Total pages in book: 75
Estimated words: 69836 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 349(@200wpm)___ 279(@250wpm)___ 233(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69836 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 349(@200wpm)___ 279(@250wpm)___ 233(@300wpm)
“Yes,” I say, so very eager to please him. I will gladly spend the next few days getting calluses from folding endless amounts of paper. “And you’ll need to choose which tree I should cut down.”
“Christmas was always such a magical time at my home. Especially before my mother died, but I tried to make it work with my Dad too. Maybe if your memories of Christmas aren’t so great, we can make new ones together?” He kisses me ever-so-gently that my toes curl and my knuckles no longer hurt. I know I’ll be fucking him like a beast tonight, yet right now, it’s so good to be coddled a little.
Maybe if I replace the loneliness of the year my parents left me behind, and all the solo Christmases in my past with beautiful Eli moments, I’ll be as excited about next December as he is.
I nod, closing my eyes.
If I could choose to love, if my heart wasn’t made numb by my upbringing, I would be already falling in love with him.
Chapter 12
Eli
A few days after Cesar agreed to give Christmas decorations a shot, our cabin is filled with paper chains, the smell of fresh pine from the tree he cut down, and a dog house-sized gingerbread house made of cardboard. Did we make a glory hole in one of its walls? Yes. Did Cesar fuck me with half my body inside and half sticking out through the window? That’s for me and Santa to know. We’ll have to see what he categorizes as naughty behavior.
Safe to say, Cesar got into decorating, but it’s the fact that we’re doing it together that’s the real expression of Christmas spirit.
It’s getting warmer, and new snow hasn’t piled up around the cabin for two days now, which makes me hopeful that our food stores might soon be restocked. But not today. Today, I’m minding a stew on the cooker while Cesar chops wood into chunks that will easily fit into the burners.
I still can’t believe a man like him is so into me, but despite my protests, he’s trying to do almost every chore, just so I don’t put my healing ankle at risk. It’s so cute I want to kiss him all over.
We’ll have to leave this cabin at some point and risk venturing out, but I already know I’ll miss the coziness of it. After a year in my car, I appreciate the roof over my head, the warmth, the fresh bedding, not worrying where my next meal is coming from, and most of all, the lovely warm body I can cuddle up to at night.
I taste the stew to make sure it’s okay, and turn off the gas. Maybe it’s a bit of an excuse to go see Cesar, but I spotted that he left his bottle of electrolyte water, so I’ll go take it to him. He’s very serious and particular about his food, which is no surprise after one look at his body. Other than doing things around the house, he also has a morning exercise routine that lasts two hours, then an afternoon one, and I saw him using one of the large trunks in the yard for strength training. The man is a machine.
I get dressed and walk out with his bottle, excited to see him as if we didn’t live together. We even shower together “to save hot water”, but we both know it’s to be close all the time. The shower is also a place where I’m least shy about being rimmed, and Cesar never fails to make me sing in the tight space, his face buried between my cheeks until I can’t bear it any longer.
The memory of him then finishing inside me this morning brings a flush to my cheeks. I put on my coat and step outside, heading for my kinky lumberjack.
“Aren’t you thirsty?” I ask, and when he glances over his shoulder, I lift the bottle, prompting him to smile.
I lean over a pile of cut wood and hand him the drink. The snow is melting, the sun is out, and he’s got his jacket open, revealing the tight T-shirt underneath. Damn is he dreamy. I love trailing kisses down his powerful chest and worshiping every inch of him.
Who would have thought this could be the outcome of killing Sullivan? It’s almost as if fate has rewarded me for a job well done.
He grins and takes the bottle from my hand, before spilling the red liquid into his mouth as if he were starring in a commercial and needed to make drinking look sexy.
“Oh, that’s so good. Thank you,” he says and gives me the sweetest of kisses. As if I’m not a fugitive he’s hiding. “Have you eaten?”
I wink at him. “If you keep asking me this often, I might start getting suspicious that you are a cannibal.”