Chapter 12

Twelve

JAKE

I was about to crawl into bed with Hannah when I heard my phone vibrating. It was in the pocket of my snow pants, so I padded back into the bathroom and fished it out. Then I wrapped a towel around my waist, since I didn’t have any other clothes with me. I’d have to figure that out at some point. As much as I liked the idea of spending all of our time naked, we needed to spend some quality time together with our clothes on. And, if we had a worst-case scenario where the electricity went out and the generator wasn’t working, we’d need more than just blankets and a fire.

First, I would deal with the messages…then I’d figure out food and clothes.

There were texts from Cammie, Lincoln, and Colin. As well as three missed calls from my mother.

I checked Cammie’s message first.

Cammie: Hannah isn’t answering her cell. Have her call me. I’m guessing she’ll tell me more about this mystery than you will. Girl talk and all that shit. Anyway, our flight was cancelled because of the storm. We are trying to decide what to do about the trip.

Me: Trip is cancelled.

Then opened Lincoln’s texts.

Linc: You get to the inn? They’ve closed the road to the resort.

There was about ten minutes between that and the next text.

Linc: Talked to Colin. Glad you made it.

Linc: I hear Santa was listening to your Christmas wish. Of all the gin joints…

I could practically hear my friend laughing and I rolled my eyes, despite the upward curve of my lips.

Linc: I’m assuming you aren’t answering because you’re unwrapping your present, but you might want to give Colin a call when you come up for air. Merry fucking Christmas.

Me: Yes, it is.

He replied immediately with an emoji winking.

The last messages were from Colin, less than five minutes ago.

Colin: Call me when you aren’t…busy. Updates on the storm.

Colin: FYI. Roads in and out of the resort are closed. We’re snowed in. You’re welcome.

I chuckled as I grabbed my earbuds and walked out of the bedroom so I wouldn’t disturb Hannah with my calls. Before I had a chance to call Colin, another message came through from my sister.

Cammie: I just told you the trip was cancelled…Did you shake some brain cells when you got that concussion? Yes, I know about that. Yes, my medic friend told me. And since I didn’t tell mom or Raven, you owe me, big brother.

Sighing, I hit her number as I stuck the buds into my ears.

“I asked for Hannah to call me, not my clearly addle-minded brother,” Cammie answered.

“Hannah is sleeping.”

“At one in the afternoon?”

“She’s worn out, Cammie,” I told her, my voice smug.

“I…ewwwwww, Jake. That’s just gross.”

“You brought it up.”

“Speaking of, what the hell is going on with you and Hannah? And give me the PG version, bro.”

“None of your business,” I retorted, throwing her own words back at her.

“I figured. No worries. Hannah will tell me.”

“That’s up to her.”

“Okaaay, well, I need to talk to her about rescheduling the trip.”

I scowled and grunted, “I already answered that, Cammie. The trip is cancelled.”

“Like cancelled, cancelled?”

“Exactly.”

“But—”

“It’s not up for discussion, Cammie. I just got my wife back, and I’m not letting her out of my sight anytime soon.”

“You can’t throw that at me and not give me an explanation, Jacob Ashley!” Cammie yelled. “Why the hell are you calling Hannah your wife? And when did this marriage happen? Did you get her pregnant? Why was it a secret?”

“Because she is, last Christmas Eve, not yet, and none of your business.”

Cammie sputtered, making me grin.

“It’s been a year? Why—wait, did you say NOT YET??”

“Merry Christmas, baby sister,” I said in a jovial tone before hanging up. Okay, so “not yet” was probably wishful thinking. I’d wait as long as she wanted, but a big part of me hoped Hannah would be ready to start our family soon.

Before she could call back, like I knew she would, I hit the speed dial for Colin’s cell.

“What’s up?” I asked.

“Hey…I didn’t expect to hear from you so soon.” He sounded chagrined. “I didn’t mean to interrupt?—”

“You didn’t, Colin. Hannah is asleep.”

