When I emerged from the arrival gate Monday evening, Zane swooped me up into his arms and kissed me crazy.

“Fucking missed you,” he murmured then kissed me some more.

I wasn’t complaining.

“How was your flight?” he asked.

“Good. Long,” I answered.

After getting my bag from the carousel, he held my hand while we walked to his car and I told him about Christmas at my parents.

“Then Laurel opens this huge box from Robert and pulls out a friggin’ full-length mink coat and screams to high heaven. I wanted to throw my Poinsettia on it, that’s a Bellini with cranberry juice, by the way, Mom insisted on having them for Christmas, but I was enraged at that stupid coat.”

He chuckled. “That didn’t go over well with my little tree hugger, huh?” He squeezed my hand.

I rolled my eyes. “But I did like what my parents got me. First of all, they said nothing about my hair color, which was the ultimate gift. And they gave me an organic virgin-wool scarf, mitten and beanie set. See?” I held out the end of the red scarf I was wearing.

“Organic virgin, huh?”

“Yep. No sheep were harmed in the making or growing of it.”

“You know where they get virgin wool, right?”

“Where?” I asked.

“The ugly sheep.” He held my door for me and we both burst out laughing.

“That’s really bad,” I said, still snickering.

He gave me a smirk then closed my door opening the back door to put my bag inside.

When he got in and started his vehicle, he shared, “I’ve got one last Christmas present for you at the house.”

I smiled. “Yeah?”

His eyes sparked gold when he glanced at me making my eyebrows raise and the butterflies in my belly go nuts.

I loved Christmas.

~*~*~*~*~

We’d no more gotten inside his house when he took my bag, pulled my coat and scarf off, picked me up to where I had to wrap my legs around his waist then he kissed me the whole way to his room, carrying me down the hall and down the stairs to his bedroom. We bumped into wall after wall, laughing each time we did, and when he tried navigating the stairs, I offered to walk, but he declined. So I held on for dear life hoping we didn’t break our necks before we made it to his room.

Finally there, he set me on my feet and pinned me to the wall kissing me hard as he removed every stitch of my clothing. I managed to get his shirt off as he kicked off his boots, and when led me to the bed, telling me to move to the middle of it, I was so distracted to see him barefooted with only his jeans on, I forgot that I was totally naked. Eep!

I swallowed hard seeing him standing at the foot of the bed, eyes glittering, when he ordered, “Lean back on your hands and put your feet on the bed.”

I hesitated before doing as he said and saw him frown.

“Move your hair.”

I looked down to see my hair covering my breasts and smiled up at him, which garnered me his piercing, narrowed eyes. Damn. Okay then. I considered getting up and dressing because this was making me uncomfortable since I’d never done anything this intense. But when I saw his face soften a little, I slowly pushed my hair back over my shoulders and saw the slightest twitch of his lips and I relaxed a little. Until he spoke again.

“Spread your legs.”

“Zane…”

His eyes bore into mine when he said, “Baby, you’re beautiful. Let me see you.”

I bit my lip, uncertain of this whole thing, and then he did the best thing ever. He winked. For some reason that gave me confidence, like I knew he was still him, and I slowly moved my feet and parted my knees. His half smirk let me know he liked what he saw. But, God. This was so nerve racking. My breathing sped up because I’d never been put on display like this before, and I licked my lips as I sat there, completely bared to him. Gah!

“Good girl.”

He walked to the side of the bed and reaching down to the nightstand, he pulled the drawer open.

“Do you trust me, Jillian?”

My eyes went quickly to his, and other than the huge erection I’d seen straining against his fly, I could tell by his look he was very turned on. Letting out a breath, I nodded because I did trust him and knew he wouldn’t hurt me.

“Hold out your wrists,” he ordered.

I faltered again, wondering what he was going to do. And he waited. When I finally did as told, he reached into the drawer and pulled out a pair of handcuffs.

My eyes went huge as I looked up at him.

“I told you I’ll never do anything you don’t want to do,” he reminded and waited on me again.

A moment later, I held my hands in front of me, and saw that he was pleased, his eyes crinkling just a bit at the outsides. Then my wrists were cuffed.

“Lie back and put your arms above your head.” I did what he instructed, and as he walked to the foot of the bed again, I heard him utter, “Stunning.”

The anticipation of what he was going to do to me had my heart pounding in my chest, my insides suddenly aching for him as he stood looking at me.

