Page 70 of Unwrapped

“No. I can’t. She trusted me.”

“I get that.” He guides me by the elbow as the wind picks up, howling something fierce.

“Is this a blizzard?”

“No, babe. It’s just a normal winter up north.”

Once we’re safely inside. Dare takes my coat, places it in a laundry basket and carries it to the great room where he places it by the warm glow of the fire. “I better get the heat and lights back on.”

“Don’t worry…I’ll still sleep next to you?”

“Naked?”

“Don’t push your luck.”

I place my precious bundle down by the fire and rummage through the mudroom for an old box and some towels. After making a better bed for my new friends, I gently transfer them.

“There. You’re all safe and snug now.” The momma cat settles in, licking her little kittens and I envy her. I long for that. To love a child in the way I always yearned to be loved; in the way my mother never loved me. I know I chose teaching as my profession for a reason. My grown-up heat aches for the forgotten kids. The ones whose parent’s saw right through them. I don’t do that. I make sure every child who enters my classroom door is seen, not just by me but by everyone in the class.

“They all set?”

“I think so.”

“The lights will come on any second.”

I glance at the clock. It’s barely past ten. He’s been so nice all night. Too nice. Not at all the cocky guy who practically threatened to make me his sex slave. Not that it would take much arm twisting to have me naked and kneeling by his feet.

He sits on the couch, patting the seat next to him. The wicked gleam in his eye, warning me the dominant man from last night won’t be patient for much longer.

“Chicken?”

“Ha,” I scoff. But my knees are a bit wobbly as I scoot between him and the reclaimed wood table to take a seat next to him.

“Good.” He lifts my legs, placing them across his lap, then picks up the remote and scrolls through movies.

“The Grinch?”

“It’s a classic.”

“Well, you were kind of a grouch Grinch when we met.”

He cocks an eyebrow, “Oh, yeah? Who am I now, baby?”

“I-I’m honestly not sure.” The soft confession comes out in a rush of whispered words.

His eyes darken.

My heart picks up speed.

It was easy to momentarily forget the dangerous and deliciously dark under currents running through him until his eyes communicate all kinky kinds of dirty shit to me. The kind I’ve only read about but never dared asked any man to do to before. But he can’t. At least not tonight. Not in this moment where all the hope in my heart just went freefalling over the edge of a cliff. Because tonight was more than I thought it would be. Tonight’s been more than the crazy chemistry between us. I’ve started to like the man and keeping this just about sex might be impossible for me. Clearing my throat, I grab the remote, turning the movie up. “Popcorn?”

“How about White Russians with a side of sugar cookies, instead?”

“You had me a sugar cookies.”

“I had you the moment we kissed,” he winks, moving my feet so he can stand. “Don’t go anywhere,” he wags his index finger and winks.

“As if I could. We are snowed in.”

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