A small tear drifted over Grant Winters’ weathered face. “I wish this had never happened to our family,” he said, his words heavy with bitterness.
“But it did, and I’ve been dancing around this for years. It’s time this man ends his hold on me.”
“Then you’ll take my plane. My pilot knows the route.”
Paden gave him a small nod.
The next morning Paden couldn’t eat anything. He was barely able to stomach half a cup of coffee before announcing it was time they left. Grant and Darlene watched them drive down the road, waving.
The driver took them to the airfield where Grant’s private plane waited, already prepped to go. The flight to Jacksonville only took an hour where another car waited for them. It took another hour to arrive on the lonely stretch of road that had nothing else but sign stretching over the road with the words “Florida State Prison” identifying it. Their driver pulled up to the guard shack where they were met with the Regional Director.
They were taken through several areas and several inspection sights, then passed through many metal detectors until they were finally escorted into the visitor’s area. Paden’s hands shook, and Thea took one in hers and held it tightly.
When Inmate number 348394 walked out, all the air left Paden in a whoosh. Thea didn’t know what to expect but the man brought before them was hardly a monster. In fact, he was barely more than a shriveled-up old man, one who had to walk slightly stooped from the chains around his feet linking up with his hands. His thinning, oily hair haloed around a large bald spot on top of his head. The large, bulbous nose had red bumps all over it, which extended over the bridge to his cheeks. He had the classic look of a man who had not taken care of himself at all, thin except with a paunch belly from a lack of muscle tone. His eyes were narrow, a faded brown, runny from age.
The man sat in front of a Plexiglas table and stared blankly at Paden. He reached over and pushed the button before he spoke. “Do I know you?”
Paden pushed his own button. “You don’t remember me?”
The man squinted and shook his head.
Paden pushed his button again. “I’m the Winters’ kid.”
The man’s eyes widened then went flat. He pushed the button. “I got nothing to say to you.”
Paden pushed his button. “But I got something to say to you. For twenty-five years you were a monster in my head, but actually, now that I see you, you’re just fucking pathetic, you know that? You’ve rotted away inside those chains. I used to wish for your death, but now I’m kind of glad you’re still wearing those nice bracelets.”
Cale Kritchkofen gave him the finger.
Paden snorted and hit his button again. “You really are a worthless piece of shit.”
He stood up, his hand clenching hers tightly. He gave one last look at the withered man, who sat in his chair shouting obscenities they couldn’t hear, and shook his head before turning to walk away.
Chapter Twenty
“Are you all right?” Thea asked him as they rode back to the airport.
Paden had buried his face in his hands the moment the door had closed behind him. “I can’t believe I let that man claim my life for so long.”
“It’s over now.”
Paden looked at her. “Is it? Can my psyche suddenly just turn itself around? Forget? Now I’m magically healed just by telling a man to go fuck himself?”
Thea grabbed his hands. “Yes. If you’re willing to let him go.”
Paden frowned. “What do you mean?”
“Sometimes it’s really easy to hide behind the trauma.”
He jerked his hands from her. “Are you saying I want to keep cutting myself?”
“No, but…letting go is hard. Believe me. It took me a year.”
They didn’t talk for the rest of the journey back to Jacksonville. The plane was waiting for them again, whisking them back to Miami where their driver brought them back to Bal Harbour. Paden disappeared into his room, leaving Thea to talk to his parents.
* * * *
Paden stood on the small patch of beach near his parents’ house, far enough from the water to not get his feet wet and yet close enough to hear the occasional break in the water as it crested. Breathtaking oranges and reds painted the horizon and bathed the land in burning streaks. Boats traversed the water, sending out gentle ripples that lapped hungrily at the sand.
Turmoil boiled through his mind because now he was free, or supposedly free. Truth be told, he did feel different, but could it be his mind playing tricks? He wanted to test if the invisible specter that had clung to him for years had suddenly vanished, but he was half-afraid to try. What if Thea had been wrong and all of this had been for nothing?
Yet, what if Thea had been right?
Could it have been this easy? Just a visit to an old, decrepit man rotting away in jail and suddenly he was cured? He understood his parents protecting him, and when he was twenty-five he had run off to Alaska to live a life devoid of any feeling or emotional connection. But over the years he had learned to love the starkness of River Ice, the perpetual darkness in the winter. In comparison, Miami was a little too bright. A little too warm. A little too crowded.
Paden took a deep breath. There was no doubt that he wanted to go back, but would Thea go with him?
Of course, that all depended if the monster was gone for good.
Was he too scared to try?
Well, if he was going to do this, if he was going to test it, he wanted to do it right, do it with finesse and panache. He owed Thea that. He owed her so much he figured he’d spend the rest of his life doing anything to make her happy.
As long as the monster was gone.
Chapter Twenty-One
The next morning Thea walked into the kitchen and stopped short. Darlene and Grant were there, with two suitcases by the table.
“Oh, good!” Darlene said as she spotted Thea. “You’re up before we take off.”
“You’re leaving? Where are you going?”
