Snowed In With You

Chapter Ten

Sara

‘I fold,’ I groaned, tossing down another hand of cards onto the floor between us.

It felt safer, having this space between our bodies and something to focus on.

My thoughts had been able to roam free sitting on the couch and watching that movie and not only did they run free, they ran dirty.

It wasn’t helpful, I’d decided to take things slow with Fletcher.

I liked him and wanted to make sure he liked me, rather than being driven by this heat between us.

I took a swig of the tequila bottle we had between us and sighed, I’d lost and that was our forfeit.

When Fletch had brought it out I’d raised my eyebrows and asked if that was a good idea, especially on an empty stomach.

He’d grinned and brought out cheese and crackers, unrepentant, and in the end I’d laughed and waved it over.

I was in control, regardless of the alcohol.

‘Seriously, is this like a trick pack of cards or are you cheating? I don’t get how you keep winning.’

Fletcher grinned, ‘I’m not good, you’re just that bad.’

‘Personally I just think you’re trying to get me drunk and we both know that’s a terrible idea.’ Open mouth, insert foot.

Why did I get so loose-lipped when I drank anyway? Fletch had only had two shots max and one was basically voluntary.

His smile dimmed slightly, ‘I don’t think it would be as bad as you think, but rest assured,’ Fletcher crawled closer, trampling the cards on the floor between us and taking my chin in his hand, ‘the next time I fuck you, you’re going to be stone-cold sober.

And you’re going to enjoy it just as much as me.’

My cheeks flushed red but I didn’t look away, alcohol apparently made me bold, too.

Not that I was especially shy, but I also wasn’t hugely forward either.

He leaned back with an entirely satisfied look on his face, like I’d given him exactly the reaction he’d wanted.

We played another hand of poker and this time Fletcher lost.

I watched the movement of his golden throat with fascination as he swallowed the tequila.

He offered me the bottle and I took it with a small sip that burned almost as hot as I did.

I leaned forwards to grab my cards, scooping them into my palms and then gasping as my hand collided with something cold and solid.

I lurched towards the tipping tequila bottle in panic and Fletch caught me with one arm as he moved closer, snagging the bottle with the other hand.

He had the tiniest freckles dotted across his face, I smiled, they were like small secrets, luring me in like they were about to whisper.

I leaned in a little closer and Fletch’s eyes were on my face, his breath smelling like tequila, but his eyes were still sharp, like mine.

He leaned in a fraction closer and my heart began to race – had I imagined that? Or did he want to kiss me as much as I wanted to kiss him?

The tequila bottle thunked safely to the floor but I barely heard it, too focused on the soft breathing of the man in front of me and the way it caught when I moved slightly closer.

I wasn’t sure who breached the last of the space first, but suddenly we were kissing.

Fletch’s mouth was hard on mine, unrelenting like he’d packed all his want and frustration into that one kiss, and I panted into it.

It was so much better than my hazy memories of the night of the wedding could have prepared me for, the demanding softness of his lips, the tempting stroke of his tongue.

I pulled back to trail a kiss down his jaw, smiling at his groan, ‘I thought you said I’d be sober?’

Fletcher watched me in amusement, his lips tipping up as he moved away, ‘You will.

This is just… a kiss.

Trust me, when we’re about to have sex, you’ll know it.’

‘So cocky,’ I said with a roll of my eyes, ignoring the disappointment flaring through me as I moved slightly further away from him.

We continued to pass the tequila between us for a few more minutes in silence, his eyes like a live wire on my skin.

‘Let’s play a game,’ Fletch said and I laughed because he sounded like that guy from the horror movie.

‘What game do you want to play?’ I asked with a bite to my lip and Fletch grinned, leaning forward and tugging on it playfully.

‘Stop that, it’s distracting.’

Fire burned in my veins at his words, I liked the way his eyes lingered on my hair, my eyes, like he was trying to visually consume me to remember this moment.

‘Let’s play Truth or Dare,’ he said eventually and waved me off when I scoffed.

‘I want to get to know you better and what better way to do it than with tequila, poker and a game for high schoolers?’

I grinned, ‘Okay, fine, what are the rules?’

Fletch’s answering smile was big and a riot of butterflies made my palms a little sweaty as I reached for the bottle.

‘You pick either Truth or Dare before you view your cards, whoever loses the hand has to do either the Truth or Dare – but you can’t pick one or the other more than twice in a row.’

