The days between Christmas and New Year’s blurred into one long, feverish stretch of skin and surrender. Felicia no longer hesitated at the edge of anything he asked. The cabin had become their world—snow still thick on the ground, roads impassable, time measured only in heartbeats and orgasms.
New Year’s Eve arrived without fanfare. The storm had eased to a steady fall, muffling the world outside. Inside, the fire roared, fairy lights still twinkled on the tree, and a small battery radio on the mantel crackled with distant festivities—countdown murmurs, faint cheers, the occasional pop of champagne corks from some far-off broadcast.
Felicia woke in the late afternoon to find the thin black choker already fastened around her throat. Evan had slipped it on while she slept—soft leather, sn
