Page 259 of Santa Daddies
Anson:
Are you scared there on your own?
Yes. God, yes.
Scared and cold and worried she was getting sick. She suddenly realized that she had her thumb in her mouth and was sucking on it for comfort.
Anson:
Alice? I don’t want to push you, but I’m fighting my instincts hard. They’re telling me to come up and get you.
Alice held off for all of five minutes.
Alice:
Come get me. Please.
Chapter Seventeen
Thank fuck for that.
Relief filled him as he headed toward the garage. He really hadn’t thought that she’d let him come and get her.
And maybe he was being too pushy. But he needed her back with him, where he could keep a proper eye on her. He drove slowly up the road. She needed time to pack, anyway.
When he got to Caldwell’s cabin though, he was shocked to find her standing on the front porch with her suitcase next to her. She picked up one suitcase and headed toward him. He opened the door, ready to get out.
“Stay in the truck,” she called out. “I just have to pack up my food. I won’t be long.”
Hmm.
It could have been because she didn’t want him walking around in the dark and cold. But he had this feeling it was something else. She quickly lifted the suitcase into the back of his truck and rushed back inside.
“Alice! No running!” he called out.
He got out of the truck after grabbing a flashlight and headed inside. It was warm in the living room and he glanced around, spotting blankets and a pillow on the couch. Moving to thefireplace, he saw there were a couple of bits of wood next to it and it was roaring. There was definitely something going on here, he just wasn’t sure what. He made his way back to the bedrooms, noticing that the air grew decidedly colder. Checking the thermostat, he noticed that it was turned right up. Looking into the bedroom, he saw all the blankets were stripped off.
“Oh, I didn’t know you were in here.”
Turning, he saw that she was carrying some blankets and pillows. “I came back to check you had packed everything. What’s going on, baby? Were you sleeping on the sofa?”
She grimaced and sighed, putting everything down. “I was going to make the bed even though I’m tempted not to.”
Anson moved over to her, grasping hold of her chin so he could tilt her head back. “You don’t look so good.”
Her skin had a gray tinge to it and there were dark marks under her eyes. Under her nose was slightly red and so were her eyes. Like she’d been crying.
“Baby, you’ve been crying?” What the hell? What was going on?
“I cry when I’m angry,” she told him. “It’s so annoying.”
“Why are you angry? And why is it cold back here even though the thermostat is up?”
“That’s why I’m angry. The heat has stopped working. Luckily, I managed to get the fire going this morning with some smaller bits of wood I found. But it only really heated up the living room and the kitchen if I kept the door open. So I moved all of the bedding out to the living room. But I’m running out of wood and the water is cold and I didn’t know what to do . . .”
“Whoa. Deep breath. Come here.” He drew her close to him and held her tight.
“I try to see the bright side of everything, I really do. But there’s only so much I can take.”
