Snowed In With You

Chapter Eleven

Fletcher

Sara bundled me in front of the fireplace in what felt like a million blankets as soon as I got my underwear back on.

She hadn’t stopped smiling since we’d come inside and my own face was starting to ache too.

There was a strange sort of exhilaration at seeing her so clearly happy and knowing I’d been the cause.

My shivers subsided fairly quickly, especially with the aid of the vodka.

The expression on her face as I’d stripped for her was going to be burned into my memory forever and was currently doing a pretty good job of heating me too.

She’d looked at me like she was starving and I was quickly becoming familiar with the sensation as I ran my eyes over her.

But I’d meant what I’d said – I didn’t want to rush this and I didn’t want her to have alcohol as an excuse for falling into bed with me.

I wanted her to want me and I wanted her to know it too.

I was soon sweating beneath the pile of blankets but I didn’t dare move because Sara was pressed to my side, warm and smiling and her hair looked like flames in the light of the fire.

I wasn’t sure what Rob’s game was, but I believed Sara when she said nothing much had happened between her and Zach.

‘If it helps,’ I said hesitantly, not really sure whether being this vulnerable was going to be good or bad for us, ‘I haven’t been with anyone since you.

It wasn’t the same.’

She smiled as I repeated her earlier words and a spiral of relief swept through me, she meant more to me than a casual hookup and I needed her to know that, to have all the facts before she wrote me off completely.

Her green eyes seemed brighter than usual as they met mine and a little dart of pain flitted through my heart – she was so beautiful.

‘Sara,’ I said quietly and she turned to look at me, hesitation still showing on her face in the tilt of her brows and slight scrunch of her nose.

‘Truth or Dare?’

There was a pause as she considered, running her eyes over me as if searching for an answer to a question bigger than the one I’d asked.

‘Dare,’ she said eventually and my breath shook as I released it.

Did she want me? My palms were slick from more than the heat as I shrugged off a couple of layers and turned to face her.

Was she ready to make a choice yet? Had she seen in my face what I was going to ask her before I said it?

‘I dare you,’ I whispered, ‘to kiss me.’

A riot of emotions crossed her face, lust making her bite her lip, desire deepening the green of her eyes and dilating her pupils, anticipation quickening her breaths.

She leaned in and longing tore through me like lightning, ravaging and burning and melting me before her lips even met mine.

They were soft and light, a ghost of a kiss and I held perfectly still until she started to pull away.

‘That was barely a kiss,’ I murmured, sinking my hand into her hair, ‘kiss me like you mean it.’

Sara’s gasp had my dick bobbing a greeting, if she pressed any harder against me she was definitely going to understand just how much she affected me – though I supposed it was a bit of a moot point after my strip show.

Her mouth covered mine fiercely, nipping at my bottom lip and sending her tongue darting over mine in a tease that had thoughts spinning through my head – having her in my lap riding me, spread against the table, pressed against the wall...

I pulled back before I could lose control completely and kissed her forehead gently.

‘You’re incredible.’ She blushed a little and I pressed a kiss to each of her cheeks too.

‘Don’t ever forget it.’

???

My head hurt.

Fletcher and I had consumed an ungodly amount of alcohol last night and yet… I’d woken up in my own bed, thankfully.

Fletch had walked up the stairs with me, eventually swinging me up into his arms because I’d been taking so long, and deposited me on the floor outside of my bedroom with a simple Goodnight, before walking off to his own room on the other side of the main bathroom.

Several things played on a loop in my mind though, the kisses for one – they had been everything I’d been fantasising about for the last few weeks.

Fierce but gentle, dirty but soft.

The other thing that had occupied my thoughts – okay, fantasies – as I climbed out of bed and peered cautiously outside, was Fletcher taking off his clothes.

I’d never had a strip tease before and I had enjoyed it.

A lot.

Had already thought about it a few times this morning, having woken up so turned on I had already been wet when my hands had finally drifted down below my waistband.

