Technically speaking, of course. Kidnapping was an inflammatory term. But, technically, it applied to this situation. She’d told me she planned to go to New York. I’d lifted her up in a dead sleep, carried her down in an elevator passed out on my shoulder, and laid her down in the rental SUV without her becoming any the wiser. This girl could sleep. She must have been drunk when we’d spoken earlier. The party had been crowded and loud and I’d barely been able to hear her speaking. She must have been wasted and I just hadn’t noticed.
I’d tucked her in nicely, setting her up with a pillow and a blanket from the hotel. They’d charge my account and probably consider themselves lucky that I hadn’t ripped a sink out of the wall like last time. Actually, that had been Connor, but the two of us tended to get lumped together.
He wasn’t such a bad guy, really. Look how he’d been taking care of Ana. And he’d had a hard time of it growing up, getting bullied so bad when I’d first met him in boarding school he’d always had a cut or a bruise or both marking up his face. He’d been a shrimpy little Irish scholarship kid, and didn’t all those aristocratic British brats let him know it. Now I knew he took things too far, always over the top, but the world loved him for it. Could you blame him?
I hoped one day he and Ana could get on better. I know he’d hit on her, but that was his way. There wasn’t a woman alive he wouldn’t hit on. It was like sleeping, eating and breathing for him. And Ana, well, she’d tempt a monk.
Even looking at her sleeping there in the car, so innocent, she made my thoughts turn nasty. Once we made it to the cabin, I’d have her all to myself. No one else there, nothing to interrupt us, distract us. We could get lost in each other the way I knew we were meant to do.
But maybe I should say if we made it to the cabin. The towering pines, the ridges surrounding us, we were deep in the Sierra Nevada mountain range and it was gorgeous but I had to slow down to about thirty miles an hour. I’d rented a powerful SUV, but snowplows hadn’t had a chance to get up to this stretch of road yet and the powder was accumulating, fast.
I felt proud of myself that I’d remembered to call ahead and talk to the caretaker of the Mammoth property. Such planning from seat-of-his-pants rocker Ash Black. I’d even been surprised to find his number in my phone under Mammoth Cabin. I had people to handle those kinds of arrangements. But not when I stole away in the dead of night trying to avoid all discovery. Then, I needed to make the call myself.
If the caretaker had been surprised at a call from Ash Black at four in the morning on New Year’s Day, he hadn’t shown it. I didn’t know how much we paid him, but apparently it was enough that when I woke him up in the middle of the night and told him I’d be arriving at the cabin in a few hours he said, “No problem.” The cabin would be clean, lit and heated upon our arrival. He’d even make sure the fridge and pantry were stocked and we had enough firewood to last us days.
“You know there’s a big storm coming today?” he had warned. I’d brushed it off.
Now I saw why he’d warned me. The last 30 minutes of the drive would take at least an hour in these conditions, and that was if we didn’t skid off and slam straight into a tree trunk. I could see the headlines, “Ash Black Crashes Out!” Only it wouldn’t just be me, it would be Ana, and I wanted to keep her safe.
I hoped she’d feel safe when she finally woke up. I wanted her to feel cherished and protected. Because once we got there, we weren’t going anywhere. The snow was supposed to fall and keep on falling for another couple of days. We’d be snowbound, trapped, cut off from the rest of the world.
Exactly how I wanted it.
My need for her built with each passing day. Every time I tasted her, I craved more. Each sigh, moan, gasp from her lips teased me, suggesting such a treasure trove of erotic pleasures. She was a sensual woman, but up until me she’d never indulged. As far as I could tell, she’d only had one serious sexual partner before, and he sounded about one step removed from the living dead. I wasn’t sure she’d ever had an orgasm with the man. Good thing, too, because if she had I would have had to find him and sock him in the jaw.
As it was, it sounded like I didn’t have much to be jealous about. When I touched her she seemed so surprised, shocked and thrilled about how good it felt. I felt that way, too. And we’d only just begun.
In Paris we’d fallen into each other, the way ravenous beasts fell on a meal after days of starvation. We’d burned for each other and then combusted, joining together with fierce passion. But we’d never taken it slow. We’d never really played.
Ana had a body built for sinful pleasures. I had a mind filled with plans. When she woke up, she’d feel confused and disoriented. Maybe she’d be angry at me. She’d definitely have one hell of a hangover.
But I’d do everything I could to smooth things over. The cabin would help with that. Lofted ceilings with giant, rugged beams, floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the mountain range and lake below, a massive stone fireplace, the romantic setting would serve as my wingman. I’d have a fire crackling in the fireplace. I’d make sure she took some Advil and drank water. I’d make her tea with honey and lemon and toast or whatever else she needed to get back into fighting form. Because she was going to get a workout.
She could yell at me all she wanted. She could tell me off, pissed that I’d taken her without her consent. She could pound her fists against my chest, angry at me for trapping her.
But, ultimately, she’d be trapped. Snowed in with me. And I needed to consume her, possess every inch. I wouldn’t stop until I’d had her in every way I’d craved in all of my fantasies.
She might fight me at first, but then there’d be a shift. She’d have her fist against me, but then her fingers would unfurl and she’d clutch my chest. Her yell would cut off into a moan as I sucked down hard on her nipple. I could almost taste it, that moment when her protests sank into sighs, when she melted into my touch, parting her legs to give me access to her sweet, succulent core.
That’s when I’d have her. And then I wouldn’t stop, as long as the snow came down, as long as he roads stayed blocked. I’d have her right where I wanted her.