A Gift of Snow (3 page)

He picked me up and carried me to the couch,
gently laying me down. Kissing down the center of my chest to my
belly button, he undid my jeans, then pulled them off, tossing my
slippers somewhere in the process.

“Matching candy canes. I love it,” he
said.

I beckoned him to me. He crawled up my body,
nipping and sucking on my skin. I arched into his touch, biting
back a moan.

“Beautiful…”

My cheeks flushed. “I’m okay.”

He rose up on his arms. “Who told you that
you were only ‘okay’?”

“No one…I just--”

He stood up. “Come with me.”

“What?” And go where?

“Take my hand.”

I took it, bewildered about what he had in
mind. He pulled me into the bathroom and turned on the light. The
mirror on the wall showed our bodies to hip level. He guided me to
stand in front of him, his hands on my shoulders.

“Look at you.”

“Will, this is--”

“
Look
, Jen.” He trailed one hand down
my ribs to my hip. “Look at that curve.” The other hand graced my
cheek. “Look at how alive you are. The flush of your cheeks, your
lips rosy from my kisses…”

I stared at my reflection, entranced by his
show. When he brushed his finger across the top of my breasts, I
shivered.

“The way your lovely tits yearn to be
touched…” He wrapped his arm around my waist. “Tell me you don’t
look sexy as hell right now.”

I hadn’t looked at my body in a mirror in a
long time, especially not naked or nearly so. He was right. I was
still young, and boys thought me pretty in high school and college.
Lee had chased
me
.

“There you’re gettin’ it,” he said, seeing
the change in my expression.

He kissed my neck, keeping eye contact with
me in the mirror. My breaths came faster watching him seduce me,
feeling his teeth graze my skin with each touch. I got lost in it
and my eyes fell shut. He unhooked my bra and slid the straps down
my arms. I opened my eyes in time to see him cup my breasts in his
hands.

Oh, god… Don’t stop touching me
.

The calluses on his fingertips were driving
me crazy. In contrast, his palms were soft, and the combination
felt unbelievably good.

“You’ve got a great rack, baby.”

“Don’t need to flatter me.” I was already
going to jump him.

“Ain’t flattery when it’s truth. So pretty,
love. So responsive.”

I squirmed in his arms, rubbing my ass
against the hard length behind me. If he kept tweaking my nipples
like that, I’d come. I didn’t want to do it in my bathroom, though,
and couldn’t do it yet in my bed.

Escaping his hands, I ran back into the
living room. He followed eagerly and caught me around the waist. I
squealed when he latched onto one of my breasts with his mouth,
then moaned when he sucked on my nipple.

We couldn’t keep from kissing long and
touched lips with more hunger than before. I loved how his skin
felt against me, the warmth and softness. He held my body tight and
rubbed my back. His hands moved about like he couldn’t get enough
of me to touch at once. Feeling how much he wanted me, I grew
bolder and let my hands explore, sliding them underneath his sweats
to palm his ass.

Could bounce a quarter off that, too. Did the
man spend half his life in the gym? Yummy.

I hooked my thumbs in the waistband and
started pulling his pants down, sinking to my knees at the same
time. Distracted by his erection bobbing in my face, I almost
missed the tattoo curling over his hip. I traced the letters and
numbers with my finger. He watched, stepping out of the material
pooled at his feet.

“What’s this?” I asked.

“The opening chords of the first song I sold.
Product of a bit too much celebration.”

I smiled up at him. “I like it. It means
something, even if you were drunk off your ass when you did it.” I
lay back on the rug and beckoned him down with my finger.

He joined me on the floor and kissed me
again, fingers teasing my belly. He pulled back an inch to ask,
“What do you want, Jenny?”

I met his eyes, brown to blue, and said,
“You.”

He smiled, revealing those dimples again, and
crawled down my body to peel my panties off. He stroked a thumb
down my center.

“
Will…
” The sensation was intense. I
hadn’t been this turned on in so long.

He stopped teasing me and poised his penis at
my entrance. I cradled his hips between my legs and nodded. A year
without sex meant a snug fit at first. I tensed.

