Page 19 of Mr. Winter
“Get some rest, Arden. There’s no point in trying to escape.”
The cell disappears the moment I leave the room. Moving down the hall, I go into the bedroom that used to be mine and fall into bed. I know she tries to escape because I hear her scream of frustration. She must’ve just found out about the loop she’s in right now. No matter how she tries to leave the room or ensuite bathroom, she’ll end up where she started.
This is the first time in a long time that I fall asleep with a smile on my face.
Chapter 10
Arden
After a good hour of trying to escape, I accepted that I’m stuck here. More so, even if he didn’t have me in this crazy loop. I understood that I would have either ran back here or froze to death. It’d finally settled down enough to change into the shirt he left me and crawl into the bed—his bed. It pissed me off more being wrapped in his scent in his home with him being the world's biggest douche even if this is better than an icy cell. My body had finally shut down after an hour of internal rants.
It’s morning now, and the snow still falls heavily outside because of my captor. Okay, I broke in, and he’s just not allowing me to leave but still…asshole. Stretching, I climb out of the bed to find a new toothbrush and a fresh shirt next to my charging phone. He came back. I take a hot shower to wake myself up better, and he appears while I’m brushing my teeth.
Our eyes lock in the mirror, so it takes me a moment to realize he’s equally as naked as he was last night. He steps into the all-glass shower and begins washing his body like I’m not in his bathroom. My intention was to glare at him, but I find myself watching him take a shower like he’s a reality t.v. episode. Espen Jack is tall like the Fairhope men, but he’s raised-in-the-country-and-work-hard thick. He’s bulkier than a swimmer’s body but not bodybuilder huge. He’s built like he gives damn good hugs if he weren’t mean. The water and soap fall down his body, dipping through his pecs, down his abs, and to his…
“If you’re going to watch, you could at least join,” he teases me as he takes slow, soapy strokes of his dick.
I think he’d started by washing it, but that has led to something else. “Hell, no, Jack.”
“It’s Espen, now.”
“I knew you as Jack. Imma call you Jack.”
He smirks, looking damn sexy with wet hair and that chiseled jaw of his. My eyes drop again. “You can at least kiss it good morning.”
I exhale sharply and leave the bathroom which seems pointless since the image is etched into my brain. I stop short when I spot the bed. Maple bacon and the omelette I usually get when I have breakfast with Mack are on a plate in the middle of the bed. My stomach growls at the sight.
“Eat,” Espen Jack commands.
I turn to find him still naked but rubbing a towel over his wet hair. Normally, I would argue, but I am hungry. I take a bite but am not surprised to find that it’s delicious.
My prison guard lies across the foot of the bed on his side facing me while I eat. He’s still naked, but he rests his head on the fist that’s propped up since his elbow is on the bed.
“Myron must have been terrible in bed. You’re eating like it’s better than fucking and that’s impossible,” he annoyingly points out.
“First of all, mind your business.”
“I am. I’m feeding the nosy trespasser who broke into my home. What would Mr. Fairhope say?”
“I didn’t break, just entered—which I wouldn’t have to do if you were somewhat civil, Jack-ass.”
His dimple pops when he smirks. “I see what you did there. I don’thaveto do anything other than what I’m doing.”
“Bullshit. You refused to keep the Winters’ tradition of the ceremony. Your family is just as important as the Fairhopes! Your name is on half the buildings in this country, but you can’t bother to leave your house for a few hours at most. I didn’t ask you to run any committees or get married. Just push a fucking button. How hard is that? Or, I need you to stand in one spot for five minutes while people auction on you to raise money for charity. People avoid this house because they don’t know who in the hell you are, and there are all kinds of crazy rumors about you because you’re a selfish ass who opted to sit in his house all year.”
He must move at warp speed as well because my back is instantly on the bed, and his thumb caresses my throat as he hovers over me. I didn’t even see him move. He’s breathtaking this close, but it’s not the focus right now.
“I’d prefer you’d ask what I was doing instead of making assumptions.”
“Assumptions are all we have since you’re not exactly accommodating. Theonly reasonyou’re talking to me is because I arrived right before you caused a blizzard.”
“Or y’all can mind your business. My absence has no effect on anyone’s day.”
“How the fuck would you know. Look who’s assuming now.”
I push at his chest because my emotions are rising, and I’m not about to cry about his cold exit again. It was about fifteen years ago, and now that I know he’s alive and well, I need to let him go.
“Get off me,’ I yell, but he doesn’t budge. I want to cry, but I don’t want to cry in front of him, so I stick with anger.
