Chapter 3
Daria
“Let me see that.” I grabbed the cardboard box from Cade’s hands and lifted out the game on top.
“Sex Stack? What the hell is this?” The front had a picture of a normal Jenga-type, wooden-puzzle game.
But there were numbers on the pieces, and arrows pointed to a stack of cards pictured off to the side.
I read what was printed. “Oh my God. When you remove a piece, you pull out the card with the corresponding number on it, and you have to perform the act listed.”
I placed the game on the table and pulled out another. Oral Fun. The slogan underneath read The Game of Eating Out While Staying In. I dropped that one like a hot potato, without even reading it to Cade, and reached for the next.
“Talk, Flirt, Dare,” I read. This one didn’t have too much information on the box, but it sounded similar to Truth or Dare.
Get to know your partner better was the slogan.
That seemed innocent enough, but the last thing I wanted was to get to know Cade any better, so I added that to the discard pile and dusted off my hands.
“Maybe there’s a deck of cards around here. ”
Cade stood. “Why don’t you take a look, and I’ll make a trip to that shed outside to see if there’s any firewood?”
“Okay.”
Our overnight bags were still by the front door.
Cade unzipped his and pulled out a pair of bright blue ski pants and a matching sweater.
The weirdo piled them on top of what he was already wearing, and then added a coat and boots.
He looked ready to trek across Antarctica, not just fifty feet in the snow.
I arched a brow. “You sure you’re going to be warm enough?”
He started to answer but then saw the look on my face. His eyes narrowed. “Pipe down, Red.”
While Cade braved the frozen tundra, I searched the cabin for cards.
Unfortunately, while the kitchen was nicely stocked, there wasn’t any entertainment to be found.
And I mean none. Not even a TV or stereo.
But that turned out to be the least of our problems. Upstairs, I’d expected to find a few bedrooms, but there was only one. One bedroom. One bed.
When I came back down, Cade was shaking snow off at the front door, and there was a large pile of wood at his feet.
“We have a problem. There’s only one bed in this house,” I told him.
Cade shrugged. “So? You can sleep on the floor.”
“Me? I’m not sleeping on the floor.”
He unzipped his jacket and hung it on a hook. “Relax, Daria. I was joking. Not even I’m that big of a dick.” He motioned to the couch. “I’ll sleep there. You can have the bed.”
“Oh. Okay. Thanks.”
He finished peeling off his layers. “Did you find a deck of cards?”
I shook my head. “Nope. There isn’t even a television.”
“Billie said her in-laws bought the cabin recently and just finished renovating it. They probably didn’t stock it with extras yet. I guess we should be glad there’s a full shed of wood. I even found a box of fire starters.”
I sighed. “What are we going to do all day? It’s barely one o’clock since Billie made us leave at such an ungodly hour this morning.
And the weather app says the snow is only going to get worse tonight.
Even if it lets up early tomorrow, they’ll still have to plow the roads.
We’re stuck here for at least twenty-four hours. ”
“I guess we’ll both have to listen to your dark romance. You can put it on speaker.”
“I am not listening to my book with you!”
“Why not?” He grinned. “Afraid I’ll get some ideas and murder you?”
I wasn’t about to share that my book had explicit sex scenes—ones that involved a dom with a filthy mouth and a sub with a praise kink. No way in hell was I going to listen to that with him. I’d rather walk home naked in this blizzard.
I shook my head. “I’m gonna put my phone on the charger and go upstairs and take a nice, hot bath. At least there’s a big tub.”
Cade was already loading wood into the fireplace. “Whatever floats your boat, princess.”
The tub turned out to have whirlpool jets, so I soaked for the better part of an hour. It really helped unknot the tension in my neck that driving in the snow had caused. I felt so relaxed that I started to think I might be able to make it through this sham of a retreat without killing Cade.
Though that thought quickly disappeared the moment I walked down the stairs.
…and found Cade listening to my audiobook. I froze.
“That’s a good girl,” the male narrator’s husky voice said. “Now get on your knees. You’re going to take my cock down your throat until you can barely breathe. Do you hear me, Pet?”
“Yes, sir. I can’t wait.”
I blinked myself out of my stupor and took the last of the stairs two at a time, lunging for the man sitting on the couch when I hit the bottom. “Give me that!”
“Holy shit, Red. You like some fucked-up shit. But damn, this is hot.”
I yanked my phone from his hand and stumbled, finding the button to turn off the volume. “You had no right to touch my phone!”
“Relax. I didn’t do it on purpose. Billie called to make sure we hadn’t killed each other yet.
The storm must be affecting my cell service.
She could hear me, but I couldn’t make out what she was saying.
So I told her to try calling back on your phone.
I answered it on speaker. After she hung up, that audiobook automatically started to play.
I didn’t touch a thing to make it happen. ”
Shit. I did have a bad habit of forgetting to turn the audio off.
Something similar had happened once on the subway.
As the doors slid closed, I hung up with my sister on speakerphone and my book started playing—in the middle of a sex scene.
Everyone around me stared, and I had to jump off at the next stop.
“Yeah, well…it doesn’t mean you had to listen.
You should have turned it off as soon as you realized. ”
“The dude was spanking the woman with a paddle when it started. I’m a man—there’s no way I was going to walk away from that.”
I marched to the kitchen. “I need a drink.”
“And I need a cigarette.” Cade chuckled.
“Not funny.”
“I thought it was.”
I poured wine to the brim of my glass and started for the stairs. Thinking ahead, I stopped and marched back to the kitchen table, grabbing the open bottle. “I’m taking this with me.”
“Enjoy your book, Pet.”
I flipped him the bird. “Bite me, you jerk.”
Cade’s smirk widened. “I’m sure you’re into that, too, sweetheart.”