Hearing the front door shut with a loud bang, I jump, turning as if I have been caught with my hand in the cookie jar. Rushing from the room, I find him by the fireplace, a thick, beautiful fir standing almost as tall as he is in his hand. He holds it up with ease, a huge smile on his handsome face.
Oh, this isalsoSlater, I decide. This sweet softness I suspect no one else has seen before.
“It is beautiful,” I tell him, almost clapping my hands with joy. I go to pick up the gift I made him, holding up to consider where it might look best. Slater grins crookedly, his face flushedfrom my praise, not from the cold air. “Where will you put it?”
“Wherever you want it, sweetheart. I’ve never…I mean, since I was little, I have never had a tree. Never my own. I wanted somewhere to hang the gift you brought me.”
Going towards him, I watch him for a moment. There is some of that pain I saw last night. I want to ask him to give me more. To tell me all he can, so I can help ease it. But not yet. Spinning, I look for a good spot for the beautiful tree he chose.
“By the fireplace would be perfect. Don’t you think?”
Slater flashes the biggest smile at me, nodding. Moving the tree where I point, he sets it up, creating a cross stand out of two other logs. I think there is little he could not do with an axe and some wood. There is something very attractive about him being so good with his hands. About how take charge he is, how he never even hesitated once I suggested he needed a tree.
Once it is set up to his liking, he turns back to me. Holding his hand out, he waits for me to pass him the ornament. I almost feel bad for the dark design I made him. He has hardly been a grinch tonight, has he? Still, he seems pleased with it, so I hand it over, watching him look for the right spot for it on the snow dusted fir.
“Do you have lights? It would be so lovely with lights, Slater.”
Turning back to me, he hesitates. The air thickens as he stares at me. Last night we were strangers, and almost cruel to us. Tonight, he seems another man entirely. Softer in his eyes, a spark there that was not there before. I take a step closer, drawn to him against my own power.
“If you want lights, I will find lights, sweetheart.”
“Why would you…I mean it is very cute that you want to hang the ornament I made you. That you would go out there in the snow to put up a tree. Why would you do all that because Isaid you needed a tree?”
“Well, Serena, I think I would be inclined to do just about anything you asked of me. Don’t ask me why that is true, but I believe it is.”
Leaving me with that, he stalks down the hallway towards the room I snuck out of moments ago. Watching him go, I am not at all ashamed to eat up the beauty of his golden skin, his strong shoulders and wide body. He truly is a massive man. I believe he could protect me from anything.
Wondering what could ever protect me from him, I rub my thighs together. Nothing. I do not believe anything could stop what is going on inside of me. That is why I came back to his cabin tonight. Not just to bring a gift. But because I have not been able to think of anything else since he stood at his doorway staring down at me last night.
What he said…I think I would be inclined to do just about anything he asked of me, too.
“These should do. Might not be holiday lights but they will work.”
Blinking as he comes back with his hands full of string lights, I laugh. They were hanging over his displays in that workroom. Looking at me, he smiles ruefully, shrugging his huge shoulders. I laugh more because lord, he is an adorable man. He might be big, he might be brooding, but tonight he is being so sweet, so kind, and I am so drawn to him.
Going to join him, I nod in agreement. “These should do just fine.”
Somehow, I am decking out a Christmas tree with a grouchy lumberjack just days before Christmas. We string the lights up as if we’ve done it a dozen times before. There is no talk about why he is letting me do this. No talk about why I am staying here to do it with him. We just do it together in a comfortable quietthat seems to suit us both.
“Here we go,” he calls as he starts to plug it in. “In three…two…one. Let there be light.”
Laughing as the tree lights up with a soft white glow, I give a little clap. It is beautiful. Even with just the one ornament, which he hung up top, right in the middle, it is perfect. I nod my head in approval.
“It is beautiful. Our first tree together,” I tease before I cover my mouth. What the hell am I saying?
“Yeah,” he hums softly, his voice low, his eyes starting to darken. “You will have to make me something more to hang on it. But I think it is perfect just how it is.”
“I like it just how it is too,” I admit, turning back to it as my face flushes with heat. Why would I say something so.... strange?
“If anyone would know how to make it better, I believe it would be you. I would hang pinecones or berries on it if you wanted.”
“Sounds as if you meant what you said earlier,” I say in way of teasing, never taking my eyes off the tree, using it as a focus point because I am on uneven ground with this man.
Slater moves, pressing so close to me I can feel the warmth of his skin. His hands trace over the lines of me, but he does not touch me. I wonder why it bothers me that he doesn’t. That is strange as well. Why does my body feel as if it is vibrating with him so close. Without him touching me?
“What I said earlier...about doing anything you asked of me?Yes, I meant it. I also meant what I said about not knowing why it is true, but knowing it is, without a doubt. Absolutely true. Whatever you asked of me, Serena, I think I would find a way to do it. Do you know why I feel that?”
Slater poses this as a question, as if I might know the answer. “I do not know. I had hoped you might know why thisfeels...strange,” I answer softly.
