CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Madison

I was practically bouncing in my seat. I was so excited to go skiing, not just skiing, but skiing with Chase, at one of the places that held fond memories for me. I wanted to share this with him. I knew he was pretty excited to be going as well, even if he did play it down a bit.

It took close to an hour to get up to the resort, find parking, and then wait in the line to get our rental skis and gear.

“I'm so going to kick your ass on the slopes,” I told him before giving him a quick kiss.

He laughed. “You know I actually live here, right? So, I'm pretty sure you don't stand a chance of beating me.”

She winked. “I live in Florida, and I don't go scuba diving. People rarely use the resources they live near. People who live next to Disneyland don't go every day. Don't think because you live on a mountain, you can outski me, buddy.”

He shook his head. “You sure are a cocky little thing.”

I leaned in close so only he could hear me. “No, sir. It's you who is cocky. A rather large cock, I might add.”

I smiled when he groaned and gave me the look that said I would pay for that. Good. I wanted to pay for it. I planned on teasing him all day until his cock was so engorged, he would have to pull over on the side of the road and give me a quickie.

“Ready?” I asked, fully dressed and ready to hit the lift.

“Yep, let's do this. Oh, Madison?”

“What?” I said, walking past him on my skis.

“Don't hit your head. I can't have you laid up and concussed.”

I laughed. “That's what this is for,” I said, pounding on my helmet.

I knew people probably thought I was one of those paranoid individuals, but I didn't care. I was, and I didn't want my head split open. Truth be told, I hadn't skied in a while and had no idea if I would remain upright or remember how to control my run down the hill. I couldn't afford another head injury.

After a few tumbles, I figured it out and managed to keep my legs under me. I gave Chase a run for his money, showing him that even Florida girls could ski. We raced and challenged each other all day. By late afternoon, I was exhausted and a little cold.

We called it a day and drove back into town.

“Want some coffee?” he asked.

“Actually, I want some hot cocoa.”

“Sounds good. I know a nice little shop we can get coffee and cocoa this late in the day,” he said, flipping a blinker on and turning down a side street.

When I moved to climb out of the truck, I quickly realized I was sore.

He was at the passenger door, lifting me out. “Sore?” he asked with a smile.

I glared at him. “Not funny. I think I found muscles I didn't know existed. I need a soak in a hot tub and a massage.”

He wrapped his arm around me, pulled me into his side, and kissed the top of my head before saying, “I will give you a very thorough massage, and we can enjoy a hot soak in the tub together.”

“That sounds very good.”

We walked into the empty coffee shop. A man popped his head up from where he was cleaning a machine. “Chase!”

“Hank! How you doing, man?”

Hank came out from behind the counter, extending his hand.

“I'm doing real good. You?”

Chase nodded. “Good, good. This is Madison. She's here visiting from Florida.”

“Ohhh, this is the girl I've been hearing all about. You two are quite the talk of the town,” he said, repeating what Chase's aunt had said earlier.

If Chase's dating life was the talk of the town, I surmised the people of the town needed to get hobbies. He was one man in a town of a couple thousand. Didn't they have anyone else they could talk about?

“Yes, this is her, the out-of-towner. We've been skiing all day and could really use a warmup,” Chase said.

“Sure, sit. I'll get you fixed up. What'll it be? You drink one of those fancy coffee things?” Hank asked me.

“Actually, I really just want some hot chocolate if that's doable?”

He laughed. “It sure is. I'll be right back.”

Chase and I sat. Our cheeks were pink and windburned. We had used sunscreen, but the wind and the cold had left their marks on our cheeks.

When Hank came back, he was carrying three cups. “Mind if I join you? As you probably noticed, it isn't exactly hopping in here.”

“Please, sit down,” I gestured to one of the empty chairs.

He sat, and Chase gave me a little background on who Hank was.

“Hank and my mom were best friends. I always thought they would marry one day, but it never happened.”

Hank smiled and looked wistful. “Your mom was too good for me. I loved her dearly as a friend.”

It was very sweet. I wished I had gotten the chance to meet Chase's mom. She sounded like a lovely lady.

“I think she kept me around because she needed help with this one,” he said, using his thumb to gesture to Chase.

“Oh, really?” I said, suddenly intrigued.

“Now, Hank, don't be telling her a bunch of stories about things that happened a long time ago.” He looked at me. “Don't believe anything he says.