“That was fast. I’m impressed,” Colin said with an uncharacteristic chuckle.

“You should be,” I snarked, making him laugh harder.

“Anyway, I wanted to let you know about the roads.”

“You said in your text that they’ve closed down the roads to town,” I reminded him.

“Yes, but the storm has gotten even worse. We are pulling back the grounds staff from the paths around the resort. The snow covers them before they can get from one end to the other. And a few got hit with snow drifts. We don’t want anyone getting hurt or sick. And the winds are too high for the snowmobiles to be out. You’d never get anywhere the way it would keep blowing you off course.”

“So we’re snowed in here,” I surmised.

“Yes. I’m sorry, but the good news is that one of my guys dropped off your bags before we called him back. They are under the bench on the porch to keep them out of the snow.”

“Damn, thanks, man. I was planning to call and see if you could send out clothes. Now, I just need to figure out what we are going to eat.”

“Jake,” he sighed, sounding like he was talking to an ignorant child. “Do you not know me and your sister at all? We are prepared for this. The fridge is stocked, and we had the generator serviced a few days ago. And just in case there is a problem with it, there is a mountain of chopped wood in a shed just behind the cabin. I hate to leave you stranded, but…”

“I’d have made the same call, Colin. We’ll be just fine. And, I swear, I’ll never give you shit about your checklists and precious clipboard.”

Colin was very detail-oriented and meticulous, and I couldn’t have been more grateful at that moment.

“Honestly,” I added. “I couldn’t have asked for better circumstances. Nowhere to run.”

Colin chuckled. “I’ll admit, the thought occurred to me.”

“We’ll hunker down until the storm lets up.”

“Great. Merry Christmas.”

“It will be.”

Colin laughed again. “I have no doubt.”

He ended the call and saw that my battery was getting low. I grabbed our bags from the porch, trying to remember if I’d packed a charger. After a minute, I noticed a desk under the window in the living room and I had a feeling Raven had come to my rescue. I rooted around in the drawers until I found a box of chargers that were most likely in every cabin.

I plugged in my phone and turned to go grab Hannah’s, but thought better of it before I reached the bathroom. Instead of taking it to the living room, I set it on the dresser. The battery was at twenty percent, which could last longer than I wanted it to, so I opened an app I knew would drain the power fast and let it run.

Guilt didn’t even enter my mind as I climbed into bed with my wife. I slipped an arm beneath her and pulled her back against my body, then draped my leg over hers and relaxed. Finally. She was in my arms. I was never letting her go again.

I woke up when I felt my arm being tugged on. Hannah’s movements were slight, obviously trying to keep from waking me while she tried to scoot away.

“Where do you think you’re going?” I mumbled, opening one eye to look down at her. Her head turned, so she was looking at me over my shoulder, her light brown orbs unsure and confused.

“Um…it’s after five. I was thinking about meeting the girls for dinner and?—”

She stopped speaking when I laughed, and her expression morphed into an adorable pout.

“What is funny about that?”

“It’s funny that you think I’m going to let you walk out of this cabin until I get what I want.”

Hannah’s mouth twisted with annoyance. “And what about what I want?”

In the blink of an eye, she was flat on her back and I was hovering over her. My elbows were on the mattress on both sides of her head, caging her in. “You want exactly what I do, baby. You even admitted it earlier.”

Her gaze darted away, and she squirmed, clearly uncomfortable with facing the truth. “Heat of the moment,” she mumbled.

I growled in frustration, my brow furrowed into a dark scowl. My hard shaft was cuddled in the apex of her thighs and the slight movements caused it to swell even more. She sucked in a breath and I couldn’t stop my eyes from dropping to her magnificent breasts. The nipples grew into stiff peaks under my intense gaze and I licked my lips, anticipating the feel of the buds on my tongue.

