Page 44 of Snowbound

“Oh God, yeah,” she says. “They all want some impossible thing that I couldn’t possibly deliver and get furious with me when I can’t do it.”

“They shouldn’t do that.”

“No, but they do. They all think they’re entitled to it.”

“No one is entitled to anyone else’s time,” I say. “You’re doing them a service, and they should be grateful.”

Carly smiles at me as if I’m being naïve. “I hope you never have to deal with millionaires. They are truly a different species. If I could only ever deal with people like Ruth and John again, my life would be bliss.”

“So why don’t you, then?”

Her smile wavers, and as if she’s trying to change the topic, she leans in towards me. “It helps that I’m getting a lot of stress relief at home, you know.”

As she says the words, she moves even closer, and I give in to her kisses without a single bit of restraint. She slides closer, our fingers entangling as our hands come together. When we break apart for a second for breath, I say, “I know you’re a city girl, but don’t you think that maybe you’d be happier in a place like this? Somewhere where the people would be grateful for you? It’s not fair that you get yelled at.”

Again, her smile wobbles, and I wonder if it’s something she’s been considering for herself. “I have enjoyed my time here. I’ve enjoyed my time with you.”

The past tense doesn’t fill me with joy. “But…” I start.

“But I don’t want to think about that right now,” she says. “I want you.” She kisses me again and slides onto my lap, straddling me. This has become one of her favorite things to do, to corner me and kiss me, and I can’t say I’m complaining.

Slowly, I unbutton her shirt and leave a trail of kisses down her pale skin, relishing in the softness of her neck, her breasts. Carefully, I tease one of her nipples with my tongue to make her gasp. She grabs the sides of my face and kisses me hard, grinding her hips down onto my growing erection.

Like this, it’s impossible not to want her. But her words keep echoing in my mind.

The way she keeps deflecting about leaving means I shouldn’t hope. I shouldn’t leave my heart that open for attack. But every single time we’ve talked about her leaving recently, she’s wavered as if she’s trying to make her mind up about something.

And the selfish part of me wants her to stay.

But I can’t tell her this. I can’t hold her down. I don’t want her to give up everything for me. She deserves better than that.

Instead, I settle for kissing her, letting her slide a cold hand up my shirt to make me groan, letting her unbuckle my belt, undo my pants, and let her own underwear slip to the floor. Let her sink down onto me.

I settle for pressing my nose to the crook of her neck and breathing deep, letting our bodies become one as we move together, reacting to every little pleasure, every action we’ve learned to please the other. We’re in sync, aligned like stars or planets, tuned like a radio to the perfect station, and our breaths come hot and heavy.

And we don’t speak. We don’t say anything because our bodies do all the talking.

Here, like this, she’s perfect,

Like this, it gets harder to deny that I don’t want her to leave.

The strings I said weren’t attached to this relationship… I can feel them creeping up behind us, tapping me on the shoulder.

No matter what I try to say to myself, I am getting attached to Carly.

I might even be falling for her.

CHAPTER24

CARLY

Yesterday, in the bliss of our afterglow, Gabe announced that he had finished my car and that I was free to leave whenever I was ready.

The thought of leaving made a lump in my throat so big I couldn’t speak. It froze me so solid that I pretended to be falling asleep on his chest, just like that first night. It was as comforting as it was then.

But I’ve been here nearly a month, and even though I’ve enjoyed every night we’ve spent together, he hasn’t said a word about taking it further. We’ve been having fun, and he’s more open than I’ve ever seen him, but almost nothing about his actions has indicated to me that he wants to go any further with our relationship — such as it is — than we already are.

Knowing that leaves a pit of disappointment in my stomach.

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