Now we’re speeding along in one of his cars that I didn’t know he owned. A big, green jeep that I had difficulty climbing into. He’d helped me in, blindfolded me, and then disappeared for a good ten minutes. When he returned, I heard the trunk open, and then we were off.
“I feel like you’re going to murder me and dump my body in the woods.”
“Why would I do that? I like your body,” he says before he runs a hand up my inner thigh.
I sigh. “How much longer?”
“Not long.”
“How long is not long?”
“Longer if you keep asking.”
I scoff. “How can you make a car ride to a fixed destination longer?”
“I could always drive around in circles.”
“Bastard.”
He laughs as he pulls the car to a stop. I hear his car door open before he hops out. Something is crunching beneath his feet as he circles the car to open my door for me. I take his hands, and he helps me down before moving behind me.
“Are you ready?” he whispers in my ear.
“I still kind of feel like you might be trying to kill me. So if you’re asking if I’m ready for death, the answer is definitely no.”
Connor swats my ass. “Smart ass,” he says, but I can hear the laugh on the tip of his tongue.
Gently, he presses a kiss to my ear. It sends a shiver through me, and a warming that starts at the tips of my breasts and spreads down. His hands run up my arms before he softly pulls the blindfold from my face.
I blink against the harsh afternoon sun before my eyes adjust. We’re standing in a clearing, surrounded by large trees. In front of me, there’s a large cabin, and sparkling behind it is a large lake. A single boat sits tied up to the dock, a tiny thing with barely an engine.
“Where are we?” I ask in awe as I begin to move forward.
“My cabin. I brought it a couple of years ago, but I never had any time to use it, really. Whenever I did, I stayed here by myself. I’ve never let anyone else see this place.”
I turn to him, surprised. “You mean, I’m the first one you’ve had here?”
“The first and only one.”
I feel my heart melt a little more. He’s making such an effort to change, to be better, and for once he’s letting someone in. Me. I take his hand, my fingers sliding perfectly inside of his. Giving his hand a squeeze, I smile up at him.
I walk into the cabin as Connor goes back to the car. It’s big, but cozy. There’s a fireplace just begging to be started, big, comfortable-looking furniture, and wood everywhere. I run my hand along the wall.
“I remembered what you said about not having been camping since you were young,” Connor says as I glance up at him. “I hate camping, but I thought this would be a nice compromise,” he says with a grin.
“Please, stop,” I tell him as he sets down a couple of bags.
“Why?” he asks, concern on his face as he takes a step towards me and stops. “Did I do something wrong?”
I shake my head quickly. “I just don’t want to cry,” I say, trying to shove the rising lump in my throat back down where it belongs.
“Oh, Angela,” he says with a sigh, grabbing me up into his arms. He hugs me until I’ve collected myself. Glancing around, my eyes land on a pink duffle bag that I know is mine.
“How’d that get here?”
“I had it packed for you for a while.”
“How long?”
Connor shrugs. “Weeks. It was my plan that once we left my parents’ place, we’d come here for a relaxing vacation. Once we…” He trails off, looking for the right word. “Once we fought, I just couldn’t bring myself to unpack it.”
He walks away quickly, and I know he’s trying to hide that side of him again. I can’t blame him though. The last time he’d been in a relationship, married no less, his wife had been a manipulative, demanding control freak. Being vulnerable had done nothing but let her control him more.
Instead of pushing him, I pick up a bag of groceries that are in the kitchen and begin to sort through them. There are all kinds of food, and each one makes my stomach twist in anticipation just a little more than the last one did. My stomach feels as though it’s trying to eat itself.
“When did you stop for groceries?” I ask as I slip things into the refrigerator and cabinets.
“When you fell asleep. You were out for a minute.”
I laugh. “Next time, just tell me where we’re going.”
“And ruin the surprise?” he says with round eyes. “Never!”