“I got a call last night that there’s a problem with production in the Marseilles plant,” Grant explained as he finished the last of his coffee. “I’ve got to fly there to figure it out, and Darlene thought this would be a great time to do a little shopping.”
“Marseilles, France?”
He nodded.
“But we just got here,” Thea said. “I mean, you haven’t seen Paden in ten years. Can’t someone else handle the problem?”
He sighed. “I know. I wish. But it’s an executive problem, and as president I need to go.”
“Oh, well, of course. How long will you be gone?”
“Two days.”
“Wow, that’s a fast turnaround! I was thinking weeks.”
“Even my wallet wouldn’t hold up to weeks of Darlene shopping.”
Darlene smacked him in the arm, and Grant winced.
“Does Paden know?”
“Yes,” Darlene answered. “He’s going with us to the airport to see us off.”
Thea smiled. “Good. I’m glad. Have a safe trip.”
She hugged both of them and waved as Grant grabbed the two suitcases and headed out of the house. By herself in the huge mansion, she felt a little lost. She grabbed a yogurt and ate it as she headed back upstairs to put on a bathing suit. The pool was heavenly, and she decided to take advantage of the luxury.
She had moved to the hot tub by the time Paden returned. He walked out on the patio and shaded his eyes as he stared at her. She waved him over.
“Want to join me?”
He started shedding his clothes.
She laughed. “What are you doing?”
“Joining you.”
He pulled his pants down, and, dressed only in his boxer briefs, entered the water. Then he pulled her bikini-clad body against his. She sat nestled in the circle of his arms, her back to his chest and her head leaning against his shoulder.
“I thought we’d have a romantic evening staying in,” he told her. “I’ve
prepared mango chicken and Penne à la Vodka.”
She glanced up at him. “You’re cooking?”
“No, Sylvia is cooking,” he corrected. “I called her on the way here. Did I ever tell you how fast I can dial?”
Thea couldn’t help it. She laughed again and cuddled closer to his body.
“Did your father really need to go to Marseilles?”
“Actually, no. I asked if he and Mom could go away this evening. Mom was the one who thought of France.”
“I thought so. So, now that you have me all to yourself whatever will you do with me?”
He was silent for a moment, and just when she thought he wasn’t going to answer, he kissed her temple. “I wanted to make a romantic evening with you. I figured neither of us are really party people, nor going-out-to-clubs-and-dancing people, so I thought I’d have a romantic dinner in, complete with wine and roses.”
“When is dinner?”
“Five this evening.”
“So we have all day?”
“Yes.”
“How about a cruise around the harbor?”
“You want to go on one of my father’s boats?”
“Do you know how to sail?”
“Of course I know how to sail. But I don’t know if I’m ready to get on a boat again.”
“Oh. I’m sorry, Forget it, we can-”
“No. No, I came here to exorcise the monsters. Boats are just another one to slay.”
* * * *
Thea held back as Paden took hesitant steps onto the bridge of his father’s yacht. She didn’t want to crowd him and make him feel more uncomfortable. It was like watching a bird take those first few leaps off a branch to learn how to fly. And once he had his sea legs back, he soared. Thea had never felt more proud as she watched him reacquaint himself with the world he had left behind.
Paden maneuvered the big boat with ease, though he didn’t stray too far from the dock. When Paden dropped anchor, she stripped off her shorts and shirt and held out the bottle of sunscreen to him. He seemed to take pleasure in greasing up her body over and over and over.
By the time they made it back to the house, the food was ready to be served. Paden dismissed Sylvia with a thanks and a hefty tip, while Thea sprinted upstairs to take a quick shower. She could see the sunscreen helped but didn’t diffuse all the sun. Tan lines from her sunglasses encircled her eyes.
She donned a buttercup-yellow sundress and brushed out her hair until the curls fell in gentle waves around her face. She put on some mascara and lip gloss and headed downstairs where Paden waited.
He pulled out her chair and pushed it in as she sat before serving her a California Riesling. The plates were already served, so she clinked her glass with his and started eating.
“This is heavenly,” she said after the first bite.
“Yeah, it’s one of my favorites.”
“I thought caribou was your favorite.”
He smiled. “You know, I hated caribou when I first tasted it. It’s really tough meat. But since there wasn’t all that much selection at the Suinnak, I sucked it up.”
She laughed. “So, what you’re saying is that it does not taste like chicken.”
“Well, not the way Miki cooks it.”
After dinner, Paden made coffee and they retired onto the balcony, to watch the twinkling lights of Miami.
“Will you dance with me?”
She looked at him. “Now?”
He held out his hand. When she placed hers in his, he stood and pulled her into his body. They used the music of the night, the hum of the water, to guide them as they swayed back and forth.
“I wanted to dance with you that night at the auditorium,” he admitted. “I was so jealous of Caleb, that he was the one allowed to hold you, to pull you close.”
The glittering heat in his eyes held her captive. “You have me now.”
He tightened his embrace. “I never want to let you go.”
“I don’t want you to.”
He leaned down and kissed her softly on the lips. “I love you, you know that, right?”
“I was hoping.”
“The first time I saw you, I knew you’d change everything.”
