Her name echoes through my mind.

Valoria.

It’s not what I was expecting. Though, I didn’t know what to expect. I never imagined what her name could be. She doesn’t need a name. There’s nothing she should be called except sweetness, love, my pretty.

But Valoria fits her. It is her.

My Val.

Her face is like pure white silk. Her hair is like cornsilk blonde, pure and made by nature, no, by something supernatural, from another world. And her eyes. They are infinite pools of light blue, flecked with gold and green. Supernatural.

And her lips. Red, cherry red, Valentine’s Day red. Pure red. They make my heart beat faster, they make my blood pump harder.

I want to kiss them, press my fingers between them and tease her, give her a taste of what she is going to feel between her lips, between her thighs.

She is so innocent but with so much confidence. She looks like she doesn’t need a man. She is out here on her own.

On the most romantic day of the year, she chose to come out here alone. Alone in a crowd of rowdy young idiot guys, alone in a group.

She stuck out like a sore fucking thumb. There was a target on her back.

But it’s not her fault. She is too innocent to think anyone could do harm to her.

And they won’t.

Not now that I have her.

I reach down and grasp her wrist firmly, but softly. Her sweet lips part and her eyebrows knit in the middle as she gasps, her eyes flying up to mine.

“Did I hurt you, sweetness?” I ask, pulling my hand away and taking both of her mittened hands in mine.

“No,” she breathes, “I just...I wasn’t expecting that.”

I need to control myself, because I need to be gentle with her. But she makes me feel like a fucking savage; I want to take her right fucking now, and I wouldn’t feel cold for a second. All I would feel is here; all there would be is her.

But I don’t want to hurt her for a second.

I am hard as a steel rod. I picture myself telling her - commanding her - to get down on her knees and open up her sweet little mouth for me, to take me all the way, to taste me.

She isn’t hurt. When I look down at her, it is clear. I can’t hurt her.

She wants me. Her eyes say it, her lips say it. I can sense her desire in the air around us. She is wet for me, and my touch merely confirmed what she already knew.

I can’t get her back to my home fast enough. I should pick her up and carry her along the trail up to my house, along the path cut through the trees.

I should throw her over my fucking shoulder and smack her on the ass, tell her she has been a very bad girl and she shouldn’t have been on my property, shouldn’t have been out all alone on Valentine’s Day.

I should never have seen her on those fucking security monitors. I should have had her in my bed with my face buried between her legs, consuming every part of her, making every inch of her perfect skin prickle beneath the touch of my hands, my lips, my kiss.

She should already be my Val.

But we continue on, silently, the desire and want in the air between us thick and heavy and undeniable, and the snow falls between us and brightens up the space between us.

If I were a romantic, it’d be the most romantic moment of my life.

She is a romantic. I can see it in the glimmer of her eye when she looks up into the sky and then turns her head to see me, and then closes her eyes and smiles, her eyelashes tickling her skin.

I keep my hand locked onto her wrist, holding her firmly as I guide us up to my home. It is getting colder by the moment, and the snow is starting to become heavier.

My house is nestled into the side of a rocky hill in the Northern California woods, above the power lines and looking down over the beautiful terrain. I chose this house on purpose. I chose this land on purpose. I don’t get a lot of company up here.

I haven’t ventured out in a long time. I’m able to go into town a few times a week if I want a drink at the local bar, and I have a staff that takes care of everything around the house, from cleaning to cooking to grocery shopping. I don’t have to leave the property if I don’t want to.

And I haven’t wanted to.

I haven’t wanted company.

I haven’t wanted companionship in a long time.

Not since…

My house appears at the top of a small set of wooden stairs cutting the distance from the narrow dirt road up to the path to the house.

It has everything I need. Everything I’ll ever need. Everything Val will ever need, too.

Valoria instinctively grabs onto one of the banisters flanking the stairs, and I grab her by the waist from behind, helping her keep her footing as I guide her up. Because of the snow I’ve let my staff have off for the day, and though they were supposed to come back tomorrow, I think I’ll tell them to take a paid day or a few off.

I need some time alone with Val.

Her hips move and sway as I let her walk ahead of me to my house. She looks so natural walking toward my home, the modest-looking cabin from the outside and adorned with luxury on the inside.

And no one will hurt her again. I have the best security in this place, and I’m the only one who will lay a hand on her ever again.

We get to my front door and her eyes trail up my home, taking in the view. The tall, magnificent trees around the home shoot up to the sky as the snow continues to fall harder and land on her perfect face.

“You live here?” she says, leaning softly against the door.

I cannot help myself for another moment, and I step toward her, erasing the distance between us in one fast motion, taking her face in my hands and crushing her lips with mine.

I am like rock when I feel her soft tongue move against mine, her soft lips kissing me with as much want and desperation as I feel growing inside my body.

I press my thumb against the side of her cheek and she moans, and I move to pull her closer, wrapping my arms around her back, pressing her hard against the wall. Her legs give out softly and I pull her up, putting my large, steady hands under her small, curvy ass. I want to feel her skin, and as I push myself against her, she opens her mouth wider, moaning into me as I press my cock up against her.

My Val sighs and wraps her legs around my waist, throwing her arms around my neck.

“You won’t ever be alone on Valentine’s day again,” I whisper into her ear, pressing my lips against her skin.

Val.

My Val.

My Valentine.

We disentangle from our kiss and she floats down to the ground until her feet are planted firmly, standing before me.

I’ve wanted her for a fucking year. I thought about her every day. I never touched myself while thinking of her, though. It wouldn’t have been right. She is too perfect, and I didn’t want to spoil it.

I’ve never wanted something for so long. Everything I want, I take. I claim what I want. I don’t ask, and I don’t take no for an answer. There is no answer, because I don’t ask a lot of questions.

But she has been the exception. She is the one thing I’ve been unable to have. Because I locked myself away.

But I have been away for too long. For too damn long.

And now I can make her mine.