Chapter 16

“ Y ou know what? I’m not coming home with you. I’m going to stay another day. I’ll see you Monday,” I spit out before I have a chance to change my mind.

Lando pauses with his hand on the car door, a slow smile spreads across his face. “You want me to send the plane back for you?”

I shake my head. “No, there’s a British Airways flight in the morning. Just ask James to have someone waiting at Heathrow to collect me, will you?”

“Sure.” He slaps me on the back as Miles throws a couple of bags in the trunk, carefully placing his snowboard on top. “You do what you need to do. But before I go, thanks for this week. I couldn’t have made it through without you.”

“We’ve had some fun, haven’t we? You ready to get home and face the music?”

“Caroline and Jeremy?”

“Nope. Mum finding you a new wife.” A laugh rips out of me.

Lando shakes his head. “I don’t think so. We all know being single and staying single is in my future. I have no intention of getting into another relationship. I’ve learned my lesson.”

“Can I be there when you tell her?”

“If you’d like. It’s the least I can do after this week.” Lando pulls me into a hug and kisses my cheek. “See you Monday. Maybe I’ll collect you if you’re lucky.”

“One of your lowly subjects, Your Grace? I’m honored.” I chuckle. “But I’ll be expecting a welcome home banner in the arrivals hall.”

“I’ll see what I can do.” He laughs, and giving me one last squeeze, gets into the car.

I wait while the rest of the skis, luggage, and the two life-sized nutcracker statues are loaded in the second car behind.

“You’re really staying?” asks Hendricks, holding the bag of cinnamon buns we collected earlier, and I’m sorely tempted to ask him to leave me a couple. But I can get some later.

“I am. Tell Max his favorite uncle will see him on Monday.”

“Bloody hell,” he replies with a shake of his head and ducks into the car next to Lando.

I get the impression none of them are surprised by my announcement. Even more so when Miles ropes me into a bigger hug than Lando did.

“Proud of you, bro. And thanks for the dare you won me. I’ll make sure it lands favorably on you next time we’re playing snap.”

“What?”

“Lando traded me his turn.”

“You bet I’d stay?” I ask, confused.

“Sure did. I convinced the duke to wager his first go, seeing as he lost this week.”

“You didn’t do too badly out of it,” shouts a voice from inside the car, but I’m still trying to wrap my head around this conversation.

“Hang on. I only decided this morning…”

“Nope. You decided that day in the tree shop.” He pats my face, the ear-to-ear smile of his never faltering. “I know you too well, big brother. Not everyone’s cut out for the casual sex life, it’s okay. Nothing to be ashamed of.”

“I’m not ashamed. What?—”

“I’m just saying, it’s okay to have feelings.” He shrugs. “Me, I like to keep things simple. But you?—”

“Miles, get in the car,” Henricks interrupts before Miles finishes his sentence.

With a wink and an overly exaggerated salute, he does, sliding into the back seat next to Hendricks as the car engines start up.

I take a deep breath. I don’t have feelings, not how he means. Like feelings. I’m staying because I don’t need to be home until Monday. That’s all. Oh, and because I need to say a better goodbye to Haven. I can’t leave her with that poor excuse for one from earlier.

“See you boys in two days.” I slam the door shut and tap on the roof.

It takes a few minutes before they leave—after Miles runs back inside because he decides he needs to pee—and I watch the cars drive off through the gates.

They’re barely out of the driveway before I sprint for the shower.

An hour later, I’m standing outside the bakery for the second time today.

It’s impressive how quickly they’ve managed to tidy the place up—the temporary stands have been removed, the terrible band isn’t deafening everyone with unrecognizable Christmas music. The competition’s over, and there aren’t a thousand people standing outside waiting to find out who won. The street is relatively empty, save for a few shoppers wandering into other stores along the way.

Dusk is setting in, so it’s easier to spot Haven and Saylor inside. I can see them through the window, laughing as they wipe down the counters. Haven’s whole face lights up with a smile, and I know her boobs are jiggling under her apron. I’m tempted to watch for a little longer just so I can remember this moment, even the boob jiggling, but only because I like seeing her laugh.

Me, watching a girl laugh. I’m so glad Miles can’t hear my thoughts.

I don’t know what’s happened to me this week. It’s not just the sex—okay, maybe it’s the sex—but there’s no way that just sex would have had me missing a flight home . This isn’t going to make her easier to forget. Quite the contrary. Yet here we are. Miles has already been correct too many times this week for my liking to be also correct about feelings. So, I push that thought away.

But obviously because Miles is Miles, my phone buzzes right at that second.

It’s a photo of a box of condoms.

Miles : Left a present on your bed. Wrap it up and enjoy, big brother. Love you. xx

And with that I hurry toward the store as Saylor disappears into the kitchens.

