Sleighed Into Her Cookie

004: Let me take you to bed

ARSEN

Fuck, I needed Aspen.

In that bone-deep, oxygen-missing, logic-evaporating way I’d never experienced with any woman in my entire life. Something about her hit me hard, like she’d been custom-built to destroy my self-control. The way she looked at me, the way she held herself, the way she spoke like she was both daring the world and protecting herself from it… hell, it all crawled under my skin and settled there.

And now, after tasting her lips, after feeling her body melt into mine like she’d been carved to fit the shape of me… I was ruined. I could still feel the ghost of her mouth against mine. I could still feel her fingers in the fabric of my coat. My hands still remembered every curve I touched, and my pulse still hadn’t slowed.

It had been less than twelve hours since I caught her from falling into the snow. Less than twelve hours since she stepped into my life and apparently took ownership of my entire damn mind.

I should’ve been focusing on my nephew’s wedding, or the hundred relatives waiting inside, or literally anything besides the woman currently pressed against the lodge wall, breathing like she’d been running straight through me.

But God, I couldn’t.

If she said no, I was doomed. And not in a poetic, tragic way. No, I’d actually have to walk back into that pre-wedding reception with a hard-on, then find some random woman to scratch an itch that no one but Aspen could touch.

Except I didn’t want another woman. I wanted her. Only her.

And that terrified me more than anything else tonight.

Ridiculous, considering I hadn’t even wanted to attend this damn wedding. If Gray hadn’t begged me, if my sister hadn’t threatened me with motherly disappointment, I wouldn’t even be here. But now? Now I couldn’t imagine leaving this lodge without Aspen. The thought of her walking away after everything we just felt made something inside me tighten and twist.

I wanted to kiss her again. I wanted to feel that sound she made when my tongue slid against hers. I wanted her legs around me. I wanted every version of her she wasn’t sure she should give.

I rested my forehead against hers, trying like hell to steady my breathing even as hers hitched softly. She looked up at me with those wide, shaken eyes that made my chest seize. Her lips were swollen from my kiss. Her cheeks were flushed, and overall, she looked torn, like she was standing on some cliff she wasn’t sure she was allowed to jump from.

“Please, Aspen,” I whispered again, my voice a wreck. “Say yes. Let me take you to bed.”

Her breath stuttered. Her gaze flicked down to my mouth, then back to my eyes, like she was fighting herself, fighting me and something bigger than the two of us. Her fingers were still curled in my coat, holding tight like she didn’t want to let go but was terrified of what would happen if she held on.

I lifted one hand and brushed my thumb across her bottom lip. She inhaled sharply, her whole body going tight and my heart hammered so hard it hurt.

Her lips parted slightly. “Arsen…”

Fuck! The way she said my name… Jesus. I felt it everywhere.

I cupped her jaw and tilted her face up just a little more, giving her the space to step away or the space to close the distance. Giving her control because if I took it, I wouldn’t be able to stop. Not with her this close. Not with her tasting like that kiss still owned both of us.

She blinked slowly, like she was trying to clear her head. “We just met,” she said quietly, but her voice wasn’t firm, neither was it pulling away. It was trembling.

I leaned in, brushing the edge of my mouth against her cheek. It was barely a touch, but it was enough to feel her shiver.

“I know,” I murmured. “And I can’t pretend I care. Not right now.” I said. Her fingers tightened and her breath hitched again.

I kept my voice low. “Say yes, Aspen. If you don't want this, if you want me to back off, I swear I will. But if you want me half as much as I want you… then let me have you tonight.”

Her eyes locked with mine, and the world around us went silent. No wind. No voices. Just her shaky breathing and my heart threatening to break through my ribs.

Her lips parted again. Just one word, Aspen. Give me just one—

“Aspen?” a voice resonated amid the tension.

Aspen jerked slightly, and my entire body went rigid. I didn’t have to turn to know who it was. Of all the people on this property, it had to be him.

Grayson stood just a few feet away. His expression unreadable at first, then darkening with each second he stared at the space between me and Aspen. His gaze flicked to her swollen lips, to my hands still braced on her hips, to her fingers curled in my coat.

Yeah. He knew exactly what he’d walked in on.

“Aspen,” he said again, this time his tone clipped. “You’re needed inside.”

Aspen's breath fell out of her in a shaky exhale as she closed her eyes for a moment, then gently pried her fingers from my coat and I loosened my grip reluctantly.

She didn’t move immediately. Instead she looked up at me, eyes full of something messy, the kind of look that promised this wasn’t done. And it went straight through me.

I swallowed hard and my jaw tightened. I wanted to grab her back and tell Grayson to mind his own business, but Aspen stepped away before I could do anything.

She moved around him, barely brushing his shoulder. But before she fully disappeared into the lodge, she glanced over her shoulder one more time, just long enough to say everything she couldn’t out loud.

And then she was gone.

The moment the door shut behind her, Grayson turned to me fully. His expression wasn’t confused. It was sharp. The kid always had a streak of meanness in him when he wanted to.

And right now, he wanted to.

“Seriously?” he muttered, staring at me like I’d committed a felony. “Her? You’re unbelievable.”

I didn’t bother pretending I didn’t know what he meant. I just stared back at him.

He took a slow step closer. “Don’t,” he said quietly, the word cutting through the cold like a blade. “Don’t play her like you did with the others.”

My jaw flexed. “I’m not playing her,” I said, my voice low.

He scoffed. “Right. Because you suddenly grew a conscience between the reception and the parking lot?”

Every muscle in my body tightened. I wasn’t a saint, but he didn’t know a damn thing about what was happening inside me. About how that kiss felt. About the way Aspen fit against me. About how my chest still felt like it was splitting open because she’d walked away before I could hear her say yes.

“You don’t get to talk about her,” I said quietly.

Grayson blinked, surprised. Good. Let him be surprised. I stepped past him, brushing his shoulder.

“And you definitely don’t get to tell me what she is or isn’t to me.”