The next morning, the blizzard still raged on.

Breakfast was another noisy affair, with Aaron pouting at the end of it that he couldn’t go out and play in the snow.

When I promised to play outside with him when the weather clears, he was slightly appeased.

My whole afternoon is consumed in playing with him as Steven had a few urgent matters to attend to.

We dress up in loose bedsheets, make paper swords and fight off pirates and evil sea-men, running all over the house.

I couldn’t help it.

I had had such a lonely childhood, having no siblings and then having ended up with so many young cousins when I was older, that I enjoyed it.

The delight on Aaron’s face when he chased me down the hallway, demanding I surrender, made it completely worth it as well.

“Turn yourself in, Blackbeard! You can’t get away from me now!” Aaron shouts, climbing on top of a glass table. “I will have your head!”

“What’s all this shouting?” Steven grumbles, coming out of a room, and I grab my chance and duck behind him, my arms around his neck, “I have a hostage.”

Bad idea.

Because before I know it, suddenly I am the hostage, and Steven motions to his son, “I got her.”

I sigh, “This is cheating.”

Steven grins at me, “You’re a pirate. What are you complaining about?”

That was fair, I thought.

And when Aaron scampers off to grab a snack, I follow Steven into another room, that once again, looks like something out of a Victorian novel.

“You’re not too bored, I hope?’ He asks me, sinking into a couch.

I choose a seat a little further away because this room had a lock, and Steven had had his way with me three times this morning.

The man was insatiable.

He must have realized what I was trying to do because his eyes danced with mischief, as he pats the arm of the couch, “Why don’t you sit here?”

“I’m perfectly comfortable here,” I say in a dry tone. “And I’m not bored at all. Although I would like to roam in the house a little more clothed.”

“My pullover looks nice on you,” Steven comments with a smile. His eyes move to the bedsheet I had put besides me. “That, I could do without.”

Our eyes move to the window outside and I mentally count the days to Christmas. There was still some time, and I really hoped I would get the chance to finish up my Christmas shopping.

“What’re you thinking about?”

I run my fingers through my hair, and then start counting, trying to do some calculations on my fingers, “How much shopping is left. My parents are going to Florida in a week, so I have to give them gifts soon. And Scarlett will also leave, so hers is also left.”

Steven studies me, “I thought you said Christmas was a family affair. Won’t you be with your family?”

I stare at him, “Fly to Florida with them? On my salary? That’s not every feasible. Besides…,”

I sigh, heavily, leaning down to fix my socks, “They wanted to spend Christmas with their friends. I didn’t want them to stay back just because I didn’t want to spend Christmas alone.”

Steven doesn’t say anything for a few moments and then he asks, “So what will you do for Christmas?”

I shrug, feeling the depression sink in at the thought of spending Christmas alone, “I don’t know. Make some eggnog, bake some cookies, watch some movies.”

On an afterthought, I add, “Prank call Scarlett. That’s always fun.”

“Why don’t you stay here?”

I look up at him, a little confused. “I don’t want to go to Hawaii for Christmas. I can’t afford it, and I’m not letting anyone pay for my ticket. I’m a strong, independent woman.”

Steven rolls his eyes at me, “With the way you glared at me when I paid for lunch the other day, if I ever want to give you something, I’ll just tell you that you won it in the raffle.”

He waggles his eyebrows at me, before turning serious, “I meant here, though. Aaron is adamant on having a proper Christmas at home.”

I shift, uncomfortably, “I’m sorry about that. I shouldn’t have interfered in your family affairs. That was crossing a line.”

Steven stands up and walks over to me, seating himself on the arm of my chair, “Well, it’s done. You can’t undo it. Unless you plan to tell Aaron that Santa is actually an evil leprechaun that eats children on Christmas if they stay home.”

I stare at him, saying slowly, “That’s dark. I’m not telling him that.”

He watches me, with a small grin, “Then it’s settled. You’ll spend Christmas with us.”

As he stands up, I grab his hand, forcing him back down, “What are you saying? Look, Christmas is a family event. I can’t just insert myself into-“

I see the flare of irritation, before he can hide it, “I want you here. Aaron already worships the ground you walk on, so you being here would be like the best Christmas present he could receive. I don’t see what’s the problem.”

