Present day
The snow was sticking.
It coated the roofs of the quaint buildings on Castle Street, dusted car hoods, and sprinkled over fences and walls. Powdery whiteness lightly covered the cobblestones and pavements. The old-fashioned Victorian-style streetlights had come on, and it felt very much like we were just an hour’s snowfall away from being in a Dickens novel.
Kenna drove away two minutes ago, and I was still staring after her. Yes, I’d been avoiding her, and yes, I should keep avoiding her …
I glanced up at the sky, at the snowfall that looked nowhere close to stopping.
“Did you see the news?”
The male voice brought my gaze down, and I locked eyes with an older male villager. I shook my head. “Not yet.”
He pointed upward. “This came out of nowhere, but they say it’s going to snow from now until tomorrow evening. We’ll be lucky if we can get out our front doors by the time it stops.”
Shit.
“Just getting some more supplies for the wife before we shelter in for Christmas. Thankfully, our daughter and grandkids arrived yesterday, or they’d never have made it up here.”
I nodded at him as I strode toward my car. “Merry Christmas.”
“To you too!” he called as I picked up my pace.
It was bad enough that this was my first Christmas without Michael in ten years and the house felt horribly lonely without him, but now I was about to do something I knew could break me.
Driving toward the caravan park where Kenna stayed, I cursed myself for going to her, even as I cursed myself for allowing her to stay in that damn caravan over the winter. Fear had kept my mouth shut. Fear of what I’d do if I let her close. And I had a right to worry about my actions after what happened on Halloween …
Three monthsearlier
Halloween
I’d askedKenna to stay and watch a movie or two with me. The thought of sending her home after her crying jag didn’t sit right. Moreover, it didn’t seem like her flat with her cousin Una was much of a home.
It truly was an innocent suggestion. We settled on the couch, snacks on the coffee table, and she’d told me a bit more about her parents and how close she’d been to them. I could fully empathize. The hardest thing I’d ever done was hold myself together for Michael after my dad died. All I’d wanted to do was fall apart. But I couldn’t.
Soon Kenna’s spirits seemed lifted. As if merely by talking about her parents and letting it all out, a huge weight had eased from her. That made me feel good, and my guard lowered. We chose a comedy, and I loved the sound of Kenna’s laugh. Anytime something funny happened, we both looked at each other as we chuckled to see if the other found it funny, happy to discover that we laughed at all the same parts and groaned at all the jokes we felt fell flat.
Afterward, reluctant to lose her, I suggested we watch another movie. It was getting late, but I intended to offer for Kenna to sleep in Michael’s bed so she didn’t have to drive home in the dark. Kenna agreed easily to another movie.
We didn’t know what to watch, so we ended up picking a new psychological thriller that sounded good.
Unfortunately, it was an erotic thriller.
A very graphic erotic thriller.
I tried to ignore my reaction to the sex scenes and why my reactions were heightened by the beautiful, kind brunette at my side. But when I snuck a glance at her out of the corner of my eye and saw her breasts heaving with her shallow breaths, desire struck me hard.
Her fingers were curled on her knees, her cheeks rosy pink.
“Kenna,” I half groaned, half whispered as the sexy moans and whimpers of the couple in the movie played in the background.
Kenna’s gorgeous gaze flew to meet mine. Whatever she saw in my expression made her reach out with a trembling hand. She placed it on my thigh and slowly moved it up, caressing me. Blood thickened my cock and it strained to break free of my trousers. Her hand had almost reached my dick when I grabbed it tightly in mine.
All rational thought had fled south.
I tugged on her wrist, yanking her against me, heat flushing across my skin at the sound of her excited gasp. A noise I swallowed in my kiss as I slid my palm beneath her hair to grip her slender nape. My kiss was voracious, and she met it with equal ferocity.
The taste of her. Fuck, the taste of Kenna Smith was unbelievable. It was right.
