24. Chapter 24

Kane wakes me gently. His soft kisses cover my shoulders as his fingers trace up and down my spine. “It’s time to wake up, my darling. You slept through breakfast and lunch. Wake up and join me for dinner.” He kisses my neck and I moan.

I roll over to face him. “I’m so sorry.”

“Don’t be. You accidentally killed your ex-boyfriend Hazel. It’s understandable you needed to sleep it off.”

“I what?” she asks in horror.

“It was an accident. You couldn’t have known you would hit his artery.” Kane offers, trying to soothe me.

I brush a tear away.

“Hey, it’s okay. I’ll take care of everything. You just let me know what you want to do. We can talk about it at dinner. I ordered you a few dresses. I hope you don’t mind, they’re all green. It’s my favorite Christmas color because it reminds me of the mountains,” Kane confesses.

I smile, nodding my head. I killed Tyler. Right now, I want to throw up.

“Okay.” I nod.

“Do you want me to help you dress, gorgeous?” He asks, as if he can sense my unease.

“Yes. That would be… nice. I’m not sure I want to be alone in my head. Will you talk to me while we dress? Distract me?”

“Go brush your teeth first and then I think I can handle that.” Kane winks.

I stumble to the bathroom with Kane watching me. There are his and hers red and green towels. Candy cane print accent towels finish off the simple touch. The huge tub has garland dripping across the big window that tumbles down the sides. The twinkling lights give off a warm ambiance in the dusk-steeped lighting. Next to the tub, two embroidered towels hang engraved with the words Mrs. Claus and Mr. Claus. I cover my mouth. He’s fucking perfect. I just had to have a mental breakdown and murder my ex-boyfriend. What the fuck is wrong with me? How can he even still be interested in all this crazy? I sigh, picking up a toothbrush from the crisp white marble countertops. A tube of toothpaste lay on the towel next to it and I pick it up next. As I brush my teeth, I turn around in the bathroom in awe. He must be a billionaire. Uncle Dexter’s place is nice, but this house completely outdoes his.

“Hazel,” he calls to me. “If you walk in the closet, you’ll find the green dresses hanging up.”

I spit and rinse, then take a deep breath before walking into the closet and screaming with excitement.

“I take it that means you like it?” He asks.

Not only has Kane retrieved all my clothes and put them away, he’s filled the massive closet floor-to-ceiling with clothes in a variety of sizes for me. I wander to a shelf where green dresses hang and find one in my size almost immediately. He did a good job guessing. I’m betting he knew what I looked like from the funeral. Oh god, did he plan all of this knowing exactly what I looked like? Could he have intended to try to convince me to fall for him? How fucking romantic. I’m practically giddy, jumping up and down and silently screaming. I am the luckiest girl in the world. This man is my dream come true. Could Uncle Dexter have known? I feel tears threatening to spill out and blink them back. It doesn’t matter, we found each other, and that’s all I need.

I pick out two dresses and try them on, eventually settling on the second one. It matches the green bowtie he’s wearing and the black velvet pencil skirt not only compliments his black suit, but is also short and sexy. Its hem falls perfectly, just low enough it covers the curves of my ass. The Christmas green corset top hugs my breasts with a sweetheart neckline that will surely drop him to his knees when he sees me. I walk out of the closet, giving him a spin.

“Will you lace me up, Mr. Claus?”

He laughs. “I know they are cheesy, but I didn’t have a lot of options. When you accepted my invitation to stay up here for the week, I had to work quickly. I didn’t know if you would want to transfer the ownership or just settle for the cash settlement.”

“You’re the lawyer, too?” I ask.

“Not a lawyer, estate manager.” He corrects me. “Your uncle paid me handsomely to oversee the transfer of his estate to you.”

My mouth gapes open. “Estate? I don’t want to sound greedy, but do you mean I’m inheriting more than just his house?”

He pulls on the ribbon, gently lacing me into the corset, then tugs hard and ties it off at the bottom. His hands run over my shoulders and his lips move against my ear, whispering, “I’m going to be thinking about how goddamn sexy you look all night, Hazel.”

