31 Days of Winter (6 page)

By the time I landed in the Scottish Highlands it
was six-thirty and I stepped out of the plane to freezing conditions. I’d
really not thought my outfit through properly. I’d wanted to look attractive, I
hadn’t counted on it being so damn cold up here. I walked across the tarmac,
the wind battering my previously perfectly styled long blonde locks, and into
the relative warmth of the tiny airport. I didn’t have to wait long for my case
and wheeled it out to the small lobby and looked at the faces of the people
waiting, wondering what he would look like. I saw a tall good looking blond, in
his late twenties I’d guess, smiling in my direction. I smiled back, he wasn’t
bad at all. There Brooke Hanson, stick that in your pipe and smoke it! This was
no lardy bald sweaty dude. I walked over and stretched out my hand, but he side
stepped me and I heard a squeal and looked around to see he had his arms around
a girl and she looked ecstatic to see him. I sighed, so much for that theory.

‘Miss Baxter, I presume?’

I closed my eyes for a second and luxuriated in
his smooth dulcet tones and took a deep breath as I prepared to face my mystery
man. I was well aware that my fantasy was possibly about to be shattered, like
the fragments of my previous iPhone. I turned and was faced with a wall of
chest and the hollow of his throat. This guy was
tall
. He was wearing a
cream Aran jumper and I saw one of his hands reach forward for mine. I gulped
and took it, and the slight squeeze he gave it rocked me to my core, I could
feel the sexual tension in him radiating out through that palm. I was scared of
looking up, what if he had a face like a slapped arse? Everyone liked to say it
wasn’t all about looks, but seriously, who wanted to open their eyes to ugly on
the pillow next to them each morning?

I lifted my head and took in a quick sharp
inhalation. I wasn’t disappointed, this guy was
all
man. He was ruggedly
handsome, with a nice firm square masculine jaw, which was unshaven and had
possibly a couple of days’ growth. His lips were full enough to make mine
swell,
both sets
, and his cheekbones could cut diamonds. As I looked up
at his eyes, I nearly drowned in deep pools of sea green, and his messed up
hair was black with a smattering of grey streaks, yet I’d probably only put him
in his late thirties. His eyes seemed to watch me with amusement and I realised
I was still holding his hand. I quickly looked down and let it go and stifled a
groan as I saw his muscular thighs and the outline of his impressive erection.

‘Are you ready, Miss Baxter?’ he asked.
O God
,
the possibilities of what he could mean with that simple question. He reached
down to pick up my case.

‘It has rolly wheels,’ I pointed out. He just
looked at me and smiled.

‘I’m fine carrying, thank you. You’d be amazed at
what I can lift,’ he winked and started walking.
“It has rolly wheels!?”
The
first thing I say to this devilishly handsome guy is
“It has rolly wheels?”
I
quivered and trotted behind, trying to keep up with his lengthy strides. He had
to be at least six foot four. My eyes were drawn to a firm rounded bottom that
was begging for me to dig my nails into. I felt like I’d hit early menopause, I
was so flushed and hot all of a sudden, but vaginal dryness definitely wasn’t
an issue.

‘So, do you usually pick up guests?’ I asked.

‘It’s part of the service,’ he replied. He
answered without looking around at me as we headed out into the cold again and
towards the open air car park.

‘Will you bring me back?’

‘Yes, if you behave.’

‘Do you offer any other services?’ I asked, then
cringed when I realised how that sounded.
Blithering idiot Ellie
, I
scolded myself. This time I heard a deep sexy laugh.

‘Yes, it’s my job to make sure that you’re happy
and have anything that you require.’

‘Anything?’ I teased.

‘Yes,’ he replied as he looked at me over his
shoulder with a wink and a smile. Shit. I
really
liked this guy. He was super-hot,
buff, sexy
and
had a sense of humour. My key weak point.

‘Well, if I need something how do I let you know?’

‘I live on the island too, and you’ll be given my
landline number.’

‘You don’t have a mobile?’

‘Yes, but there’s not really a signal out there.’

‘So, what if I needed something in the middle of
the night?’

‘Like what, Miss Baxter?’ he stopped and turned to
look at me and I knew I’d gone red.

‘I don’t know, say if the water wasn’t working.’