‘Sounds fun,’ I clapped my hands together excitedly and then pointed at the cards. ‘Gimme.’

Fletcher dealt the cards and then called out, ‘Dare.’

I laughed, of course he would pick dare.

He just wanted to kiss me again. ‘Truth.’

I set my cards down confidently, my smile fading as I saw his three of a kind beating my doubles. ‘Shit.’

Fletch looked wicked as he tipped back the tequila and caught a droplet of it on his tongue.

I was absolutely riveted but his words made me groan.

‘Tell me what happened with your boyfriend – Zach?’

‘Okay, firstly, not my boyfriend.

Rebound sex.

Very mediocre.

Truly nothing to tell.’

Fletch’s brow wrinkled, ‘Rob seemed to think you were heartbroken – in fact, that was pretty much his exact wording.’

I shrugged, ‘Rob doesn’t know what he’s talking about.

I only told him about Zach because I was sad about–’ I cleared my throat and looked away, wishing I could unsee the way his face fell at my words.

‘So, yeah.

Zach was an experiment, I had one hookup with him and that was pretty much it.

We met in a bar, got drunk, hooked up and that was it.

We tried to go on a date or two but it just… wasn’t the same.’

‘Same as with me?’

I looked at him shrewdly, ‘That’s more than one question, bucko.’ Thing was, it was true.

Zach just didn’t compare to the night I’d spent with Fletch, there’d been no heat, we’d barely had enough of a connection to be friends let alone anything more.

Fletcher stood with the tequila in his hand, finishing the last bit in one gulp before going off to presumably grab more.

My eyes dropped to his ass as he reached up and into a top cupboard in the kitchen, his cosy PJ bottoms hugging every part of him, he cleared his throat and my eyes leapt up to find smug humour written across his face.

He waggled his eyebrows and I laughed shyly as he made his way back over to me.

‘If you’d been listening instead of ogling me, you would have had the opportunity to pick our drink.

But you weren’t, and now you’re stuck with vodka.’

‘Do we not have any mixers?’ I whined and he sighed playfully, tweaking my nose as he leaned forward to collect the cards again.

‘I could only carry so much back from the store in the middle of a snowstorm, Sara.’

I grinned, ‘Okay, fair enough.

I guess your motivations weren’t totally nefarious.’

‘Well, I didn’t say that,’ Fletch chuckled as he dealt out the next lot of cards.

‘Dare,’ I declared boldly, internally wincing, but I couldn’t pick Truth forever.

Fletcher picked Dare too and there was a challenge in his gaze that made me sit straighter as I looked over my cards.

‘Ready?’ He asked and I nodded, ‘Okay, three, two, one–’ Fletcher groaned and I laughed as he saw my cards.

‘Full house,’ he sighed, ‘what’s my dare then, gorgeous?’

I took a sip of vodka as I considered him, and then another.

There was a bright eagerness to his face that made my heart sing, he looked like he would take anything I dished out and still beg for more.

An idea began to form and I smiled slowly, ‘I dare you… to take off all your clothes – no! To strip for me… and then run into the snow.’

Fletcher gaped, blinking at me before laughing and I joined in, relieved, worried for a second that I’d gone too far.

He stood and anticipation was a live thing, coiling inside me and driving my adrenaline up as he lifted off his gray tee slowly, stretching upwards as I let my gaze roam down.

I half-wished the power wasn’t out so I could play some music, maybe something like Leave Your Hat On.

My eyes glazed over as he toyed with the waistband of the pyjama bottoms, tugging it down to expose one hipbone before pulling it back up and showing the other.

Fletcher abruptly tugged them down and I stifled a gasp at the sight of the large lump in the front of his black boxers.

A surge of satisfaction mounted knowing I wasn’t the only one aching and hot and bothered right now.

He whipped the boxers down and off and was running towards the door before I’d got more than a glimpse of him, a laugh startled out of me at his yell as the cold air hit him.

I was cackling wildly as I rushed to my feet, swaying only a little as I staggered to the door just in time to see his bare ass meet ice as the wind bowled him over.

I ran out into the snow and helped him up with a grin that he met with his own.

Snowflakes were caught in his hair and eyelashes and his teeth kept chattering but we were laughing as I wrapped his arm around my waist for warmth and pulled him back to the lodge.