He took off his jeans and putting a knee to the bed, moved forward, his eyes on mine. He lifted my leg, kissing the inside of my calf, the inside of my thigh, my hipbone and belly. On up to my breast where his tongue teased one nipple then the other. His lips grazed over my chest, up to my neck, brushing over my lips then mouth at my ear, he whispered, “Gonna fuck you hard, Jillian. Can you handle it?”

An unintelligible sound escaped my throat when out of nowhere, my body bowed up and I climaxed.

Holy shit.

“That’s my girl,” he said, his hips cradled between mine now and skimming his hands down my sides and underneath me, he raised my hips and drove inside with a groan.

Eyes closed and head back in ecstasy, I cried out again upon finally having him inside, his cock filling me so fully with each thrust, easing the ache I’d felt and causing me to shatter again for him.

Wow.

Without warning, he was gone and flipping me onto my belly, the handcuffs making a clanking noise as I was turned, and pulling my hips up, he drove back inside, pounding hard exactly as he said he would.

It. Was. Amazing.

“So fucking wet for me, baby. Fuck!” he groaned gruffly, the air around us filled with want and need, so sexually charged as skin met skin with each rough stroke of his hips.

Arms stretched above me and cheek to the bed, I clasped the sheet with my fingers as he did as he’d promised, fucking me hard until with a loud growl, he rammed in powerfully one last time, holding my hips as he emptied himself inside.

Going down on his forearms at my sides, he puffed hot breaths against my back as well as uneven kisses as he gathered himself, while tremors still shuddered through both our thoroughly used and satiated bodies.

God.

A moment later, he left me and I heard the drawer open. Then he was unlocking the cuffs and removing them from my wrists. I lazily turned my head to see him tossing them into the drawer then he was there, pulling my back to his front as we lay on our sides, his hands massaging my wrists before he brought each up one at a time and touched his lips to them.

“Was that okay?” he asked and I nodded.

It was more than okay, and I knew it was just the tip of the iceberg, that he’d gone easy on me for now, but there was so much more we would do. And as he kissed the back of my shoulder, I realized I was good with that.

“Was that my other present?” I asked and felt his body shaking behind me. He was laughing. “What?” I turned my head glancing back at him.

“Babe, that was more a present for me.” He kissed my cheek. “Get up and I’ll show you.”

He got out of the bed and pulled his jeans on leaving them undone then grabbed a t-shirt from a drawer for me. I pulled it over my head then took his outstretched hand, getting up on wobbly legs to be led to the French doors in his room. He pulled back the curtain flipping on the outside lights.

All I saw was trees, of course, and looked up at him in question.

“See the one with the fresh dirt around it?” he asked, pointing to a large oak.

“Yeah?” I answered then waited for him to go on. When he didn’t, I stared at it for a moment before it hit me. “Wait. Is that?” Mouth dropping open, I looked up at him.

He nodded.

Oh, my God! It was the oak tree Izzy and I had been chained to when he and Robocop had shown up!

“But how?” I asked in shock.

He put his arm around me. “I know a guy on the construction crew.”

“You saved it! Oh, my God! I love you! It! I mean it!” I blurted and felt him go stiff beside me. I quickly backtracked, “I mean, I love that you did this. You saved the tree!” I wrapped my arms around his neck pulling him down for a kiss that I hoped took his breath away, thus depleting all the oxygen to his brain so he wouldn’t remember my little slip-up. Ack!

We stood for several minutes staring out at the tree, my front to his side, arms around his middle, his arm curled across my shoulders.

And I was happy.

With a side of sad.

~*~*~*~*~

“And he said nothing?” Izzy asked.

“Nope.” I popped a tater tot into my mouth and rudely talked around it. “But his body language said it all.”

Izzy and I were having dinner the next night at one of my favorite places in Pike Place Market, and I’d just told her about my feckless flagrant faux pas.

“Maybe he was just kinda shocked.”

“Ya think?” I asked and took a sip of my bourbon margarita.

She shrugged. “But he saved the tree for you. That means he cares about you, right?”

I shrugged back, putting on my false bravado. “It’s not a big deal. Like you said, if it works, it works. If it doesn’t, it doesn’t. I’ve gone twenty-two years without him, so I’ll be okay, right?”

She didn’t buy it. Watching me, she took a drink of her Piledriver. “But you do love him.”

I wiped my mouth and looked around the place. So many people. So many lovers. So many who were happy. And so many who’d been hurt. I wondered how they’d handled the rejection.

Looking back at her, I tried another tactic, going the psychological route. “Yeah, but it’s only my first love. Japan did a study which found that only one in a hundred first loves lasts. Not good odds.”

