CHAPTER 31

Isla

“Can I bring Mom a few cookies?”

Mak is pressing the Hershey’s Kisses in the hazelnut cookies we just rolled. It’s the third load. We’ve got two trays cooling, two trays in the oven, and two more in production. Ben thinks I’ve gone crazy, but I have this need to stuff my freezer to capacity with all the things I might not feel up to or have time for once this baby is here. Even if it is still months away, I have to make up for the eighteen weeks of prep time I missed out on.

I turn to her, smiling. “Absolutely, if you think she’s allowed?”

“She was eating a sandwich yesterday,” she says, shrugging her shoulders.

“Well good, then pack a few up.” I wipe the dishwater from my hands and pull a box of zipper bags from the drawer, handing them to her. “And fill a bag for the nurses’ station, too.”

Ben was released two days ago with orders to rest. Which, to me, means your feet up and napping when you can. However, in Ben’s world it means driving off on his ATV, my traitorous uncle following behind on mine, to go haul some dead wood from the clearing. My concerns were laughed off, which necessitated me to bake cookies or do some target practice on their asses. Since my baking skills are far superior to my shooting abilities—I have no wish to put this little bean in any danger—I quadrupled my recipe.

We are baking twelve dozen cookies; hence there are more than enough to share.

“They’re back,” Mak says, her gaze going out the window and mine follows automatically. I can hear the buzz of the engines and Atsa’s excited bark, just moments before they come into view.

I blow out a deep sigh, releasing tension I didn’t realize I was holding, and toss my towel on the counter. Mak is already up and running for the door and I follow behind, only marginally slower.

The moment she opens the door, Atsa comes bounding inside, shaking snow everywhere.

“I just cleaned that floor, puppy,” I grumble, grabbing a dirty towel from the laundry room and mopping up the mess. I should’ve waited, because I’m still on my knees, wiping, when both men come walking in, stomping the snow off their boots all around me.

“Oops,” Uncle Al says when I look up, giving both my dirtiest look, although Ben just smirks.

“Where’s the wood?”

“Dumped it by the shed,” my uncle clarifies to Mak. “We’re taking a break.”

I get to my feet and dart into the laundry room, to get rid of the wet towel, when I feel someone push inside behind me, closing the door.

Ben’s cold body wraps around me from behind and wet hands sneak under my flannel shirt.

“Dammit, Ben, that’s cold!” I blurt out when his frozen fingers touch my stomach.

“Don’t think I fucked you here, yet.”

I whip around and try to shove him off me, to no avail, clearly. I lift up on tiptoes and stick my face close to his.

“My uncle and your niece are right outside the door,” I hiss, not quite believing his gall.

“So?” he fires back, a smoldering fire in his eyes.

“So, there’s no way I’m letting you in my pants when they’re standing right outside,” I stage whisper.

“They’re in the kitchen by now. You can smell whatever it is you’re baking clear across to the shed. Why did you think Al was in such a hurry to get inside? Guaranteed he’s in the kitchen already, stuffing his face.”

“Tonight,” I promise, trying hard to keep a straight mind, while his hands continue to stroke and knead my skin.

“Now,” he rumbles, slipping those big paws down the back of my pants and giving my ass cheeks a good squeeze.

The ice blue of his eyes darkens as he lowers his head, and I’m almost hypnotized by the widening of his pupils, and his lips, when they touch mine, are still cool from the outside. His tongue, though, is hot in contrast, as he licks along the seam of my mouth, teasing me to open. The fire his kiss ignites is immediate. My hands, which had been planted flat in his chest to ward him off, now claw into his sweater, as he ravages my mouth.

We’ve snuggled, we’ve pecked, but we haven’t really kissed, or touched since before Ben was hit over the head. And even before that we’d had Mak in our bed every night since the explosion. I crave his touch, but I don’t want to sneak around in the laundry room.

“Ben...” I mumble against his lips when he tries to shove my pants down. “Ben, please, hold up.” This time his hands still as he pulls his head back. For a short while we just stare at each other, my eyes pleading and his getting stormier by the second. Until finally his hands drop away from my body and he hangs his head.

“Grabbing a shower,” he bites off, before he opens the door and walks out.