“We’re shut,” Haven announces without looking around from the bottom shelf she’s cleaning. “Open again at seven tomorrow.”

“Thought you might want one more night with the crowning champion of the gingerbread houses.”

Her hand stops wiping. Slowly, she turns and lifts her chin, and her green eyes meet mine.

“Wh-what are you doing here?”

I raise a shoulder. “Guess I wanted one more night too.”

“You stayed in Aspen?”

I nod. “Looks like I did.”

She peers around me, before her eyes find mine again. “On your own?”

“On my own.” I grin. “So I’m going to need you to come and keep me company. Don’t want to be rattling around the house by myself.”

We both turn to the kitchen doors as they swing open, and Saylor walks through. She stops dead when she spots me, her brows knotting together. “Hey, it’s the English muffin, thought you’d left.”

“I didn’t.”

“I see that.”

I glance back at Haven. “What d’you say? Want to keep me company?”

Her teeth sink into her bottom lip as she thinks about it. It’s all show though. I can see from the way her pupils dilated the second they landed on me that one way or another, we’re spending the night together.

“Um, Say…d’you mind if I take off.”

Saylor grins wide. “Hey, I’ve been praying all week you’d ask.”

“You don’t pray.”

“For you I do, now scram.” She shoos her hands at Haven and turns to me. “Make sure she can’t walk in the morning.”

“Je sus , Saylor,” Haven splutters, her cheeks turning that shade of pink I’ve become obsessed with.

“I’ll do my best. It’s not like I haven’t been trying.”

“Oh God loves a trier, honey,” she shoots back, and Haven tugs me through the door toward the car, to the sound of Saylor laughing her arse off.

“Holy shit, this view. There’s a pool…”

I’m already stripping off. “Time is of the essence. Sit on my face, then I’ll fuck you in there while you’re watching the sunset. It’s heated, don’t worry.”

“The sun’s set already. It’s dark.”

“Oh, well, sunrise then,” I reply, stepping out of my boxers. “Why am I the only one naked?”

Haven turns around, her mouth dropping open.

“Alex!”

“Yes?”

Her hand sweeps toward the wall of windows. “Someone will see.”

“Sweetheart, no one’s seeing anything. It’s totally private out there.” I find the dimmer switch and turn the mood lighting down until we’re only lit by the glow of the fire and a few strategically placed lamps. But the expression on her face tells me she’s not quite sure. “I promise.”

I, for one, don’t really mind a little voyeurism—you grow up in the countryside, and at some point someone’s going to walk past you while you’re balls deep in your girlfriend, banging her against the barn door.

But Haven…no, not Haven. I don’t want to share her with anyone. She’s mine. No one gets to see her how I see her.

I take a step toward her, my dick thickening with each stride. Her breath shallows as she watches, her eyes darting between the window and me.

“Haven…do you honestly think I’d allow anyone to see you naked except me?” I don’t know why I’m talking about her like this thing with us will continue after tonight, like there’s a future to my words. But I can’t help myself. Right now, in this moment, I mean everything I say.

“Um—”

I stop in front of her. Using the tip of my finger I brush away the thick strands of hair almost covering her face, then tilt her chin so she’s looking at me. I want her to see how serious I am.

“Do you think I’d allow anyone a single glimpse of your perfect body?”

My hands push up under her sweater; her belly quivers from that first touch of my skin on hers. It shoots across my body like lightning.

“No one gets to see you like I do. No one sees these incredible tits…”

She groans as I remove her bra, tossing it to the floor to join the sweater, and sucks in her plump lower lip as my thumb swipes over her hardened nipple. I’m not lying. Haven has the most incredible tits I’ve ever seen; heavy, pert, and fitting perfectly into my hand. I could spend hours on them and never get bored.

“I’m going to miss these.” I kiss one then the other, while ghosting my hands down the curve of her waist and into her jeans, where I pop the button. But these aren’t the jeans she was wearing the other night. The other night they had a zip and these are all buttons…and they don’t want to fucking pop.

I’m so desperate to taste her, feel her come apart as my tongue slides inside her for one last night, that I’m clumsily tugging them off. Too clumsy, clearly, when she starts laughing.

“You want me to do it?”

“Please.” I grin, crossing my arms as she kindly obliges.

And when they hit the floor, I gesture to the underwear she’s left on and need to be removed. White cotton knickers with a candy cane right at the apex of her thighs. Seeing them makes my dick so impossibly hard, I’m tempted to steal them to take home with me. But for now, I’ll settle on them joining the rest of her clothes on the floor.

And then she’s as gloriously naked as I am.

I lean in and my dick juts against her stomach. “You know, if I fuck you well enough, we could steam all the windows up. Then we’ll definitely be private.”

Her squeal of laughter bounces off the hard surfaces as I toss her over my shoulder, giving her ass a quick slap, and pull her onto the couch until she’s exactly where I want her to be. Sitting on my face.