“I’ll bet you could be the one percent!” she challenged.

“Yeah, well, I’m not a gambling chick.”

She threw a raisin at me. “Stop being a stick-in-the-mud. It could happen.”

“On another note, what’re you and Corey doing for New Year’s?”

“Some party at one of the players’ friggin’ mansions on Lake Washington. But all the other players and their wives and girlfriends are supposed to be there too, so that’ll be fun. There’s gonna be fireworks on the lake at midnight. But I’m really more excited to see inside that huge house!”

“I’ve seen some of them around there. They’re monstrous. Don’t get lost.” I laughed.

“What’re you and Zane doing?”

“We’re going to dinner first then heading to Seattle Center where I’ll be freezing my ass off. His brother Wilder’s band is playing so we’re going to see them.”

 “That’ll be fun! Minus the ass freezing.” She snorted.

“I’ll be meeting all his brothers, so that’s kind of exciting.” I took another drink.

“See? He’s serious about you or he wouldn’t have you meet the family.”

Maybe. Maybe not. I decided I was just going to chill out and let the chips fall where they may. I was having fun, I was having great sex so why ruin it with three stupid words.

“So listen to this. Laurel’s fiancé is a thousand years old,” I began, telling her about Robert and what Laurel’d said.

“Ew. That’s nuts. How could she marry someone just for money?”

“I don’t know. But that’s her plan. He seemed like an okay guy. A little uppity for my taste, but whatever. I guess I’ll be getting a wedding invitation soon, though.”

“What do Anthony and Lillian think?”

“Oh, they’re all for it. Mom loves that he’s a bazillionaire and Dad has a new buddy almost his age.” I shook my head.

“So weird.” We ate in silence for a few minutes. “Oh, I found the thing.”

I looked at her. “What thing?”

“The thing that we can listen to Rusty through his phone.”

I’d totally forgotten about him since I hadn’t been home in a few days. “You sure you want to do this?”

“Yes! Let’s do it after the holidays when I know I’ll really be bored because of playoffs.”

“Okay. But we can’t get caught.”

“Duh.”

When we finished eating, we caught a movie and afterward, I went back to my apartment.

“Hello?” I called when I walked in but got no answer.

Since they weren’t home, I went to my room and dragged the wrapped boxes of the video game chairs I’d gotten Chet and Rusty for Christmas out into the hallway, putting one in front of each of their doors. I know. I didn’t really like Rusty, but he was still my roommate, and we’d gotten along okay the past two years and had always exchanged gifts, so I guess I’d felt obligated to keep up the tradition.

Just then, there was a knock at the door. Since it was past ten, I texted Zane quickly to see if it was him.

Text Message—Tue, Dec 27, 10:17 p.m.

Me: Are you at the front door?

The knocking became pounding now and I hear the doorknob rattle. Shit! I ran to my room, closing and locking the door.

Text Message—Tue, Dec 27, 10:20 p.m.

Zane: No

Me: Someone’s trying to get in!

Zane: I’ll be right there

Fifteen minutes later, my phone dinged.

Text Message—Tue, Dec 27, 10:35 p.m.

Zane: I’m here. Open the door

“Did you see who it was?” I asked when he came in.

“No one was here when I pulled up. Neither of them is home?”

I shook my head.

“Call Chet. See if it was him.”

“I did. He’s at his parents’ having dinner. I asked him to call Rusty to see if it was him and call me back. He did and Rusty said he was in Oregon visiting his uncle.”

Zane raised an eyebrow. “Does he have family in Oregon?”

“Yes. He’s supposedly visited his uncle there before.”

“What’s the uncle’s name?”

“Jimmy Stewart.”

Zane narrowed his eyes at me. “Seriously?”

I nodded.

He pulled out his phone and dialed looking at me. “Wasn’t he just in that movie we watched about that goofy angel?”

I chuckled. “I know. But that’s Rusty’s last name, so it makes sense.”

“What city?”

“Ranier.”

“Sandra? Zane. Can you find a phone number for a Jimmy or James Stewart in Ranier, Oregon?” He waited a moment then, “Got it. Thanks.”

He dialed the number into his phone and put it on speaker.

“Hello?”

“Is this Jimmy Stewart?”

“Yes.”

“Is Rusty Stewart there?”

“Yes, he is.”

“May I speak with him?”

“Hang on a sec.” We heard him call for Rusty who answered the phone and Zane hung up.

“Who was at the door earlier then?” I asked as a shudder ran through me.

“I don’t know, but pack a bag ‘cause you’re staying at my place tonight.”