She raised an eyebrow. “Are you sorry about that?”
He shook his head. “Not now. At the time, I was terrified.”
“I love you, too, Paden.”
He stopped dancing, gave her another light kiss, and then fell to one knee. From his pocket he pulled out a small velvet box and opened it. The ring was shaped like a snowflake, with a round diamond in the center and small diamonds circling around it.
Tears flooded her eyes.
“Would you, Panthea Snow, marry me?”
She nodded before she could get the word out. “Yes!”
He slid the ring on her finger, and she threw her arms around him, holding him tightly to her.
“Take me upstairs,” she whispered.
He scooped her up in his arms and marched through the house, taking her into his bedroom. He kicked the door closed behind him and set her down. Their lips met, meshed, kissing and taking from each other happiness and love.
She stepped away and untied the string holding her dress up. It floated down in a puff of cotton, revealing that she wore nothing under it.
“You once drove me out of my mind,” she said. “It’s my turn.”
She took his hand and led him to the edge of the bed and unbuttoned his shirt, pushing it off his shoulders. Thea fell to her knees in front of him, and her hands glided upwards, curving around his outer thighs to his tight buttocks before coming around and sliding to his groin. She unbuttoned his pants and slowly eased the zipper down before tugging at them. The smooth material came down easily, pooling at his feet. His cock tented his briefs, so she carefully pulled them around the large shaft. Then she picked one foot at a time to help him step out of his fallen pants.
His body was beautiful, a testament to the rigors of living an Alaskan lifestyle. She ran her hands over his muscles, appreciating the corded strength that rippled through them. His cock was eye level with her, and she saved that for last, gently taking it between her hands as she explored it carefully.
Longer than her hands, it held a slight curve so that it reached toward his stomach. His scrotum hung heavy behind it, and she lightly tickled the sensitive skin behind it. Other than a twitch, he remained impassive, his hands fisted at his side. She leaned forward and rose up on her knees, able to lick his cock from the base to the tip. He sucked in his breath, so she did it again. She kissed the tip, licked it, tasting his early juice before sliding her lips over it.
Her mouth engulfed him as her tongue swirled around his shaft before coming back up. She could feel his body quiver now, but his hands stayed at his sides. She sucked slowly and tried to swallow all of the large cock with each pass. After a few minutes, she let the hard cock pop out of her mouth so she could lavish the large vein underneath with her tongue. Then she nuzzled further, licking his balls, teasing him until he finally broke. Paden groaned and buried his fingers in her hair, guiding her head back onto his now throbbing cock.
She held back long enough to look up at him. “Fuck my face,” she whispered.
His eyes closed as he sped up his movements. She grabbed his ass, clenching her fingers into the flexed muscles and holding on as he thrust into her mouth. He was able to go all the way in, and she made an effort to relax her throat. This moment was for him, it was all about him.
Just as she thought he was ready to let loose, he abruptly pulled out of her mouth. Her eyes snapped open. He reached for her, bringing her up to kiss her hard on her mouth, juice and all. His tongue slipped in, twirling with hers. Their bodies meshed together as his leg inserted between her thighs, her core grinding on him. He half-picked her up, half-dragged her to the bed, where he fell backward and she sprawled on top of him.
He brought her knees up on either side of his hips, forcing her to straddle him. His hands ran up her body, ov
er her breasts to cup her head. He pushed up to meet her halfway for another kiss.
As they broke apart, his hips undulated against her.
“Why don’t you put on a condom?” she panted as she ground down on his pelvis.
A frown formed between his eyes. She realized that this was the moment where he either believed and allowed himself to let go or not.
“In my pants pocket,” he murmured.
Her heart almost burst. She moved off him and reached for his pants, finding the small foil wrapper. He watched her, so with a wicked grin she rolled it onto the tip then used her mouth to roll it down.
He gasped then groaned.
“Where did you learn that?”
“One night, when I was in college, my girlfriends and I decided to watch some porn and I thought that might be an interesting trick to learn, so I practiced on a banana.”
He blinked and then started to laugh. Immediately, the bad tension in his body relaxed. He grabbed her legs and settled her back across him, only this time she sank down on his cock, easing little by little until he was fully buried inside.
She held still for a moment, letting his girth stretch her. As she started to ride him, she slid her right hand behind her to play with his balls. This caused her breasts to thrust outward, toward him, and he quickly took advantage by touching them, rubbing the nipples and pinching them lightly.
She used her leg muscles to bounce up and down, squeezing his cock with her inner vaginal muscles as if she were milking him. His hands ran down her body, and he flicked his thumb over her clit, right where they were joined. She moaned and pressed herself against his finger, so he rubbed it more.
“Oh! Paden!” she cried. “I’m going to come!”
“Do it, Princess, come on my cock.”
“Oh yes, yes!” she called out, flinging her head back.
Her rhythm broke as waves of pleasure cascaded over her. Every atom in her body seized up, and she ground herself down hard against the pressure on her clit. She shivered and then collapsed on top of him. Paden’s arms came around her.
Love Story for a Snow Princess (Siren Publishing Classic) Page 11