“I thought…I’d show you Alaska.”
“You mean besides the blanket of white?”
He gave a hint of a smile. “I live at the base of the National Park. If you take it north and swing around the curve, there’s a huge lake in the bend. It’s partially iced over right now, but in the moonlight it’s rather breathtaking.”
“O–okay,” she stammered. She hadn’t thought her heart could pound any harder, but every word he said to her just thrilled her more. She realized, in that moment, excitement coursed through her. She’d never been so fascinated by such an enigma of a man. Handsome, moody, and funny in a non-funny way, though she didn’t even know if she liked him, he was slowly bringing all her feelings back to life.
As he walked to the back of Suinnak’s, she followed. A white, snow-encrusted snowmobile waited, and he gestured for her to put on the goggles.
“I guess you never rode a snowmobile?”
She shook her head.
“Motorcycle?”
Again, she shook her head.
“Well, just hang on to me and move with my body.”
That statement stirred up all kinds of visions. As she slid behind him, she was consciously aware of his hot body pressed so close to hers, even through the layers of clothes. She leaned forward, encircling his waist with her arms, and the position allowed her to lay her cheek against his broad back. Her breath caught in her throat, and she closed her eyes for a brief moment, long enough to allow herself the feel of him hot and hard against her.
The snowmobile took off through the night, racing along the top of the snow, parting it like waves. Once they were away from the generated lights of the town, the night became peaceful, motionless. Only the rev of the engine broke the stillness. She held onto Paden, her heart thumping heavily against the magic of the situation. They headed off into the wild, the unknown, at least for her. She watched the town light fall away as they headed toward the shadow of the forest where tall spruce trees stood guard for the mountain. As the land inclined, the trees thinned to allow reindeer lichens and shrub thicket to grow, food for the caribou and other creatures. Further up the mountains, the vegetation leveled away into a vast tundra, with white snowcaps peaking through the clouds. The moon’s full light shown down on them, casting a fairy glow upon the rolling hills. As they rounded the bend, the land gave way to a huge lake whose far shores were obscured by the distance. A thin layer of ice covered the lake’s surface, but breaks peaked around the center.
Paden cut the motor to the snowmobile and took off his goggles. The quiet was so complete all she heard was her own breathing, and the thumping of her heart. She slid off the machine and took off the goggles, then walked a few steps away to take in the beauty of the moonlight upon the iced-over lake.
“Look up there,” Paden said softly. She followed where he pointed to see ribbons of blue and green over the northern cut of the mountain line. Her breath caught.
“Is that the aurora borealis?”
“Yes,” he replied. “Old Inuit legend says its flaming torches carried by departing souls.”
“It’s amazing,” she whispered.
“It’ll become more pronounced as winter sets in,” he went on. “There’s a major storm headed our way, probably will strike tomorrow night, so I wanted to show you this before it becomes impossible.”
She looked at his profile. “How do you know about the storm?”
“I have a satellite connection,” he explained as if this was normal for everyone.
“Is that, like, an Internet connection?”
“Yeah. Like that.”
“Thank you,” she told him, gazing up at him. “I’m freezing to death, but this is absolutely beautiful.”
Thea couldn’t look away. The deep shadows of night collected in dark pools around his eyes, but she didn’t need light to know he studied her hungrily. She felt his yearning because it coursed through her as well. As her body turned to face him, the next thing she knew he lowered his mouth to hers.
His lips were cold but his breath blew hotly against her skin. His tongue touched the seam of her mouth, and she opened, allowing him entrance. He swept in, plundering swiftly, seeking her tongue to dip and twirl with. He went deep then pulled back, only to plunge back in, teasing her, drawing forth a moan of desire. She wanted more, so much more, and yet to have these feelings, to have any feelings, made her deliriously happy. She wanted to pull him in deep, to melt into him. His answering groan let her know he felt the same as she.
Her heart almost burst with happiness.
He pulled back and stared down at her in the moonlight. They were so close together she could see the dazed shock blazing across his features, and it tempered her giddiness.
“I shouldn’t have kissed you,” he whispered.
She blinked. That hadn’t been at all what she’d been thinking or feeling.
He backed completely away from her. Without his body heat or his kiss to warm her blood, the cold settled on her quickly. Her breath came out in little puffs of smoke. She reached out to grab him and he flinched so she lowered her arm back down to her side.
“What’s the matter?” she asked.
He shook his head. “I shouldn’t have kissed you.”
“Why do you keep saying that?”
He ran a gloved hand over his face. “I don’t know what you expect of me, Thea, but I can’t be…”
“Can’t be what?”
“Can’t be the next man who promises you anything.”
She blinked, trying to process his shifting moods. “But I didn’t ask you to promise me anything. You didn’t like kissing me?”
“God, no!” he stated. “I loved it, a little too much.”
“Then, you don’t like me?”
He sighed. “No, I like you, Thea. It’s just very complicated, okay? I’m…I’m just a very complicated man.”
“Can you make it uncomplicated?”
He brought his gloved hand up to cup her face. “If I could, for you, I would. Come on.” He nodded toward his snowmobile. “I’ll get you home.”