Connor helps me put up the rest of the groceries before he starts working on something for us to eat. We haven’t had it in so long, so we decide to barbecue and snack in the meantime. Connor opens a bottle of wine, and I raise an eyebrow at him.
“It’s non-alcoholic,” he says quickly. “I just wanted the taste.”
A sigh of relief leaves my lips. “Good.”
He pours each of us a glass. Clinking them together, we smile over the rims of the wine glasses at each other while we take a sip. I’m surprised by how good it tastes.
Spending the afternoon with Connor is more than I could have dreamed it would be. We take turns on the grill, flipping the meat and preparing the sides. By the time everything is done, the sun has dipped below the horizon and is fading quickly. Connor starts a fire in front of us, grabs two blankets, and drags two chairs to face the lake.
We eat, talking gently, as if our voices will disturb the picture of serenity around us. The waves shift gently in the lake, making me feel sleepy as I wash down my meal with another glass of wine. I watch the stars infiltrate the sky, until I’m lost in the twinkling.
“It’s beautiful out here,” I sigh. “Thank you for bringing me.”
When he doesn’t say anything, I glance over at Connor. He’s fallen asleep quickly, his head resting on the back of the chair as he gently snores. Stifling a laugh, I collect our plates and glasses before heading back into the kitchen and depositing them into the sink.
“Hey, wake up,” I say gently as I shake Connor’s shoulder.
His eyes flutter open, and he stares at me for a moment before he seems to remember where he is. Then, he’s smiling as I help him out of the chair, and he gets rid of the fire. Leading him back inside, I help him lock up before we go into his bedroom.
Both of us shed our clothes, but we’re too tired to have sex. Instead, he holds me. He pulls me close to his body, his fingers lazily stroking my arm as I sigh in contentment. His breath whispers against my ear, and I’ve never heard such a satisfying sound, the sound of the man I love falling asleep against me.
That realization almost rocks me awake. It’s true, though. I can feel it in every part of me. I don’t even know when I fell in love with him, but there it is, blossoming just beneath the surface.
“Thank you,” Connor whispers, dragging me out of my thoughts.
After a pause, I whisper back, “For what?”
“For dragging me from the edge,” he says as he pulls me closer, holding me tightly. “For saving me.”
Is it possible that I even have tears left after today? I don’t think so, even as I wipe at my eyes with trembling fingertips. A few months ago, he whispered “you’re mine” into my ear. Now he’s thanking me, and without needing to ask I can hear the love that swells in his chest, that is unspoken between us.
I don’t reply; there’s no need to. The only thing either of us needs in that moment is to hold each other close and just be. When we’re together, there are no expectations, no walls, no masks. The effect is both dizzying and sobering, and I find myself never wanting Connor to let me go.
The next morning, we wake up without words as Connor slips inside of me. There’s nothing that needs to be said as he strokes my cheek, my back, my thighs. It’s slow and powerful and full of unspoken words that seem to punctuate our lovemaking.
I love you.
I need you.
I want you.
Don’t s
top. Don’t ever stop.
We lie in the bed for hours, whispering untold secrets as the sun fills the room up with rays of warmth. Sometimes we make love, sometimes we’re silent, but no matter what, we don’t let each other go. Finally, our stomachs growling angrily at us force us out of bed.
“I still owe you a real date,” Connor says as he runs the thick white towel over my body, soaking up the runaway drops of water.
“What was wrong with this date?” I ask with a small grin.
Connor laughs. “Not a damn thing.” He kisses my nose. “Still, I owe you a big night out on the town, and I’m going to do exactly that. I know exactly where I’m taking you.”
I sigh. “Do you know how incredibly sexy it is to have a man say ‘I know exactly where I’m taking you’ instead of the standard ‘I don’t know’?”
“You like a man in control,” he says with a teasing grin on his face.
“I do.”
Connor chuckles as we both slip into jeans and casual t-shirts. We pad barefoot into the kitchen, where he opens the fridge and peers through the surplus of food available. Reaching in, he pulls out eggs, mushrooms, onions, cheese, and milk.
