Noelle rolls her eyes and pokes me in the stomach. “All super healthy, I’m sure.” She snags the licorice before it disappears into a bag, opening it and bites the end off one of the twisted sticks with relish. “I bet you’ve never given in to temptation, even once.”
As I watch her beautiful lips move around her candy treat, I bite my tongue to stop myself from telling her that she’s the biggest temptation I’ve ever faced and I’m seriously thinking about breaking all the rules with her.
4
Noelle
I’m practically vibrating by the time we get to Hiro’s cabin, and I can’t blame it all on the sugar. Watching his strong hands capably maneuver the SUV up the steep, winding road through the falling snow is doing something to my insides.
I’ve always imagined Hiro as a fairytale prince. His dark hair, golden skin, and sharp cheekbones, are like something out of an anime. He looks like the type of guy in a rom-com who the heroine dances with at a masquerade ball, and he lifts his mask and you realize he’s actually the king or something like that. He’s intense, gorgeous, and always seemed about as distant as a guy on a movie screen, until now.
He's not really doing anything special either, but his actions are making my heart beat faster anyway. He might be focused on getting us to the cabin, but somehow I feel like precious cargo.
He keeps shooting me little glances that let me know he’s watching out for me. He caught me shivering once and he turned up the heat, tucking his jacket under my legs a little firmer. Hepulled over and dug through our shopping bags, handing me a snack when he saw me trying to reach for something in the back. He’s attuned to me in a way that makes my skin tingle. Every brush of his hand, every one of those half smiles, even his sigh of resignation when I won the war of the car stereo, turning it to a station playing all Christmas music, made my belly flutter.
But now we’re at the cabin. In the middle of nowhere. It’s a log cabin that could pull double-duty in a Hallmark Christmas special – all it needs is a golden retriever with a red bow frolicking in the fresh, fallen snow, and a pair of skis leaning against the front porch. But there isn’t a Christmas light or decoration in sight.
It’s big enough, I suppose, but nothing close to the chalet Baxter bought last year for his ski obsession. It’s not big enough for me to pretend that my old crush on Hiro hasn’t roared back to life in a very non-childish way. My fairytale fantasy has changed over the last few hours from having Hiro walk into one of the boring formal events we always have to attend and asking me to dance to having Hiro walk in, whisk me away in a big, black vehicle and spank me until I’m promising to be a good girl.
I swallow hard, clenching my thighs together.
“Does it hurt?” Hiro finishes bringing in the last of the bags and closes the door against the swirl of snow.
My mouth goes dry at the question, heat rising in my cheeks. My entire body is vibrating from awareness of being in the same place as Hiro. Alone. Very much alone. Is it too much to hope that there might only be one bed in this place?
Hiro points at my knees. “Are they worse?”
Oh, he’s not talking about the ache low in my belly at the thought of being here with him for the next however many days. I nod to cover my flustered reaction. “Right.” I clear my throat, awkwardly. “They’re sore, yes.” I give an exaggerated wince, heading into what looks like a living room, completewith comfortable looking dark wood furniture and over-stuffed couches.
I’m suddenly, terribly self-consciously aware that I’m standing in Hiro’s cabin in ripped tights and a too-short skirt, my hair a tangled mess and I probably reek of beer. More than one partygoer bumped into me last night. The combination of my sugary breakfast, too much alcohol from last night, the weirdness of Karli’s new boyfriend and Hiro’s arrival is making my temples throb. I rub my forehead, not really knowing what to do. I turn to see Hiro unpacking our stuff.
“Can I help?”
“You won’t know where anything goes.” He doesn’t glance up. “Why don’t you have a seat?”
I watch as he opens a cupboard, noting the cereal boxes lined up meticulously, like soldiers in a line. The box of cereal I picked out doesn’t fit.
Of course.
“How come there’s food already here? Did you drive down to get me?”
He shakes his head, trying to move some of the stuff around, but it’s apparent to me that it’s not going to slide in to his neatly organized cabinet. He’s going to have to leave it out on the counter. I eye the perfectly bare charcoal granite. That’s going to drive him nuts.
“No, someone stocks the cabin for me the day before I come up.” He sets the cereal box down before picking it up again, frowning down at the colorful cartoon drawing on the front. “You were the only thing unplanned.”
“Oh.”
His head snaps up. “I didn’t mean it like that. I’m happy to help Henry.”
I bite my lip. Of course, this is just a favor to my brother, like holding onto a package. I shake it off, poking around in oneof the bags for something to wear. “Is there somewhere I can shower?”
He straightens. “Yes, of course.” He points at the open staircase. “Up the stairs to the left. Take your pick.”
I climb the stairs, my eyes widening at the bookcases that line the open area at the top. There’s a cozy reading nook I wouldn’t mind settling into later. I go left, noting the two guest bedrooms on either side of the hallway. Maybe this place isn’t as small as I initially thought.
I step into one room, the cream-colored walls and old-fashioned quilt on the bed drawing me in. It’s simply decorated but feels cozy and inviting, and I’m drawn to the window where I can see snow softly falling outside on green trees. There’s even a lake, its unfrozen surface a dark gray with silver ripples in the distance.
I put the few things I carried upstairs on the bench at the end of the bed. My phone lights up and I see several messages from Karli.