When my mouth moves, and no words come out, he leans over and closes my jaw with his finger, “I’ve never celebrated Christmas. Not like the one you described or the ones you see on TV. I wouldn’t mind having that experience.”

Steven leans back and studies me, “Unless, you don’t want to spend your Christmas with us?”

I know a trap when I see one, and I notice the smugness in Steven’s eyes when I walked neatly into it.

“If you’re sure you want me, then I’d love to spend the Christmas here.”

Steven just gives me an innocent smile.

It took three days for the weather to settle down.

Three days of Steven bending me over on every available surface he could find when there was no one around and fucking my brains out.

Three days of eating, sleeping, and having sex.

In the evenings, Aaron and I would watch a few movies till he would fall asleep with his head on my lap.

I didn’t realize how important a female figure was in a child’s life till I started noticing how attached Aaron had started getting to me.

And it worried me.

Not because I didn’t like it. But because whatever this thing between his father and me was, the moment it ends, I wouldn’t be around that much at all, and it might hurt the child.

As I sink deeper into the bubble bath I had drawn for myself, I squash the voices inside my head saying that Aaron wouldn’t be the only one who would be broken.

Moodily, I stare at the bathroom tiles.

My feelings for Steven were complicated. My body gravitated toward him every time he moved, a completely unconscious gesture.

Falling in love with this man was so easy.

He would keep coming up with reasons and opportunities to touch me. Small casual touches which centred me. He was stubborn and arrogant, but he listened to me. He would drop everything the minute I enter into the room and all his focus would be on me as if I was the most important thing in the world. There was a certain intensity to him when his eyes followed me around the room, like he was constantly trying to figure me out.

A part of me was addicted to his touch, his laugh, those smirks.

I slide under the heated water, lost in my thoughts.

The sensible part of me was warning me not to fall any deeper.

The part of me that had resisted his charms from the very beginning whispered in my head to protect myself. This man would damage my heart beyond repair.

Puppy love, I warned myself. This was all this was.

He cared about me.

But then, that could be where he drew the line.

Steven had a son.

As I got out of the bath, and dried myself with a towel, my mind in turmoil, I reminded myself that he had a child he was responsible for. And somewhere out there was the mother of this child. I wasn’t even aware of what had happened there. A part of me was curious, but I was too scared to ask and risk ruining these few fleeting days.

Besides, he was too devoted of a father to simply let any woman into his life and get involved in raising his child.

I sigh.

Why am I getting myself worked up over this?

Why can’t I just enjoy this moment for what it was?

A brief fling with a man – except it didn’t feel like a fling.

“Ugh!” I growl at myself in the mirror. “I’m just making this whole thing worse.”

Pointing a finger at myself in the mirror, “Enjoy this while it lasts, Abby. You’re a school teacher. He’s a freaking billionaire. You’re from two different worlds. Don’t put a label on this, you idiot. Not everything has to be neatly packaged and tagged.”

Tugging on the shirt I had been given, I set out in search of Jarvis to ask him for some decent clothing to wear on my way home today.

The butler wore a smooth expression on his face as he listens to my request.

“I could ask one of the helps to lend you some more comfortable clothes if you plan to leave today. But, I would advise you to wait till tomorrow.”

I blink, “Why?”

He clears his throat, “The weather has calmed down, but the snow will be removed overnight. It wouldn’t be very safe to leave right now.”

I run a considering hand through my damp hair, and then a thought strikes me. I hope he wouldn’t think my being nosy.

“Jarvis?”

“Yes, Miss?”

I hesitate before asking, “How long have you worked for Steven?”

When he raises his brow, I immediately wave my hands, “You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to. It’s just,” I hesitate, “Steven never talks about himself.”

The older man gives me a kind smile, “Master Tanner took me into his employ when he moved here from Ireland. My family has served his for generations. He’s a good man, Miss Abby. Just a little reserved.”

He didn’t seem that reserved, I think to myself later on, as I walk toward the kitchen.

But, maybe, by ‘reserved’, Jarvis meant that he held on to his secrets and didn’t share anything about his life.

As Aaron rushes out of the kitchen with a small airplane in his hand, he throws his arms around me before buzzing off again, making small noises. I stare after him, my smile fading.

I know nothing about Aaron’s mother or Steven’s past.

The man was a complete mystery to me.