woods with a four-car garage. It perfectly illustrated how little I knew about the man who was following the landscaped path up to the ornate glass door like this wasn’t a big deal.
He stood under the roof covering the front porch before he turned to look at me, his expression cryptic. “Laurel, it’s okay.”
At least it was dry on the porch. Once I joined him, my teeth chattered loudly, and he slid open the screen on the security panel. But he looked . . . confused.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
“Looks like the power’s out.”
He walked out into the rain and picked a rock from a flowerbed before returning to the porch. The underside of the rock was flat and had a lock on it, and he spun the dials to produce a house key.
“He shuts off the power in the winter?” I asked.
“Not usually.”
He had the door open a moment later, but when I moved to step inside, he put an arm out to stop me. Because he needed to go in first.
I nodded in understanding, and he disappeared into the dark house, leaving me shivering on the front porch. It wasn’t long, and yet a lifetime passed before he reappeared and gestured me into the entryway.
“Stay here,” he said. “I need to sweep the rest of the house.”
While I waited on him, I toed off my soggy shoes beside the doorway, then pulled off my drenched socks too, making my feet stick to the cold marble floor. I peeled off my jacket and hung it in the empty closet, where it dripped onto the stone.
I let out a quiet sigh of relief when he returned. “We’re good,” he said.
Even with all the windows, it was dark inside, and it grew dimmer as we moved deeper into the house. It was spacious with an open layout, and through the low light I could make out an elegant dining area to the right.
“Wow,” I said softly.
The place looked like it had been ripped from the pages of a luxury magazine. Nearby, leather couches sat opposite an enormous television beneath the vaulted ceiling.
People with an excess of money made me uneasy. My family had struggled mightily to get by and afford my dance lessons.
“What does Shawn do?”
“He runs a company. The kitchen’s through there.” He lit up the flashlight on his phone and used it to help guide me through the doorway.
It was even darker in here.
The light from his phone glinted off the stainless-steel doors on the fancy, commercial refrigerator that was twice the size of the one in my apartment. It lit up the long island and elegant cabinets. This kitchen had to be a chef’s dream.
Jason tugged one of the doors open and glanced at the ice compartment. “There’s some ice left. Power must be out because of the storm.”
We dug around in drawers until I found another flashlight, but I quickly began to recognize it wasn’t much warmer inside than it was out. My hands ached and my brain began to slow as my blood turned to slush.
My teeth chattered so loudly, Jason couldn’t miss it.
“There’s a fireplace in the primary bedroom,” he said.
Primary bedroom implied there was more than one. Well, that was good, right?
I followed him down the carpeted hall and into a room that was so large it made the high, king-sized bed centered on the back wall look small. Instead of stopping there, I went into the bathroom and pulled the glass door open to start the shower.
Maybe I could get under the hot water and—
“Pretty sure the water heater’s electric,” he announced from the bedroom.
I shut the water off and jerked a towel from the rack, using it to scrub my hair dry. The cold was setting in, deep into my bones, and I was starting to believe I might never be warm again. I shuffled on my bare feet back into the bedroom.
There were logs stacked in the firewood holder, and he already had several pieces of newspaper lit when he began adding them. Once he looked satisfied, he straightened and set his eyes on me.
I was dripping with water and shaking violently, a towel clenched in my white-knuckled hands.
Outside, the storm gathered strength. The pine trees battered against the window in the wind. There was another flash of lightning as Jason peeled his shirt off, tossing it into a wet heap near the fire.
Even in the firelight, the goosebumps on his skin could be seen clear across the room.
The rumble of thunder shook the windowpane.
Seeing him shirtless made my mouth dry, and my throat bobbed in a sticky swallow. He stared at me as if I should be doing something, but I couldn’t think what. All I was aware of was the numbness in my body and the shivering I couldn’t get under control.
He held my gaze as he made his approach, then guided me closer to the glowing fire in the fireplace. He took the towel from my hands, let it fall to the floor, and grasped the hem of my sweater.
Oh. I raised my arms, letting him strip off the soaked wool and add it to his pile of clothes. His action exposed the simple black camisole I had on underneath, and I folded my arms across my chest to hold in my warmth.
His hands worked to undo the button of his jeans and tug the zipper down.
My heart thudded faster. “What are you doing?”
“I’m getting out of these wet clothes.” He said it quickly, like he was angry, but not with me. “I don’t want hypothermia.”
He yanked his jeans off and threw them to the floor, making a sopping noise when they went. Perhaps he’d spoken with urgency because he’d hoped it’d spur me into action, but it had the opposite effect. I went as wooden as a tree.
He wore a pair of gray boxer briefs that hugged him, but everywhere else was muscle and beautiful skin. I averted my gaze to the fireplace. He was so damn hot, if I looked any longer, it would burn my retinas.
But my body was shutting down from the cold, and I wanted to retreat inside myself. To search for any flicker of warmth left there. That was the moment he stepped forward and his fingers found the button at the waistband of my jeans.
The memory of him doing this in the car blasted heat through me, making my legs weak.
“Are you going to do it?” he asked.
I shook my head, flinging water droplets from my hair, shivering too violently to move. “I’m too cold.”
Plus, stripping down to my underwear in front of him had to be the worst idea ever. Or maybe it was the best. It was impossible to tell.
I didn’t get time to consider it. Jason had my pants unbuttoned and unzipped with the same efficiency I’d expected him to be able to load his gun. He dropped to a knee as he tugged the denim down over my hips and the cold air pebbled the skin on my thighs.
Abruptly, he groaned like I was killing him. It was because the last thing he’d probably expected to find was pink lace. He shot back up onto his feet, looking dizzy with lust and the desire not to act on it, pulling him in two different directions.
Frankly, I wasn’t concerned about it. All I wanted was to be warm. He turned to the bed, pulled off the heavy quilt, and wrapped it around his broad shoulders. Then he faced me, held his arms out, and wordlessly asked me to step into his embrace.
Where it could be warm.
But also extremely dangerous.
My only chance of escaping him disappeared when he moved forward and closed his arms around me, wrapping us up in the quilt. His skin was cold against my bare skin. His arms tightened when I let mine slip around his waist.
The fire in the fireplace was finally putting out some heat, but it was no match for the one building between us. I wanted to resist, yet I wanted to give in.
But it was clear he knew what he wanted.
He placed a hand on my cheek, turned my head into his kiss, and we were doomed.