“Ohh…” is all she can manage as my tongue spears through her soaked slit as she jostles around to find her balance, and I get to work.

The scent of her is so fucking addictive.

I’m treated to the most perfect sight. Haven arched back, holding her tits and tugging on her nipples, while her thighs are clamped around my head. The best vise.

She may as well be my last meal, because after tonight, I’m gone…so I’m feasting like she is. Spread out on my face, her arousal drips down my chin.

“Ahhh, Alex,” she moans when my thumb circles her clit, adding pressure with each swipe. “Oh fu-fuck. How…I’m…coming. Ohhhh.”

Her first orgasm rips through her, thighs squeezing my face as she grinds down on me. I don’t stop, I don’t let up. I want her begging for mercy. The speed at which she comes has me so hard it’s almost painful, and she’s still coming when I wrap my arms around her waist, lift her as I sit up, and drag her onto her knees.

There’s a split second between lining myself up with her and pushing inside her with a cry.

I don’t even think about it. Not once does it occur to me that I’ve not sheathed up.

The sensation of being bare is so incredible I stop moving. Then I realize.

“Oh fuck. Haven…”

“Wh-why’d you stop?”

I pull back, not all the way but most of it. I can’t quite bring myself to leave this snug, cozy warmth. And the sight of her round, juicy arse is too good. “I need to go and get condoms, they’re upstairs.” Thank you, Miles.

“I’m on the pill.”

I pause, again. “Really?”

“Yeah.”

“Because”—I slide back inside her half an inch—“we should be careful.”

Haven pushes back onto me another inch and clenches. “We should. I agree.”

“But you’re on the pill.”

“I am.”

“And I can pull out.”

Another clench. “Sure, do that. Good idea.”

My conscience is stretched paper thin. It would literally take a second to run upstairs and grab the box on my bed, and all I need to do is think about what happened to Hendricks. But on the other hand…I’m inside Haven, and her pussy is the best thing I’ve ever experienced in my life. Absolutely unreal.

Warm, tight, wet. Just for me.

Because I’m taking too long to make a decision, she takes it out of my hand and pushes right back onto me. “Fuck me, Alex.”

So I do.

Fisting her hair in my hand, I yank her back. Her mouth collides with mine as I drive into her, and I swallow every single one of her cries. It’s rough and desperate. This is the goodbye we deserve. Not some fucking weird moment in a bakery surrounded by an audience where I kiss her cheek.

I want her to feel me in every inch of her body until we meet again. And I’m going to spend all night making sure of it. I need to because I’m not going to last this first time around.

My balls are rock hard, there’s a pressure twisting my spine with an intensity I’ve never felt before.

“Al…ex. Fu-u-ck.” She cries out as I slap her arse.

Her thighs clamp, and I know she’s close. I ease the grip on her hair and grab onto her arse, holding her still while I give her everything I have. Plunging into her over and over, harder and deeper. I don’t stop until I feel that first vicious clench of her pussy, which is enough to send me over the edge.

I pull out right before I explode, tugging my cock and finish all over her. It’s everywhere. Her hair, her back, dripping down between her cheeks. She’s painted in my come. If I wasn’t already on my knees, the view of her like this would have brought me to them.

It’s spectacular. She’s spectacular.

I catch sight of the clock. There are twelve hours until I have to leave, and I intend to make the most of every single second.

We stop to shower and eat. Haven cooks, while I watch her and wonder how the hell I met her. We steam the windows up. We fuck everywhere, only this time using the present Miles left for me. It’s not until sometime around four a.m. that we collapse exhausted on the giant couch and I chase her into sleep.

The sunrise wakes me, turning the mountains orange, and it takes a second for me to blink away the brightness. Gently, I remove the strands of Haven’s damp hair stuck in my beard and brush it back while trying to remember a time when I felt more content.

I can’t.

Leaving it as long as I can before easing out of the blanket carefully, I make sure I do so with minimal disturbance. I needn’t have worried, Haven is out for the count, and I jog up the stairs to the shower feeling all kinds of smug. I won’t forget this in a hurry. I won’t forget her, ever . It’s laughable I thought I even could.

I’ve fucked her into a coma.

I’m surprised my dick hasn’t fallen off this week from the amount of sex we’ve had, and I bet it’ll be a long time before she meets someone who makes her come like I did.

I stop dead in my stride, almost winded by the jealousy punching me in the gut at that thought. When I leave, Haven will meet someone else. It’s inevitable, of course she will. She’s an insanely amazing woman.

Except…the thought of her meeting someone else infuriates me.

She’ll have sex with the next dickhead who picks her up at the jukebox. Or who buys a lifetime supply of cinnamon buns. And that won’t do. I don’t want some fumbling cowboy sloppily humping her to completion, when she should be treated like a goddess and worshipped for the rest of time.

