4. Allie

Allie

I shut the door behind me and shook the snow out of my hair.

I was tired as hell.

Piper had been right when she tried to warn me about driving in snow. The snow flurries I experienced back home were nothing compared the actual weather I had to go through.

Luckily, the flight had been uneventful and renting a car had been fairly easy. I’d lucked out and was upgraded to an all-wheel drive SUV that was better equipped to handle the curves of the road on my journey to Alpha Mountain. A lot better choice than the compact I had originally requested.

When I got closer to my destination, I made sure to stop at a small grocery store, where I probably bought way too many groceries since it was just me, but it was fine. I’d even stopped at a small bakery that had been open. The moment I walked in, I knew I was going to have to buy my weight in goodies. Everything smelled so good, my mouth watered.

When I reached the cabin, I’d parked and frowned.

The place was beautiful, but the entrance was on the second story. I glanced at my overfilled trunk and regretted all the extra goodies, including the various bottles of wine I’d picked up. Obviously, I’d forgotten about the fact anything I wanted to take inside meant I had to carry it up a flight of stairs.

After countless trips, I made it inside for the final time and smiled. I finally had a moment to really take the place in. The cabin was genuinely gorgeous. So much nicer than I could have imagined. The pictures I had seen when I booked it online didn’t do it justice.

All crisp white walls with exposed dark wood beams. Open and spacious. Completely inviting and exactly what I need.

I breathed in and exhaled slowly, trying not to think about the original plans for this place. But as much as I tried, Winston was never far from my thoughts. I blinked away tears that threatened to fall.

This week was not about that.

This would be the perfect place for me to get my head on straight. Maybe, originally, it would have been the most amazing backdrop for a romantic couple of days off, but that was then. What would Winston think about the place? I wondered to myself as I pushed off the huge wooden door. I shook the thought away. I couldn’t go there.

Instead, I explored the cabin a little before I ended up back in the kitchen. I grabbed a glass of wine and prepared a plate of fruits and cheeses. I needed a snack and took it to the living room but stopped. My muscles were still tense from the semi-scary drive and hauling everything up to the cabin. There was a great clawfoot tub in the master bedroom. One that faced a huge floor-to-ceiling window that made it feel like you were outside. I could take a bath, have a snack, and relax while I watched the snow fall.

With a new plan in mind, I set up a bath for myself.

Thankfully, the renters had left out some sweet mandarin bath oils for people to use. It smelled incredible as the bathroom started to slowly steam up from the hot water. After undressing, I got in and sighed with relief in the hot water. My body almost immediately relaxed.

With a happy sigh, I reached for my glass of wine and took a sip. My attention moved to the huge window. It was beautiful but kind of intimidating. The night was dark, and if someone or something was out there, I was pretty sure I couldn’t see it. I shook the thought away.

I was in a sweet little mountain town, not in LA.

I needed to get Piper’s warnings about crazy caveman-like mountain guys out of my head. I giggled and shook my head. Before I knew it, the wine was starting to help, too. My body felt looser, and breathing was somehow easier.

A mountain man , I thought to myself.

A big, tall, rugged guy. A man.

My fingers skimmed my collarbone, and I shivered. He’d have dark eyes and scruff over his jaw. Calloused hands and a body like a Greek statue. I frowned when I realized what I had just done. Even in my attempt to think about someone else, the only man my poor, stupid heart could come up with was Winston.

Or Daddy, I sighed, biting my lower lip.

There were a lot of reasons I had fallen in love with Winston Nash. Not only was he generous and kind, funny, he had shown me things about myself I didn’t know existed in and out of the bedroom.

We hadn’t been together for over a month when he asked about things I liked sexually. When he took the time to really hear out the dirty fantasies I had cooked up throughout the years of reading romance novels for fun when I needed the break from studying.

Then he took it upon himself to make them come true.

I couldn’t imagine trying anything with anyone else, much less the daddy dom play, but with Win, everything had been different.

Safe.

Easy.