Hank slapped his hand on the table and shook his head. “Chase was a wild child. If there was trouble, he would find it. He was constantly finding new ways to make his mother's hair turn gray. He tended to be a bit of a daredevil.”

I smiled. Chase seemed so tame now. He must have gotten all those wild oats out of his system in his younger years. Either that or he had been living the life of a monk in some monastery. I scoffed at that idea. There was no way Chase could ever be a monk. It would be a crime were he never to have had sex. He was very gifted. That wasn't something you could take away from the world.

ank continued to regale us with one story after another. I could see Chase enjoyed walking down memory lane. I enjoyed hearing about the boy who grew up to be the man in front of me today. It was all very sweet and endearing. Chase had been a handful, but he had also been very loving and caring by the sounds of it, and he’d had a penchant for bringing home every stray animal he found. It was only after the third story, I realized all of the stories had happened before Chase was twenty-three or so. Then, all the stories stopped. It was as if the man had been sealed in a box and only now taken down off the shelf after several years.

My mind drifted, and I thought about his aunt Liza's stories as well. She had said the cabin sat empty for a while. It seemed like Chase's life here stopped almost seven years ago and had only recently picked up again. If the house had been empty after his mother's death, where had Chase been? I wondered if he had been in the military. No. They would have been very proud of that and shouted that from the rooftops. He would have been hailed a hometown hero.

Maybe he'd been in the CIA or some other super-secret job. I shook myself out of my musing and focused on Hank again.

I would ask Chase about his past when we got back to the cabin. I couldn't shake the feeling that something wasn't quite as it seemed.

When we got back to the cabin, I waited until we had both changed into our sweats and were curled up on the couch under a blanket.

“Chase, why doesn't anyone talk about the past few years of your life? They all seem to gloss over it or make it sound like you weren't here.”

I felt him stiffen under me. “We don't talk about the past because that's when my mom died. It's a difficult subject, one that none of us want to talk about. Maybe one day we will, but for now, we don't.”

“Were you in the military?”

“No. What makes you think that?”

I shrugged. “I don't know. It's like there is this gap in your life where you were absent. Hank had plenty of stories about things you did before you were twenty-three, and then it just stops.”

“I don't know. It's nothing,” he said, a little too defensively.

“Okay.”

I relaxed against him, not wanting to push any further. I knew he wasn't being completely honest. He was hiding something, but I didn't know what. I knew I should let it go. It didn't change him or how I felt when I was with him.

The past was in the past, and that's where he wanted to leave it. I didn't want to open old wounds. It was obvious he had been close to his mother, and I imagined it would be difficult to talk about her death and the circumstances that led to it. I wasn't here to cause him pain.

“Chase?” I murmured.

He sighed. “Yes?”

“Are you tired?” I asked.

“A little. Why?”

I rolled over, my breasts smashed against his chest. “Are you sore?”

He grinned. “A little? Are you?”

I stared into his eyes. “A little but not from skiing.” I ground my hips against his. “I think the best treatment would be a massage.”

“You need a massage,” he asked in low, gravelly voice.

“Just one part of me needs a massage,” I said before sliding up his body to kiss him.

I grabbed his hand and put it between my legs. The thin yoga pants allowed me to feel him as if I had nothing on.

“Chase,” I said, kissing him gently on the lips.

“Yes, Madison?”

“I didn't bother putting on any panties.”

His hand pushed against my pussy, his palm hard and hot against me.

“Well?” I asked again, kissing him on the chin before running my tongue around his earlobe.

His breath was coming fast. “Well, what?” he asked in frustration.

“Can you give me that massage? If you're tired, you can focus on the part that aches the most. You only need to use one hand.”

He jerked away, practically throwing me off him.

“Fuck yeah, I can do that. Take off your clothes and lay in front of the fire so I can massage you, Madison. I am going to work out every kink in your body. Every muscle is going to be stretched and worked as I deeply massage you.”

His words were making hot and wet and very aroused. I quickly nodded, very eager for his hands to touch me all over.

“If you're good, I'll massage you,” I promised, moving to the rug in front of the fireplace.

“I'm good. I'm very good, but by the time I'm done with you, you won't have the strength to reciprocate. Tomorrow. Tomorrow you can massage me,” he promised.

We both quietly undressed. All thoughts and concerns about what he was or wasn't hiding from me vanished. I would worry about all of that later. Right now, I wanted the man to fuck me until I didn't care if he was the son of Charles Manson.