A Winter’s Tale

by Carrie Elks

  But then she’d already had it in the ear from Everett, and the last thing she needed to do was stir things up any more. Not when she needed that internship, and to stay in LA. The alternative didn’t bear thinking about.

  No, she wouldn’t mention it to Adam. But she might keep her ear to the ground and try to find out some more information. It couldn’t hurt, could it?

  After helping Annie with her food preparations in the kitchen, Kitty climbed back up the stairs to her bedroom just after ten. She was more than ready to hit the hay – her body aching as though she’d spent the evening in a boxing ring, rather than kneading dough and icing cupcakes.

  It was almost half an hour later when she finally started to drift off, her breath evening out as her eyelids began to get heavy. Soon they were more closed than open, her body feeling as though it were in some kind of suspension, spanning the distance between the waking world and the sleeping one.

  And then… bang!

  Her eyes flew open. She frowned, looking around, trying to locate the source of the noise.

  Another crash. This time she was more alert, enough to hear the sound of something hitting the window glass. She waited to see if it would go away. Maybe it was some heavy snow or the beak of a particularly annoying bird. A night bird – an owl, perhaps.

  The third bang got her out of bed. She ran across the carpeted floor on her bare feet, pulling at her pyjama top to ensure she was fully covered. Just as she used to back in London, she pulled back the bottom corner of the curtain, trying to take a peek out of the window without being seen.

  This time whatever was hitting the window was right in front of her face. The loud thud made her jump back, pulling the curtain with her. She fell to the floor, pulling half the curtain with her.

  Oh shit.

  Scrambling to her feet, she looked out of the window to the snowy lawn below. A figure stood in the shadows of the house, a hood pulled up over its head. Kitty stared, squinting to try and make out a face.

  That’s when he looked up, his face illuminated by the pale glow of the moon, the radiance of his skin contrasting against his dark beard. Her hand flew to her chest, feeling her heart pounding beneath her ribcage.

  Fumbling with the latch, she pushed the window open, feeling the cold pinch of the wind as it blew through the gap. She had to stand on tiptoes to lean through it, her skin prickling beneath her pyjama top.

  ‘What do you want?’ She was half whispering, half shouting, but she couldn’t hide the smile on her lips.

  ‘You.’

  His single-word response made her heart stutter.

  ‘Why don’t you come into the house like a normal person?’

  She could see his grin from two storeys up. ‘I think we’d both agree I’m not a normal person.’

  ‘You’re not wrong there.’ Kitty took a deep breath. ‘So what do you want from me?’

  ‘You,’ he said again.

  ‘You’re being very annoying.’

  Adam lifted his woollen cap off, raking his hands through his hair. ‘Come down here and I’ll show you how annoying I can be.’

  ‘I’m in my pyjamas.’

  ‘I don’t mind.’

  Of course he didn’t. Kitty looked down at her fleecy bottoms and top, smiling at the white sheep nestled into the pink flannel. Adam was probably imagining satin and lingerie, not a fairy-tale delight.

  ‘And then?’ she questioned.

  ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘What are we going to do then?’ She was starting to worry somebody was going to discover them. It was still only the evening, after all. Everett or Drake could be taking a walk around the grounds and discover Adam shouting up at her window.

  ‘You want me to spell it out?’

  ‘I don’t know. How many letters?’

  His laughter boomed through the night air. ‘Kitty, get your sweet ass down here and come see me. Then we can play Scrabble all night if you want to.’

  Scrabble wasn’t really what Kitty had in mind. She didn’t think it was at the top of Adam’s list, either.

  ‘Give me a minute to get dressed.’

  ‘Nah, come down like that, just put a coat and some boots on. We’ll take the Skidoo. Hurry up, princess.’

  Jesus, was there a snow-related vehicle the Kleins didn’t have? ‘Is there something wrong with princesses?’

  ‘As long as they don’t expect me to be Prince Charming, there’s nothing wrong at all.’

  She had to cover her mouth to deaden the laugh. ‘You don’t want to be my knight on a white Skidoo?’

  ‘I’ll be anything you want me to be if you’ll just get your ass down here.’

  Sensing his impatience, Kitty slammed the window shut and pulled on her socks and boots. She checked herself out in the mirror; pink sheep pyjamas, black insulated boots and a face devoid of make-up. She wasn’t exactly dressed to kill. Doing the best she could, she fluffed her hair up and pinched her cheeks. Hopefully his cabin would be dark, lit only by the licking flames of the fire, and she’d be able to carry off that just-got-out-of-bed look.

  Who was she trying to kid? It was more likely to be a just-got-into-bed look she was going to be wearing. She knew a booty call when she saw one.

  When she wrenched open the kitchen door, Adam was standing on the step, his cap pulled firmly over his brow. His face split into a grin and he pulled her close, his coat freezing against her overheated face.

  Of course, her traitorous nipples hardened straight away. When she pulled back, his eyes zeroed right in on them.