I was wrong. It’s me that’s going to be melting to my knees. I could get used to his filthy mouth. I grab him by the chin, dipping his lips to meet mine. He’s swallowing me in his embrace, his muscles melting me into him, as if we are meant to be one. Our bodies mold against one another and then his tongue is sliding against mine while his hands roam my body and I press my hand against the bulge in his pants. He strains into me, then pulls away, breathing heavily.

“Let’s try to make it through dinner, darling, and then I’m going to rip that dress from your body and—“

I stop him. “No, please don’t rip it. I love this dress. It’s beautiful.”

“I’ll buy you a new one, darling.” Kane brushes off my concern, like the money means nothing, and come on, it probably doesn’t. I heard him. My uncle paid him a lot of money, and that’s clearly not his only income stream.

“I don’t want a new one. I want you to fuck me in this one, and then every time I wear it, you can remember tonight.” I argue.

“Alright. Anything for you, dear.” He bops me on the nose, then offers me his arm. “Shall we go have dinner?”

I loop my arm through his and allow him to lead me down the hall and back to the top of the stairs where he dips me. His kiss is just as deep as earlier. I can feel the tension burning between our bodies as they beg to be together. Kane’s free hand runs up my thigh and pulls it closer to him, rotating my hip so I can feel his hard cock pressing against my pussy. I break our kiss first this time and whisper, “I’m not wearing any panties.”

“Fuck, Hazel.” He groans, drawing my name out the way he does that has my head swimming and my pussy aching for him. He slides his hand against my wet lips, dipping one in to stroke through my folds.

I moan. “You said we had to make it through dinner.”

He releases me and leads me down the stairs. “That I did,” He concedes, disappointment dripping from his words.

I smile, trying hard not to laugh at his sulking, but a soft chuckle escapes.

“What’s so funny?”

“You’re cute when you sulk,” I tease him, running my fingers from the opposite hand over his arm that’s hooked around mine.

He laughs. “Only because I think you mean it as a compliment will I allow this cuteness to go unpunished.”

“Deal.”

He leads me to the dining room where he helps me with my chair, then takes his place across from me. We do not sit at the head of the table, but rather across from one another. I’m guessing it’s because he can’t stop looking at me. In front of us are two plates covered by fancy silver lids to keep the food warm. He lifts the lid from my plate, and then his own.

“Beef Wellington. I hope you like it, darling.”

I cut into the tender dish and it melts in my mouth. “This is amazing.”

“I’m glad you like it. Merry Christmas Eve,” Kane says, staring into my eyes.

“Merry Christmas Eve,” I reply.

Over dinner, we discuss everything that happened yesterday. Kane offers to make it all disappear for me, as if it never happened, or to pay for a lawyer to represent me if I feel so burdened I want to turn myself in. All the while, he keeps repeating it was an accident, and that Tyler called me some horrible names. He tells me Tyler threatened to kill me just like the night when he showed up and chased me into the blizzard. He begs me to let him make it all disappear. I think he’s right, though. No one needs to know, and it was an accident. There’s no reason to put myself through that emotional trial when I will have to live with the guilt of what I did. It makes me feel so supported the way he’s helping me through this.

When dinner is over, he leads me into the family room where he has a fire crackling and the tree lit up.

“Dance with me on Christmas Eve, darling. Make me a happy man.” He pleads.

I can’t say no. “Anything for you, right?”

He smiles, and I can tell it made his night. Hold on. Kane turns on Christmas on the TV with a Yule log burning as the background. Then places a pot over the fire to simmer. As it boils, the smell of Christmas fills the air, and the moment becomes absolutely magical as he wraps his arms around me, dancing to the music.

“You know, darling,” he says casually. “If you’d like, I can arrange for Tyler to be taken care of and moved in with the others.”

“With the others?” I repeat, confused. “Kane, you aren’t making any sense.”

He twirls me around then brings my fingers to his lips, kissing each one. “But darling, I’m making perfect sense.” He dips me and as my head falls back, my eyes land on a black ski mask, laying on the large leather sofa behind me.

When he pulls me back against him, he grips me tightly. “Yes, Hazel, there’s something I need to tell you.”