Page 94 of All I Want For Christmas

“Savannah, it's me.”

“What are you doing?”

“Um, hey, something's come up.”

“Something? What are you talking about?”

“Well, I've been made aware of an issue,” he started.

He didn't really want to throw his friends under the bus. Well, he did, but he didn't think that was the right choice right now. It wasn't fair that they were trying to drive her out of the cabin, but telling her about the stupid prank wouldn’t make any of this better for her. Maybe he could play this off as an actual wiring problem.

If he was over here making an effort to keep her safe, that would surely give him points. He wouldn’t have to risk that she might not believe that he wasn’t trying to cheat. She didn't need to know what exactly was going on. His friends were dumbasses, no doubt about it. But it was easier to not drag them into this. She was going to be hanging out in Autre as long as Becca and Beau lived here. Which was going to be forever. He didn't want to make anything awkward.

“There might be some problems with the cabin that I need to check on,” he said.

The problem was he wasn't going to be able to fix the wiring. Mitch was the best electrical and plumbing guy they had. If he'd fucked around with it. There was a very good chance that Theo would not be able to fix it.

“What kind of problem?”

He was still staring at the ceiling andGod,he wanted to look at her. “It might have something to do with the power?—”

And just then it happened. There was a click, and the entire cabin went dark. The hum of the air conditioner stopped, and there was a single beat of silence before Savannah gasped and he heard water splashing.

Instinctively, he righted his head…and realized that she had candles burning. So the bathroom was, in fact, not completely dark. It was actually bathed in a nice, soft golden glow.

A glow that allowed him to see every gorgeous, glistening, completely bare inch of her.

Because when the lights went out, Savannah had stood up from the bathtub.

She was now frozen in front of him, completely naked, water sliding off her body.

And, in her left hand, she held a vibrator.

They just stood, staring at each other for several long seconds.

Then they both had the same thought. They lunged for the candles. She started blowing the ones out that sat around the edge of the tub while he went for the ones that were on the shelves and vanity.

Within moments, the room was completely dark again.

“Well, shit, now I can't see anything,” she muttered.

“Yeah, I'm kinda disappointed with that, too,” he said without thinking.

There was just a tick of time, and then she actually snorted softly. “Thanks?”

“Yeah, you can definitely take that as compliment.”

She laughed softly. “So, I guess I need to get out of the tub.”

“Yeah. And you can use the flashlight on your phone. Be careful, don't slip.”

“Could you…”

“What?” He asked.

“Grab me the towel that’s over there by you?”

He remembered seeing the towel lying on the vanity when he was going for the candles. He reached for it, bumped into one of the candles, and heard it topple into the sink, then felt the soft, thick terrycloth. He grabbed it, turned, and started for the tub. In the dark, he was disoriented. In addition, he wasn't as familiar with this cabin as he was with his own. The tub had seemed farther away from where he was standing, and he was quickly right in front of her. The back of his hand bumped into one of her breasts. And one of the very hard nipples.

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