She bit her bottom lip, trying to suck off his essence that lingered on her skin. “Sure. Home to the hotel.”
Their drive back seemed colder. Maybe it had to do with the fact that Paden had kissed her so passionately and then did a one-eighty, leaving her heart iced over.
Chapter Ten
Paden threw his goggles across the garage then ran a hand through his hair. She was driving him mad. He didn’t know what to do. Her eyes were changing, slowly losing that sad, lost emptiness that had drawn him in, seduced him. Those eyes he could relate to, he could handle, maybe even keep the monster tamed because it would all be meaningless. Being with her would’ve meant nothing.
Except now, whenever she looked his way, her gaze held eagerness and a hint of excitement. She wanted him, and the problem he faced was the fact that he wanted her back.
The demon woke up. He could feel it stirring.
“Fuck!” he yelled and picked up one of his kitchen chairs and threw it against the refrigerator. The monster really liked the violence. It liked the destruction and urged him on.
He opened drawers, looking for the knife. When his search of the kitchen proved fruitless, he stalked into his bedroom and checked the nightstand. There it lay, dull silver gleaming in the hallway light. He stared at the blade, straight edged and sharp. The demon moaned, calling for it.
It scared him that the knife had been in his bedroom yet he had no knowledge of putting it there.
His mind went blank as he reached for it, clutching it in one hand. With the other hand he unzipped his pants, popping the top button. He reached into his shorts and gripped his hard shaft, using the moisture that leaked from the tip to coat the velvety skin. He pumped, up and down, squeezing the end just enough to please the monster, the revolting demon that lived inside his head.
He closed his eyes as he fisted himself. Thea came immediately to mind, the woman who’d awaked
a monster long thought dead. In his mind, he undressed her, slowly, kissing every inch of skin he exposed. Sinking into the vortex between her legs and lapping at her cream, he would take the moans mewling from her mouth and feast on them. He parted her further, able to slide one finger into her sweet pussy. Her hips bucked as she cried out his name, and the hand holding his cock squeezed as he heard her breathless whimpering of his name. He could almost feel her body tighten as he sucked in her clit, using his tongue to tease the sensitive nub. And as she came, as her juices ran over his tongue and face, the hand holding the knife sliced down on his leg.
He exploded in a climax that shook his very soul.
Chapter Eleven
“I found a place for you to live,” Miki said causally the next day as Thea was changing the coffee filter.
“Oh,” Thea replied, concentrating on the pouring the grounds. “That’s great. But how long do you think it’ll be before Hank can fly back?”
“Not before the hotel shuts down on Saturday.”
Thea grunted. “Good point. Where is it?”
“Here!”
Thea paused and looked at her friend. “Here? At the Suinnak?”
Miki clapped her hands, clearly excited. “I can put all of Hank’s stuff in the shed, and you can use his room.”
“Oh, Miki, I don’t know. I don’t sleep very well. I would hate for my insomnia to—”
“Pfft,” Miki said, waving away the protest. “I sleep so soundly a nuclear bomb could go off and I’d not hear it. I would love to have you, and this way you won’t have to worry about forking out any money for rent.”
“I would want to pay rent, Miki.”
“Listen, you work here for food. Let’s just add the room, too. That way I won’t feel so bad taking advantage of you. Besides, options are kind of limited.”
Thea sighed and nodded. “All right, thank you, Miki.”
The other woman actually squealed a little before moving away to tell all the patrons about Thea’s new living situation. Everyone congratulated her, and Miki treated them all to a round of scotch. Thea thought it was a good thing there were only six people left in the restaurant.
She waited for Paden to show, but he never came.
She tried to hide her disappointment, but she couldn’t tell if she fooled Miki’s sharp gaze.
The next day she packed up and moved out of the hotel, just in time to avoid the storm. Whatever warm weather was trying to wiggle its way into September disappeared as a cold front moved in.
Hank’s room was small but comfortable. Miki had changed the bedsheets and cleaned the place for her arrival. The twin bed had a wooden headboard with a shelf built into it. The carpet was gold shag shot through with brown. It seemed a little retro with the wood paneling on the walls, but Thea didn’t mind the décor.
It didn’t take long to unpack her suitcase. She took out only the essentials and left much of it behind. She hated that she’d have to lug all this stuff back to Malibu. In fact she hated that she’d have to go back to Malibu at all, but she didn’t have an excuse to stay.
She waited that night, but again, Paden failed to arrive.
By the third day the storm had fizzed away, leaving another heaping of snow in River Ice. Patrons still came in, piling their snowshoes on top of each other. She absolutely loved the chatter of the room, making sure each cup remained full and bringing out plates of food when asked.
That night, after Miki closed the restaurant and Paden hadn’t shown up, Thea decided to go to him.
“Miki,” she called.
Miki came from the back, drying her hands with her apron. “Yes?”
“Where can I rent a snowmobile?”
“Why do you need one?”
Thea bit her lower lip. “Because I, um, want to visit Paden. I’m worried about him.”
Miki sighed. “Honey, it’s probably not a good idea to set your heart on Paden Winters.”