The snow continued to pour down outside but the wind had at least seemed to have eased off a bit.

I chanced a quick wash in the ensuite bathroom, the water was barely warm and I knew that first on the agenda today had to be fixing the fuse box.

It was likely a good thing that there wasn’t much hot water though, taking my clothes off for any reason seemed far too tempting right now with Fletcher just down the hall and the memory of his kisses still burning through me.

With the bright whiteness of the snow outside illuminating my room, I emptied my entire duffel bag on the bed and groaned.

I definitely hadn’t packed any panties.

Commando it is, I sighed and then tugged open my bedroom door after quickly pulling on my thickest pair of blue joggers and a comfy tee.

Fletch was sitting in the armchair tucked in the corner reading what looked like a mystery or thriller.

He looked up and smiled and I was surprised to find that it was a little shy.

Whenever we’d interacted doing wedding prep together for my brother, or at the wedding itself, he’d always been so self-confident, cocky even.

I found I liked this softer side of him too.

‘Morning,’ he murmured, folding the page of his book and setting it down on the small table next to him as he walked over to me.

I tensed slightly, we’d kissed last night, twice, but I wasn’t sure what he was expecting now.

Did he expect more kissing? More than that? Fletch interrupted my thoughts by wrapping his arms around me and pressing his face into my hair.

‘I missed you,’ he rumbled and I couldn’t fight the smile that broke out as I returned the embrace.

‘How could you have missed me if you were asleep?’ I teased and the familiar cocky grin I was coming to like spread across his face.

‘I didn’t get much sleep,’ he said suggestively and my face flushed hot.

‘Oh,’ I said faintly, trying to erase the mental image his words inspired, Fletcher panting in his bed, sheets spread and curled around his waist while his hand–

Fletcher chuckled knowingly as he swept a piece of his light hair out of his eyes.

‘So I’m going to head down to the basement level to check out the fuse box, will you come with me? It might be dark so if you could hold a candle for me I’d appreciate it.’

‘Of course,’ I said, relieved to give my brain something else to focus on.

We headed downstairs and I grabbed a long dining room candle and lit it with a match as we walked down the stairs to the basement.

There was a small utility room on the far end of the corridor in the opposite direction to the sauna and close to one of the other many bedrooms this place had.

There was another set of steps leading down and I led the way with the candle held aloft so we wouldn’t trip or fall.

The candle light barely penetrated the room and descending into darkness with Fletch felt electric, the sound of our breaths loud and his warmth at my back distracting.

‘Over there,’ Fletcher pointed and I directed the candle light so we could take a closer look at the big, dusty box attached to the wall.

‘We were probably supposed to turn this on when we first arrived,’ Fletch mused, ‘but I bet Rob has all the check-in instructions and I just didn’t think about it, I’m sorry.’

I shrugged, ‘It’s not your fault, I didn’t think to check it either.’

Fletcher and I walked closer, dodging boxes and what looked like a spare hoover, and lifted the lid of the fuse box, pushing it out to the side, and we both winced at the creak that emerged.

Considering how hi-tech this place was it was surprising that the fuse box was so old.

Fletch must have been thinking the same thing because he cast me a wry look and said, ‘Guess the snowstorms only emerge when we’re planning a trip,’ and I laughed lightly, moving closer to him to cast more light on the box and switches.

‘Okay,’ he said, ‘I think maybe it’s this one here–’ he flicked the switch and a humming noise started.

‘Ah, good.

So, I flipped the fuse back and now let’s turn on the back-ups in case the storm knocks it out again.’ He reached for another switch just as a spark of electricity leapt up from the box and I screamed, jumping back.

My arms pinwheeled and my legs tangled hopelessly as I tripped on a box behind me, dropping my candle as I attempted to catch myself.

Fletch caught the candle quickly, stamping out an errant curl of fire before it could spread, but I continued to fall until my head hit something solid with a thunk that made Fletcher’s eyes dart up and widen in alarm before darkness swallowed me whole.