God, I miss him.

Not only because he was incredibly sexy and genuinely great in bed, but because somehow, in a short amount of time, he had become my best friend. The person I went to when something was bugging me. The one I wanted to call when I won a case or made a great discovery. He’d become my person in six months, and the last thirty-some days had really sucked without him.

Even in the sadness, just the thought of Winston made my body warm up. I looked around. It was silly. I was all alone in a cabin. I hadn’t seen a neighbor in miles on my drive up.

It was just me and Mother Nature.

Who would judge me if I got myself off thinking about my ex? No one! My eyes fluttered shut as my mind filled with everything Daddy.

Daddy Winston. The silky-smooth feel of his skin. The way his ab muscles rippled and twitched when I touched him. My hands moved from my collarbone down to my breasts. I toyed with my nipples. Gently tugging and twisting. But it was useless. No matter what I did, it never felt like it did when I was in Winston’s hands.

For working in an office, Win’s hands weren’t silky smooth. They were rough and calloused from his time in the gym and outside. God, the man loved being outdoors. I often found it surprising that he lived in a big city like Los Angeles when he found every reason to head to the mountains or the water.

Not to mention the workshop in his backyard, where he liked to tinker. That’s where I let my imagination draw me to. The small wooden shed he had back there.

I’d find him out there. Wearing nothing but ripped jeans and an old hole-filled tee. A sage one. One he swore matched my eyes. The moment he’d see me, despite whatever he had been working on, his attention would be completely on me.

On his princess. His baby girl. The deep rumble of his voice sounded in the back of my mind as my hands drifted down my body. My breath picked up while my hands skimmed my wet skin. His hands would be so warm, almost hot to the touch. He’d rip that shirt off, and my eyes would dart down the V that led to the waistband of his worn-in jeans.

My mouth watered for a taste of him.

Even while I worked myself up, my hand dipped between my legs as I thought of him. His length and thick girth. The heft of his shaft in my hand. I was soaking wet. The pads of my fingers rolled around my clit, aching for release, but I was going to tease myself the way he did.

Win always knew how to draw out the most beautiful orgasms. From the first time to the last, he had been like a master pianist with my body, knowing exactly how to make it sing with bliss.

I gasped and dipped my fingers in, my mind a blur of images of things we’d done together and some I wished we would have been able to do. Every little thing took me closer and closer until I was there, and with a gasp, moaning out Daddy , I came harder than I had anticipated and sighed, resting my head against the bathtub.

My Winston.

Daddy. I shook my head. He wasn’t mine. Not anymore. I rose from the now cool water and wrapped myself up in a heavy towel. I couldn’t keep doing this to myself. I needed to move on.

I changed into a new satin nightie and fuzzy socks. With my hair still wrapped up in a towel, I carried the snack plate and empty glass of wine back to the kitchen. I set it down on the counter and poured myself another glass.

I could always go to a local bar. Try to pick up some real-life mountain guy and have a down and dirty one-night stand. My reflection frowned at me while I stared out into the darkness that was quickly turning white from the snow that hadn’t stopped falling. The thought of hooking up with some random guy did nothing for me. My heart wanted one man and one man only.

Winston. Maybe I could call him now that I was a whole state away? It wasn’t like we could just hook up randomly when we were so far apart, right? I picked up my phone and tapped away on the screen until our text chat appeared.

Me: I miss you. I looked at the text and shook my head.

This is when I finally give in and reach out? That would be crazy! I chugged the rest of my wine. I couldn’t send that message. Sure, if I was going to text him, this was the safest time. When I was far enough from him to prevent some kind of hookup that would only prolong me getting over him.

I pressed my lips together, just about to delete the message, when I sneezed. My phone slipped out of my hand. I went to catch it, my fingers somehow touched the send button, and off it went!

To wherever texts travelled to reach their intended person.

“Shit!” I cursed, staring at the screen. Waiting for bubbles to pop up. As if Winston would just be waiting around for me to text. I doubted it. He had probably moved on a couple of times by now. I shook my head and set the glass down.

