Chapter 23
Olivia had been walking around on eggshells all day. Trevor was in a foul mood, and to make matters worse, the weather seemed to be deteriorating instead of getting better.
They’d grown accustomed to the snow and freezing rain, but the wind had really picked up speed, making it nearly impossible to be outdoors at all. Of course, that hadn’t stopped Trevor from patrolling the area twice already.
“We could play a game,” she suggested.
“I have things I have to do.”
“Yes, but you can’t get outside to do them, so maybe you should find something to do besides pace the living room and sulk.”
He’d slept like a baby, but she’d lain awake all night, certain she’d made the wrong decision. What was the point of being faithful to a man you couldn’t remember, when you were desperate for the one right in front of you?
“Don’t worry. I’m not going to touch you,” he said.
“That’s not fair.”
“I wasn’t necessarily going for fair.” He walked to the front window, then circled back to the kitchen. “I’m going stir-crazy in here.”
She frowned.
“No offense,” he added. “I didn’t come to Warsaw Mountain to sit around.”
“Tell me about your friend.”
“Excuse me?” he asked.
“Your friend. The one you were on your way to visit.”
He plopped down in a chair. “I wasn’t on my way to see a friend.”
“But you said…”
“I lied.” He shrugged. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know you very well at the time.”
She swallowed. Why did it matter if he was seeing someone? She certainly was. Or so it would seem, anyway. She worked to smooth out the jealous lines she knew were affecting her expression. “A woman?”
His eyes shot to hers. “No. There is no woman.”
She wrenched her eyes away. “Oh.”
“I had this friend, Ralph,” he said. “We were on the Teams together — Navy SEALs — right from BUD/S training, the very beginning.”
“What happened to him?”
“He was murdered two years ago, right on this mountain.”
She gasped. “Do you know who killed him?”
“Yes. I’m just waiting for the weather to break before I make my move.”
The steely look in his eye was beginning to make her uncomfortable. “And then what? Are you going to call the police?”
“Not exactly.” He stood up and walked to the kitchen, peering out the window. “Just out of curiosity, what game did you want to play?”
She wondered what “not exactly” meant but wasn’t sure she wanted to ask. From the look in his eyes, Trevor was going to extract his own kind of justice from Ralph’s killer. “How about checkers?”
“We don’t have any checkers.”
“We could make some.”
He eyed her grumpily.
“I mean, I could make some,” she said. She stood up. “Why don’t I do that.”
Fifteen minutes later, they were playing checkers made with two different pasta shapes and a board drawn on a piece of paper. Two hours later, she was winning, three games to two, and Trevor was actually smiling.
“I’m going to have a drink,” he announced. “Would you like one?” He took the unlabeled bottle down from the mantel. “I have no idea what this is.”
“That sounds perfect.”
He poured them each a glass and sat back down. “Do we have to play more checkers?” he asked.
“I thought you were enjoying yourself.”
“I was enjoying you trying to cheer me up.” He took a swig of his drink. “You’re cute.”
She tentatively sipped the liquor and was pleased with its cinnamon flavor, then let it burn its way down her throat. “It was hell on earth, that’s what it was.”
“Oh, come on. I wasn’t that bad.”
She laughed out loud. “I’d rather be trapped in a bus station in Cheboygan at three in the morning than play checkers with you in a bad mood again.”
“I’m sorry, Livy, for the way I acted last night.”
“It’s okay.”
“No, it’s not. If you don’t want to be with me, I should respect that and back off, not pressure you.”
She could feel her cheeks getting hot as she remembered the press of his cock against her.
“Anyway, it won’t happen again.”
“I was giving you mixed signals. I was the one who wasn’t being fair.”
“You’re allowed to change your mind.”
“Well,” she said, not believing she was going to say this, even as the words formed on her tongue, “I changed it again after you fell asleep. I swear, I was up all night.”
His eyes darkened and she felt the tension between them tighten and pull.
“My turn to pick the entertainment,” he said, standing and walking toward her. For a moment, she thought he was heading toward her and his “entertainment” involved little more than himself, but he kept walking and left the room, returning with the radio. “Do you like to dance?” he asked.
It was a challenge.
Her stomach fluttered with the idea of being so close to him again.
All day she’d been thinking about him, about the feel of him against her and the words he’d said about only sex being enough.
“Sure I do.” She took a bigger sip of her drink and stood, just as he settled on a station with a slow song playing.
He held out a hand and she put hers in it, letting him lead her into the circle of his arms.
I want to be inside you.
The memory of his earlier words rang in her head. He grazed her skin with his fingers, and goose bumps trailed along her arms. His hand settled on the small of her back, warm and wide and strong.
I want to feel your body tighten around me when I make you come.
She was getting excited already, and she let her head rest on his shoulder. How easily she could turn her head and kiss his skin, feel it beneath her lips and lick it with her tongue.
I want to thrust inside of you so hard I explode.
They were moving to the music, their footsteps easily falling into synch, and she realized she should have expected no less from this man. If there was a man out there somewhere who fit with her better, she couldn’t imagine who he was.
Then I want to hear your breathing settle in my ear and know that I did that to you.
She ran her hands along the top of his back, loving how he moaned softly beneath her ear.
He stroked her back, her arms, down the sides of her breasts. “I can’t keep myself from touching you,” he said. “I know I shouldn’t do it, and I don’t want you to regret anything we do together, but my hands seem to think they belong on your skin, and you feel so damn good.”
She turned her mouth to his neck and kissed him as she’d wanted to do.
His skin was salty on her tongue. “It’s like we’re in a bubble,” she said.
“Nothing and no one exists outside of this cabin.” She met his eyes, then looked at his lips, so curvy and full.
Lips made for loving. “For me, there isn’t any ‘before’ and there isn’t any ‘after.’ So when you say you don’t want me to be sorry, I can’t even imagine what that looks like. ”
She touched his chest. “We’re in this crazy situation, and the only thing I want right now is you. Just tell me you wouldn’t lie to me. Tell me you’d never keep a secret from me, and let’s be together. I want to make love to you tonight, Trevor.”
He held her face in his hands and sighed. “There’s just one more thing.”