14

Three days without Rick, and she had clearly lost her fucking mind. While the first night she had nearly cried from him being gone, and the second she actually had teared up in the shower, she had convinced herself that whatever was keeping him away had to be important, and he would have a good excuse whenever he returned. He wasn"t like other men, and maybe the baby thing had scared him, but...

But then, Owen had showed up for Cordelia, and she had had hope, an ugly thing she had tried to stomp out, and now...

Now, he was in her doorway, promising her a baby... and saying he was kidnapping her.

If that wasn"t the sort of bullshit straight out of a storybook...

But fuck it. He wasn"t asking her, but she had already decided that if he did ask her, her answer would be yes. Hell, if she knew where he lived, or had the courage to ask Owen if he knew where Rick lived, she might have already packed herself out there that very day. And now, here he was...

"Grab the blanket on the back of the couch, and put the fire out," she instructed, walking towards her bedroom and looking for a bag to throw some things into. "That truck better be warm when I come out there."

Rick hadn"t moved from the doorway, nor had he shut the door, and she snapped at him as she looked over her shoulder. "Shut the damn door, so we don"t freeze to death. I don"t have my coat on yet."

"Wait, what?"

"Shut. The. Door."

He shut the door, but still didn"t move from the entryway. She ignored him while continuing packing her things, not wanting to waste any time. There was no telling when the next storm would pick up, and she wanted to explore the barn he had told her about, and the land around it, before she was snowed into his cabin for who knew how many days.

"You"re... you"re not going to fight me on this?"

Bethany sighed as she started shoving underwear and socks into her backpack, but didn"t stop in her movements. She only had so many bags, and she had to prioritize what was most important, knowing there was no telling when she would be able to grab more stuff. "You can"t kidnap the willing, Rick. I already decided, while you avoided my bed for three days, that if you asked me to come out to your cabin to spend the winter with you, I would say yes."

He still wasn"t moving as Bethany grabbed another bag and headed towards her bathroom, knowing she would need her good shampoo, and probably a few soft towels. No telling what scratchy things he had at his place. She was going to take everything that she couldn"t live without, and a fluffy towel was one of them.

Shit. Did he have a washer? She really hoped so. Worst case, she would take his snowmobile and ride into town to do her own laundry.

Kidnapping her... really? That was his grand plan? What the hell was he... why was she...

Her hand froze over the medicine cabinet, where a packet of pills was sitting, waiting for her to grab them. Bethany had been religious about her birth control for years, never missing a single day, knowing her body would be in terrible pain if she skipped or went off of it. It was second nature to grab the packet before she left her home overnight, but Rick... he was...

Fuck. Her brain had already been racing when he talked about being jealous, despite not having any right to jealousy since they were barely dating and certainly not exclusive, but she had loved the possessiveness in his tone, and the idea of being his. She wasn"t one for belonging to a man, but it would go both ways, of course, making Rick hers and no one else"s.

Maybe, once or twice, while he had been away, she had worried he kept away because there was a woman in his cabin, but she had quickly dashed away those thoughts each time, because Rick wasn"t the sort. She had convinced herself he wasn"t the sort to have a woman in his cabin, and a woman in town.

He wasn"t like other men...

His possessiveness, and his demand that she go to his cabin with him, had been the only thing she could process, but now that she was standing in her bathroom, holding her birth control, her mind was finally catching up, processing the other thing he had said.

"If you want a baby, then you can have one with me. I"ll give you a baby. The prettiest fucking baby a son of a bitch like me don"t deserve. You want it? You got it, Sunshine."

A baby. Rick wanted to have a baby with her. Wanted to make her a mother. And that was...

It was all too fast. They couldn"t just do that without talking about it. About whether or not they were serious. About whether or not he would be involved. A baby was a lifelong commitment. Was he offering it so she wouldn"t sleep with anyone else? Or was he offering it because he wanted to be involved?

She wouldn"t have a father coming around who never stayed for long. That could do damage to a kid. Maybe a fun Uncle who showed up with presents, and occasionally slept in Mommy"s bed? That would work.

Or would he want the whole thing? A man to partner with, to work with, live with, and exist with? That wasn"t part of the plan, and never would be. Men were unreliable, all of them. Even men like Rick.

That settled it—she would have her winter of fun, and once the deed was done, she would return to town, and if he ever showed up again, he would play fun Uncle Rick, maybe even Godfather if he was agreeable, and that would be that. She would continue on with her plan, even if Cordelia never returned from Owen"s cabin, and she would live her life to the fullest.

And the memories of nights spent with Rick would have to keep her warm for the rest of her life, because once she had a baby, there was no way she was bringing unpredictable, unreliable men around ever again.

"Fire is out, grabbed your blanket and that bag on your bed. What else you want?" Rick asked, his voice coming from outside of her small bathroom.

Whirling around, Bethany rushed out of the bathroom and handed him another bag while heading to her closet to grab all of the snow gear she had. She would be wearing half of it on the drive to his cabin, but she wanted more than one pair of snow pants, and more than one coat. "Let me pack one more bag, then we can go, before the weather turns."