“What are you making?” I ask curiously.
“An omelet. How does that sound to you?”
“Sounds perfect,” I answer, and I mean it.
I watch him as he works on breakfast, laughing as he does a chop or cracks the eggs with a little finesse. Where has this side of him been since we met? He’s playful, laid back, and I can’t get enough of him.
Connor finishes up breakfast, flipping two perfect omelets onto plates before he carries them over to the table. He shakes salsa out of a jar onto both of our plates and goes back for sour cream.
“Oh my god,” I moan around a bite of the food, “this tastes amazing.”
Connor grins. “See? I can be useful.”
We focus on getting to the end of our plates before we talk again. I scoop up the plates, and Connor grabs the cups before I start washing them. He stands beside me, drying the dishes as I hand them over.
“Can I ask you something?” he asks, breaking up the silence.
“No, darling. Those jeans don’t make your ass look big,”
He hits me with the dish towel. “I’m being serious, you brat.”
I laugh. “Of course, you can ask me anything. What is it?”
“What are you going to do now? I mean, are you going back to escorting or…?” He trails off, letting the question hang in the air between us.
I shrug. “I don’t know. I mean, I need a job, but now that my son is here I don’t really want to keep doing that. Besides, with Nathan back in town I don’t want him finding out what I do. It could give him the upper hand if he fights for custody.”
Connor nods, setting a plate in the cabinet. “You could live with me, and I’d take care of you.”
I smile. “As sweet as that offer is, I can’t. I just bought a house, and…I don’t know. I think if I had to sit in the house all day I’d go crazy. Don’t worry,” I say, leaning my head against him briefly as I see the disappointment and worry in his eyes. “I’ll come up with something. Okay?”
Connor nods. We finish dishes before we head out. I have to get back to the house, help with the unpacking.
“Hey,” I say as we slip into the car, “when are we coming back?”
“Whenever you want. I was thinking maybe Mary and your son would like it up here. There are spare rooms that haven’t been used for ages.”
I smile. “I’ll run it by them.”
It takes everything I have to keep a dumb grin off my face. Connor is not only thinking about me: he’s thinking about my family too. He isn’t excluding me from them, not trying to separate us but instead bring us all together. My heart pounds a little faster in my chest.
“Before we head hack,” he says, interrupting my thoughts, “let’s stop for something sweet. Ever since I stopped drinking I have the worst sweet tooth.”
“You had one before you stopped drinking,” I say, lifting an eyebrow.
He grins. “So imagine how bad it is now.”
I roll my eyes as he laughs. We head to the city and are almost instantly swallowed up in a crowd of people. The university isn’t far, and it looks like every student is out, all wrapped up in scarves and sweaters.
Connor leads me to a little cupcake shop called Batter Up. It’s sandwiched between a small art gallery and a yoga studio. I can’t imagine how those women stay fit; I’m just smelling the aroma of the cupcakes for the first time and want them. I smile to myself as we enter the bakery.
I stick to a single cupcake, strawberry cream with chocolate inside and decorated with thinly cut strawberries. Connor orders three. I shake my head at him as we carry steaming cups of coffee to one of the pink and white striped tables and bite into our treats.
“Oh my god,” Connor moans.
“Oh my god,” I echo.
The baker seems to have gotten the perfect blend of flavors, and the cakes aren’t overly sweet. I find myself eating the cake quickly, already wanting another one. It’s official: if the yoga studio is smart they’ll stay next to this bakery forever, because it’s heaven.
“My mouth has never been so happy,” Connor mumbles.
“Rude.”
“My mouth is the second happiest it’s ever been,” he says with a grin.
“Better.”
We finish up our desserts before we head back outside. I shiver a little. Connor takes one look at me and ushers me into the nearest store.
“I’m telling you, I’m fine,” I say with my hands on my hips. “Don’t be so overprotective.”
“Shhh,” he says as he browses through the jackets. “Here we go.”