I’m frustrated, too, I want to call after him, but what’s the point in that, it’s not like he doesn’t know that.

When I walk into the kitchen, Uncle Al shoots me a smile before turning to Mak, who is back to unwrapping Kisses.

“You know what?” he says, turning to Mak. “I think I saw some elk tracks up on the edge of the clearing. Did you know that we have a pretty decent herd here on the mountain? They tend to be shy in the summer, especially with the cattle invading their space, but in the winter they’ll show themselves from time to time.” Now he turns to me with a smile. “First time I took Isla to go find them, she wasn’t much older than you are, and we ended up smack in the middle of the herd. We were looking so hard in one direction, we didn’t see a bunch of them come up behind us and suddenly they were just there. Remember that, girl?” he asks with a grin. I smile back, because I do remember. I remember almost peeing my pants from fear and from sheer excitement.

“She peed her pants,” he informs Mak, who suddenly smiles big.

Okay, so maybe I did wet myself, a little. Not every day you have a close encounter with a bunch of animals with antlers the size of a Buick, that look nothing like the Bambi you’d imagined. I shrug my shoulders at Mak, who giggles.

“How’s about you and me go see if we can find us some elk?” The girl looks up at him with big eyes.

“But Uncle Ben was going to take me to see Mom,” she says.

“We’re not going long. Your uncle is having a nice, relaxing shower first anyway.” My sneaky uncle throws me a wink before leading Mak out of the kitchen.

Five minutes later, after shoving Atsa back out the door with them, I sneak into the bedroom, listening to the water running in the shower. I strip out of my clothes quickly before stepping into the bathroom, where Ben’s large silhouette is outlined behind the mottled glass shower door.

His back is toward me, one hand leaning high up on the tile wall, the other moving lazily between his legs. My body responds instantly with a tightening of my nipples and a surge of heat through my core. He doesn’t seem to hear my sharp intake of breath at the sheer beauty of him, over the drone of the water.

Ben

I still my movements when I hear the door slide open, but before I can turn my head, small hands slip over my wet skin. From the low of my back, around to my stomach, and lower, to where my fist is still wrapped around my painful erection. One of her hands slips lower, cupping my balls, as the other curves around my cock at the root, right behind my own.

I can’t help it. I jerk at the sensation that triggers a distasteful memory, before I feel my body shutting down. I make a fast grab for her wrists.

“Stop,” I whisper. “I need to see you.”

Without a word, she releases her hold, slipping between the wall and me, as she looks up with eyes that hold a clear question.

“I need to know it’s you,” I try to explain, without spelling it out. She blinks a couple of times before her eyes grow big with understanding. Then her eyes turn to slits as angry determination washes over her face, and holding my gaze, she lowers herself to her knees. “Baby...”

“Shhh.” She purses her lips as she leans forward and kisses the tip of what’s left of my erection. “Keep your eyes on me,” she instructs, as she runs her tongue around the crown before sucking it between her lips.

So goddamn beautiful, with the water running down her face, clinging to her eyelashes, and the tip of her small nose. Those deep pink lips stretch wide as she slides the heat of her mouth over my quickly recovering cock, holding my eyes with hers. I finally let go of her wrists and brace myself with both hands against the wall behind her as her soft hands gently explore.

“Fuck,” I hiss when she swallows, her mouth massaging my length from root to tip.

All I see is Isla.

All I feel is Isla.

Her small fist wraps around me, working my cock in tandem with the strong suction of her mouth, and this time no one else is touching me. Just her. Just my Pixie.

Almost without warning, I can feel the pinpricks at the base of my spine spreading into a full body tingle, the instant before my balls tighten, and the first spurt surges out of me. My jaw drops as a low groan rumbles through my chest, but my eyes never let go of hers.

She takes everything I give her and when I’m spent, barely able to stay standing, I feel clean—untainted.

“Love you,” I rumble, as I grab her under her arms and pull her up, pressing her against the tiles with my body. “Love you so fucking much it hurts.”

“I want to hurt her,” my little Pixie spews venomously, and I can’t hold back a chuckle, dropping my head in the soft spot between her neck and shoulder. I inhale her deeply and am surprised when my dick shows signs of renewed life.

“How long before they get back?” I mutter against her skin, as my hand slides up her side to cup her breast, lifting it up for my lips.

