Chapter Twelve

Sasha

SASHA stretched out on his bed, arguing with himself. He wasn’t usually so lazy that he couldn’t jump immediately out from the covers, but a languorous mood held him short of complete wakefulness. It wasn’t a mystery why he was so relaxed. Satisfying orgasms had that sort of effect on a man, and that’s what last night had brought him—a delicious, full-body, heart-pounding orgasm.

Remembering Nic’s hand down his jeans sent goose bumps across Sasha’s arms and chest, and then he chuckled. Damn, he was an idiot. He had a crush on his new boss. What kind of glutton for punishment did he need to be to let this happen, especially after his experience with Drew?

As if he didn’t have enough problems. His parents screwing him over wasn’t anything new, but they couldn’t have picked a worse time to remind him why he couldn’t rely on anyone but himself. Thinking about how easily he could lose everything because of their carelessness threatened to plunge his mood into the blackest depths, so he headed off his wandering thoughts and tried to focus on getting the kids ready for school instead. After all, he’d managed on his own before, and he would now.

With a groan, he rolled up and swung his legs over the side of the bed. It was still so early, there was barely any light filtering through the curtains. Actually, it seemed even darker. He allowed himself another wide yawn and got up to peek out the window. The second he did, a grin spread across his face.

Frost crystallized around the edges of the glass panes, and a layer of snow covered the ground while flurries twisted and hung in the air currents outside. It was the first snow of the season, a little earlier than the weatherman had projected. His pulse raced. Maybe the snow was thick enough to play in. The kids would love this shit, especially because snow on a Thursday likely meant two extra days added to their weekend.

Laziness evaporated in the face of his exhilaration. He threw on some weather-resistant clothes, adding a few layers to stay dry and warm, shoved his feet into waterproof hiking boots, and then headed toward Lucy’s and Ben’s rooms.

He pounded on Lucy’s door first, and she whined a little until he pushed her toward the window and made her look outside. Her energy sparked the same as Sasha’s had at the sight of the snow outside. While she searched for clothes, he did the same with Ben, who wasn’t as whiny, but getting him up from bed was like raising a corpse from a grave.

They’d headed outside to the massive yard overlooking the water beyond the bay windows by the time Sasha went downstairs on a mission to drag Nic out with them. He wasn’t sure Nic would relax his walls enough to join in, but he would try his damnedest to get him outside.

He knocked on the door expecting to knock a few times before getting an answer, but the door swung open almost immediately. Nic was immaculately dressed, as usual, in a crisp navy blue suit, his face freshly clean-shaven, and his hair impeccably tamed. The urge to dishevel the man slammed into Sasha.

“Wow.” Come on, Sasha. Use your words like a grown-up. “Uh, you’re dressed.”

The half smile Nic sent him had Sasha’s stomach flipping over a few times. “Were you trying to catch me naked?”

No. Absolutely not. Because Nic answering the door naked would give Sasha an aneurysm or something. It would have to be some kind of overload to his brain functions. As it was, his deep voice suggesting such an event got blood heading straight to Sasha’s nether regions in hopes of a repeat of last night.

“I’d chase you first,” he said. Nic’s breath hitched audibly, his hands trembling as he pushed the door open wider.

“Jesus, Sasha.”

He laughed, happy that he could rattle the self-assured billionaire so easily, before reaching out to run his fingers up and down the lapels of Nic’s suit. “This won’t do,” he told Nic, who frowned.

“What won’t?”

“Have you looked outside this morning?”

Nic shook his head, so Sasha stepped into the room and guided Nic to the window with an arm around his waist. He had to fight the impulse to pull Nic closer. Instead, he drew the curtain back.

“Ah, it’s snowing,” Nic exclaimed. “I guess the kids will be staying home today.”

Sasha nodded. “Yeah, probably. How about you? Are you staying home today?”

The strained look on Nic’s face was unexpected. He was always so decisive. “I really should head to the office.”

“Or—” Sasha led Nic to the massive walk-in closet. “—you could go in late or even work from the home office. You know, with the weather being unpredictable and all.”

“Sasha, why are we in my closet?”

He pushed his hands under Nic’s suit jacket and slid it over his shoulders and down his arms. “We’re getting you naked.”

Sasha was so close while he unbuttoned Nic’s white shirt, he could see Nic’s pupils dilate. Nic’s breath brushed along Sasha’s throat and cheek as he let Sasha undress him.

“What will you do after I’m naked?” Nic rumbled next to his ear.

Lifting up on his tiptoes, Sasha skated his lips against the shell of Nic’s ear. “Once you’re naked,” he whispered back, “I’m going to dress you in proper clothes so we can play outside.”

Nic drew back to watch Sasha’s face. “What? Me? Go out there?”

“Yep. So we can play in the snow. The kids are already out there waiting for us.”

Shaking his head, Nic backed away. “I can’t go out there and play. Are you joking?”

“Not joking, and yes, you’re going out there.” He tugged Nic toward him again and unfasted Nic’s pants. Nic gripped Sasha’s wrists before he could get any further.

“Whoa. You can’t talk about chasing me down and getting me naked and playing with me, not while you’re undressing me.” Nic’s hands tightened around his wrists and pulled Sasha closer. “Not right before pushing me out in the cold, wet snow.”

Sasha laughed and was instantly cut off by a hard, rough kiss that broke off entirely too quickly. “Fuck.”

“Yes. That,” Nic said. “Tease.”

He rubbed Sasha’s wrists with his thumbs before releasing him. Then he kissed Sasha again as if he couldn’t resist doing it over and over. He always pulled back before Sasha could deepen the kiss, but that was probably for the best if they wanted to leave the room anytime soon.

Nic began shedding his shirt, slowly revealing more naked flesh as his fingers worked button after button. “I guess layers would be the right choice?”

“And waterproof shoes if you have any.” Sasha hoped his voice didn’t sound as strangled and breathless as he imagined.

“I have some hiking boots I picked up for a camping trip I never went on.”

With a shrug, Sasha nodded, stalling for time to get his hormones under control. The signs of Nic’s arousal, the rosy flush in his cheeks and tension in his jawline, made it hard for Sasha to speak past the tightness in his throat. “Probably not broken in, but it’ll do. Meet us outside?”

No way in hell could he stand by and watch Nic’s mostly innocent striptease without pouncing. He waited for Nic’s answering nod and then left the house to join the kids outside. They were working on snowmen—well, Lucy was. Ben was making some kind of igloo or snow cave. The snow was perfectly fluffy without any ice crusting over it yet—at least until it rained like it was supposed to later in the evening.

Sasha had plans, though. He quickly dug out a trench and built up a short wall. Then, he stockpiled a huge mass of snowballs of various sizes and weights. No way would he let a snow day end without a snowball war. Lucy noticed what he was doing right away and began her own stockpile, but she played dirty. She was rolling sticks into her ammo and using the dirty snow that had been stomped through, mostly from around Ben’s construction site.

Just as Sasha was starting to think Nic was going to ditch them, he walked down the steps and jogged over in their direction. He shouldn’t have been surprised that Nic had suitable outerwear for the snow, but somehow, he was. Instead of being clueless, he wore very trim, formfitting Arc’teryx snow gear. Hot as hell. If Nic wasn’t careful, he’d melt all the snow. Or maybe Sasha would, if the heat in his cheeks when Nic approached was anything to go by.

No way could Sasha wait longer for Nic to come to the same decision he had, that accepting their chemistry was worth whatever fallout would tear them up later. As he settled in for a snow war, he resigned himself to a different battle—to defeat Nic’s reservations. Whatever barrier was holding him back from Sasha was going down today, and to hell with the consequences.