Page 32 of Hensley Manor
“Are you warming up?” he asked.
I focused on him, noticing how the blinking lights danced in his eyes. “Yeah. Thanks. This is the best hot chocolate I’ve ever had.”
We walked past a few vendors, and I stopped to pick up a few things before setting them back down and moving on. The atmosphere did nothing but remind me of a time when I was happy.
“You ready to head back?” Ian asked, after another hour had passed.
I nodded and shoved my hands into my pockets.
When we returned from the festival, Ian and I drank wine in the drawing room and played a game of chess. Neither of us spoke for a while, but I sensed him watching me when I calculated my next move. I’d much rather have him naked in my bed right now instead of playing a stupid board game.
“I want you to know something,” he said, drawing my attention to his face. A frown tugged at his lips. “I don’t normally act that way, you know, sleeping with a man I just met. Hookups aren’t my thing. I prefer to build solid relationships that eventually lead to sex.”
“Oh.”
Did he regret what we did?
“I don’t regret it.” Ian moved his bishop forward. “I don’t see you as a random hookup, Cole. What I felt with you…it went beyond hooking up. At least for me. I just wanted you to know that this is uncommon for me, and I might not get it right.”
“It is for me, too,” I eventually said.
“After my last relationship, I kind of shut down.” Ian leaned back in his chair, the chess game forgotten. “It took me a while to come back from it.”
“Are you saying you want to take it slow?” I asked, going to take another drink of wine but finding the glass empty. Damn. “That’s cool if you do.”
Ian watched me a moment before dropping his gaze to his hands. Maybe he was afraid of getting hurt again. I knew I was. The connection I felt to Ian was intense and completely unexpected. It had come at me like a freight train.
One moment I’d been standing in the dark, making my way through life, and then Ian came barreling toward me on the tracks.
I felt like the kid onThe Polar Expresswhen he debated on getting on the train in the beginning of the story. Then, it had taken off, leaving him behind, and he panicked at the thought of being left out in the cold—of never knowing where the train led. Ian made me feel that way, and it terrified me.
Because what if he decided to leave me in the cold?
What if the greatest adventure of my life began with taking his hand and stepping into the unknown?
Later that night, I lay in my bed and stared at the tree outside my window. The gust of winter wind caused the mostly bare branches to creak. I shivered at the thought of how cold it was out there and raised the blanket to my neck.
After we’d played two games of chess, Ian had said we should turn in for the night. I’d waited for him to invite me to his room, but he didn’t. He had walked me to my room, kissed me lightly on the mouth, and left.
And I didn’t like it.
One night in his bed, sleeping beside him, had kind of spoiled me. I didn’t want the cold mattress behind me when I rolled over. The cool sheets. I didn’t want the perfectly fluffed pillow that should’ve been sloped in the center from him sleeping on it.
Goddammit, I just didn’t want to be alone anymore.
I flipped to my other side and closed my eyes, hearing the branches still creaking and groaning outside the window. Chills spread along my flesh, and I didn’t know if it was all in my head or if it was actually that freaking cold in my room. I could get up and start a fire in the fancy ass fireplace, but that required effort.
A light knock came at the door.
I jerked my head up, not sure if I’d heard it or not. But then it came again, a little harder. I rolled out of bed and shivered at the cool air nipping at my bare skin. When I opened the door, Ian grabbed my face and kissed me.
I grunted and fell back a bit, but my hands moved to his waist, accepting the heat of his body. Accepting anything he wanted to give me. I tugged him into the room, and he kicked the door closed behind him.
We fell together in bed, lips joined and hands roaming anywhere they could. I reveled in the weight of his body on mine. His scent surrounded me. And just like that, the chill left me and a fire burned in my belly. A fire fueled by Ian and the amazing way he made me feel.
“I couldn’t sleep,” he panted against my mouth, that strand of hair falling across his brow as he stared down at me.
“Me either.” I kissed his throat, and his little rasps of breath were all the encouragement I needed to graze my fingers beneath his shirt and lift it up.
