by Lily Graison
She shut the door, reaching out to grab the calendar on the wall when the wind blew it from the nail it was hanging on. A glance at the date and she smiled. Two more weeks until Christmas. Two more weeks until she’d be showered with love and gifts. Her father’s annual Christmas party was probably all but planned by now with a guest list in the hundreds. The house would soon be filled with happy, laughing friends and family, bows and ribbons making the house come alive, colored lights twinkling from the tree and mouth-watering treats she’d indulge in until she felt ready to pop.
She frowned an instant later. If I’m here, I won’t have any of that.
Hanging the calendar, she turned and frowned. It didn’t even seem like Christmas here. There wasn’t a tree. No bright packages or ribbons. No festive decorations, no holiday music. Just…a bare cabin.
Longing for home flooded her instantly. She’d waited impatiently for Christmas break. For a few weeks of no school work, no professors, and what did she get for that unbearable torment? A sparse cabin that didn’t even have a Christmas tree.
She walked to the couch and fell back onto it, sitting with her shoulders slumped and a frown on her face.
That was the way Travis found her when he walked in the door. The look on her face alarmed him and sent him across the room with hurried steps. “What’s wrong?”
She looked up at him and the look on her face nearly broke his heart. She looked so…lost.
“You don’t have a tree.”
He raised one brow. “A tree?”
She nodded her head. “You’re supposed to have a tree. It’s not the same if you don’t.”
Travis reached up and scratched his chin, giving her a curious look. “I’m afraid I don’t understand what you mean, Meredith. The forest is full of trees.”
“A Christmas tree,” she said. “Why don’t you have one?”
He opened his mouth to speak but no answer came. When was the last time he’d even bothered with that tradition? Christmas was just another day to him. He shrugged his shoulders and said, “What use would it serve? There’s no one here but me.”
Her shoulders slumped further and she looked ready to cry any second. “I really appreciate everything you’ve done for me, but I’d like to go home now.”
He stared down at her. She had a family waiting for her, people who loved her and would want her with them at Christmas. He smiled sadly and nodded his head at her. “As soon as the roads are passable, I’ll take you to town.”
Her eyes became glassy, tears pooling at the corners and he turned away. Away from her lovely face and the pain he saw there. He shrugged out of his coat, hanging it on the peg.
“How long have you lived up here?”
Travis stilled and memories he’d just as soon forget flashed in his mind. “A few years,” he said, quietly.
“Alone?”
“Yes.”
He turned and faced her. She was looking at him, curiosity obvious on her features.
“Why?” she asked.
He shrugged. “Why not?”
“Have you ever been married?”
“Have you?”
“Lord no!” she laughed. “I’m only nineteen. I’m entirely too young for marriage.”
“Nineteen?” Travis said, shocked. “God, you’re practically a baby.”
“I am not!” she said, outraged. “I can vote.”
“Barely.”
“How old are you?” she asked.
“Old,” Travis said, walking to the kitchen and filling a glass with water.
“How old is old?”
“Thirty-one.”
She gasped. “God, you are old.”
Travis chuckled humorlessly. Of all the luck. He’d finally met a woman who tempted him and she was twelve years younger than he was. He felt ashamed of himself just thinking about what he’d done in the shower the night before. She was practically a baby. And he felt like a dirty old man for having lustful thoughts about her.
“Why do you live up here all alone?”
The answer to that made him wince. He turned to face her, sitting his glass on the cabinet. “What happened to the girl I walked in on? The one obviously distressed because I didn’t have a Christmas tree?” he grinned, trying to change the subject.
“She’s bored out of her mind,” Meredith said. “And since you brought it back up, how long until the roads clear?”
“I didn’t mention anything about the roads, but since you asked, it could be days.” Her eyes widened in shock. “Sorry,” he said. “My truck is good on a few inches of snow but nothing could pass the mountain in this storm. Look’s like we’re stuck with each other for a little while.”
