FATED (20 page)

Twenty-Nine

The wooden cabin finally came into view. I was sure if I c
ould’ve actually seen it all through the darkness, it would’ve been completely overwhelming. In the gloom all I could really see were the lights shining out of the floor to ceiling windows. Alex obviously liked a good view and I could thoroughly appreciate that. The cabin appeared to be resting on a steep side of a bank; the glass was mostly one sided, to take in the vista I presumed. From what I could make out, to keep the house on the horizontal it had stilts underneath it. I couldn’t wait until tomorrow, to explore more thoroughly.

Alex’s voice broke me out of my thoughts. We had pulled up in the driveway and he had jumped out and was starting to unload the car.

‘Fuck, how much food do you have in this box, Frankie? It feels like enough to feed a small army.’

‘Knowing you and Nathan well, it’s probably nowhere near enough. Anyway I had to bring everything needed to do my first ever Thanksgiving dinner, didn’t I? As well as some other bits and pieces, for the other days.’ I was really looking forward to cooking a real Thanksgiving dinner, nervous but looking forward to it nonetheless.

I watched as Alex’s huge arms gathered up the overstuffed box and he began to carry it into the cabin. Mentally I chastised myself, for not being able to tear my eyes away from his bulging biceps and triceps. They literally filled all the fabric of his T-shirt turn ups. I have to say I really appreciated this new fashion trend of rolling up the bottom of the arms on T-shirts. It meant you got to be so thankful for seeing even more well-defined muscles than normal.

Perhaps that could be my Thanksgiving thanks? Frankie is thankful for turn ups on T-shirts.
I stifled a chuckle to myself.

I was right to bring warmer clothes up here, it was positively freezing. I snuggled further into my cable jumper. The light in the cabin seemed to be even more inviting now as the first of a few shivers found their way down my back.

‘Come on, gorgeous girl,’ came a holler from the doorway, ‘You have so got to see inside this place.’ OK that was more of a shriek now. I watched as Bella practically bounced up and down on the doormat. Watching Nathan was funnier as he couldn’t peel his eyes away from staring at her bouncing rack. God that boy had it bad.

‘Go inside, Frankie, I can get the stuff in. Even Nathan can help with some of the light stuff.’ The deep voice sent even more shivers down my spine than the cold air.

‘OK, but don’t let him walk too much, it will put too much strain on his leg.’

‘Yes Ma’am,’ he answered grinning at me. He really was so much more relaxed up here. I decided I was going to love being here, even if it was for that reason only.

The warmth of the cabin hit me as soon as I crossed the threshold. Completely decorated in bare wood with a honey glow, I glanced around the space. There appeared to be an integral porch that led into an open plan room. The kitchen ran down one complete side, all units were in the same coloured wood with black granite worktops and lots of very modern appliances. I wanted to grab hold of myself at the sheer excitement of being able to cook in there tomorrow. In front of the kitchen was a very large island, which contained the sink and other necessities. There were large, very old looking, comfy brown leather settees and a magnificent wood burner slap bang in the centre of the vast room, which was blazing and throwing out welcoming heat. All the settees appeared to have chequered throws over them in various places; the effect was so cheery and inviting. Last but not least was an eight-seated dining table, which appeared to be even older than the mountains we were now in.

Bella was still running around the place, squealing. ‘Wow! Would you look up here?’

I shifted my sight up to the direction of her voice, to see her leaning over the wooden balustrade above me. A loud thudding noise suddenly made my eyes move again to Alex, as he dropped the last of the bags on the floor. Nathan slammed the door shut behind him.

‘Home sweet home,’ came out of Nathan’s mouth as he made his way to an extremely well stocked fridge. I could see him pulling out the beginnings of various meats and cheese, probably to make a huge sub roll.

‘I did tell you the Goldberg’s who own this place would be stocking up on food for us, didn’t I, you didn’t have to buy all the food you did,’ Alex whispered in my ear. Somehow he had made his way up behind me and had pulled my back against his front, wrapping his huge arms around me tight. I in turn lifted my arms up to hang on to his, really enjoying our close proximity to each other after our journey.

‘Will one of you guys come up here and look please?’ The frustrated voice of Bella reached my ears again. ‘It’s really Wow!’