‘Then yes, if you were parched and desperate, you’d
ring me and I’d come and ensure the dry spell ended,’ he smiled. I gulped.
Was
I imagining the double entendres he was throwing my way?

‘So you’re kind of a handy man?’ I stammered.

‘I like to use my hands, yes,’ he smiled, again. I
wondered if we were actually talking about maintenance, he seemed to have a way
of making everything sound sexy. ‘You’re cold,’ he commented with a flick of
his head towards me.

‘Yes, how could you tell?’

‘Trust me, I can tell,’ he chuckled, then strode
over to a green Land Rover Defender. I looked down at myself and winced, my
nipples were so stiff they were obvious under the thin green material of my blouse.
I caught up with him as he closed the rear door, my case safely stowed inside.
He walked around and opened the passenger door for me. ‘I’m sorry, but it’s not
the easiest of cars to get in for a lady, would you like a hand?’

‘Please.’ I gave him my best smile as I looked up
at him. He held out his left hand so I grabbed it and took a deep breath as our
skin sizzled again. I stepped onto the side bar with one foot and as I went to
stand up on it I gasped as he palmed my bottom with his right hand helping me
get in. I sat down and he handed me the seat belt buckle and closed the door. I
could still feel the impression of his hand where my skin burned through my
jeans. The thought of him doing that with nothing in between our bare flesh had
my breathing going a little quicker.

‘Are you ready?’ he asked as he fixed his seat
belt and looked at me. ‘It’s a rough ride and I like to take my time.’

‘I’m ready,’ I nodded, this was definitely
sounding like sex talk, or was I just reading into things? Was I seeing and
hearing what I wanted to, just like I had with Zac? He started the engine and
pulled out of the airport car park, he wasn’t wrong about a rough ride, this
thing was a death trap. I may as well have been on a pogo stick for all the
bouncing around I was doing.

‘You’re engaged,’ he observed, breaking the
silence. Shit, I’d meant to take my ring off and I’d forgotten.

‘Sort of.’

‘Sort of?’

‘I left him on Friday and I’m taking time out to
re-evaluate.’

‘Why did you leave?’

‘I came home early and found him in a three-way on
our bed and apparently it wasn’t the first time.’

‘For a three-way?’

‘Cheating. Funnily enough I didn’t stick around
long enough to ask for the finer details.’
Was I really talking about this
to a guy I’d only just met?

‘Was he good to you otherwise?’

‘Yes, but I found out he got himself into a mess,
doing drugs, seeing prostitutes and eating his way through our savings when he’d
lost his job without telling me.’

‘And you’re still evaluating if you want to be
with this arsehole?’ he asked with a slight laugh.

‘Excuse me, but you don’t know him, you know
nothing about our situation so I think that comment is over stepping,’ I glared
at him, frustrated for this to be his first impression of me and my life. He
quickly looked over at me before returning his eyes to the road.

‘I apologise, it’s just when I see a beautiful
girl like you wasting her time and emotions on an arsehole it makes my blood
boil. You deserve better.’

‘Yes, I do,’ I agreed with a firm voice as I
turned my head and looked out of the window at the blackness surrounding us.
Neither of us spoke for nearly an hour as we made our way off the main roads
and down onto a track with more craters than the moon. I winced as I suddenly shot
up in the air, then slammed back down on the seat.

‘You don’t like it rough?’ he asked with a
chuckle.

‘Not in a Land Rover,’ I laughed as I gripped my
seat trying to go with the flow of the vehicle. ‘Are we nearly there?’

‘Not far and you’ll soon be settled in the warm. I
left a fire going for you in both the lounge and bedroom.’

‘The bedroom?’ I asked, surprised. I didn’t
remember a fire in the mezzanine bed space.

‘It’s always good to be hot in the bedroom,’ he
smiled with another glance at me. ‘You still look cold.’ This time I didn’t
imagine his eyes flicking down to my chest. I looked down and sure enough, my
nipples were still stiff. As I looked at them it was like I suddenly tuned into
my body, ignoring the bumpy ride, and I felt the longing in me, the burning in
them and the slickness oozing from me coating my knickers. Damn, I was so horny
and the thought of getting hot with him in the bedroom was so inviting. I
looked over at his side profile as he drove and reassessed my verdict of his
age. The chin stubble and grey flecks in his hair made him look older than he
was, I reckoned he was in his mid-thirties. I blushed as he looked over and
caught me looking at him again. I stared back at the road and saw that the track
was cutting its way through some tall pine trees which were starting to thin
out. He slowed down and pulled into a small clearing and I could just make out
water, lined with rocks and a jetty.

