“Charlee.”
“No, that’s not all on you. That’s on me too.”
“Okay. Bundle up. I’ll go check the shed I saw out back for an ax.”
“I’ll hurry.” Without thinking, I lean up and kiss him before I dart back toward the bedroom, where he put our bags. I quickly find something to wear and layer up. When I come out the front door, Rowan is stepping out of the shed with an ax over his shoulder.
My husband has always been hot. His suits are always sexy on him, but right now he’s really pulling off that whole lumberjack thing. I swear he can pull any look off.
From the first day I met him, I’ve been a bit shocked how into me he was. He wasn’t only out of my league in the looks department but everywhere really. He was rich, educated and extremely successful. Rowan could do anything he put his mind to. I’d been more than lost and always thought of myself as a bit homely back then.
Except when I was in Rowan’s arms. No matter how busy he might have been, whenever his eyes were on me, I felt like I was the sexiest woman in the world. That’s the thing with Rowan. When he has all his attention on you, you’ll never want to be anywhere else. But when it’s gone, you’ll never feel colder. I’d been a bit addicted to his obsession with me. I still am. In brief moments, I’ll think I have it again, but as soon as I think I see it, he’s gone.
“You got a hat?” he calls, making his way toward me.
“In the car.” I hop off the porch. It’s slicker than I expected, and I slip, falling a bit forward but catch myself on the fluffy snow with my hands.
“Charlee!” Rowan shouts.
I can hear the irritation in his voice. I’m sure it’s really fear but still. I’m okay. He rushes over toward me. I grip a handful of the snow in my palm and pop up before he’s halfway across the yard. I nail him right in the chest with a snowball.
He stops dead in his tracks, and his head drops to stare down at the snow stuck to the front of his very expensive coat. “You wanna play?” A smirk pulls at his lips. I lean down and pick up another ball of snow.
“I think I do,” I say before I throw another one at him. He drops the ax, letting it fall into the snow. I watch as he bends down to grab his own handful of snow. I turn, taking off toward the woods.
“When will you learn, wife?” he calls after me. “You can run, but I will always chase.”
I pray he catches me soon. I’m not sure how much more I can bear.
five
ROWAN
Puffsof white trail behind Charlee as she screams with laughter. I pelt her with one snowball after another until she collapses on the ground, her hands covering her face. “Enough! I surrender!”
I drop the snow in my hands. “As you should.” But when I lean over to lift her to her feet, a giant block of snow is smashed into my face. She giggles with glee and wriggles out of my grip, slipping and sliding until I catch her again. I swing her into the air and then over my shoulder, giving her ass a solid thwack before moving swiftly toward the house.
The chase has raised my blood pressure, and my cock can’t handle much more teasing. It needs to be inside her, surrounded by her snug, hot cunt.
“Put me down,” she yells, batting her fists against my back.
“When I’m ready,” I reply.
“I don’t want to go inside,” she whines when she notices the direction of my feet.
“It’s too cold to make love out here.”
She goes still, and the air takes on a sudden chill that has nothing to do with the weather.
“What?” I ask even though I don’t want to know the answer.
“I thought we were having fun out here.” She kicks and wiggles until I lower her to the ground.
“We were, and now we’re going to have fun inside.” I take her hand and start up the steps to the front door. When she doesn’t move with me, I tense and look over my shoulder.
Her happy face has grown tight. “But we are more than sex, Rowan. I mean, we have to be more than sex, otherwise we won’t survive.”
I clench my jaw. What I’m hearing her say is she doesn’t want to have sex. Or maybe fucking is fine, but it’s me that’s the problem. “Are you seeing someone else?” I spit out. “All those nights that I’m working to provide for us, are you spending those with someone else?”