Chapter 18

CHAPTER 18

COLE

I take everything in about what she just told me as I drive us home. Ains texts Emma on the way to let her know we bailed earlier than expected since they both arrived together, and she didn’t want her to be worried.

I’ve enjoyed tonight, but now I need to get my girl home and to bed. The thing I didn’t enjoy was hearing how someone so close to her could hurt her so badly; Ainsley and her mom. Then to make them feel as though they were guilty of something, when he was the one cheating and lying? It’s unfathomable to me. I’ve always respected my folks and felt lucky to have two wonderful parents. It makes me appreciate them more when I hear stories like Ainsley’s. I know it couldn’t have been easy, but it hasn’t made her a bitter and twisted person in the slightest.

She’s sweet and soft, but also strong and independent, despite a lifetime of being unaccepted by her dad. The guy sounds like a complete asshole

When we park, I jostle the keys and ask her, “My place or yours?”

“Should we see where Fudge is?” The smile I love and adore has returned to her face. “He’s the deciding factor?” My shoulders shake with laughter. Fudge would approve.

“He makes most of the decisions around here,” Ains points out.

“Unbelievable, but true.” The first place we first check is my place, but there’s no sign of him. He’s usually a good boy and doesn’t venture very far from home, so I trust he’s over at Ainsley’s house waiting for her arrival. Nice going, Fudgey.

When we walk in her back door straight into the kitchen, I look down at the fluffy bed she bought for him and have to laugh at the sight. There he lays, snuggled up in front of the tiny wood fireplace Ainsley left going to keep the place warm. Its embers still burn and my cat seems to love it; his legs splayed out and his eyes squeezed shut.

“I see where his loyalty lies,” I tut, but I’m far from upset. I love that he loves her.

And maybe I do, too. My heart buzzes at the thought. I’ve never been in love before.

“I’m sure he knew you were coming over here,” she says.

I stalk toward her as she puts her purse down on the table and grabs the kettle in one hand. Oh baby, the last thing we’re going to be doing is drinking tea.

She catches sight of me right behind her as she puts the kettle down and turns her head. I grab her around the waist and she lets out a little squeal. “Cole!”

“You makin’ tea, baby girl ?” I nuzzle into her neck, my hard length pressing into the top of her ass as she tries and fails to light the burner.

“Just busying myself.” Her voice is a pant that doesn’t help the throbbing in my pants. “I think this is broken.”

“You can busy yourself by getting naked,” I murmur, bu mping my hips into her.

She shudders as I breathe into her neck, spreading soft kisses along her creamy skin. Skin I want to dive into and get lost in. Skin I want all over mine. “Ohhh.” She wiggles her ass into my crotch, which in turn makes me groan. That is so damned sexy.

I only let go of her to shrug my jacket off and let it fall to the floor.

“Which way is the bedroom?” I continue to kiss her neck as she forgets about the stove and presses her hands into the kitchen bench top, rocking my hips against her ass in a slow, seductive rhythm.

“Just down the hall.” She flails her arm toward the left and I chuckle, stepping back.

She turns and looks up at me, her face flushed and her eyes ablaze. Thank fuck she’s smiling again.

“Show me,” I mouth, my lips widening to a grin as she yanks me by the arm in that direction and we tumble up the hallway, stripping off layers as we go.

We stop by her door and don’t even bother with the lights. She’s down to her bra and panties by the time I spin her around to face me. I’m not much better; I unzipped my jeans and all I need to do is shrug them off. “You’re beautiful, Ainsley, inside and out. Never let anyone tell you any different.”

“I won’t,” she says with full conviction. There’s a fire in her eyes that only makes me love her more. There’s that word again, but I can’t help what’s happening and the way I feel about her. It’s all unraveling on its own, in perfect timing, just as it should be.

**

“You have such a sexy body, my Little Librarian, has an yone ever told you that?”

We both flop down onto her mattress after what started out as sensuous lovemaking, turned into me plundering her from behind hard and fast, while holding onto her glorious breasts. She sure knows how to move and grind that sexy ass, and watching my cock disappear inside her over and over again was just too much for me to take.

“Funnily enough, no one has,” she pants, holding her arm over her eyes while we both labor our breathing.

“Are the men around these parts totally fuckin’ stupid?” I shake my head in wonder. “But hey, I’m not saying I want them to be telling you. Only I can do that.”

