Chandler sauntered toward her, and he stopped just out of arm's reach. "Agnes is a cat."Elena blinked up to his face. "What?""Agnes is Paul's horrible, evil, mean-tempered cat that hates every human being except him. And he can't remember how much food he put in her automatic feeder, so he's afraid she's going to starve to death before he can get home.""Oh," Elena said weakly.Chandler smiled. "Yeah, baby, oh indeed,""So, we're ... driving out into a snowstorm to check on a cat who lives out in the middle of nowhere."His nod was slow. "It looks like it."Elena looked around. Snow was already sticking to the ground. Tree branches were coated white, lending a magical air to the already stunning vista. Like a winter wonderland. Except not wonderful, not anymore since they were not going straight home. "He lives about an hour away?" she asked weakly. An hour wasn't so bad. No reason to freak out."Yeah. We better hit the road if we want to get back home on time."Elena pinched her ey
Chandler smiled. "You can say it now."Elena looked over at him. Her face was pale and drawn. "Say what?"Lifting his eyebrows, he waved a hand at the windshield."Ahh." She cleared her throat. "I'll save the I told you so for when we're safely inside his place."The back end of the car fishtailed when he turned down the long driveway.Knowing not to overcorrect, because the last thing he wanted was to end up sliding off the drive and down the slight ditch that he knew lined the first fifty feet or so, he lessened the pressure of his hands on the wheel until the vehicle righted itself. Now that they were protected slightly by the trees that crowded Paul's property, the visibility increased to something more manageable than it had been on the roads leading them here."You gonna miss anything important tomorrow?" Chandler asked her.Elena rubbed her forehead. "Not really. I don't have any orders booked." She groaned. "Emily will probably be freaking out though."Visions of her sister be
Chandler had had his fair share of meals at that table. The couch and chair—basic and brown leather—faced a small TV on an equally small console table because when Paul was home, he was outdoors.His property was probably more than five acres of heavily wooded forests, and the entire square footage of his cabin couldn't have been more than five hundred. The soaring ceilings of the main room is what made it feel bigger than it was. The old-fashioned wood-burning stove set into the back corner gave it a warm, inviting feeling, which would get even better once he had it lit."Bedroom upstairs?" she asked.Chandler nodded. "The loft."Elena eyed the staircase warily."Don't worry," he told her. "I have a long history crashing on that couch, and I've had much worse nights of sleep than that."Elena turned and faced the part of the cabin that was all windows. It was Paul's, and Chandler's, favorite part of the cabin. Yeah, it was small, but one whole side showed the beauty of this place the
She inhaled. "Why'd you guys do that?""Who knows?" he admitted. "We were seventeen and bored, and our friends probably thought we'd be too chicken shit to do it." Elena was a loud thinker, he was coming to realize. Especially when she was trying to figure something out. And right now, she was trying to figure him out. She stared at that picture so hard, he was surprised it didn't jump off the wall. "No wonder," she murmured.He stepped closer behind her and took a slow inhale. It was stronger than it had been on the pillow, that incredible scent. He had to fight not to bury his nose in her hair, wrap his arms around her from behind, and glory in how warm and soft she'd be tucked into his body.It was so clear she wanted to put him together like a puzzle that no one had sorted. But eventually, she'd see that it wasn't as complicated as all that. He was what his family thought. A screwup and a disappointment. He was what Paul thought too. A hothead who didn't think things through."N
Over her shoulder, Elena gave him a chiding look. "I guess you've forgotten that I bake too."Chandler held up his hands with a laugh. "Touché, Princess, touché."She shook her head. "Of course I can cook and I'm good at it."Tugging a chair out from the table with his foot, Chandler took a seat and shamelessly watched her navigate around the small kitchen area."How come you and Emily do everything together and yet you and Elijah are not as close as the both of them are?"Her smile was barely visible as she stirred the sauce. "Emily and I don't do everything together… At least not anymore," Chandler thought about the picture of her and her sister from her apartment. "Did something happen?"She snorted. "Not exactly. We were ... oh," she sighed, "how do I put this?I guess after college, living in different states kinda separated us too much…More than we cared to admit," Watching as Elena tasted the sauce, then added some salt, he nodded. He could understand that. Carefully, she set
They ate quietly for a few minutes until Chandler felt like a complete asshole. It wasn't her fault, not really. Elena didn't have to try to understand why he and his stepmother had the relationship they did, and how that bled into his relationships with his father and brother. He opened his mouth to apologize, but Elena spoke first."I don't like thinking too hard about things that upset me too, so I understand." She told him, This didn't feel like the time to say anything, so he held her gaze across the table and waited. Elena twirled some pasta on her fork and took another bite. When she was done chewing, she set the fork down. "I'm not angry with you, and I don't know exactly why I want to figure you out as you put it. I guess I just… I want to know you… And understand you… That's all."Even though her words touched him, her face was so calm when she said it that he laughed."That's funny?" she asked."Not really," he admitted, then he added even though she had not asked again. "
Chandler surged forward and took her mouth. Oh, he took it deep and sweet and hot and hungry. Endless, wonderful kisses that had them panting and sighing and moaning as her hands ripped at his shirt. He took pity, breaking away to tear it off. Her hands slid over his skin, wonderful and gorgeous and stacked with muscles.Using his hands underneath her ass, he picked her up and stood, then moved to the couch in the sitting room area. He turned them so that she was underneath him on the couch. Once she was settled, those hands moved onto the waistband of her leggings as he peeled them off. They landed in a heap on the floor. Her underwear came next, his tongue coming out to lick along his bottom lip in a way that had her writhing helplessly while he stood and shucked off his pants and boxer briefs.Before he came back between her legs, Chandler snagged his wallet from the side table and pulled out a condom.She widened her legs so that he could settle his hips between them, and their ha
"Morning," she mumbled, giving him a sleepy grin that had his heart twisting painfully in his chest."Morning." He leaned down to give her a kiss.Elena scrunched her face adorably. "I bet my morning breath is lovely.""I don't give a shit," Chandler told her. With his thumb, he traced along her bottom lip. "These are worth it."In the bright morning light, it was a delightful discovery that Elena was unashamed of her nudity because she didn't even attempt to cover her equally delightful breasts using the sheet draped around her waist."I hope Paul has Advil downstairs," she said.Chandler hummed. "You sore today, princess?""Wipe that smug ass grin off your face."His laughter had her smiling. The smile was the best thing he could have woken to. Not only was Elena not ducking out of bed, avoiding eye contact or explaining to him why it could never happen again. Explaining why she hadn't been thinking when she'd let him do all sorts of filthy things to her incredible body.Thump. Scra