“Ahhhh,” she moans as I take most of her small breast inside my mouth and suck deep. “Too soon,” she manages breathlessly.

“We’ll have to be quick then.”

In one move I bend down to lift her, hook my arms underneath her knees, and brace her against the wall, spreading her wide open. Sliding my cock along the crease of her pussy I can feel how wet she is. Sucking me off turns her on as much as it does me. I poise myself at her entrance, and with a single thrust, drive myself deep inside her.

“Hold on,” I warn her. She slips her arms around my neck and clings on as I fuck her fast and furious against the wall.

The feel of her nails digging into my neck, the sound of slapping wet skin, and the guttural little sounds she makes drive me crazy. I’m fast barreling toward my second orgasm, when she hasn’t come once yet. I slip my hand between our bodies and easily find her distended clit, right where our bodies are joined. All it takes is a few fast flicks, and then firm deep pressure from my thumb, to feel her inner walls clamp and pulsate around me. I follow right behind her.

“Not sure that’s what the doctor meant when he said for you to take it easy,” she mumbles, when I gently lower her legs, making sure they’re firmly underneath her before letting go.

“Bullshit,” I counter. “You’re my best medicine.”

-

“Don’t take off your stuff,” I tell Mak when she comes running in just as I step into the hallway.

They were gone for quite a while. Had I known, I would’ve maybe tried for a third round, but in bed this time. Don’t think my knees would’ve handled another go against the wall.

“Guess what?” I look down into my niece’s upturned smiling face.

“I give up,” I joke, raising my hands in surrender.

“I saw an elk!”

“You did? That’s pretty cool.” I keep her talking as I get dressed to go outside myself.

“I want to take a picture, so I can show the kids at school. Otherwise they won’t believe me. Do you think next time Isla can come with her camera?”

I smile at the ongoing chatter until I realize I have no clue when she’s supposed to go back to school. Or where. In the next day or two, Stacie will likely be transported to Durango Mercy Regional where she will be undergoing the first of a series of graft surgeries, and of course Mak will stay with us.

Isla walks into the hallway to see us off, and with Mak still chatting away as she goes outside, I quickly pull Isla aside.

“Mak has to go to school.”

“I know,” she says, cool as pie. “She mentioned something this morning. Maybe call the school from the hospital, see if Stacie feels up to talking to them. I’ll look into to finding her a school here. We’ll also need to pick up the rest of her stuff in Albuquerque. Do something about her place there. Her job. I’ve started a list.”

“Uncle Ben!” Mak shouts from outside. “Are you coming?”

“Better go, honey,” Isla says, grabbing my coat and pulling me down for a kiss. “Tell Stacie I’ll see her tomorrow.”

She’s not coming with me today, because Al is leaving tomorrow. I think Isla secretly would love him to stay around permanently, but as long as his wife is alive in nursing care in Flagstaff, that’s just not an option.

It’ll be quiet without the old guy around.

Isla

“That girl tuckers me out,” Uncle Al mutters when I walk into the kitchen. “If you don’t mind, I’m gonna lie down for ten minutes.”

As soon as he disappears in his bedroom, I go in search of my computer, which I find on the narrow table under the TV. It’s been since before Christmas that I’ve done any work on my edits and I feel like being creative.

With Atsa asleep in his bed by the fireplace, I curl up on the couch, flip open my laptop and sign on. Immediately my email notifications pop up; fourteen new emails. I scroll through them; discarding most since they’re newsletters or advertising, but there’s one that catches my eye.

Julie Winton.

I hesitate briefly, wondering if I should simply send it on to Neil, but curiosity wins and I click on the name.

MINE

There’s just that one word, plus an attachment.

The image is one of a room I saw only a brief glimpse of, before I was tossed on my back in the snow. The wall depicted looks like a gallery, or perhaps a shrine is a better description. In the center is my own photo, the one I took of Ben overlooking the reservoir, the one she reportedly bought from the gallery. All around it are a host of others, mostly grainy images of Ben: some alone, but also some with me, taken from a distance, with one thing in common; her face glued or superimposed on mine.

Even more disturbing are the other shots, showing Ben, naked, tied to the bed, and clearly out of it.