“Relax, love. Gonna make you feel good.”

I took a deep breath, let it out, and he slid
in all the way. He paused, then chose a slow rhythm of shallow
thrusts. I wrapped my arms around his shoulders and started arching
my hips to meet his.

“Ohhh, yes.”

“God, you’re tight. Squeeze me, love. Like
that, yeah. Look at me, Jen.”

I opened my eyes and got caught in his blue
depths. He stroked my skin as well as my insides, making me feel
more desirable than in years. Even if I never saw Will after
tonight, I knew I was better off for the experience.

I never came just from sex with my ex, but
already I could feel it building now.

“Close, aren’t you, love?” Apparently, he
could feel it, too.

I nodded. He reached between us and found my
clit. Sparks of ecstasy shot through my body and my stomach
tensed.

“So beautiful.” He stroked faster. “Wanna see
you come, baby.”

I fell apart, my whole body shuddering around
him. He sped up his thrusts, his climax right behind mine and
extending the fluttering in my womb.

“Wow.”

He grinned. “Ditto.” He relaxed on top of me,
breathing just as heavily.

My body twitched again. He moaned and kissed
me, slow and languid.

I wanted more. I wrapped my legs around his
hips, crossing my ankles together.

“Oh, I like
you
,” he said,
smiling.

He started moving his hips again and drove
deeper into me this time. We were soon at a pounding pace. I was so
close to popping again, then he rolled our bodies to put me on
top.

“You drive, love.”

“I, um…” If it wasn’t missionary, I’d never
done it before.

He gripped my hips and showed me how to move.
Once I found a comfortable rhythm, I liked it. The position made
his penis stroke me in a different way.

“What’s-his-name was an idiot,” Will said,
fondling my breasts.

At the moment, I couldn’t disagree.

****

I lost count of how many times we had sex in
front of my fireplace during the night. Or how many positions. I
even woke up from a nap half way to orgasm-by-tongue. Some time
before dawn, Will grabbed the afghan off the back of the sofa and
covered our bodies, finally letting me sleep.

****

I stretched. What time was it? I opened my
eyes.

Sunlight shone through my curtains. He wasn’t
next to me.

“Will?”

There was no response. I sat up, holding the
afghan to my breasts, and discovered aches in muscles I didn’t know
existed. A hot bath was definitely in order. I stood, gingerly, and
wrapped the blanket around me. A piece of paper fluttered to the
floor. I picked it up.

Jen,

Highway patrol came by this morning for the
owner of my car. Sorry I can’t stay. Last night was amazing. You
looked so peaceful I couldn’t bear to wake you. If you’re ever down
in L.A., look me up.

Will

A phone number was written below his name. He
left?

I looked around, and sure enough, his clothes
and guitar were gone. He’d picked up mine and left them folded on
the couch, though. I walked into the kitchen and discovered coffee
has been made, too.

Sweet to the end.

With the blizzard over and the roads being
cleared, my family would probably be up here today. Christmas would
continue. I went to work on preparations with a smile.

****

Over the next week, I thought about my life
up to now and where I wanted it to go. The contrast between Lee and
Will was too great to ignore and the truth came rushing to
mind.

Lee and I had moved up here because
I
fell in love with it. He still worked off the mountain, hung out
with friends off the mountain, drove to the beach for the day while
I wrote… He had looked on foreplay as a necessary chore and the
main event like a race. After a while, he didn’t try to get me off
anymore and I faked more than one climax just so he’d let me
sleep.

When he got laid off and we couldn’t afford
the gas trips up and down, he started to drink. At first, it was a
couple nights a week at the bar. I didn’t mind at the time because
I thought he was socializing, making friends. I was deep in a
manuscript and the time alone kept my fingers on the keyboard. Only
when he started drinking at home, instead, did I realize there was
a problem. By the time I tried to help, it was too late.

I hadn’t written another book since.

The guilt had kept me shut away from living,
from my true self. I’d been conforming to the wife I thought Lee
wanted before he died—mostly without realizing it. But, looking
back now, I saw the slowing of my proliferation as an author along
with my attempts to make him happy. It wasn’t my fault he turned to
booze, though. That was
his
choice, and his choice to get in
that car.