‘We’re here?’

‘Nearly. We need to take the boat to the island,
it’ll only take a few minutes.’

‘What happens if the lake freezes?’

‘If you know the ice you can navigate your way
across by foot, but I wouldn’t recommend it for a novice, it takes years of
experience to really know what you’re doing.’ He unbuckled and got out of the
car, leaving me wondering why everything he said oozed sex. I slid out and
walked around to the back as he unloaded my case. ‘Come with me,’ he ordered. O
shit, that was one RSVP I didn’t need to think twice about. The thought of my
legs wrapped around those slim hips, my fingers grasping at his pert buttocks
as he pounded me relentlessly in front of the fire, I was confident I could
come with him very easily. I let out an involuntary groan. ‘Are you ok?’

‘A little sore from the journey,’ I smiled. It
wasn’t a total lie. The sound of his footsteps and my heels on the wood of the
jetty was deafening in the virtual silence that surrounded us. All I could hear
was the gentle breeze and the water of the loch licking at its stone borders. I
looked up at the sky and gasped in amazement, I’d never seen so many stars.

‘Beautiful,’ he whispered, I nodded and looked
over at him to see he was looking at me and not at the sky.

‘You don’t see stars like that in London,’ I commented
quickly, thankful for the dark to spare my blushes.

‘London hides many things,’ he replied. I frowned,
wondering what he meant. I heard the hoot of an owl in the distance and looked
up again, feeling more free and unburdened than I had in the last twelve
months. My hunk aside, this was going to be a perfect place to zone out and let
my creativity flow with no distractions. I watched as he elegantly stepped down
into a small open motor boat and deposited my case before holding out his hand
and helping me in. ‘Come and sit here at the back with me, I forgot to put the
wind breaker cover over the bow. You’ll perish in that outfit as we move across
the water.’ He patted the small section of wood that was next to him and I
twitched as our hips and thighs touched, the twitch turned to a gasp as he put
his left arm around me and pulled me against his hard body. He started the
engine and gripped the rudder with his right hand. ‘My body heat will help keep
some warmth in. I hope you’ve packed some more appropriate clothing for your
stay.’

‘I have, thank you.’ I was desperately trying not to
lean in and feel his jumper against my cheek. He smelled of deep musky spice
and laundry powder, so clean and fresh and I took the opportunity to look at
his left hand, which was clutching my shoulder and smiled, no wedding ring. This
twenty-eight day break was turning out to be amazing already. The boat skimmed
across the small waves making their way across the loch, and I could see lights
up ahead on the shoreline of the island. As we got closer I saw a very modern
wood and stone two storey building, the entire front of which was glass. It
seemed most of the lights were on as it was glowing and looked so inviting.
‘Who lives there?’ I asked as I nodded in that direction.

‘You,’ he laughed, as if I was stupid for asking.

‘What?’ I looked at him puzzled.

‘That’s the house you rented for the month.’

‘O God,’ I exclaimed as I looked up at him. ‘There’s
been a horrible mix up, I rented a small white boathouse, I wouldn’t be able to
afford a place like that.’

‘You weren’t told?’ he asked as he looked down at
me.

‘Told what?’

‘The owner was going to continue renting out the
boathouse, but decided that the house would get better rental income. He made
the decision after you’d already made your payment, so he’s letting you have
the house for the price of the boathouse. He really should have let you know.’

‘That’s really generous of him, but I can’t
accept, that would be inappropriate as that house looks like it would be
seriously expensive. I’m more than happy to stay in the boathouse.’

‘Then you’ll be sharing my bed,’ he smiled before
looking back up at the water in front of us.

‘I ... I’m sorry, did you … I thought you just …’

‘I’m living in the boathouse, so I can service
your needs while you stay.’

‘But that sort of care, it’s too much, I can’t
afford that.’