Hannah moved restlessly against me and I was tempted….oh, so tempted, to give in to my urges. But our relationship was about more than mind blowing sex. So I inhaled slowly, thinking about anything that would distract me from Hannah’s sexy body. Then I moved over and sat on the edge of the bed.

“I’m going to make us something to eat, then we can talk.”

“Holy crap!” Hannah exclaimed, popping up into a sitting position.

I averted my eyes from her bouncing tits before I changed my mind and ate her for dinner.

“My flight!”

I rolled my eyes and strolled over to the duffel I’d tossed on a chair in the room's corner. “You were never going to make that flight, baby,” I said as I dug through the bag for a pair of sweatpants.

“Well, not since you dragged me out of the Inn like a freaking caveman!” she snapped. “Cammie is probably waiting on me to rebook?—”

“Forget it, Hannah. The trip is cancelled.” I yanked on the pants and turned around, crossing my arms over my chest.

She yanked the sheet up and wrapped it around her before she scooted off the bed. Then she faced me, glaring so hard that if looks could kill, I would have dropped dead.

“Cammie cancelled it?” Her tone was suspicious…and rightly so.

I cocked my head to the side and shrugged. “I don’t know what my sister is doing, but you aren’t going anywhere.”

“Jake, I may have let your stupid sexy face and body cloud my mind earlier, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to let you tell me where I can and cannot go!”

“At the moment, I’m not the one keeping you here.”

“Excuse me?”

I gestured to the window that was completely obscured by snow. “We’re snowed in. Probably will be for a couple of days, at least.”

Hannah’s shoulders slumped, and her anger melted away. “Oh, I see. They would have cancelled our trip because of the storm. I’m sorry I jumped to conclusions. I thought you were telling me you wouldn’t allow me to go.”

“Oh, I was,” I stated, choosing to be honest. If I wanted things to go my way, pussyfooting around things wouldn’t fix anything.

“I’m confused,” she admitted, rubbing her forehead tiredly.

“Baby, the snow simply did my job for me. Now that I have you, I’m not letting you go. Not unless you can give me a damn fucking good reason we shouldn’t make this work.”

Hannah closed her eyes and sighed. When she opened them, the sadness in them just about broke my heart. I only ever wanted to make her happy.

“What is holding you back from me, baby?” I asked softly.

“Maybe…maybe we should just eat, like you suggested.” Her brow furrowed, and she glanced toward the window. “Oh no. What are we going to do? We’re stuck here with no food and this storm will probably knock out the electricity and—” She suddenly shrieked and looked down at the sheet covering her. “Dammit! I have no clothes! You left my bag in the lobby when you threw your tantrum and carried me off, you jerk!”

I couldn’t stop the smile that curled my lips, even when she spotted it and I practically saw the steam coming out of her ears.

“I’m sorry,” I apologized, holding my hands up in surrender. “You’re just so fucking cute when you get all riled up.” If her expression was anything to go by, I needed to clear things up before she literally tried to kill me. “Raven and Colin have this place stocked for the storm. There’s a generator and a lot of firewood. And, because they are smarter than I am, they had our bags delivered before the storm snowed everyone in.”

I pointed at the overstuffed chair in the other corner of the room where I’d placed her bag.

“Oh.” Thankfully, relief replaced her rage.

“Why don’t you get dressed and come meet me in the kitchen? I’ll make us dinner.”

“You can cook?” Hannah asked in surprise.

I grinned. “Yeah, my mom insisted on teaching me because it would impress my future wife.”

“Ah yes, Cammie mentioned your mom’s interesting ideas.”

I laughed. “Don’t tell her, but I’m grateful that she forced me to learn. Eventually, I got sick of never having a home cooked meal with all the traveling, so I started booking hotel suites with a kitchen so I could make my own meals.”

Hannah smiled, but it didn’t reach her pretty brown eyes. “I’ll be right out.”

Frowning, I determined to deal with the food before pushing her to talk to me about what was causing the shadows in her eyes.