“All yours,” he confirmed. Something flashed in his eyes before he took a deep breath. “Or at least until this storm lets up.”
The reminder we had a shelf life shouldn’t jar me as much as it did.
“Blizzard,” I corrected, brushing away the reminder that this, whatever this weird gravitational pull we felt towards one another was, was going to end. It couldn’t go anywhere. Long-distance relationships were rumored not to work for a reason.
It was stupidly impossible to even let myself think about more than… a mere moment. I cleared my throat. “I think we could consider it a blizzard now,” I pointed out, and he nodded.
A seriously comfortable silence fell between us.
One that made everything inside of me feel all gooey and warm.And wet.Shit. What was it about him that made me want to drop every wall I’d built against men and dating and falling in love? It was more than his good looks. It had to be. I’d hate to be close to turning thirty and find out I was that shallow.
“I’m going to get a snack,” I said, softly pulling away from his heated embrace, and he let me. I could hear the deep sultry tone of his voice while I went through the stuff I’d picked up at the store.
Opening the box of my fudge striped goodness, I took two from the sleeve and moved towards the windows.
It was dark outside, but there was no denying this storm was a lot worse than any blizzard I had ever seen. I could hear the wind billow against the walls of the cabin as I munched on my cookies then took two more out and started to eat those.
All while trying to think of a way to block out the way Asher’s velvety smooth voice made me a little weak in the knees.
I shut my eyes, but the sound seemed to seep in and wash through me. My thighs pressed together as something inside me, not just my body or hormones, but something bigger, seemed to call out to him.
I ached. For him.Daddy. The name slipped through my mind, and I took a shuttered breath.
Daddy.It suited him even though I’d never, not once, called anyone that. Abby and Tabitha and Rosie were all to blame. Their smutty book recommendations had done me in, making me curious about the role play. Not that I ever thought I would ever come close to meeting someone I would ever want to explore the whole dominant daddy/little girl dynamic.
But just as Asher I-had-no-clue-what-his-last-name was walked through the archway of the kitchen and leaned against the wall, his attention and focus completely on me, I couldn’t imagine calling anyone else daddy.
Damn, I was in trouble now. Snowed in with a man I’d want to talk dirty to me and sweetly boss me around and tell me what to do so I wouldn’t have to make any kind of decisions. Shit. I took the last bite of my cookie and licked my lips. Right or wrong, love at first chill might not be a thing, but I was going to take a chance tonight with the sexy stranger just like Rosie had told us to start doing.
7.Asher
Icouldn’t stop staring at her.
Even as I spoke to my nephew, promising to keep his secret for now, and then my sister, I couldn’t stop pacing in the living room, trying to keep an eye on my princess like I was afraid she would disappear as quickly as she’d appeared in my life.
My sister couldn’t believe I was so close yet so far. I promised to try to get over to her house as soon as it was safe to not only dig my car out of the snow but navigate the snow-filled roads. She had understood but definitely been bummed out. And for some reason, maybe because Ember had so sweetly requested, I’d kept Dane’s little business venture a secret from her.
Once I was done, I walked into the kitchen, and when the sight of Ember sitting on the bench seat by the window looking like a princess deep in thought, who turned to meet me with a look on her face that made me think of all sorts of dirty things, I swear my damn heart expanded to three times its size.
Ember made me want things I’d never let myself want.
Things I had been sure weren’t for me.
But as she sat next to me, watching me serve us from the takeout containers, I got to know her. We talked. And laughed.So damn much, my side almost started to hurt. How long had it been since I’d laughed like this? Really laughed and enjoyed someone’s company? Had I ever?
We shared all about our lives and why the two of us found ourselves where we were stuck together.
That’s when the conversation turned serious, and the two of us indulged in a couple of glasses of wine. Sitting next to her, I found myself completely engrossed by her, on the edge of my seat, clinging to every word she said.
“That’s how I knew I wanted to be a nurse.” She shrugged like what she had just told me wasn’t a big deal. Seeing her dad get sick and watching how nurses had helped him til the end of his days had changed her.
“You’re incredible,” I noted.Incrediblewasn’t the right word. I didn’t think there was a word that existed to describe just how wonderful she was. But my girl was so damn humble. She chuckled.
“I’m really not.”
“You are,” I pressed, taking liberties I had no right to take as I took her hand in mine. “You’re an emergency room nurse, Ember.”
“Who needed a break from life because she couldn’t hack it anymore,” she countered, but I shook my head.