“No more wine for me,” I whispered. I hadn’t even made it into the living room when I heard it.

The clear sound of a knock on the door. I frowned, and my head tilted slightly as I waited. And just like that, another knock sounded. I stared at the tall, strong wooden door, wondering who it possibly could be. I hated how Piper’s warnings of crazy caveman-like mountain guys popped up in my head. That wasn’t a thing. Was it? I licked my lips and quietly made my way to the door.

I looked through the peephole and gasped at who was outside. I took an immediate step back. My eyes pinned on the doorknob like it could bite me.

Another knock came, and I frowned.

It can’t be.

There was no way that who I thought was behind that door was actually standing there. One little text and too much wine were messing with my head.

“I’m just imagining things,” I whispered to myself. Wishful thinking and all that.

First off, there was no way that Winston Nash was in the same small mountain town in Colorado as I was. No way possible. Second, how would he even know where I was? My imagination was most definitely playing games with me, thanks to Piper. Another knock sounded, this time louder, and I leaned in to peek through the peephole one more time.

“What the fuck?” I whispered a little too loudly. There, on the stoop, in the darkness, with nothing but silver moonlight casting down on him, stood Winston Nash.

The man of my dreams. The one I stupidly handed my heart over to and had broken up with. I watched his body still as he frowned. Shit, did he hear me?

“Allie baby, I know you’re there,” he called out.

“Allie baby?” I repeated. He hadn’t called me that in I had no idea how long! At the end, it had been Alaska that, Alaska this. For some reason, hearing it after a month of no contact really pissed me off. I stepped back and pulled the door open.

“Allie baby?” I repeated in an almost shriek.

“Babe—“

“What are you doing here?” I stomped outside, ignoring the icy wind that hit me. Was it normal for snow to fall that hard?

“Jesus, babe!” He scowled. I tried to ignore the way his dark intense gaze roamed up and down my body as if it didn’t leave trails of heat behind. “You’re going to catch pneumonia!” he scolded.

“Catch—“ Before I knew what he was doing, he was gently guiding me back inside, and for some forsaken reason, I was letting him! “Pneumonia?!”

“With how you’re dressed? Jesus, Al!” He ran his fingers through his short hair in frustration.

“How I’m––“ I started to say and glanced down to look at what he meant. My face immediately warmed up. I was in fuzzy socks and a satiny nightgown I had ordered back when we were together. I decided to bring it with me because after all, it was mine. I could wear it when I wanted to.

Especially when I was going to be alone. “I’m supposed to be alone,” I answered.

“But you answered the door in that?” he pointed out. My nipples started to stand at attention, giving away just how much his presence alone affected me.

“What are you doing here?” I growled, changing the subject.

“I miss you,” he announced. This was literally something out of a dream.

Winston finding me. Telling me how much he missed me. It sounded way too good to be true. The last time something had been too good to be true, our six months together, my heart ended up in a million little pieces.

“What?” I whispered. Did he read my text? Is that where this is coming from?

“I miss you, and I’m fucking sorry I was the way I was but––“ I shook my head and interrupted him.

“Let me guess.” I stepped back, needing some space. I crossed my arms over my chest because despite being pissed and still not sure why he was here, my body didn’t seem to get the memo we were over. “Whoever you were shacking up with or trying to hook up with let you go?”

“Allie—“

“Alaska, thank you very much. Only my friends call me Allie,” I cut him off. I had no idea from where I had conjured Miss Tough Girl, but I was happy I’d somehow found her.

“Princess,” he sighed. Something inside me, that small wall that I had been building around my heart, started to tumble down. All from the soft way he’d called me princess to the warmth in his eyes. “Baby––“ He didn’t say another word because everything in the cabin turned pitch black.

“Shit,” I whispered, immediately moving into his waiting arms.

Thankfully, it was so dark, I was almost positive he didn’t see the relief I felt of being back in the one place I felt I belonged.