“There is only you,” she assures me as I hold her to my side and kiss her hair.

“Glad to hear it.” I prop my head up on my elbow. “You have a really comfy bed,” I say. Her room is neat and tidy and she doesn’t have too much stuff adorning the walls or the shelves. Not that it would bother me if she did. Her bed is a queen size and has the comfiest mattress topper and pillows that feel like clouds under my head. “I may just never leave.”

She giggles, and it’s like a lullaby to my ears. Especially after the night she had with the confessions over her father. I still feel terrible about that. “I think they’d find us, eventually.”

I kiss her nose and bump my hips into hers again. “Not for a few days, at least.”

“Then we can go on that proper date you were talking about?” She laughs.

A grin tugs at my mouth. That was right before her dad called. “Yes, we will as soon as this snow clears up. I’ll take you for dinner somewhere fancier than the Noodle Bowl.”

“I’d like that.”

“Do you think we’re doing things backwards?” I ask.

“What do you mean?”

I bump her with my hips and she giggles, then she rolls on her side to face me.

“I don’t think we are. It’s just how it happened. I’ve never jumped in this fast before, but this feels right. We fit.”

I smile. “We do fit. Sometimes you can’t deny it, and I wouldn’t want to. I love our connection, and the fact I can talk to you about anything.”

“You definitely can,” she says. “And I love that I can tell you anything, too. It might not have been a big deal to most people, a phone call from their dad, but you never make me feel like I’m overthinking things or overreacting. It feels safe.”

I pull her to my chest and wrap my arms around her. “You are safe. I’ll never hurt you.”

“I love that.”

“I love y—,” I say on a breath. Then I want to slap myself.

Fuck. Double fuck.

It’s too soon for me to be saying that. I know it, but then again, I’ve worn my heart on my sleeve a lot with Ainsley.

But the sigh I hear and feel all the way down to my toes, and the way she holds me tighter, tells me that maybe, just maybe, I got away with it. “You love me?” she murmurs.

Then again, maybe not. “I’m falling hard,” I say, wanting to be honest, even if it might have her running for the hills. Though, I’m pretty sure her feelings for me are just as strong. She even said so. But does she love me back? “I know it’s fast, but we’ve known each other for a while now, and like I said before, it’s been brewing for me for the past year. I couldn’t stop thinking about you.”

She presses a kiss to my lips, and my cock jumps to life again. He’s always ignited by the littlest touch from her. “I love you too, Cole.”

My heart thuds, and it feels thick and heavy in my throat. “You… you do?”

“I know it’s fast for me to be saying it, and for us to be declaring our love, but I’m falling for you too, and I’m helpless to stop it. I don’t want to.”

“I don’t want to either.”

“You sure I’m not too boring—” I cut her off with a kiss, deepening it, thrusting my tongue into her mouth.

“Don’t even,” I tell her, pulling back to look at her face.

“Cole!” she giggles, slapping my arm away, then gestures to my excited cock beneath the comforter. “You’re ready to go again?”

“Oh, babe, I’m always ready with you.”

“What about that tea and the pilot light? I think it’s out.”

“Fuck the tea. I’ll fix the pilot light later.”

She laughs and I nudge my hips toward her, sliding her gently onto her back as I lift myself over the top, pinning her to the mattress. “What’s so funny, My Little Librarian ?”

“You Cole, everything about you.” She wraps her arms around me and pulls me down so our chests press together.

“Everything about you,” I correct, reaching between us to grab my cock by the base and position it at her entrance, ready to slide in. “I wanna take you hard and fast this time. Are you good with that?”

She smiles up at me in the moonlight. “I’m more than good with that.” She sounds breathy and needy. With that, I thrust into her once more, unable to keep from moaning.

**

We’re ready for that nightcap of tea and some chocolate cake after a nother romp in Ainsley’s bed. The snowfall is really coming down now, my dad wasn’t wrong about that. I glance out the window while Ainsley cuts the cake from the bakery. That’s a happy surprise. It’s coming down in sheets against the window, the wind howling around the house. My first thought flicks to Frosty and the town Christmas tree. The entire townsfolk spent the better part of the night getting it all ready, and I hope it wasn’t in vain. Still, it is the middle of winter. “It’s really coming down out there,” I say as I turn back and Ainsley hands me a plate. She looks so adorable; her hair still a little wild from rolling around with me for hours, plus she’s wearing her sweats and some fluffy socks. I love that she can be herself around me.

