Chapter 17
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
ADDISON
This was my worst nightmare. I had been able to handle Chase staying at the resort in the room directly next to mine because I’d had my own space. I’d been able to escape him anytime I needed to. But here? I was trapped. In his home. With nowhere to go.
The truth was, I didn’t trust myself around him.
He had a way of breaking down my defenses.
Of making me feel like I was the only woman in the world, as if he didn’t have hundreds of puck bunnies throwing themselves at him every chance they got.
He was playful and charming, the perfect counterpart to my fiery passion, and I’d fallen into that—into him—even though I’d known better.
After he’d taken my virginity and broken my heart when he’d dropped me off at college the following day and told me to have fun without him—that he had to give all his focus to his hockey career and he wanted me to live the college life without obligations—I swore I wouldn’t allow myself to be vulnerable with him again.
But when we’d run into each other after I’d graduated college, there was no denying the sparks that still crackled between us.
The difference was, I’d no longer been that stupid, naive girl who’d thought the guy she’d spent her teenage years crushing on actually wanted to call her his.
I’d come into our new arrangement knowing exactly what it was and what it wasn’t, and that had been because I’d been the one setting the terms this time.
But then one hookup had turned into two which turned into dozens. And before I knew it, years had gone by, and suddenly he was telling me we wouldn’t have to get by on twice-a-year flings if I’d just marry him.
Marry him.
It was all too clear now, after being on the receiving end of nothing but silence from him for more than a year, that he hadn’t been serious. He’d only been joking.
The worst part about that realization was I’d been contemplating saying yes.
God, what if I’d actually said yes? To a joke.
The knot in my stomach tightened, and I swallowed down the wave of uneasiness that washed over me. I sat on the closed toilet seat in one of Chase’s many bathrooms, having escaped in here for a few moments of peace and quiet without the sexy bastard breathing down my neck.
A knock sounded at the bathroom door, and I yelped, nearly jumping out of my skin at the sudden intrusion. “What?”
“You doing all right in there?” Chase asked.
“Fine,” I snapped. “Why?”
“Because you’ve been hiding in there for forty-five minutes.”
“I have not been hiding. And it’s only been—” I pulled out my phone and glanced at the time. Forty-seven minutes. Great.
“Are you intending to stay in there the entirety of the two days Brady thinks you’ll be stuck here?” he asked, amusement clear in his tone. “You want me to figure out a food delivery system to you?”
He was just taunting me now. And if there was one thing I needed to do to make sure our time didn’t go off the rails, it was prove to him that he didn’t affect me at all. I was cool, calm, and collected and not at all knotted up inside at the thought of what we used to be…of what we could’ve been.
I whipped open the door to find Chase standing there, his hands braced above him on the doorframe. His biceps bulged beneath his shirt, the material clinging to every hard, heavily muscled inch of him, and I nearly swallowed my tongue at the sight.
His stance, combined with that flirty little smile he shot down at me, reminded me so much of him when we were younger. Back when I’d had illusions that something could come of us. When I’d thought that maybe, just maybe, he’d pick me.
“I don’t know why you’re smiling,” I said. “We’re trapped. I cannot be stuck here with you for days without anywhere to go.”
“Why? Are you scared?”
“Yeah. Scared for your life because there’s no way we can be in the same space for that long without me strangling you.”
He laughed. Laughed! “Well, things are certainly not going to be boring, that’s for sure.”
“Is it even safe for us to stay here? You just moved in! What about food? What if we lose power? We need heat to survive in a nor’easter. And don’t you dare say anything about sharing body heat, or I will murder you with my bare hands.”
His lips twitched, and I didn’t know whether to love or hate that he tried to suppress his laughter at my rant.
He grabbed my hand and tugged me behind him into the kitchen.
And I absolutely should not have been melting at the simple touch of his much larger hand engulfing mine or how his thumb swept over my skin, so soft and gentle despite his calluses.
But as history had proven, all my best intentions flew out the window where Chase was concerned.
“We’ve got plenty of food.” He opened the massive refrigerator, gesturing to the neatly stacked containers of what appeared to be fully prepared meals along one side.
