“Isn’t this a surprise?” he says, his eyes raking over my semi-naked body before coming back to mine. “Though I can’t say it’s a bad one.”
CHAPTER THREE
I’m frozen.
My mind is racing, but my limbs are stuck still. I don’t try to cover myself, and he allows his eyes to fall back to my bare skin. I feel completely naked under his stare, and I should. There’s nothing between his gaze and my skin aside from a couple of dark blue scraps of lace.
I don’t know how long passes before I finally get myself together, but when I do, I snatch up the blanket and scramble back against the pillows. “Who are you? What are you doing here?”
He chuckles, and it travels along my skin, burrowing its way into that sensitive place between my legs. “This is my cabin.” He smirks, grabbing the towel and releasing it. It drops to the floor unceremoniously, and I can’t look away. “The better question would be who are you?”
“This is my friend’s family cabin,” I respond, refusing to allow him the upper hand. “She told me I could stay the week.”
“Annabelle?” he asks, lifting a brow. My eyes fall down, down, down, and I nod dumbly. “Technically, she’s right.” He drags a pair of boxer briefs up his muscular legs and conceals the largest cock I’ve ever had the pleasure of ogling. “I’m her brother. If she emailed the fam about you using the cabin, I must’ve missed it. But I’m here until New Year’s.”
“O-okay,” I stutter, my mind racing. “I’ll go, then.”
“Not happening.” He shakes his head and points out the window. “Two feet of snow fell last night. It’ll be a few days before the plow makes it up here.”
My eyes follow, but my mind doesn’t compute. “You mean, I’m stuck?” I look back to him, and I can’t help but picture him naked still. “We’re stuck?”
“Don’t sound so horrified,” he says, licking his lips and raising his eyebrows. “This could be fun.”
Fun? I didn’t come here for fun. I came here to lick my wounds and get my head straight, and this dude’s looking at me like licking and head are on his mind in a totally different way.
I’m not saying it’d be the worst thing in the world to take my mind off everything, if that’s what he’s offering. But as amazing as Annabelle’s been toward me, I don’t know this guy from Adam.
“You’re not a serial killer, right?”
He laughs. “Last I checked, no.”
“Rapist?”
His face turns serious for the first time since he opened the bathroom door. “Absolutely not.”
“Okay, um.” I take a deep breath and his gaze drops to my chest like he’s remembering what he saw before I covered up. He makes no immediate move toward me, which puts me a little more at ease. And then I realize if he were going to do anything to me, he’s already had ample opportunity, considering I was passed out from exhaustion for God knows how long.
It’s not until he steps up to the end of the bed that I realize my eyes have started scanning his incredible body again. When I notice how much closer he’s gotten, I snap my gaze back to his. “You stay away from me.” I scoot across the bed to put some distance between us.
“Whoa, whoa,” he says, holding his palms out.
I’m not afraid of him anymore. I’m afraid of myself. He’s quite possibly the sexiest man my thirsty eyes have ever seen, and I’m in a vulnerable place. It’d be so easy to bury my pain by impaling myself on his monster cock, if that’s on the menu. My gaze falls down to where it bulges against his briefs, only slightly hard. It twitches, and he chuckles when I jolt at the movement.
“I promise it’s not going to attack you.” His smile is sinfully sexual. “Unless you want it to?”
“Uh huh.” I lick my lips. “I mean, no!” I close my eyes and push out a heavy breath, centering myself. “Look ...” I meet his eyes for a brief second before turning my gaze to the dresser. “This was an impromptu trip. My life was just blown into a million pieces …” My voice cracks, and I pause until I feel like I can speak again. “I desperately needed a break, but I didn’t mean to intrude.”
“It’s cool.” He waves me off, perching on the edge of the bed. “I’m an epic flirt, so I’m sorry if I offended you. It’s just who I am, but I’m glad you’re here. Maybe this week won’t be as bad as I’d first thought.”
“Not offended.” I laugh as the truth screams inside my head. “More like tempted.”
He winks as he holds out his hand. “My name is Xander Rose, and I’m at your service.”
I take it, and sparks race down my arm, settling low in my belly. “I’m Ivy Spencer, and I’m in no shape to be serviced.”
He waggles his brows, releasing my hand. “We have six more days.”
CHAPTER FOUR
The tension between us expands and fills the room, but it doesn’t bother me like I think it should. He’s incredibly hot, not to mention easy going, flirtatious, and extremely confident. It’s an interesting combination that I find myself unexpectedly attracted to.
“Well, Xander,” I say, taking a deep breath and standing from the bed. “Since you’re being kind enough to share this space, then I should probably do my part.” His eyes are tracing a path across my skin, and I ignore the way it makes me tingle. “Breakfast will be ready in thirty.”
I turn and strut from the room, holding myself back from breaking into a run. The kitchen isn’t hard to find, and I put him out of my mind as I get to work on blueberry waffles and eggs while still dressed in only my underwear. Annabelle was right. The place is stocked, so Xander and I should have no trouble being stuck here for a few days.
Well, no trouble with food.
The rest, I guess we’ll see.
“Mmmmm.” A rumbling hum comes from behind me, and I nearly jump out of my barely-there lace. “A man could get used to this.”
I play it cool, calm, and collected. “It’s freeing,” I say, cracking eggs into a pan. “My bag is still in my car. I was dead tired last night.”
He chuckles. “I could tell.” He hasn’t moved to where I can see him, but his voice is closer. “You didn’t seem to realize you’d crawled into an occupied bed.” He’s even closer still.
“I didn’t.” I pretend he has no effect, but goosebumps race across my flesh, outing me. “I’ll make sure to be more careful in the future.”
His hands land on my hips, and he grips them tightly. I don’t move away, enjoying the burn of his touch entirely too much. His breaths are so heavy I can feel them disturbing my hair, and yet he doesn’t do more. I’m unsure whether I want him to or not.
“Ivy,” he murmurs, his voice raw. “Give me your keys, and I’ll get your things.”
He releases me and steps away. I spin to face him, incredulous. He’s fully dressed in jeans and a flannel. A pair of thick boots adorns his feet, and a beanie covers his riotous hair. His smirk is knowing, and his long lashes flutter as he blinks innocently.