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I breathe out, my gaze lifting to the top of the window where the snow is still falling outside, and goddamn, for two hours at least, I could just be. I could just live.
This stranger doesn’t know what a gift he just gave me.
Then a knock sounds on the window…and my heart drops.
three
I’m already awakewhen my alarm starts screaming. Overnight, I’d watched as the ceiling of my hotel room went from shadow to the early days of light streaming in through the big window over the air conditioning unit. Reaching over, I grab my cell off the nightstand and turn off the incessant noise.
The ache in my limbs reminds me of the fun I had last night. It’s as if my muscles had been coiled up tight with restraint, and now they’re here to tell me I’m still kicking, albeit a little on the sore side.
While I shower, I chuckle as the hot water runs down my body, remembering the heart-dropping moment of hearing the knock on the truck window after we’d used one another. Turns out it was just another couple messing around, but I’d scrambled off my mysterious stranger so quickly like we were going to get caught until the laughter sounded. “Have fun!” a female voice had yelled.
“We’re about to do the same ourselves,” a male voice called right after. Then the girl yelped in surprise, giggle fading away.
“Shit,” I’d breathed, holding my chest like I was going to have a heart attack.
I hold my hand over my chest, remembering the adrenaline coursing through me. I’d burst out laughing, then quickly threw my hand over my mouth. I’d had a fantastic time, but they’d reminded me that I had to go back to the real world. The one where handsome, skilled older men don’t drag me into their vehicles and play my body like they’d been doing it all their lives.
Mr. Gorgeous had helped clean me up with his shirt. Maneuvered me around so I could dress again, and then that was it. I barely looked at him as I made my way out of his truck, stretching down to hit the snow-covered parking lot.
When I peered over my shoulder, he had his jeans up, but his top button open. His shirt was still in his hands, and he was smirking after me as I took one last look. Neither one of us made idle promises about contacting the other or doing it again. Hell, I didn’t even know his name.
Maybe I am sort of sexual heathen because the fact that I had no idea who this guy was turned me on. Even now, I could just stand here, think about him, and break out the vibrator.
But today was a big day. I didn’t have the luxury of time. Still, a part of me wishes I’d gotten contact info from him. I might need a sexy distraction this holiday season. We could have made it a thing while I was in town. Fuck buddies. No strings attached. Just all-out using each other.
After finishing in the shower, I put my makeup on and peer into the mirror. Honestly, if last night taught me anything, it was that letting my hair down from time-to-time is a good idea. Sure, I might not see Mr. Sexy Abs again but that didn’t mean I had to go back to my hole of being consumed by school.
I pack my suitcase and then make my way back to the airport via the shuttle. The uncle I’ve never met before is under the impression I’m getting in today just like Mom and Dad. He’ll be here to pick me up. No matter how much I’d tried to arrange so I got hereaftermy parents, I couldn’t swing it. I’m just going to have to meet him by myself, awkwardness and all.
The only things I know about him are that his name is Cameron Michaels, he used to play for the New England Captains, the professional football team, but he suffered a career-ending injury that made him return home to his father’s inn, which he now runs—and until earlier in the year when my Grandma Junie died, I was supposed to hate him. Talk about family drama. My Grandma had a midlife crisis, and in the middle of all that, she’d left my grandfather for another man—Cameron’s father. My mom never forgave her. She’d turned down every invitation for holiday get-togethers or meetups, but when Grandma got sick, Mom had a change of heart. It was too late, of course. She never even got to say goodbye, but Grandma wrote her a letter, expressing her wish for her only daughter to get to know her stepson. Now, here we were, about to spend the holidays with a man we don’t know, in an unfamiliar town, and in a strange house.
Merry fucking Christmas to me. I’m pretty sure the only real escape I’ll get out of this trip happened last night.
The shuttle drops me off at Arrivals, and I walk back in with my luggage like I’ve just gotten off a plane. Taking up a spot near Baggage Claim, I send a quick text to my mom, telling her I’ve arrived and am at the airport waiting.
Glancing up, I survey the area, not sure what I should look for. A lonely man standing by himself? Someone with a sign?
A gruff voice sounds behind me. “Did you just get off the flight from Richmond?”
I turn, tucking my phone away, and peer right into a lined piece of paper with my name written on it.
Well, it’s kind of my name. I frown at the misspelling. “It’s Lilianne with two n’s, actually,” I say as I look up.
I blink, my heart constricting as the man holding the paper comes into view. It’s the stranger from last night. He’s clean-shaven now, but there’s no mistaking that it’s him. He has the same used cap on. Same green eyes.
His face turns white, stricken. “Lilianne?”
“That’s me,” I tell him, confused. Why is he…? But in the next instant, it hits me.
He’s not just my sexy stranger.
He’s my uncle, isn’t he?
“You’re…?”
“I’m…”