  ‘That’s from the cold, not because I’m insanely attracted to you.’

  His lips twitched. ‘Of course.’

  ‘So maybe you could fire up your stupid Skidoo and get me down to your cabin before the rest of my body freezes up.’

  ‘Put your coat on.’ He gestured at the thick padded jacket in her hand. ‘We’re taking a detour.’

  She threaded her arms through the coat, zipping it up tightly. Adam took his scarf and wrapped it around her neck, kissing the tip of her nose with his soft lips. ‘Nice pyjamas, by the way.’

  ‘I thought you’d like them,’ she said, grinning.

  ‘I’d like them even better on my floor.’

  This time she laughed. ‘Oh, you know how to charm a girl with your sweet words. Now are we going or what?’

  ‘Your wish is my command.’ Without another word he grabbed her hand and pulled her over to the waiting Skidoo. Unlike the snowmobile it was smaller and sleeker; more like a motorbike than anything else. Wrapping a blanket around her shoulders, Kitty slung her leg over the seat, nestling into Adam’s broad back.

  He reached back and squeezed her thigh. ‘You ready?’

  Kitty shrugged. ‘Of course.’ She didn’t know why he was asking. The next moment it all became clear. He pulled the cord and the engine came to life, the whole machine humming between her thighs. Adam leaned forward, Kitty still clinging to his back, and then the Skidoo rushed forward, ploughing the snow into its wake.

  If she’d thought about it she would have known he was a speed demon. In spite of his hermit-like habits, Adam was a man of the world, and had spent his adult years skirting on the edge of danger. So when the Skidoo sped across the snow, lifting and falling with the drifts, she held on tightly and prayed he knew what he was doing.

  It was scary and shocking, yet so damned exhilarating to be racing through the night forest. She clung to him hard, her hands almost connected across his muscled abdomen, refusing to let go lest she fly off the seat. He gripped on to the handles, manoeuvring the machine around the path through the trees, twisting and turning as if he knew the route well. The light on the front of the Skidoo illuminated their way, casting a glow across the winter wonderland before them. There was something magical about the landscape that made Kitty’s eyes water. A haunting beauty that brought tears to her eyes.

  ‘You OK?’ His shout carried back in the wind.

  She squeezed him in response, th
e squall swallowing her reply.

  Just before they reached the clearing that led to his cabin, he took a sharp left, pulling them deeper into the forest. Kitty frowned, still clinging on for dear life. ‘Where are we going?’ Her voice barely audible over the hum of the engine and the noise of the wind.

  ‘You’ll see.’

  Five minutes passed before he cranked down the gears, coming to a stop with a skid that made her almost fall off. She tightened her arms around him, feeling his body shake with laughter. Arsehole.

  She was about to tear him a new one when she looked up, and the scene before her took her breath away. They’d stopped just short of a small clearing, a circle of treeless ground that somebody had boarded over. A pergola rose up over the decking, the wooden beams twisted with sparkling lights. It was like a fairy-tale grotto in the middle of the forest. Beautiful and unexpected.

  ‘What is this place?’ she asked him as he climbed off then offered his hand to her.

  ‘It’s been here for years,’ he told her. ‘Long before we ever bought the house. I never could work out why somebody would build something like this in the middle of the forest.’ His eyes warmed as he helped her off the Skidoo, then pulled her close to him. ‘But maybe I do now.’

  ‘Did you put the lights up?’ she asked.

  ‘Yeah, they’re battery powered, so they should last about five minutes longer,’ he told her, raising an eyebrow. ‘But that should be long enough.’

  ‘Long enough for what?’

  ‘To prove to you that I can be romantic.’

  Her mouth felt dry. He’d done this for her? That was… Jesus, it was amazing. ‘Wow,’ was all she could say.

  ‘Go stand up on the deck,’ he told her, then grabbed his phone from his pocket, pulling his gloves off to fiddle with it. The next moment music was streaming out, as Adam placed his phone on the wooden balustrade, and walked over to where she was standing.

  Above them a thousand tiny lights sparkled, and higher still she could see the stars shining through the clear night sky. The air was cold but still as he took her hand in his, placing his other hand on the small of her back.

  ‘What’s this music?’ she murmured, listening to the deep voice crooning through the night air.

  ‘It’s Marvin Gaye,’ he told her. ‘It’s called “I Want to Come Home for Christmas”. A classic.’ With the gentlest of pressure on her back, he pulled her to him, leading the dance as his feet moved across the boards with ease. A slow, sensual waltz that took them across the deck, as she melted into him like a candle with a burning flame.

  ‘Marvin knows how to seduce,’ she said softly. So did Adam. She couldn’t help but feel full of emotion as they continued to dance, their bodies swaying together. Nobody had ever done anything like this for her before. It was like being in a movie, except there were no cameras or directors, no booms or lighting. Just the two of them, and the night, and Marvin Gaye’s sweet, soulful voice. ‘I feel like I should be wearing a yellow gown, and maybe a singing teapot should be jumping up and down in the corner.’