I’d wanted a way to escape my self-imposed
cage. Will just found where I’d dropped the key.

Now, I no longer felt like hiding on top of
the mountain.

****

It’d been five days and Jen hadn’t called,
yet. I couldn’t get her out of my head or my dreams, and it was
driving me crazy wondering if she regretted our time together, or
was just busy. We didn’t know much about each other, of course, but
the girl was already in my blood. My favorite high. I knew if she’d
just see me again, we could create something fantastic.

****

My mother was hosting a New Year’s Eve party
at her house. Wanting to avoid heavy traffic, I started for Los
Angeles in the morning, the note in my pocket. I stopped for lunch
at a diner within city limits and used the pay phone. The person on
the other end of the line picked up after two rings.

“Yeah?” Will’s voice.

I sighed in relief that it was a real
number.

“Hello?”

Speak
, Jenny. “Oh, hi…I mean, this is
Will, right?”

“Jen?”

Was it my imagination, or did he sound
excited to hear from me? “Yeah.”

“I was starting to think…um, what’s up,
love?”

I bit my lip. “Well, I know it’s last minute,
but…do you have plans tonight?”

“When and where.”

I grinned and did a little dance in the
booth. “My mom is having a party, so it’ll be mostly old people,
but--”

“I’d love to. Come and pick me up.”

I wrote down directions to his apartment and
hung up after agreeing on seven o’clock. Finished with lunch, I
drove to Mom’s to change clothes. It had to be a good sign he said
yes so quickly, right? I’d debated all week whether to call him or
not, the note mocking my hesitance from the refrigerator.

Getting ready in my old bathroom lent a sense
of déjà vu to the whole thing. How many times had I prepped in
front of this mirror for a date hoping
this
guy would
actually get me?

“Wow, sexy dress just for Mom’s party,”
Shelley said.

I applied lip gloss and assessed my
reflection. “This old thing?”

My sister smirked at me. “If it’s old, you
might want to cut the tag off.” She reached for scissors in a
drawer and snipped the tag off the back of my dress.

“Thanks.”

The dress bad a deep V in the back. I’d left
my hair down, so there would only be flashes of skin as I moved,
but I hoped Will liked it. He’d spent an entire love-making session
kissing my spine on Christmas Eve. My blood heated at just the
thought of it.

Shelley leaned on the wall and watched me
finish primping. “So, who is he?”

“Who’s who?”

“The new guy you’re sexing it up for.”

“You’re fifteen. ‘Sexing it up’ should not be
in your vocabulary.”

“Pffft, whatever. I see sluttier stuff on TV.
So? Who is he?”

“None of your business.” I tossed the lip
gloss in my purse. “I gotta go or I’ll be late.

“Knock him dead, Jenny.”

I hoped so. I ran out the door and to my
car.

****

I parked in front of his building at exactly
seven. My hands sweating, I took the stairs to the second level and
knocked on his door. He only made me wait a second.

“Hey—
whoa
.” He looked me up and
down.

“Happy New Year’s Eve,” I said. I almost
jumped him right there.

The heat in his eyes promised more sinful
delights if I just said yes. He answered the door while still
buttoning his shirt, giving me a nice glimpse of skin, and his hair
was tousled in similar fashion to how I’d made it look when he went
down on me in the living room. I clenched my thighs together.

“Come in, love. I was just about to grab my
coat.”

I walked into his home and looked around. It
was a tiny one-bedroom with band posters taped to the walls, a
futon couch, and a kitchenette. Two guitars sat on stands in the
corner, one the acoustic I’d already heard, and one electric. A
small TV was propped up on a board stretched across two cinder
blocks. He came out of the bedroom with his leather coat.

“Have to admit I was surprised you called
today.”

I blushed and chewed my lip. “Wasn’t sure I
should. I mean, I don’t really do that…I mean, before I was
married--”

“Jennifer, I don’t think you’re a slut.

“Oh, good. Wait, did you want a slut?”

He grinned and took my hands. “I want someone
that wants to be seen with me.”