No one should get to witness her falling apart like I did.

Even though I’m seven thousand miles away and have an entire life back in England, I’m thinking about how I can reasonably stop Haven being with any other guy.

I think about it through my shower, the final bits of packing, and taking the remainder of my shit downstairs to leave by the front door, and I’m no closer to an answer because I can’t stop her.

This was a fling and nothing more. We both know it.

I pull on my boxers and creep back under the blanket, fitting into Haven’s curled body so well she barely stirs.

“I need to leave soon,” I whisper, moving her hair to the side so I can run my lips along her shoulder. “But you can stay as long as you want. Take a shower, get in the hot tub. The car will come back for you to take you home when you’re ready.”

“Hmm,” she breathes out, stretching from her sleep and looping her arm back to wrap around my neck. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

When she stays quiet, I close my eyes again. Breathing her in, trying to commit the last week of her to memory. I need to take a piece of her back home with me.

“That’s the tree I sold you,” she murmurs.

I nod. Only the twinkly lights are left on it after Miles removed all the decorations to take home, including the star on top. It’s bare, but also kind of beautiful in its simplicity.

Haven’s staring at it, while I’m treated to the sight of her naked back, tracing my fingers down the ridges of her spine. The clock says I have about twenty minutes before the car comes to take me to the airport. I know I could do a lot with Haven in twenty minutes.

“My dad died at Christmas,” I find myself saying. “He was going to pick out a tree for me and a car crashed into him. He died instantly.”

Haven stops running her fingers up and down my bicep. After a minute she twists in my arms so we’re face to face. I can’t escape the look she has. The sorrow. “How long ago was this?”

“Twenty years ago, tomorrow,” I reply quietly, my eyes dropping away.

“Alex…you were a little boy.”

“I know.” I swallow thickly. “He would be here if it weren’t for me. It’s why I hate Christmas. But this year, meeting you, has made me hate it a little bit less, and I wanted you to know that.”

Her hands push through my hair, she twists the ends around her fingers. It’s gentle and soothing and I don’t want it to stop.

“Both my parents died from cancer. My mom went first, and had huge medical bills. I didn’t find out until after my dad died that he’d been struggling to pay them. The reason I’ve been working so much is because I need to pay off all the debts he left so I don’t lose the business, or the home I’ve known since I was born.”

My eyes shoot open. I want to say something, but I don’t know what. I have more money than I know what to do with. More than I’ll ever know what to do with. There’s nothing I can say that would make her think I understand what it’s like to have that struggle. I only know what it’s like to lose a parent.

Haven stops me regardless. “I’m telling you this because shit things happen, and there’s nothing we can do. It’s not our fault, and you can’t blame yourself for your dad dying any more than it helps for me to be pissed at my parents for leaving me in this mess for the past few years. I usually miss my parents the most at Christmas. It’s hard and painful, especially when I’m so busy I can barely think, because then I feel guilty.” She smiles at me. “But this year, meeting you, gave me a little bit of the fun I’d been missing. I’ve been needing.”

I lie there, my mind full of thoughts about how similar we are.

Two people on the other sides of the world brought together through a love (her) hate (me) relationship with Christmas. I know I have to go home, but it’s not stopping me from trying to find reasons to come back.

My eyes fall on one of the practice gingerbread houses sitting on the far table.

“You know, I am going to have to come back and defend my crown as most creative.”

She lifts an eyebrow. “Oh?”

“Yeah. I can’t let the Rivern family swoop back in and take it, can I?”

Haven shakes her head, her beautiful honey-gold hair, all tussled up from a night of my fingers running through it, sweeps over her shoulders. “I guess not.”

“So…what do you say? Same time next year?”

She chews on the end of her thumb, prolonging my misery of whether she’ll agree to this ridiculous idea. I mean, who’s to say we’ll even be single in a year. Though, again, the thought of her with someone else has my teeth gritting and fists clenching.

My phone buzzes with a message telling me the car service is two minutes away. I ease up off the couch, spy the clothes I’d laid out for traveling home, and tug on my jeans. I’m almost completely dressed, and she’s still not said anything.

“I can do same time next year.” She peers up, batting her thick lashes at me, with a grin I’d kiss off her if I didn’t have to make this stupid flight.

“Yes?”

“Yes.”

“So, it’s settled then.” The couch dips as I sit down and pull on my sneakers.

“Hey, what’s your last name?”

“My last name?”

She nods. The gate bell buzzes.

“Yeah, I don’t know it.”

“Oh.” I pause. “It’s Burlington. Alex Burlington.”

“See you next year, Alex Burlington.”

I drop a kiss on her swollen, pink lips. “See you next year, Haven Wylder.”

To be continued…