He watched several emotions cross her face before she sighed and sat up straight. “Okay then, in that case, we need a tree.”
“A tree?”
“Yes,” she said, exasperated. “A Christmas tree? You really need to try and follow the conversation more closely.”
“What exactly are you going to put on a tree? As you can see, I’ve misplaced my holiday decorations.”
“Just leave that to me,” she said. “You’d be amazed at what I can do with so little.”
He looked at her, ready to ask what exactly she would decorate with, but stilled a second later. His gaze landed on the fireplace. Or rather, above it. He nodded to the covered deer head. “I’ll assume that’s your idea of decorating.”
She turned her head and looked behind her. “It was staring at me,” she whined.
He laughed. “It’s dead. I doubt very seriously it was staring at you.”
“It was!” she exclaimed. “Every where I walked, it was watching me. It’s creepy.”
“That,” Travis said, pointing to the now covered deer, “Is a 16-point white tail with a perfect rack. Do you have any idea how rare that is? I tracked that big bastard for ten hours after I shot him. He almost got away.”
“Uh, and I care, why?” Meredith said. “You shouldn’t kill animals.”
“Did you enjoy your bacon this morning?”
“Huh? What does that have to do with this conversation?”
“Someone killed that pig to make the bacon. Should they have left him alone too?”
“That’s entirely different,” she said, waving his comment away with the flick of her wrist. “Killing for sport isn’t right.”
“I didn’t kill him for sport,” Travis said. “I killed him for food. You had the pleasure of enjoying him last night, as a matter of fact.”
Meredith gasped and turned a murky shade of green before paling completely. “Oh my god,” she squeaked out. “I ate…him?” she said, pointing to the wall.
“Afraid so,” Travis said.
“I think I’m going to be sick.”
Travis rubbed a hand over his face. “Has anyone ever accused you of being a drama queen?”
“No, why?”
“No reason,” he laughed. He walked to the door, grabbed his coat and slipped it back on.
“Where are you going?” Meredith asked, jumping up from the couch.
“Outside. I have work to do.”
“What am I suppose to do?”
Travis looked around the cabin and frowned before shrugging his shoulder. “I don’t have the foggiest clue,” he said. “Take a nap?” He thought for a minute and looked to the dresser. “There are a few magazines in the corner. It’s the best I can do for entertainment.”
An apologetic shrug of his shoulder and he was gone. Meredith sighed and turned, walking to the dresser and found the stack of magazines. She grabbed an armful and crawled back in bed, covering her legs with the blankets, and rummaged through the stack. She frowned before cursing. “They’re all hunting magazines!” she yelled to no one. “My god this man needs to broaden his horizons. He has to be the most boring person on the planet.”
But he’s still pretty. “Yes, he is that,” she grinned. “Pretty…and old.” Thirty-one. Wow. She never would have guessed that. Mid to late tw
enties, yes, but thirty-one? Did it matter though? Age was just a number, right? Her mother had been almost twenty years younger than her father. It didn’t mean they’d loved each other less because of it. Besides, it wasn’t like she wanted to marry Travis. She just wanted…
Meredith blushed and ducked her head, admitting to herself that she really did want him and not just to cook her meals. She wanted what every girl wanted when she looked at a handsome man. To be in his arms, to be kissed like there wasn’t anyone else in the world he’d rather have. To have strong hands cradle her close to him and make her body burn.
She couldn’t count the number of frat boys who’d asked her out with only one thing on their mind. Or the number of them that walked away with nothing but a soft kiss on the cheek. She wasn’t easy and never had been. Good girls didn’t just hand themselves over to be some sweaty boys wet dream come to life. But Travis? Oh yes, she’d be his, in a heartbeat. The realization of that fact stunned her. While all her friends were out bedding every cute boy they saw, she’d done the exact opposite. She wasn’t giving her virginity to some drooling boy who only wanted to get off. She was saving herself. For what, she had no clue. Maybe for a drop-dead, gorgeous mountain man with mesmerizing blue eyes?