“Set my heart?” Thea scoffed. “I’m just, you know, he, uh, cut his arm, and I was worried about, you know, healing.”
“You are such a terrible liar. Here,” she said and reached behind the kitchen door to grab some keys. She tossed them to Thea. “Around back is the garage, use Hank’s snowmobile for now. It’s the gray one, goggles are in the handlebars.”
“Thanks! And how—”
“Down the street,” Miki said, answering the question before Thea even finished asking it. “As it curves back to the right to come into town, make a left and follow that street about two miles. His house is at the end on the left.”
Thea hurried over to bundle up.
“You’ve probably never driven a snowmobile, right?” Miki asked, and then started explaining before Thea could answer. “Of course not. Tuck your feet under the metal pockets on the lower front end. The throttle is the lever on the right side for speed and the brake is on the left, but if you just ease off the throttle, chances are you’ll slow down considerably and maybe even stop because of the snow. Otherwise, it’s like riding a bike.”
“Thanks, Miki.”
“No worries.”
Thea quickly hugged the other woman then hurried out the door. The quick instructions Miki had given her proved invaluable. It only took a few false starts and one nosedive into a snowbank before she caught on, but as she turned onto Paden’s road a sense of adventure over took her. It had been so long since she’d felt the need to be intrepid that the thrill literally caused a little high-pitch giggle to escape.
In her mind the trip to Paden’s house was a breeze. In reality the road weaved its way over the land, up hills, and around trees. The only way she knew she heading in the right direction was the groove marks cut into the snow from another snowmobile. The generator lights of the town were behind her, keeping her navigation on target as she headed for the National Forest line. The sign for the forest had ice hanging sideways on the pole, but at least she knew when to look for Paden’s house.
It wasn’t hard to miss, however, not only because of the sheer massiveness of the structure but also because of the two stories of windows lit from within. She pulled the snowmobile over and headed for the front door, holding carefully on the railing as she traversed the stairs.
At first her knocks went unheeded, so she banged harder. The door was abruptly opened by a disheveled looking Paden who only blinked at her a few times, as if testing if she was a figment of his imagination.
“If you don’t mind,” she said, trying hard to keep her teeth from chattering, “it’s cold out here.”
He didn’t say anything as he stepped back to allow her to enter. He closed the door with a solid thump behind her.
A fireplace blazed with warmth through the barren room. She saw stairs off to the left behind a glass door, leading to a brightly lit loft. She couldn’t see what was up there but the lack of decoration or even furniture gave the whole scene a touch of surrealism. The front room extended into a large, modern kitchen, with a huge island and open floor plan that segued into the dining room. A hallway extended past with several closed doors beyond that.
As the warmth of the fire and the house seeped into her, she slowly took off her coat, gloves, scarf, and goggles.
“What are you doing here, Thea? And whose snowmobile is that?”
“Miki let me borrow Hank’s. I wanted to check on you, since you’ve not been in for three days. I was, um, a little worried.”
He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. His shirt sleeves were rolled up, and she focused on the absence of the bandage on his arm. A long red line had already started to scab over.
“I’m fine. I’ve just been working on deadline.”
She blinked and brought her eyes up to meet his gaze. “Oh! I didn’t realize. Well, I guess I should, um, go?”
He raised an eyebrow to her question then abruptly pulled her into his arms to lean his cheek against the top of her head.
Her heart jumped into overdrive as she snuggled into his arms, content for the first time i
n three days. She closed her eyes and simply sank into him. He felt solid, strong. She snuggled into his embrace, loving how protected she felt. She had missed this.
“You shouldn’t worry about me, Thea.”
“Don’t you like someone worrying about you?”
He was silent for a moment. “How old are you?”
“Twenty-three.”
“I’m thirty-five.”
“So?”
“I came to Alaska to be alone.”
“From where?”
He pulled away to stare at her. His fingers swept away some stray hair from her cheek. He rubbed a patch of skin near her temple, his fingertips brushing lightly in soft caresses. She leaned into his touch, wanting more, wanting so much more of him than mere feathery strokes. But the moment was lost when he dropped his hand and turned away to go into the kitchen. She followed, sitting on one of the barstools at the island. He pulled a beer from the refrigerator and held another out to her, one eyebrow raised. She shook her head. He put it back then popped the top on his and leaned a hip against the counter.
“I’m from Miami.”
She blinked, confused by the randomness of the answer to a question she had forgotten she’d asked. “Oh, right. Where you’re from. Wow, I hadn’t pictured you from Florida.”
“People can’t help where they’re born,” he replied in a cryptic, cutting tone. His lips were a bitter slant of amusement. “You said you lived on the ocean. Which one?”
“Pacific. I grew up in Malibu.”
“You didn’t want to stay in the place you knew so well?”
“That was the reason why I had to leave. Did you design this home yourself?” she asked, changing the topic swiftly.
“I picked out the design, and it was built for me. I’m not much of a decorator, as you can see,” he replied, waving his hand toward the great room.
“You work upstairs?”
He nodded. “What did you do before you came to Alaska?”
“I was studying to be a teacher,” she said softly. “Elementary grade.”
Love Story for a Snow Princess (Siren Publishing Classic) Page 6