The other half of the fridge was stocked with fresh fruits and vegetables, a dozen bottles identical to the one he’d already given me, fresh rolled sushi, a charcuterie tray, and chocolate-covered strawberries—all my favorites.
“I have a personal chef who drops off meals twice a week, and she just topped me off yesterday.”
“Since when do you eat sushi?” I asked, shooting a questioning glance his way.
“Since never. That’s for you. Same with the juice and the charcuterie and the strawberries.”
“What? Why the hell would you stock any of that stuff for me?”
“Been doing it for years.” He shrugged like it was no big deal. “Just in case.”
“Just in case,” I repeated, tone flat.
“Yeah, just in case you happened to show up starving. We both know how vicious you get when you’re hangry.”
I had to force myself not to openly gape at him, but there was no stopping the swarm of butterflies that took flight in my stomach at his admission.
He could coat it in barbs all he wanted, but it wasn’t going to overshadow the crux of it.
He’d been doing this for years. Had been filling half of his fridge with my favorites on the minuscule chance I would stop by. To Vancouver. When I lived in Maine.
I pushed down the warmth that blossomed in my chest and cleared my throat. “I hope you realize how ridiculous that is. Just because you’re rich and can waste all that food doesn’t mean you should.”
He huffed out a laugh and reached out, brushing a flyaway piece of hair from my eye, his thumb grazing the side of my face. “Have I told you lately how much I love it when you call me on my shit? It’s pretty much impossible to find in my line of work.”
I ignored the shiver his small touch caused and crossed my arms over my chest to hide my reaction to it. To him. “Well, I’m always happy to knock you down a peg or twenty.”
“I know you are.” And he didn’t even try to hide the affection in his voice.
“As for the uneaten food, my chef picks it up before anything can go bad, then takes it and a check from me to a local homeless shelter. I keep my girl’s favorites stocked, just in case, and everyone gets a meal. Win all around.”
My stomach flipped at his casual claiming of me…his girl. How was I supposed to stand a chance against him when we were trapped here for days?
“As for heat,” he said, once again tugging me along behind him, “we can kill two birds with one stone.”
“How so?”
“I want to make sure we have enough wood, just in case the power does go out, and I’m sure you’d like some material for the resort. You can film me.”
“Doing what?”
“Chopping wood.”
While I couldn’t deny that content would have people frothing at the mouth like the thirsty fuckers they were—just look at any hot lumberjack’s social media account, and the proof was in every innuendo-laced comment—we were currently in a snowstorm.
“Outside?” I asked, gesturing to the wall of windows and the sea of white beyond. “In this?”
His only response was a grin that shot straight to the center of my chest.
And that was how I found myself forty-five minutes later. Watching an incredibly capable Chase slowly shed layers of clothing as he chopped us a pile of wood that would probably last weeks.
There was a small, covered structure behind the garage with a rack for the wood, as well as a chopping block, so everything stayed dry as he worked.
Everything except my panties.
Watching his muscles bunch and flex with every swing of the axe, the way his face was creased in concentration… And kill me now, but the noises. Sweet Lord in heaven, the grunts and groans and everything that reminded me of what he sounded like when he was inside me…
Shaking my head, I cleared my throat and refocused on the videos I was filming for future promo—the whole reason I was out here with him in the first place.
Once I was satisfied with what I’d captured, I opened my voice memo app, thankful I didn’t have to actually take notes since my hands were currently bundled in mittens.
“I could use some sound bites and quotes, so can we go over some questions?”
“Whatever you need, firefly.”
I ignored the way my stomach flipped at that—honestly, it was getting to be a real problem now.
Making sure the app was recording, I asked, “What do you love most about the resort?”
He swiped his forearm across his brow, the move lifting his shirt just enough to showcase a sliver of his abs. “Well, there’s this girl…”
I rolled my eyes. “Be serious.”
“I am being serious.”
“Fine, then stop being an idiot.” I blew out an exasperated breath. “What’s your favorite thing to do around the Cove?”
