When the time is right.

Those words ran through my head for the rest of the drive back to my father’s. I didn’t want to know about some woman he loved, didn’t even want to think about it. I wasn’t a fool in thinking he hadn’t been with anyone, but since he’d started working for my father there hadn’t been anyone in his life. He came to work every day, stayed long hours, watched over me so nothing happened.

He was my protector.

I looked over at him. His dark hair fell in shorts waves around his face, framing his chiseled jaw. And the dark locks made his ice blue eyes stand out. He filled out a suit like no one I had ever seen, with broad shoulders and a narrow waist. I knew beneath that material he’d be defined and hard. I shook my head, trying to remove the thoughts from my mind, knowing they wouldn't help me in this moment.

Once we were back at my father’s and he cut the engine, we both sat there for long seconds, neither speaking, the air thick, the heat intensifying. I wondered what he thought.

Forcing myself to get out of the car, I looked at the giant house that I had grown up in. It was beautiful but had become a prison. Before my mother’s passing it had been filled with so much love and happiness. I was blessed to have two loving parents who filled my life with complete joy. I was a lucky child growing up, unlike my friends who had fathers who were too busy with the demands of business and their high-powered company to spend any time with them. I had a father who put my mother and myself first.

“Snow!”  My father’s soft yet demanding voice rang from the front door as he came toward me. There was relief in his expression. Before I knew it I was in his arms, held tightly, an embrace I was so familiar with.

“Dad, I am sorry. I shouldn’t have run off like that. I just needed to think, be away from everyone and everything.” The worry in my father’s eyes broke my heart but I knew that if I stayed here with how things had been it would crush my soul. “But I need my own space. I’m an adult, and you smothering me because of your fears is crushing me.”

He smiled sadly and exhaled. “I know.” The sadness in his voice melted my resolve. “I want to do better, to not be so overbearing. It’s my fears and worries. But I’ll try, sweetheart.” He smiled softly. “I gave it a lot of thought, knowing how things have been lately. I don’t want you resenting me. I don’t want to push you away. If you need your freedom, need to be on your own, I want that for you. But please, for the sake of my sanity, I’ve assigned Hunter to be your personal bodyguard.”

My heart skipped a beat at that. Maybe I should have been upset that he was still having someone shadow me, but I wasn’t. My father admitting how overbearing he’d been was a huge step for him. If he wanted a bodyguard for me, then it was a compromise I was willing to make, especially if said security was Hunter.

“I know this is hard for you to do,” I said softly and smiled. “But thank you for allowing me to stand on my own two feet.”

He exhaled and shook his head, but a smile played on his mouth. “I can’t guarantee I still won’t be an overprotective father, but I won’t be your jailor anymore.”

I chuckled softly.

“You think you’re up for the task, Hunter?” my father asked him.

“I’ll risk my life to protect hers. You don’t need to worry.”

As I stared at the man I was in love with, watched as his eyes darkened, his focus trained just on me, a jolt of electricity slammed into me.

Maybe I wasn’t the only one who felt the charge between us? Maybe if I admitted how I felt my heart wouldn’t get broken?

* * *

Hunter

A thin wall. Just a thin wall separated me from what was mine.

Snow.

How was a man supposed to sleep when his woman was not in his arms? I had given up on any other woman, because no one else appealed to me. I’d found the one for me, and that was Snow. As a man I was going to make sure she knew she was my one and only.  

My cock throbbed in my boxers and I reached down to adjust myself. I wanted to be buried deep in her body. I wanted her to know she’d always claimed me.

I wanted her to know I had saved myself for her. Only her.

What would she say if she knew I was a virgin? What would she think of me if I admitted that, before she entered my life, I focused on work, building my reputation in this business and not worrying about anything else? Would she think me less than a man?

I pushed all those thoughts of the “what ifs” aside and walked toward my dresser. I pulled open the drawer and took out a picture of Snow. It had been taken last year in the garden. I didn’t just want her in my bed. I wanted her in my life as mine. Only mine.

I wanted it all with Snow.  I wanted forever. And I was done waiting.

Tonight I’d tell her exactly what I wanted...her.