“I think the snowstorm is coming in faster than any of us thought,” she says. I follow my gaze outside the kitchen where there’s already a blanket of snow covering the hedge between our houses.

“We should really hunker down in bed,” I say. “Right after we finish this.”

“Agreed.” We eat our cake while she tries again to light the stove to make tea, but there’s not so much as a flicker.

“I’m gonna go check the pilot light.” I should’ve done that sooner.

We venture down to the basement so I can check the furnace. She flicks the light on, opening the basement door as I step down first.

Fudge has finally woken up from his slumber and decided to grace us with his presence. He follows us downstairs with his little bell jingling as he jumps down, the basement door closing behind us.

“I never knew there was a fully redone basement down here,” I marvel as I step down onto the concrete floor and cast my eyes around. There’s practicall y another den down here with a couch and a small laundry area in the corner with a sink and a washer/dryer stacked next to it.

“Yup. An added bonus. It sort of acts as a spare room,” she says. “The couch was already here, the small flat screen was just a spare I had from years ago. I don’t think the Carruthers’ used this space much.”

“It’s like a cozy little hideaway,” I muse as I find the furnace tucked in the back and crouch down to the pilot light opening. I see straight away it’s out.

“I wouldn’t mind being snowed under with you,” Ainsley says, picking up Fudge and giving him a scratch while she watches me. “The snow could encase us entirely for all I care.”

I laugh as I glance back at her. “Snowed under, huh?”

“As opposed to being snowed in or out?”

“I don’t mind being any of those things, Shorty . As long as I get to spend it with you.” I bob back down to the furnace, thankful the lightbulb dangling from the ceiling here is adequate enough to see what I’m doing. I didn’t bring my cell down for a torch and I’m not even sure Ainsley has one down here. It should be simple enough to press and hold the reset button, otherwise I’ll have to ignite the lighter.

“Is it a simple fix?” she asks, hovering behind me.

“Should be,” I say as I hit the reset and release the button after a couple of seconds. Sure enough, it lights back up. “There we go.” I dust my hands off like I’ve saved the world. “Who says I’m not a handy guy to have around?”

“Thank you, Cole. You can be my handy man any day.”

“Oh, I’m handy, babe. Especially when it comes to you.”

She pokes me in the ribs. “Not in front of Fudgey.”

I snort, getting back on my feet. “Like he cares. ”

She’s still cuddling him to her chest, and it makes my heart swell. I sure am really turning into a gooey mess with this woman. I don’t know how she brings it out in me, but she does.

We make our way back up the stairs and I push the door to open it, but nothing moves.

I try again with a little more force this time, but the door doesn’t budge. “Fuck.”

“Oh shit,” Ainsley says. “I forgot! The agent told me the door sticks sometimes. They were getting someone over to fix it…”

I run a hand over my hair. “I don’t think you were kidding about being snowed under, baby girl.”

“Shit, is there no way out?”

“I have to find some tools. Do you have any?”

”Ummm.” She bites her lip. It’s so adorable. “Not exactly.”

“Hmm.”

“What are we gonna do?”

“Well, we have a TV and a couch.” I shrug. “Until I figure out how to get us out of here, we should check the forecast on the news, see if there’s any update.”

“Okay,” Ainsley says, but she’s nervous. I can tell by her wobbly tone and her wariness.

“Hey,” I say, tugging at her sweatshirt. “Don’t worry, I’m here. I’ll keep you and Fudgey safe. I’ll hunt around and see if I can get us out once we’ve checked the forecast.”

We walk over to the couch and I flick on the TV resting on a set of drawers, quickly finding the channel.

The late news bulletin flashes on the screen. There’s a severe weather warning for Silver Pines and the surrounding areas flashing across the bottom of the screen, urging people to stock up on supplies over the next twenty-four hours. After that, nobo dy is to venture out until the heavy snowfall subsides after the weekend. My dad was right, after all.

“Shit,” Ainsley and I both say together.

“I think we spoke too soon about being snowed under.” I plop down into the seat as I glance down to Fudgey sitting comfortably in her lap.