He began stacking some of the wood he’d chopped in his arms and glanced my way, sweeping a heated gaze over me that I felt even through all my layers of clothing. “Currently? Watching you get yourself off.”
Those handful of words sparked a memory I’d spent days repressing—him standing in the doorway to my bedroom, his eyes fixed on me, his hand wrapped around that thick, magnificent cock as he’d gotten himself off while watching me do the same.
I’d thought it’d been a genius idea to make him suffer like that—being able to look but not touch—but the joke had been on me because what I’d intended as payback had backfired. It had only made me hungrier for him.
And something like that couldn’t happen again.
“Okay, I’m done.” I stopped recording and pocketed my phone. “It’s cold out here, and you’re acting like an ass.”
Without waiting for a reply, I stomped back toward the house, grateful Brady always made me carry emergency supplies in my trunk so I wasn’t trudging through nearly a foot of snow in my four-inch heels.
“Addison, wait.”
“Not interested.” I flipped him off over my shoulder, which did absolutely nothing since I was wearing mittens.
“Just give me a second,” he said. Except he didn’t need it because he was far closer than he should’ve been, considering my head start and the fact that he was lugging who knew how much wood.
Once inside, I kicked off my boots and shed the rest of my gear, glaring at him as he unloaded the logs next to the fireplace. “Did you agree to do this to actually help the resort, or are you just interested in wasting my time?”
“Of course I did it to help the resort.”
“Then stop fucking around. This promo isn’t about us. We don’t matter. It’s just about you.”
“I don’t know how much clearer I can make this, Addie, but there isn’t me without you.”
“Don’t,” I snapped, holding up a hand as if I could stop those words from ever reaching my ears. “Don’t you dare do that.”
“What? Tell you the truth? Talk to you, uninterrupted? For more time than we’ve had in a decade? I’ve got you here for days, firefly, and I’m damn well going to use every second of them to figure out what went wrong.”
I breathed out an incredulous laugh. “To figure out what went wrong? I’ll tell you what went wrong—you somehow went from asking me to marry you to ignoring me for a fucking year. That’s what went wrong.”
“What?” He looked as if I’d slapped him. “I never—”
“I can’t help but wonder what would’ve happened if you’d ignored me right from the start.”
“We grew up together, Addie. There was no ignoring you.”
“Maybe not. But what if you’d just ignored me that night? When you overheard me talking to your sister about cashing in my V-card with anyone who was willing to do it.”
His jaw ticked, as if the idea of me being with someone else was too much for him to handle. Yeah, well, the feeling was mutual, but at least he didn’t have it shoved in his face every time he went on social media. “I don’t regret that. I could never regret it.”
“Of course you don’t! You weren’t the one who got dumped the morning after.”
“You know why I had to do that. Morgan had just been diagnosed. And I had to bust my ass to prove myself in the pros. I wasn’t in the right headspace to give you what you deserved.”
“And what do you think would’ve happened if, instead of swooping in and claiming me for yourself before tossing me aside, you’d just let me be? Dropped me off at college without a broken heart and let me live my life without the shadow of you in it.”
He shook his head, his eyes blazing with an intensity that was hard to ignore. “It wouldn’t have mattered. You and I are inevitable, Addison.”
“Inevitable?” I said on a laugh. “We aren’t anything, Chase. You made sure of that. But I’ll tell you what is inevitable—you fucking any and every puck bunny who throws herself at you.”
“I haven’t touched another woman,” he said without hesitation. And if I hadn’t seen the pictures for myself, the conviction in his voice might have swayed me.
I scoffed, working hard to keep the tears at bay because I didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of seeing how much this affected me.
“Well, congratulations. You want accolades for not having sex in the past year, when you were injured most of that time anyway? What a fucking feat. Someone get this man a medal!”
“Jesus Christ, will you shut up and let me talk a minute?”
“No!” I snapped, needing to get the hell out of here because the tears were building—whether from anger, frustration, or hurt, I didn’t know.
And it didn’t matter because they were coming, regardless.
I spun around before he could see the first tear fall and stormed off down the hallway.
“Leave it alone, Chase, and give me some goddamn space.”