We had nothing to worry about. The kids love it, but I swear the adults have as much fun as they do. The place is cool, and I wish we had something like it near us at home.
Rock music plays from overhead speakers and the lights and glowing arcs turn to colored streaks when we barrel down the lanes in the inflatable tubes that Brynn calls donuts. The kids get passed around to ride on our laps, and we take turns challenging and racing each other.
Brysen has Brynn on his lap and Clara holds Caden on their last trip down, their tubes hooked together. Axton and I can hear the kids laughing as they disappear down the hill.
“I’m going to beat you one more time,” Axton taunts and jumps on his tube.
He shoves off a split second before me, but I catch up with him. Taking advantage of a dip in the middle of the lane, I gain enough speed to slam into the side of him, nearly knocking him off of his tube, and steal the lead. I win, but he returns the favor at the bottom by crashing into me and rolling me off my tube and into the snow.
Everyone gathered at the bottom laughs, and I chuck a snowball at him when he tries to help me up. I love the joy I see in his face when he looks down at me. He’s relaxed and having fun, without all of the usual things that weigh him down. It’s a beautiful thing to see.
Snow starts falling on our ride back to the lodge and the radio warns of the approaching blizzard, advising everyone to stay inside and be prepared for power outages from the wind. The manager of the lodge left a message for all the guests, assuring us that the lodge has backup generators and can maintain heat and emergency lighting in the case of an outage. They don’t seem too concerned. They’re probably used to this up here.
Dani meets us for dinner and offers to keep Caden with her overnight. “Give Naomi a break and a chance to have a quiet night,” she tells Axton. “Plus, if we lose power, you won’t have heat in the cabin, but we will. We have security right across the hall. He’ll be fine.”
It doesn’t take much to convince him, and I get a security guard to escort me to and from the cabin to get Caden’s bag with everything he needs to stay the night. After we both kiss him goodnight, Axton and I head back to the cabin.
Axton builds a fire in the fireplace, then disappears into his room. I didn’t expect a night without the baby and I’m not sure what to do with myself. Finally, I settle down on the living room couch and put on a movie. With the lights off, the glow from the fire dances on the walls and the two large picture windows on my left feature a blanket of falling snow.
The holiday movie that’s showing is cheesy and kind of boring, but I’m comfortable and content, wrapped up in a throw blanket. About halfway through the movie, Axton sits beside me on the couch.
“Let me guess, the woman is going to leave her successful CEO boyfriend for the small town handyman who makes wooden toys for orphans.”
A snort of laughter jumps out of me because he isn’t far off. Despite his opinion, he stays and watches the rest of the movie, pulling me over until I let him share the blanket with me. It’s not a good idea. I know this.
Unlike when he found me in the hot tub, he isn’t trying anything. No, this time I’m the weak one when I scoot close enough for our legs to touch, and he puts his arm around me like it’s the most normal thing in the world. I had so much fun with him today, and now being so close, the warmth and the scent of him, I can’t help myself.
He must feel my gaze on him because he turns to look at me. At this moment, there’s nothing I want more than to kiss him, to feel his lips on mine. My hand slides behind his neck as I bring my lips to his and he cups my face.
This isn’t like the last time when he showed up in my room and we attacked each other. It’s not an overwhelming lust driving me into his arms. Just the urge to be with him. To be close to him.
Our hands caress and explore slowly, removing clothing as they go, until we’re naked on the thick rug in front of the couch, his gorgeous body on top of me, his mouth on my neck.
When he pushes inside of me, his lips find mine again and deliver a languishing, searing hot kiss. We move together so naturally, taking our time and just feeling every moment of what we do to each other.
It’s the sweetest thing I’ve ever felt in my life.
After it’s over, we move back to the couch without a word. He plays with my hair while I rest my head on his shoulder and we stay that way for a few minutes, each lost in our own thoughts. I know he’s regretting it already, and I should be too.
It wasn’t chemistry or lust urging me to make a bad decision. It’s worse. My heart was in it.
The TV goes from some silly commercial to the beginning of the SLY Entertainment Report. Axton looks for the remote to change it, but we must’ve knocked it down in the couch. The blonde onscreen reports from a street outside of a bar and she’s super excited with her announcement.
“Breaking news on the Tragic front. And it is tragic. It looks like the Nanny with Benefits, Naomi Wells, is moving on from the sex symbol heartthrob Axton Todd. It appears she’s found a new interest in the up and coming musician Patrick Thorn.”
Pictures of Patrick and I eating together the night before the charity concert, and another of him walking beside me in the hotel are plastered in one corner of the screen. There’s nothing suggestive or indecent about the pictures but it’s not like it matters.
I lean over, grab my clothes, and dress while she stops people coming out of the bar to ask their opinion.
“I’m glad,” a young woman says, smiling at the camera. “He’s way too hot for her. He could do so much better.” She waves. “I’m single, Axton!”
After stopping another person who calls me a gold digger and paints Axton as my victim, she wraps up with this statement before a commercial. “We have no comment from Axton Todd yet on how he’s feeling about this betrayal, but it’s clear there are a long line of women ready to soothe his broken heart.”
“Naomi,” Axton calls when I walk away.
“I’m fine. I just need a minute to myself.” I go upstairs to the loft and sit on the sofa, watching the snow fall.
I know this is all part of being here, of being someone who exists near a person of Axton’s fame, but I don’t know if I’ll ever get used to it. The press has never painted me as anything but negative. First a kidnapper, then a negligent guardian, a gold digger, and now a cheater.
All I did was love him. Him and Caden.
If I’d seen that report at any other moment, I probably wouldn’t feel so shredded, but I was already too emotional. Axton’s footsteps on the stairs warn me he’s coming, and I wipe at my eyes, afraid he might be able to tell a few tears slipped out, even in the dim light. The couch dips as he sits beside me.
“They’re assholes, Naomi. They just make shit up. It’s best to try to ignore it. We know what’s true and that’s what matters.”
I can’t do this with him right now. Maybe because the whole nanny with benefits thing isn’t far off. “I know. It’s not like you can tell them that we just fuck each other when the mood strikes. Nanny with benefits is the closest they’ve come to the truth.”
He catches my wrist when I stand up. I can’t look at him. It hurts too much right now. “It’s not like that. I can’t—”