Chapter 16
Dale
When we weren't sleeping or ordering room service for our voracious appetites, we were in bed making love. I lost track of time and didn't care.
I watched Aspen who was still asleep and looking more handsome than ever. Locks of his hair spilled across his forehead. His eyelashes were dark against the tops of his cheeks. I would never get tired of looking at him.
But something had changed. I didn't feel as rampant. Aspen’s scent had changed. Still sweet, still just as enticing, but not as strong. He looked calm, at peace, his cheeks less flushed.
The heat was over.
For me, it didn't change a thing. All my feelings for him remained.
I moved closer to him and wrapped my arm around his waist until my chest was against his back. He let out a little groan.
“Dale?”
“Right here at your side.”
“It's over, isn't it?”
“Not for me, it isn't.”
He turned to look at me with big eyes. “Don't tell me you're in some kind of alpha heat.”
“For you? Any time.” I bit my lip, then repeated. “Any time.”
He turned all the way in the bed to face me, then leaned in and kissed me. The way he kissed, powerful but soft at the same time, told me I had nothing to worry about.
He was just as surprised to learn not only the time but the day as well.
“I lost two days in there somewhere.” He grinned. “But they weren't really lost, they were found. Best two days of my life.”
“For me, too.”
His stomach rumbled. Mine sympathetically echoed his.
“Time for breakfast?”
“Not that I'm in a rush to get out of bed,” he replied. “But we haven't been out of this room since Christmas Eve. I think it's time. I am starving to death.”
In a dramatic gesture, he threw his hand up onto his forehead and pretended to collapse against me.
After a quick shower which we took together, we got dressed in fresh clothes and were ready to go. Aspen approached the door, kicking aside the soiled robe. He brushed by the little tree and paused, looking down.
“What's that?”
“What?”
He bent and picked up the little gift I left there earlier in the day on Christmas Eve. He held it up so I could see it. “This.”
I smiled. “Looks like Santa came after all when we weren't looking. Hope he didn't blush too much at our show.”
Aspen frowned. “There's a tag. It says To Aspen Merry Christmas Dale.”
“Does it now?”
“You got me something? How long has it been sitting there? How did I not see it?”
“Maybe we were a little preoccupied?”
“Can I open it?”
“It's all yours. The tag says so.”
He began to undo the tape, slowly, neatly.
But the paper tore and he became instantly impatient and ripped it all off in one gesture.
A plain brown cardboard box now sat in his hand.
He lifted the lid and his eyebrows rose as he pulled out a snow globe on a polished wooden base.
Already the snow inside was shifting over the little scene: pine trees, a little red sleigh, and to one side a reindeer with its head back as if watching the skies for Santa to arrive.
He looked up at me, then back down at the globe. “It's like the little glade I told you about.”
“Do you like it? I didn't know what to get.”
“I love it.” His voice came out soft and searching. “It's beautiful. You bought this for me when you thought you were leaving and you'd never see me or hear from me again, right?”
I nodded.
“Dale. You must have the biggest heart inside that chest of yours." His eyes got damp and red around the edges. “This is a treasure. Thank you.”
“Like I said, I didn't know what to get. I wasn't sure if you would be offended by it or not.”
“Not at all. It's the perfect gift.” He lifted himself onto his toes and placed a sweet kiss on my cheek. “But I don't have anything for you."
“These last two days you've given me everything,” I said.
He grinned. “I will say you touched me in places no one's ever quite gone before.”
“You begged for it.”
“All too true.” He shook the globe and watched the snow fall all around the trees and the reindeer’s body.
When he was finally done admiring his gift, he set it carefully on the coffee table and said, “Let's go eat before I faint from hunger.”
Sparks of warmth tingled inside me at his response to my gift. At the time I bought it I thought I would never get to see him open it, never see his reaction. It was good to watch him and know I'd chosen right.
When we got to the lodge, things were very busy. People were everywhere talking, laughing, looking like they we're having a good time. So much the opposite to the day we'd arrived. Friendships had been made. Christmas had been celebrated well, I assumed. I certainly had no complaints.
A stranger walked up to us, tipping his head. “I saw you two dancing on Christmas Eve. You make a nice couple.”
Without waiting for a response, he walked off.
Aspen and I broke into giggles.
“Whatever we did, it must show because other people are staring at us, too.” I held Aspen's hand tighter.
“They are shifters, remember? They can probably smell it.”
“I thought we showered quite well. You scrubbed my back and I scrubbed yours. With soap.”
“It's not just that they scent. They also sense our bond. It's new. I'm probably projecting a glow.”
“Like for real?” I glanced down at myself to see if I was admitting some strange alien light.
“No, but their beasts can see it in the air around us.”
“Like how some people can see auras?”
“I suppose." He scrunched up his face. “Can some humans actually see auras?”
“Not me. But there are claims.”
“Interesting.”
For me the world had grown a lot more interesting since I'd met Aspen. And my feelings for him made my vision clearer than ever. This was right. I knew what I wanted. I was seeing through the eyes of love.
We waited in line for the restaurant and ate a hearty breakfast. Afterwards, the weather had warmed, and the sidewalks were clear.
We took a walk together over the entire grounds.
We learned about each other. Our bodies already had an understanding, but now our minds wanted more.
We asked each other endless questions. The day went by quickly and soon we were in bed again, hands all over each other. Neither of us could get enough.
We had until New Year's Day. Then the cute little one room cabin would no longer be ours. I dreaded that day. I didn't want this vacation to ever end.
Though we talked a lot, the future was still unresolved.
We learned that we lived about half an hour apart and that our jobs we're in buildings only three blocks apart.
It was a very nice coincidence, so I wasn't worried it would be difficult for us to maintain a relationship outside of Winter Wonderland.
Still, we had two different households. Two different lives. Entwining them together would be the start of a new journey.
During the day, we participated in some of the festivities.
We did some cross-country skiing. We went to a wine tasting that was set up in the lobby.
We even went swimming in the heated indoor pool.
Everything we did together was fun because we were together.
I didn't care what it was. Aspen could have read to me from a grocery list, and I would have found it fascinating.
Soon it was New Year's Eve.
Aspen was excited. “For the first time I'll have someone to kiss when the ball drops and the New Year arrives.”
“Yeah. Okay.”
“Don't get too riled up over there. You don't have to kiss me if you don't want to.”
“Of course I want to kiss you. I want to kiss you all over your body all the time.”
“That's a relief.” He walked over to me and cupped my cheek. “What's going on?”
“It's just that the New Year's arrival means tomorrow we have to leave.”
His shoulders slumped. “I don't want to leave, either. But I want to spend every second we have left being happy with you.”
“Me, too.”
“And we’re going to see each other all the time, right?”
“Weekends and evenings.” I didn't smile when I said that.
I wanted to see him in the mornings when I woke up.
I wanted to sleep by his side all night long.
I wanted him to know that when he was at work and I was at work that when we got off work we would be going home to the same place and see each other every night for the rest of our lives.
Was that too much to ask?
Aspen took my hand and led me out the front door. We walked slowly through the night. The sky was clear, the stars like scattered sequins on dark velvet. It would be the last time this year I would see a sky like that. In the city the bright lights blotted out the stars.
This place was magic, and I breathed deeply of it.
Aspen sensed my melancholy. He leaned up against my shoulder and softly spoke. “We can come back, you know. This place isn't going anywhere.”
“I know.” But right now, that didn't fix how I was feeling.