GALEN
When my eyes finally opened, I looked over at the clock and it read ten-thirty in the morning. I hadn't slept this late in years, but it felt good to know that I wouldn't be heading into work. Looking up at the wood beamed ceiling I smiled as the memories of last night came flooding back. After our night in the hot tub, we came straight inside and passed out on the bed, or at least she did. I watched her for most of the night, holding her while she slept. It brought back a time when I held her and watched her cry herself to sleep eight years ago, but this time she wouldn't be leaving me like she did then. I planned on having her in my arms for the rest of my life … if she'd have me. Only when I knew she was ready would I ask her.
Actually, it dawned on me that Korinne was nowhere to be found. The smell of bacon and eggs permeated the air with its fine aroma, and my stomach growled in protest. Throwing on a pair of boxers I followed the smell to the kitchen. Korinne had her back to me, deeply engaged with whatever she was doing, so I decided to sneak up behind her …
"Gotcha!"
"Ahhh!" she screamed, and in the process of that scream she smacked me in the face with a spatula full of soft and fluffy cream cheese icing. "Holy shit, Galen … I'm so sorry!" Korinne shrieked.
I stood there frozen, frosting running down my face, while her bewildered expression turned slowly into amusement. She burst out laughing and doubled over, holding her stomach. I wonder if she'd find it funny if I doused her with icing, I thought. Korinne's eyes went wide when she saw me taking slow, predatory steps toward her with a glint in my eye. She shook her head and frantically began moving away from me. "Don't you dare!" she commanded forcefully, holding the sticky spatula out like a weapon.
"Or what?" I countered back, taunting her. She wasted no time in taking off, circling around the table while I chased after her. Not moving fast enough, I grabbed her around the waist, tackling her to the floor. "You can't escape me, Korinne."
Rubbing my icing-covered face all over hers, I laughed. She squealed and tried desperately to fight me off, but it was no use.
Breathing hard, and looking sexy as hell, I couldn't stop staring at her. "I think it might be a good thing I can't escape. I love being in your clutches," Korinne admitted.
Peering down at her luscious lips, I noticed they were covered in frosting. I leaned down as if I was going to kiss her, but instead I licked the icing off. She giggled the whole time, but then pushed me off. "Happy Birthday!" she yelled while I took her hand and helped her up off the floor. She glided to the kitchen and revealed the masterpiece that called for the delicious frosting. I couldn't believe I didn't notice it when I came into the kitchen. "You thought I'd forgotten, didn't you?" she asked while holding up the cake.
I shrugged nonchalantly, not wanting her to know that it meant a lot to me that she remembered. "I wasn't too worried about it," I said, playing it off.
She looked at me skeptically. "Yeah, somehow I don't believe that. I think I remember you looking forward to those red velvet cakes you got every year. You were like a little boy at Christmas when it came to your birthday."
"Fine, you caught me," I huffed playfully. "So since I'm the birthday boy does that mean you have to do everything I say?"
Narrowing her eyes, she chewed on her bottom lip. "That depends. What do you have in mind?" She took a swipe of frosting from the bowl and slowly licked it from her finger. My groin instantly hardened at the sight, and I watched as her eyes trailed from my face all the way down to my hard cock.
"How about we have sex all day?" I requested while raising my eyebrows.
She laughed and threw a soapy dishrag at me, but I ducked and it flew right past me. "As much as that sounds like fun, I don't think that's going to work."
"And why is that?" I demanded gruffly.
"Because I have plans to cook you dinner and I can't do that if we're in bed," she said, rolling her eyes.
"Who says we have to be in a bed?" I pushed on the table to test its weight. "Yep, I think the table will hold us," I said, grinning in amusement.
She looked like she was contemplating it, but then her eyes went wide and she gasped excitedly. "It's snowing!" I turned around quickly to see what she was looking at. Huge, white snowflakes were falling down rapidly and blanketing every surface as far as the eye could see. Korinne ran to the window and stared in awe at the winter wonderland. "You know, it sucks that we don't get snow like this at home. I mean, what we usually get is maybe one inch of snow a year … if that," she said, looking back at me.