  Adam laughed. ‘Does that make me the beast?’

  She looked up, stroking his dark beard. ‘It makes you the nicest, kindest man I’ve ever met.’ How did she not see it before? When they’d first met she’d thought him gruff and angry, but looking back he’d been anything but. His first thought when he saw that deer had been to put it out of its misery.

  And he’d done all this for her.

  ‘He might have been a beast,’ she said, as he twirled her towards the edge of the deck, ‘but I bet he and Beauty had great sex. All that testosterone.’

  Adam grinned. ‘I’m trying to be romantic, and you’re all dirty and talking about bestiality. What am I going to do with you?’

  She looked up into his deep eyes, warmth flooding through her body, in spite of the frozen temperatures. ‘Take me home and show me just how romantic you can be.’

  ‘Are you using romance as a euphemism for sex?’ he asked her.

  ‘Yep.’

  ‘In that case, what are we waiting for?’

  22

  Love is begun by time and… time

  qualifies the spark and fire of it

  – Hamlet

  Adam dropped back onto the mattress, his heart speeding in his chest like a freight train. Kitty curled up beside him, her soft body pressing against his side, and her head nestling into the crook of his arm. She was breathing as loudly as he was, their bodies covered with a soft sheen of perspiration in spite of the cold weather outside. Tonight’s sex had been just as frantic as it had been that morning. Needy. Desperate.

  Perfection.

  Damn, he needed to kiss her again. He dipped his head, capturing her lips with his own. Her breath warmed his mouth as he slid his tongue inside, sweeping it gently against the soft skin inside her lips.

  Kitty put her hand on his hard, flat stomach, running her palm along his flesh.

  ‘You OK?’ His voice was low.

  ‘Mmhmm.’

  ‘You want anything? Water, food? We can take a shower if you like.’

  ‘Later,’ she mumbled. ‘I want to just lie here for now.’

  That’s exactly what Adam wanted, too. He wasn’t ready to leave the bed yet. The feeling of her sweet body pressed against his was too delicious to let go.

  He closed his eyes, breathing in the aroma of Kitty and sex. It was the ultimate aphrodisiac. If he hadn’t spent most of the night worshipping at her feet, no doubt he’d be getting hard again. As it was, he was counting the minutes before he could muster up the energy for another round.

  Sex with Kitty Shakespeare was like a drug, and he was getting addicted.

  ‘Adam?’

  ‘Yeah?’

  ‘Is it my turn to ask questions?’

  ‘What sort of questions?’ Adam’s voice was guarded.

  ‘The sort of questions you asked me.’

  He licked his dry lips, wondering why it felt so uncomfortable to be put in the spotlight. It was the same sensation he felt at therapy, as though all his tools were being used on him. ‘I guess…’

  ‘Tell me about your childhood.’

  His stomach clenched. She was heading straight for the personal questions. No small talk for Kitty Shakespeare. Maybe that’s why he liked her so much.

  ‘Not much to tell. I was a rich kid. Spoiled. Sent away to school. I did what I was told and made good grades.’

  She snuggled closer into him. ‘That’s it? No tales of rebellion or childhood neglect? No sob story designed to soften my heart?’

  Adam smiled in spite of himself. ‘It was normal, at least it was to me. I didn’t know any better at the time.’

  ‘And now?’

  ‘Now…’ His voice trailed off, as he tried to find the right words. ‘Now I realise how privileged we were. And how much I took for granted.’

  ‘What did you take for granted?’ The way her fingers stroked his skin was distracting. And hot.

  Down, boy.

  ‘I don’t know.’ His voice was a shrug. ‘The money, the vacations. For years I thought Annie was just some aunt, always ready to look after us. I didn’t believe it when Everett told me she was paid to clean and cook.’

  Kitty smiled. ‘Sometimes I wonder if Jonas thinks that about me.’

  ‘Jonas is much cleverer than I was.’

  ‘Can I ask another question?’ Her breath feathered his skin. It made his nipples go hard.

  ‘Maybe.’

  ‘Why are you here?’

  He turned to look at her, a questioning expression on his face. ‘With you?’

  ‘No. I mean why are you living here in this cabin? Are you planning on making any more documentaries? How long have you been here? How long are you planning to stay?’

  ‘That’s four different questions.’ And each one of them made him want to squirm.

  ‘OK, then let’s start with the first. Why are you living here?’

  ‘I got into a bit of trouble when I
was in LA. My attorney made a plea bargain to get me out of the charges. I agreed to come back here to my parents’ place and get anger-management therapy.’

  She opened her mouth as if to ask another question, then closed it again, nodding encouragingly for him to continue.

  ‘I really didn’t want to live with my parents. I haven’t done for the past fifteen years, so I moved in here and fixed it up a bit.’