The thought caused her pulse to race and made her stomach clench in anticipation. What would it take to make him want her? She knew he found her attractive. She’d seen him looking at her in much the same way other men did. But just because he enjoyed the view didn’t mean he wanted to get naked and sweaty with her.
She closed her eyes at the thought, imaging him naked, sweat glistening on the muscles she just knew were hidden under his clothes. His big hands caressing her flesh, those luscious lips gliding over her skin and his long, hard length dipping into her folds. She shuddered, her breaths uneven, and she moaned, clenching her thighs together to still the sudden throbbing between her legs.
Opening her eyes, she pushed the magazines away and crawled deeper into the bed. She stared at the ceiling, sighing before letting her muscles relax. “I’m trapped with the most gorgeous man I’ve ever laid eyes on. How does one properly seduce a man?”
She stared at the ceiling for long minutes, her mind wandering on what she thought would turn his head. Several ideas popped came to her and she smiled as one in particular caused her to smile. “That might work,” she said to herself. “It won’t hurt to try.”
Jumping from the bed, she went to the window, looking out. She wondered how long he’d be out there and decided it didn’t matter. She’d wait. What else did she have to do?
Chapter Four
Travis heard the shower turn off and felt instantly nervous. It was silly really. He hadn’t been nervous around a woman in years. He certainly hadn’t went out of his way to impress one either, but here he was, standing in his living room staring at the first Christmas tree he’d ever bothered to cut. It was a great tree, though. He’d found it on the ridge, sitting off to itself. It wasn’t overly large but neither was his cabin. Anything bigger and they wouldn’t have managed with the thing in the room.
He looked to the bathroom and turned, shrugging off his coat and hanging it on the peg by the door when he heard her humming behind the closed door. It opened a second later and he could only stare when she walked out.
Her hair was pulled up high on her head, held in place by what looked to be pencils. A few tendrils dangled down her back and rested on the only thing she wore. A very short towel. It was barely decent. Water glistened on her ivory skin and all the blood in his body rushed south when she walked to the bed, turned her back to him and dropped the towel. Her perfect heart shaped bottom met his gaze and he must have made a sound because she turned suddenly, flashing him a quick peek at pert breasts, and lower things, before she gasped, grabbed the dropped towel from the floor, and quickly covered herself.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t know you were back,” she stammered, clutching the towel.
Travis mumbled something he was pretty sure sounded completely stupid and turned, walking out the front door without a backwards back.
Meredith bit the inside of her cheek to keep the smile wanting to form at bay. His hasty retreat made only more comical when the door opened again, his long arm snaking in and jerking his coat from the peg. It shut an instant later. The giggle came abruptly and before she could control it, she was laughing. Triumphantly. She raised her hand, covering her mouth to stifle the sound.
If the look on his face was any indication, her plan had worked perfectly. A good thing, too. She’d pulled her hair up and stood vigil by the window for over an hour, waiting for any sign of him. The minute she saw him, she’d rushed to the bathroom, stripped, and jumped in the shower. She’d strained to hear him and when she was sure he was inside, promptly climbed out, and dressed in the smallest towel the man owned. Acting like he wasn’t in the room had been hard. The temptation to look at him when she’d walked out of the bathroom was like torture. It paid off, though. Him running out the door was an even better reaction than she thought. Not to mention the “hand through the open door” thing. Priceless.
She picked up the boxer shorts she’d found in the dresser and slipped them on, folding and rolling the waist down until they fit snuggly on her hips. A t-shirt smaller than the one she’d been wearing was knotted at the waist and she felt almost like a girl again. Sure it wasn’t a great ensemble but much better than what she had been forced to stay in all day. Not that having to wear his clothes was a burden. They smelled of him. His scent tickled her senses every second of the day and caused her hormones to stay in a constant state of arousal. Now if she could just get him in the same state.