"Do you remember when we had that big snow two years ago?" I asked her.
"Oh yeah, we were out of power for a couple of days. It was so cold."
"Well, I thought I would have a little bit of fun and ride my dirt bike out in it. Needless to say, it didn't turn out too well." I laughed.
"What happened? Did you break something?"
"Yes, my leg. It didn't feel too good either," I admitted.
"I would think not," she said disapprovingly while turning back to the window. "Stuff like that is dangerous, Galen. You need to be more careful."
"I always am," I said softly. I came up behind her and wrapped my arms around her waist, bending over to smell the sweet scent of the shampoo in her hair. She leaned into my touch and tilted her head back, gazing at me with absolute contentment. "I never thought I would feel this happy again," she whispered. "I shut myself off completely when Carson died. I felt so lost, but when you came back into my life it was like I could feel again. Galen, I …" Her eyes went wide and in that instant my heart stopped.
"What were you going to say?" I asked softly. She lifted her head and laughed, but I could tell it was a nervous laugh. I guess she wasn't ready to express those feelings yet.
"I was going to say that I can't wait for more snow. We need to go outside and have a snowball fight," Korinne suggested. Breaking away from me, she walked back to the kitchen to place the eggs and bacon on our plates. I sighed, silently wondering why she couldn't just allow herself to let go and feel what she was feeling. I knew she cared about me. She wouldn't go through all of this if she didn't. The love in her eyes was apparent, but something was still holding her back. Could it be that she was waiting on me to tell her how I felt before she opened up?
"Are you hungry?" she called out. "I know I'm starving."
"I'm famished," I said while smiling at her.
We watched the snow continue to fall as we ate our breakfast in silence. To break the mood we needed a distraction. I planned on challenging her to a fight, and a snowball fight was what it was going to be. It was her suggestion to have one, but I was determined to make it a little more interesting. She doesn't know it yet, but the winner would get all rights to do as they pleased to the other. Korinne might not like the outcome, but it's a fight I was surely going to win. The walls around her heart were going to break, even if it was the last thing I did.
Korinne's eyes went wide as I explained the benefits of the winner. "You're stronger and faster than me! It's not fair!" she shrieked in protest. "You'll definitely win."
I shrugged. "It's my birthday anyhow. I think I deserve to win."
She narrowed her eyes. "You sure are taking advantage of the situation, aren't you?" she teased. Korinne smacked my arm when all I did was smile smugly at her. At least she was being playful and not silent like she was at breakfast. I hadn't exactly told her how I felt, but I planned on it tonight after I had my way with her.
"Are you ready to go out there?" I asked. She snuggled deeper in her coat and put on her gloves. She came prepared, and didn't think to warn me before she brought me up here to the frigid cold of the mountains. All I had was a thin jacket and no gloves.
"I'm ready." She grinned. As soon as I opened the door she took off, circling around the outside of the cabin and out of sight. Her footprints were evident in the snow so I followed them.
"The first one to get ten hits wins!" I yelled. In that moment, Korinne dashed out from behind a tree and hit me square in the chest with a smack. "Ahh!" I roared. The force of it stung, not to mention all the snow that got down in my jacket, chilling me to the bone. "You're going to pay for that!" I grumbled. "Your punishment will be to have to cook dinner naked tonight!" I knew this would get her going. I picked up a handful of snow just as she appeared around the outer edge to protest. I threw the snow and it hit her right in the shoulder, catching her off guard.
Grunting from the impact, she gave me the evil eye. "You'll be lucky if I cook you anything now!" she snapped aggressively. I smirked at her and that riled her up even more. She had always had a competitive streak, and every time she'd get angry and fight with me I found it sexy as hell. I love a woman that'll fight for what she wanted.