He took the bag, but she ignored him as she tugged down another cold weather bag from the top of her closet and stuffed it full of boots, coats, gloves, and even her goggles. Wait, tools. Should she pack tools as well? No, Rick lived in the woods. Surely he had an axe.

Her hunting supplies. That made sense as well. She didn"t want to be caught unaware out in the woods when something dangerous wandered to her door.

"Grab the case by front door," she instructed while moving into her kitchen and opening her ammo drawer. "And the knife from my bedroom table."

Rick didn"t argue in the slightest as she packed up a few more supplies, hoping he was as well prepared for winter as he said he was.

Bethany felt like a whirlwind, rushing around her house to pack everything from weapons to deodorant, but when she could think of nothing else to grab, she headed towards the front door to shove her feet in her boots and grab her coat from the rack. Rick was standing there, holding the last bag she had handed him, watching her with a curious look on his face.

Was he confused about her agreeing to head to his place, or was he confused that she was making sure she was prepared for the long winter.

"Ready to go?" she asked, only to have her answer as he stepped forward and zipped her jacket for her, something she was struggling with as she had already tugged her gloves on.

"Can"t believe you"re okay with this," he muttered, shaking his head a little. "Must really want that baby."

"Yeah," she agreed, although her decision had more to do with him than with his offer. "Head on out. Gonna grab one more thing."

"Don"t keep me waiting, or I"ll come back in here and throw you over my shoulder," he said as he opened her front door.

Bethany looked over her shoulder as she walked towards her bathroom, a smirk on her lips. "Don"t threaten me with a good time."

Ten minutes later, she was sitting in the passenger seat of his truck, her bags mostly sitting in the second tiny row, with a few items apparently safe in the storage box on the back of his truck. She had left a note on the counter for Cordelia to text her if she needed anything and to leave the keys on the hook, but she doubted Cordelia would be texting her any time soon. They were both going to be very busy getting dicked down, which was the best way to spend winter.

Only, Bethany also had to figure out what the hell Rick was expecting of her and the arrangement, and whether or not he really understood how little he would be involved in her life in the future.

Because that was a non-negotiable. She was choosing to spend time with a man she had zero expectations of, but a baby didn"t have the same ability to consent to someone floating in and out of their life. She wouldn"t expect him to change his life just because she had a baby, but that meant he would have to understand that her priorities would change. The baby would always come first.

Ifhe could even get her pregnant. That was another thing they needed to discuss.

"Rick, there"s—"

"First things first, Sunshine. Name"s not Rick," he said, cutting her off, but continuing before she could even think about getting worried. "It"s Cedric. Looking at you that first night made me all sorts of nervous, Sunshine, and been too awkward to correct you ever since."

"Cedric," she repeated, testing out the name in her mouth. "I... okay. That sounds... a lot more fun to yell in bed."

"Can"t wait to hear it," he said as his hand reached over, and she pulled off her glove to grab it. "Been thinking about that a lot, actually."

"Cedric. There"s something you should probably know," she tried again, needing to get back onto the subject at hand, before they were at his cabin and he had her pants off. "You see, there"s something wrong with me."

"Ain"t nothing wrong with you," he insisted, squeezing her hand as he spoke. "But go on and tell me what you think is so wrong with you."

"Cedric," she huffed, rolling her eyes a little.

"Bethany." He took his eyes off the road to look at her, and she rolled her eyes again. "Sunshine, if you keep looking at me like that and saying my name, you"re gonna drive me insane."

"You drive me insane," she answered, and squeezed his hand this time. "I"m not perfect."

"You really fucking are. I"m... fuck. We got a lot to talk about, I think, but we can do that in between giving you that baby you want so bad."

Oh, God, they were going to have so much sex, her legs were going to stop working...

Wait, she still needed to tell him what was wrong with her.

"Yes, and that might take a while," she began, and squeezed his hand, trying to tell him not to interrupt again. "I have a condition called PCOS. Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome. It has... a whole list of side effects, but the most important ones for this is that I don"t ovulate regularly, so I don"t have regular periods, and it can take a while to get pregnant."

He was quiet, his eyes still on the road, and she wondered what he was thinking. After a few seconds, his hand pulled from hers, and fear nearly set in until he started turning the truck off the main road, and onto a somewhat cleared path between trees she had never really noticed before. After a few seconds, she saw it was a road, probably one normally covered in dirt, and that the road ahead was mostly cleared and covered in tire marks in the snow.

His hand returned to hers a few seconds later, but his focus didn"t leave the road ahead.

"You say that like I"m going to get sick of you, and that ain"t happening, Sunshine. As long as it takes. Whatever you want, it"s yours."

That was... not the answer she was expecting, and the weight of it settled down on her hard, making her once again think about what came after.

Because the way he looked at her, the way he spoke to her, and even the way he held her hand, it made her think he wanted to be in it for the long haul. That this meant a lot more to him than he was willing to give. That he had, stupidly, convinced himself that they were going to be together forever.

