His filthy words make me cringe and I slowly back up, hoping he does not realize I just caught him and his old lady hooking up. To be fair, it’s not uncommon that someone catches the two of them. His wife Lilli is a romance author and uses her husband for plenty of material. At least, I have been told.
Just as I think I am home free, the door swings wide open. I am frozen on the spot. The air thickens as I lock eyes with Landon Holms. He is a huge man who is good with an axe. Catching him post coitus with his wife is not a good look. But he smirks and jerks his head to invite me in as Lilli giggles and sneaks to the front office where I think she has plenty to write about.
“Bro, I did not mean to interrupt,” I put my hands up and Istayon my side of the threshold. “I came to talk...I barely heard anything. I mean, I certainly did not see anything,” I rush the words out, backing up when he makes a menacing move forward.
“Calm down, Shea,” he tells me, chuckling as he runs his hands through his mussed hair. “It ain’t the first time and it won’t be the last we got caught with our asses out. Come on, let me show you what I did for you.”
Sighing in relief, I follow him inside the long, wide space. His workshop is a new space for him. Used to be he would work up on the mountain, at his cabin, whenever he wanted to create something. Now he takes holiday orders for one-of-a-kind gifts, so he needed the room. I whistle as I look at the space with brand new wood working equipment and several beautiful pieces done and waiting to go to new homes.
“Wow, what I asked for must have been easy breezy compared to some of this stuff. Landon, this stuff is amazing,” I praise him, going to inspect a beautiful armoire that sits waiting for delivery with a big bow on top.
“Well really, it was some challenging work with the details you wanted. Not that I do not love a challenge. Just ask my songbird,” he mentions his wife with a smile, his eyes flying to his office where Fleetwood Mac thumps.
“I am excited to see them. I just know my bunny is going to love them.”
Following him to a table, I stop as I see what is spread out atop it. My breath catches in my lungs as my heartbeat slows. I reach out to touch the closest one and my pulse picks back up. It is cookies and snowflakes with a mountain view. The one next to it is a ski slope and a clumsy bunny. But my favorite has the lodge and two people dancing.
Wooden snow globes with no fake snow or fake memories—pieces of walnut and maple, carved with our memories and lit twinkling lights lighting up the moments my bunny asked me to capture for us. There are others, ones of us tangled together on a wintery terrace, or cuddled by a fire. All moments I could never forget—and ones I clearly gave Landon enough detail to carve the most beautiful gift I could give her.
“Jesus, Landon,” I mutter as I pick each one up, turning them, looking at each detail. “Whatever I agreed to pay, triple it. I mean it. These are...were you there watching us, you sneaky fuck?” I laugh as I ask, just to hide the emotion that is making it hard to speak at all.
“No, I think just maybe, someone captured things so well, I had a chance to bring them to life. Glad I got it right for you.”
“Got it right? Christ, these are...they are like reliving each moment. I mean it,” I give him a hard look, “what did we agree on? Whatever it is, I am tripling it. This is beyond...this is far more than I expected, bro. Wow. I just...all I can really say is wow. I am blown away. Thank you. My bunny is going to...this is going to make her holiday, I hope. Thank you, Landon.”
My lumber jack friend waves it off, but I can tell he is pleased with his work. And he should be. I wanted snow globes for her, to show her how each of these moments were special to me like they were to her. They could be something she could hold on to if ever she doubted how I feel for her.
These show...at least, I hope they show, how much I love her.
Landon tells me they will be ready to go after the finishing touches by Christmas day. I insist on him tripling the payment we agreed on, even though we both know he does not need the money. But I want him to have it because he earned every penny. I tell him I will be bragging to all the rich pricks at Shea Lodge how amazing he is so they can stuff his pockets more.
With my tasks done for the day, I head back home. Just knowing that Brielle is at home waiting for me fills me with a joy I never thought I would feel. My grandparents loved each other but it was very private for them. He was different after he lost her. When he got sick, he seemed happier—he said he was on his trip back to her so there was nothing to be sad about.
If I can have that kind of love, I will hold on to it with both hands. Just the way they did. What we have is just for us too. Yes, we’ve been parading it at these parties but that’s just for show. That is just to shut up the women who chase me to get to my wallet and to get her father off her back.
“When you look at me,” she had whispered to me one night as we laid in bed sipping wine and wasting the night away together. “I feel as if...it sounds so cliché but, I mean it. I feel sometimes when you look at me, as if my life makes sense. As if the way you look at me makes everything make sense.”
It hardly sounded cliched to me. We were made for one another, the two of us. My sweet, sexy, sassy bunny is like the other half of me. Now I have to convince her I am the other half of her, too. That she does not need her father or her brother to give her a thing. To reinstate her black cards or dole out an allowance to her. Brielle will never need them while I am in her life.
I can give her all they ever could and more—because at least I can give her the love that she wants so badly.
Pulling down the long drive leading to my cabin, my senses go on alert. It is dark out, and I spent most of the day in town. Fresh snow fell all morning. There should be no tracks because mine from leaving should be covered. Rolling out in front of me are wide, deep truck tracks. I hit the gas and shoot down the drive, whipping my jeep around in front of the house and jumping out.
Rushing up the steps, I throw the door open, reaching for the shotgun hidden in a panel beside the door. It is bear country here, I have weapons stashed all over the house for safety. When I find who caused those tracks though, I know none of these weapons will be any good on them.
“Bunny,” I call out to my woman when I see two men flanking her, the younger man looking to be her twin. “Come here.”
Without hesitation, she rushes to me, her little body slamming against mine. I ought to use that shotgun on those pricks anyway. I kiss the top of her head as she clings to me. Whatever they want, whatever they have said to her, it has her trembling. I slam the door behind me and calm myself before I greet our visitors.
“Mr. North, I wish I had known you were coming to town. Caleb,” I toss a less curt greeting at her brother, but her father deserves all my ire.
“At least I know he does his homework,” her father sneers at us as he says this to her brother, as if we’re not there to hear him. “So do we. I figured my daughter had found someone to take care of her. But your services are no longer required, Mr. Shea. My daughter will be coming home. We have a wedding to plan, after all.”
“Father,” Caleb speaks up, clearing his throat, “I really don’t think we need to....”
“I did not ask you to think. I asked you to get your sister packed. We are going home, and she is coming with.”
“Oh, no,” I say, chuckling as all eyes swing my way in surprise. “No, Mr. North, you have that all wrong. You can go on and head home, and soon since you barging in here is not appreciated. Your daughterishome. Here, with me, is her home. Your son may follow commands like a well-trained pup,” I cut a glare across the room at her brother, who ducks his head in shame. “Brielleis notyour pet or your property. She is yourdaughter.”