AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I don’t think you’re annoying.”
“You’re just saying that to get me to come with you.”
“I do want to get out of here, but you need some things.” I can’t bring myself to pluck the owl out of her arms. I feel like I’ve kicked a fairy, knocking the sparkle off her wings.
“I bet you have a running list in your head about what I need. Everyone always knows better than me about what I need.”
I tilt my head, studying her. “We don’t have a lot of time, Katie and you do need a snowsuit, but I’m not trying to torture you either.” Nope, it’s just me out here on the side of the mountain, in agony, only instead of my liver being plucked from my body, it’s an assault of Christmas music and guilt. I check my watch. Madeleine called with the disturbing news that ‘Tom’ was gone by the time campus security and the police got their heads out of their asses, but no one has been able to track him. I’m confident he wasn’t able to follow us, but that doesn’t mean he didn’t get a good look at the vehicle I’m driving. I thought this would be a simple enough favor: pick-up Katie, keep her occupied for a few days until Henry is back in town, and then have a come-to-Jesus conversation with my best friend for keeping me in the dark about what is going on. Henry Black might have one of the best security agencies at his beck and call but only if they’re aware of all the threats that are out there. And someone should have flagged any issues directly with me before now.
The sooner I get to my cabin, the sooner I can take stock of the situation and figure out what is needed. Tom’s disappearance solidifies my hunch that he wasn’t just some random thug and that makes my blood freeze in my veins.
“Okay, you can get whatever you want, but you have exactly one hour before we’re going to be back in that car, driving. And you stay with me, got it?”
Her lips flatten into a tight line, but she nods. “You can push the cart.”
I grab a cart and Katie immediately deposits a dancing penguin. “Hey, we just need the essentials.”
She stops me from taking it out. “You said I can get whatever I want.”
“I meant…”
“If you want me to go along with this kidnapping…” I raise my eyebrows as the elderly woman in the bright pink ski jacket turns and gives me a sharp once over.
Katie flips open my jacket and gestures to her outfit. “We’re into role-play, right Daddy?” She smiles and winks at the woman who quickly pushes her cart out of the aisle.
Heat creeps up my neck. The easiest way to get out of here, without calling attention to us, is just to let her have her way. But I don’t want her to know she has the upper hand. I step in front of her, pulling my jacket closed and tug her towards me. She tips her head up, a startled expression on her face. “If I’m your ‘Daddy’, then I’m pretty sure you have to do what I say, right, baby?”
A blush stains her cheeks, but she doesn’t pull away from me. “Maybe I’m more of a brat,” she replies.
I’ve no doubt if this were real, she’d be brattiest little princess out there, but I’m not about to let her win this round. I slide my arms around her and tangle my fingers in the ends of her silky hair, gently forcing her chin higher. “A brat who disobeys risks getting spanked.” Her beautiful lips fall open in disbelief. “Don’t push me, Katie.”
“I’ve been trying to push you my whole life,” she whispers.
Heat floods me. “You’re too young to even know what that means.” I release her, reluctantly. She reaches for a silver tinsel garland, throwing it in the cart and adds a pillow with a picture of one of those bearded garden elves that says ‘Gnome for the Holidays’. I shudder, thinking of my clean, streamlined cabin.
Katie tosses her hair over her shoulder and makes her way through the Christmas stuff, finally picking out some clothing and necessities. At the checkout, I shake my head as the cashier scans our alarmingly large cart. Imagine if I’d given Katie even more time. There’s a pink and black snowsuit, flannel pajamas, little scraps of lace and satin that I shouldn’t be interested in and a few books. There are red and green colored cookies, marshmallows, more Christmas chocolate than anyone could possibly eat and those red and white swirled peppermints. Hot chocolate, chocolate-covered pretzels, popcorn and red licorice sticks. My stomach is turning just looking at all that sugar.
“I have food at the cabin,” I mutter.
Katie rolls her eyes and pokes me in the stomach. “All super healthy, I’m sure.” She snags the licorice before it disappears into a bag, opens it and bites the end off one of the twisted sticks with relish. “I bet you’ve never given in to temptation, even once.”
As I watch her beautiful lips move around her candy treat, I bite my tongue to stop myself from telling her that she’s the biggest temptation I’ve ever faced and I’m seriously thinking about breaking all the rules with her.
4
Katie
I’m practically vibrating by the time we get to Hiro’s cabin, and I can’t blame it all on the sugar. Watching his strong hands capably maneuver the steep, winding road through the falling snow was doing something to my insides.
I’d always imagined Hiro as a fairytale prince. His dark hair, golden skin and sharp cheekbones, like something out of a manga. He looks like the type of guy in a rom-com that the girl dances with at a masquerade ball, and he lifts his mask and you realize he’s actually the king or something like that. He’s intense, gorgeous and always seemed about as distant as a guy on a movie screen, until now.
He's not doing anything either. Little glances that let me know he’s watching out for me. He caught me shivering once and he turned up the heat. He pulled over and dug through our shopping bags, handing me a snack when he saw me trying to reach for something in the back. He’s attuned to me in a way that makes my skin tingle. Every brush of his hand, every one of those half smiles, even his sigh of resignation when I won the war of the car stereo, turning it to a station playing all Christmas music, made my belly flutter.
But now we’re at the cabin. In the middle of nowhere. It’s a log cabin that could pull double-duty in a Hallmark Christmas special – all it needs is a golden retriever with a red bow frolicking in the fresh, fallen snow, and a pair of skis leaning against the front porch. It’s big enough, I suppose, but nothing close to the chalet Baxter bought last year for his ski obsession. It’s not big enough for me to pretend that my old crush on Hiro hasn’t roared back to life in a very non-childish way. My fairytale fantasy has changed over the last few hours from having Hiro walk into one of the boring formal events we always have to attend and asking me to dance to having Hiro walk in, whisk me away in a big, black vehicle and spank me until I’m promising to be a good girl.
I swallow hard, clenching my thighs together.
“Does it hurt?” Hiro finishes bringing in the last of the bags and closes the door against the swirl of snow.