Connor pulls out a big, baby blue hoodie. There’s something amazingly comforting about hoodies. They relax me. I want to object more, but I also really want to wear it.
“I’m going to call home and make sure everything’s okay.”
Connor nods. “See you in a minute,” he calls as he heads up to the register.
I step outside into the chilly air and reach inside my bag for my phone. Pulling it out, I start to call Mary, when I pause. I haven’t seen him in weeks, but there he is, standing in front of me with a stern look in his eyes.
“New boyfriend?” he asks.
“Go away, Nathan.” My steely eyes are betrayed by the wavering in my voice.
“I told you before, I want to see my son. You can either play along or I can make life a lot harder for you,” he says with a straight face.
I scoff. “Gave up on playing pretend, huh? Time to let your real psychotic colors show?”
“That boy is mine. He belongs to me, and you belong to me. Do you understand?”
“I don’t belong to anyone, and I definitely don’t belong to you. You’re a lowlife, abusive piece of shit, and I’ll never let you have either of us.”
That does it. He reaches out and grabs my arm, his fingernails digging into my skin even through my shirt. I glare back at him. I won’t let him see me flinch, I won’t let him see me flinch, I won’t—
“Take your fucking hands off of her if you want to keep them.”
I look up. Connor’s standing beside me, the bag on the ground. His fists are balled up, and I’ve never realized how big his hands are until this moment. Connor’s eyes are blazing. I don’t doubt for a single second that he would beat Nathan into the ground and go about his day.
Nathan must have seen the danger flashing there, because he releases my arm. I snatch it back and rub my skin. It hurts, more than I care to admit. Nathan looks as though he is considering saying something, but then thinking twice of it.
He shoves a finger in my face. “I will see my son.”
Connor reaches forward with such swiftness Nathan and I are equally shocked when he grabs Nathan’s finger. He pulls the digit back. Nathan lets out a strangled cry as he drops down to his knees, in too much pain to react with anything
other than yelling. Connor lets go of him, takes a step back, and straightens his sleeve.
“Connor!”
“What? He was too close.” He slips his hands into his pockets as he peers down at Nathan. “If I see you around her again, I will make your life a living hell.”
Nathan picks himself up, cradling his finger like it’s an injured bird. “You can’t do this,” he growls. “I’m calling my lawyer.”
Connor shrugs. “Call hm. I have more attorneys under my thumb than you could possibly imagine. Get out of here. I’m feeling very possessive today.”
Nathan takes off, glancing over his shoulder only once before he disappears around the corner. My heart doesn’t stop beating out of control until he’s gone. I turn to Connor.
“You had no right to do that.”
His eyes widen before he presses a finger into his chest. “I just helped you, and you’re pissed at me? What the fuck?”
“He could really hurt my chances of trying to keep Kyle away from him. What if he uses what you did against me? You have to think with your brain instead of being so violent!”
Connor doesn’t say a word. His mouth goes into a straight line, he picks up the bag, and he starts walking. I contemplate letting him storm off in his need for drama, but I’m still vaguely afraid that Nathan will come back.
“Where are you going?” I demand.
“I’m taking you home.”
I scoff. “You’re such a jerk!”
Connor spins around. “I’m the jerk? Rethink what the hell just happened and then try again.”
I cross my arms in front of my chest. “I didn’t ask you to play the white knight and ‘save me.’ I don’t want to be saved!”
“Neither did I,” he says angrily. He stops, takes a deep breath, and massages his forehead. “Just get in the car.”
When I get in the car, I slam the door. Connor silently starts up the engine and glides into traffic. I give him the address, and he finds it easily. I don’t bother saying anything to him as I walk to the door, and apparently the feeling is mutual.
When I get inside of the house, I slam the door. How had something so perfect dissolved into something so terrible? Mary walks out. She’s not using her oxygen tank, so I guess she’s feeling a bit better today.
BOUGHT: A Standalone Romance Page 15