After numerous snowball attempts, I was shocked to see that we were actually even at that point. She'd done better than I thought she would. We both had nine hits on the other, only one more and she would be mine. Our steps had marred the snow all across the yard, so it was impossible to track the other. The snow in my hand was making my fingers numb as I walked slowly around the cabin. I paused when I heard a slight crunching sound behind me … it was her. Concentrating on her steps, I could tell she was coming nearer. I waited patiently for her to get closer before I tackled her into the snow. On the count of three I knew I had her. One … two … three! We both went down in a heap of laughter and that was when I got her with my tenth and final hit. Snow littered her hair as I smashed the snowball gently onto her head. She laughed and did the exact same thing to me with the snowball in her hand.
"I won!" I bragged, smiling devilishly at her.
"So you did," she agreed. "Now what would you have me do since I'm your slave for the night?"
I could think of a million things we could do, but I didn't want her thinking sex was the only thing on my mind when I was with her. It was one of the main things, but only because I wanted to be close to her. Looking down at my watch, I was shocked to see that we'd been out there for three hours. "How about we change into some warm clothes and watch a movie? Then we can make dinner together. How does that sound?" I asked her.
"It sounds great, but what about all of that 'having your way with me' stuff?" she mocked.
"Trust me, that'll come later," I promised. Pulling her up by the hand, we headed inside to the warmth of the cabin. There was still the one thing I had yet to ask her, even though I had skirted around it before. I just needed to find the right time to find out if she was ready to work for me.
***
After being kicked out of the kitchen three times, I finally went to the living room to watch TV. The dinner Korinne was cooking smelled amazing. I should've known she'd make my favorite dish. Garlic and Italian seasonings were potent in the air, making my mouth water and my stomach growl. Breakfast didn't last too long after the afternoon Korinne and I had running around the yard for three hours. I had always believed that no one could outdo my mother's spaghetti, but I was completely wrong. Korinne's blew my mother's out the window.
"Dinner will be ready in about ten minutes," Korinne informed me.
"Sounds great! I hope you brought some movies to watch because there's nothing good on television right now," I said while flipping through the channels on the television.
"As a matter of fact, I did," she answered slyly. Her mischievous smile peeked out when I turned to look at her. If I didn't know any better, I'd say I had a pretty good idea what movies she had on her mind. "Do you think you can guess what I brought?"
"Let me think. Is it Pride and Prejudice?" I asked blandly.
She laughed. "Nope."
"Harry Potter?"
She laughed again. "Nope."
"How about the last season of True Blood?"
"No, but I actually like that show. Bill and Eric are completely swoon-worthy."
"I should've known you would like that show. If it's not any of those then I have no clue what movies you brought," I said, throwing my hands up in the air. She left the kitchen and walked over to the couch with a serious glint in her eye. She climbed up and straddled my lap, which took me completely by surprise. What just happened, I wondered? One minute we were talking movies and then the next she was climbing on my lap to seduce me. I definitely wasn't expecting that. She began by kissing my lips, to my jaw, and then down my neck taking bites along the way. My groin instantly hardened, so I grabbed the soft mounds of her ass and pulled her in tighter against me. I wanted to feel that heat between her legs rubbing against my cock.
She moaned in my ear and nipped my earlobe. Her warm breath on my neck sent chills down my body, and all I wanted to do was make love to her. To feel the heat of her flesh wrapped around mine. "One more chance," she whispered huskily, trailing her tongue down my neck. "If you guess the movie right this time I'll take you right here and right now." She accentuated the last of her words with a tormenting grind against my cock. How could I say no to that?
"Lord of the Rings!" I blurted out. She abruptly stopped her torturous movements and pulled back to stare at me with a huge grin on her face.
"I knew you were playing with me!" she scoffed playfully. "Just for that I'm not holding up my end of the bargain."
Why did I fall for that scheme? I should have known she was testing me. I groaned when she climbed off my lap to head back to the kitchen. "You are such a tease!" I yelled playfully. She giggled the entire time while finishing dinner. I knew she'd pick Lord of the Rings. We watched it for the first time together and she had loved it ever since. If she was happy she watched it, sad she watched it, and definitely when she was sick she would watch it. I hadn't seen it since the last time we saw it together.