She turned when she was finished dressing. That’s when she noticed the tree. It took up the entire corner and the smile on her face, she was positive, made her look completely insane. She didn’t care. Travis had brought her a tree. A freshly cut, Christmas tree.
“Oh, Travis,” she said, laughingly. “You great big beautiful man, you. I could kiss you!”
She stared at the tree before looking around the room. What would she put on it? She couldn’t leave it bare. What was a Christmas tree without decorations?
* * * *
It was almost dark when Travis stopped in front of the cabin door. He’d been avoiding it, and Meredith, all evening but knew he couldn’t hide out in his workshop all night. He needed to eat for one thing and Meredith would freeze to death if he didn’t get a decent fire going.
He sighed, laying his forehead against the cold wood of the door, and closed his eyes. No matter how long he’d been away or what he’d done, he could still see her, naked as the day she was born, and his body ached with the need to touch her. He didn’t know how many times he’d walked out of the workshop with full intentions of walking into the cabin, grabbing, and kissing her completely stupid. He’d made it as far as the front door only once, though.
His body had hummed with barely contained lust. The urge to cover her body with his and thrust into that soft flesh made his bones ache. It had been too long. He knew that now. He’d never wanted anyone the way he wanted Meredith but he wasn’t at all sure it was just his abstinence that was causing it. She’d gotten under his skin in less than a day. Her carefree attitude and quirky ways were endearing. She was like a breath of fresh air that he’d been denied. She made him feel…alive. Something he hadn’t felt in some time.
But she’s so young, he thought. And her father is Willis Gunter. He grimaced at the thought. Of all the girls to stumble onto his mountain. What were the odds? It had to be a cruel twist of fate. Or a complete set up. Had the old man found a way to repay him at last? Did he send his beautiful daughter up to tempt him, to dangle her sweet ass in front of him, and then snatch her away?
“That’s ridiculous,” he said to himself. “You’re thinking too much.”
Shaking away the thoughts and not being able to put off the enviable any longer, he opened the door and went inside. He was stunned at what he saw.
“It’s not too much, is it?”
He looked around the room, at the tree, and then, at her. She was standing by the fireplace, nibbling on her bottom lip with an uncertain look on her face.
He glanced back at the tree and smiled. “It looks perfect,” he said, said. And it was. She smiled at him then and it nearly staggered him.
She clapped her hands excitedly and immediately walked to the tree. “I only used your oldest magazines for the ornaments so don’t get your boxers in a twist,” she said. “Do we need more?”
He shook his head, amazed. “No,” he said, crossing the room and looking at the ornaments she’d made. Origami angels, birds and flowers graced the branches; the pages from the magazines she’d used were bright and colorful. She’d made dozens of them, scattering them around the room and over the fireplace mantel. He picked one from the tree, looking at the intricate flower, and smiled.
“Where did you learn to make these?”
“One of my nannies taught me how,” she said. “After my mother died, daddy needed someone to look after me. We went through several nannies before we found Margaret. She was the only nanny who didn’t just tell me to go to my room and entertain myself. I think she actually liked me.”
“Your other nannies didn’t?”
She shrugged. “They seemed to…at first. I think they just liked my father’s money, though. My nannies were paid well.”
He made a sound deep in his throat, acknowledging her, and placed the paper flower back on the tree.
She turned then, walking to the sofa and picked up a larger paper ornament. It was a star. “I can’t reach the top,” she said. “Will you put it up?”
He nodded his head, watching her walk back across the room toward him. The look on her face made his pulse quicken and he swallowed heavily when she stopped in front of him. Only a breath separated them. She was so close he could smell the shampoo she’d washed her hair with. The scent of him on her skin from his clothes. He looked down at her, noticing for the first time what she was wearing. A pair of his boxers and a t-shit pulled tight against her body, molding around her curves. It was obvious she was sans bra. Her nipples were button tight and poking into the fabric.