And her hope, which was flickering stronger every second she was near him, the hope she was refusing to listen to, that told her not every man was the same and he was the sort of man to actually stick around, was growing.

She couldn"t listen to it. In fact, she refused to listen to it. Having expectations of him would only set them both up for failure and heartache, and she wasn"t prepared for that sort of pain. He was in it for winter, and to give her what she wanted. Anything beyond that, she had to put her own desires to the side for the sake of her baby, and he would have to do the same.

Even if thoughts of spending the rest of her life with him in a cabin they cared for and made a home together did make her feel warm inside.

The drive was long, even with clear skies and no snow falling, but finally they reached a clearing, revealing a whole spread of cleared land, likely a field for growing food, with a cabin, a barn some distance away, and another cabin further beyond that, almost on the edge of the trees.

His homestead. They had finally made it.

Bethany already knew the other cabin belonged to his twin, but only one cabin had smoke coming from the chimney, and she shuddered at the idea that Cedric"s place would be cold when they entered. Even with the heat blowing in the truck and a blanket on her lap, she knew she would be freezing when they climbed out, and the thought of entering a cold cabin didn"t sound like a fun one.

"That far one up there is my brother"s cabin," Cedric informed her, thankfully pointing to the one that looked cold. "He"s out hunting. Doubt we see him for a few days. The barn, our fields, and then this one is mine."

He pulled up in front of the first cabin, the one that was blowing smoke from the chimney, and he parked. How he wasn"t freezing cold in a pair of pants and his flannel shirt, she didn"t understand, but if he wasn"t cold, she wasn"t sharing the blanket.

"Stay right here," he instructed, climbing out of the truck and grabbing some of her bags from the back. The truck was still running, keeping her hands warm as she tugged her gloves back on and pulled up the hood of her coat, and waited as he ran back and forth with her things. It was strange, to have a man running around and doing all of the work, but she definitely wouldn"t complain about that either.

He could work up his sweat, and then help her work up into one as soon as he had her in his bed.

Fuck, she hoped it smelled good like him. Probably. Definitely, given how he hadn"t been in her bed the past few nights.

His third trip, he grabbed the items from the back, and she nearly climbed out, but instinct told her to wait as he returned to the truck a fourth time. He climbed into the driver"s seat and shut the truck off, but before she could even get the door on her side fully opened, he was there and picking her up out of the passenger seat, tossing her over his shoulder as he did so.

"Cedric!" she shrieked as she went upside down, her ass high in the air. "I can walk!"

"And I can carry you," he insisted, proving his size was built on plenty of muscle. "Can"t have you burning all your energy just trying to walk through this snow."

She couldn"t argue with that.

He carried her all the way into the cabin, and finally set her down in the entryway. There was a bench to one side, and she sat on it while tugging off her boots and looking in through the second door, towards the cabin itself. The fire was, in fact, roaring, with a new log placed on it that was starting to catch, and she noticed almost immediately how clean it smelled.

Was this what he wanted to show her? What he had been working on? Cleaning up his place for her?

"Anything you hate about it, I can change it," he informed her as he kicked his own boots off and stepped inside. "Bed is up in the loft, so the heat can go up. Bathroom is through that door in the corner. Pantry is well stocked as well. Got everything to keep you comfortable all winter."

She could explore the cabin later. What Bethany wanted, and needed, was to get her pants off, and his as well.

"Show me the bed," she insisted, and shrieked as he picked her up again, this time facing him so her legs could go around his waist.

They still hadn"t kissed, but that was okay, as she was busy undressing herself. Gloves, beanie, and scarf hit the floor before they reached the stairs, and her jacket was lost halfway up. Her fingers were unbuttoning his flannel as they reached the landing, and when her back hit the mattress, she worked on unbuttoning and kicking off her pants.

He was on her in an instant, helping her tug off every layer until she was naked, and warm, underneath his equally naked body.

But, rather than kissing, or even exploring each other, she laid there, staring up into his dark brown eyes, unable to look away. They were both soaking the other in, and she could tell something was on his mind, but she was afraid to ask what it was.

"You cleaned your cabin to bring me out here for winter," she pointed out, now certain that was what he had been working on, and wanted to show her.

"I did. Wanted it perfect for you."

"You did good."

He said nothing else, but then Bethany started laughing, remembering how he had said he was kidnapping her.

"What?" he questioned, now looking nervous.

"You thought you were kidnapping me," she giggled, shaking her head a little. "You"re insane."

"And you agreed to it," he pointed out, shaking his head with her. "You"re as crazy as I am."

"Yes," she agreed, remembering suddenly how he had agreed to have a baby with her, and she was going with it. "You make me crazy."

He closed the distance between them, kissing her slowly, and Bethany melted under his touch, feeling his cock growing harder against her stomach as her hands began to explore, and his lips trailed lower.

It would be a night of full exploration, with neither of them running away in the morning, and the promise of more to come on the horizon.

And no birth control pill for her to take. She had left the packet on her bed, hoping that her body wouldn"t fall apart without it, and Cedric would be understanding if it did...