‘Bella, unfortunately there is only one room up there, and it is the master, so it’s mine and Frankie’s,’ Alex started to shout up to her. ‘There are three more down here and out the back, as I wasn’t sure what yours and Nathan’s arrangement consisted of. I mean is it just fuck buddies in NYC, or does it cover fucking when away from the city.’ I could tell he was just teasing her, but slapped the arms crossed over my chest for good measure.

‘Asswipe,’ came from the kitchen area, where Nathan was just about to place his jaws around a seriously mammoth looking sub roll, which literally could never contain another morsel of food it was that well stuffed. In fact bits were already falling out of the edges as he manipulated it towards his mouth.

I watched as Bella jumped down the stairs two at a time. She sidled up to Nathan, just for effect. ‘So what do you think?’ She questioned.

Nathan span around on the barstool he was sitting on and placed his sub on the worktop. He grabbed her hands and pulled her to him, she rested in between his parted thighs, ‘I think we need to give them a run for their money, what do you say, darlin?’ He didn’t give her a chance to speak and pulled her down to him for a kiss.

‘Well fuck me,’ I heard rumble in the chest behind me. ‘You’re pussy whipped, little brother, you put down food for a woman.’ I watched as Nathan, not even breaking his kiss with Bella, lifted up his middle finger and gesticulated in our direction.

I could tell we were going to have some fun here, just the four of us.

I was standing in a breathtakingly beautiful master bedroom. It had a wooden four poster bed in the very centre of the room, which was decorated with white bedding and very simple but also very dramatic voiles that hung from the top of each post. The room was decorated in exactly the same way as downstairs, with all four walls just being exposed wood. The large windows had the same long, flowing, white voiles; they billowed all over the stripped wooden floor. The effect was so romantic. On the bed there were many beautiful pillows and what seemed to be an overly wadded quilt all in white embroidery anglais. The bedroom was just like I imagined a honeymoon suite to look like.

‘I take it by the look of wonderment on your face, Frankie, you like it?’

‘I more than like it, Alex, it’s simply stunning.’ I turned, ran and jumped onto the middle of the bed.

‘Oh this is just sheer bliss; I can’t wait to sleep here tonight.’ I felt movement on the mattress as Alex’s weight was put onto the bed and he began to climb up me. After he kissed my neck a voice caressed my ear ‘Sleep, baby? You won’t be sleeping much tonight, I promise you,’ I could hear the laughter in his voice. ‘I’ve been wanting to test out these bed posts since I saw them online, I can see you now spread out in the St. Andrews cross position.’

‘Oh dear God, do you two ever give up? There are some pictures you cannot erase from your brain after imagining them, you know,’ Bella’s voice came from outside our open door. ‘I am now trying to lose the very image of my naked bestie spread out like a bloody X marks the spot, and I can tell you it’s grossing me out.’

Alex picked up a pillow and aimed it well at the open door, it closed over somewhat.

‘Don’t listen at doorways then!’ he added for good measure before letting out a deep laugh.

‘I only wanted to see if she’s seen the hot tub on the balcony yet? That was all. Knock, knock, can I come in please?’

‘I give up,’ Alex threw himself down beside me now and was lying on his front, head to the side, looking at me. I could tell he wasn’t really annoyed by the beautiful smile on his face. ‘Yes, Bella, by all means enter our room,’ he added sarcastically.

‘By the way the pillow on the floor, which you’ve just lobbed, is one of yours and not mine,’ I slapped his backside for good measure and leapt off and away from the bed quickly before he could grab me.

He moved quickly and I watched him jump athletically to his feet, on the other side of the bed.

‘You wanna play, baby?’ and just like that his eyes were on fire, I could actually see his pupils dilating.

‘Oh bloody hell, here they go again,’ I heard Bella shouting out to Nathan who was probably still downstairs. ‘I’m closing the bloody door on you two.’ I heard the click as the metal caught into place and so did Alex. It must have been like a starting gun in his ear as I watched his nostrils flair slightly and he moved like I was his prey. I could hear myself giggling as we danced to and fro around the bed in the middle of the room.

Oh so that’s why they’ve placed it here in the centre. It’s so much more fun.

I managed to get myself around to the side nearest the closed door, and having gone around the bed several times trying to avoid being caught by the sexy man pursuing me; I quickly made a bid for freedom.

I have no idea why?

I wanted him to catch me really, but still I lunged for the door and just managed to press down on the handle to open it. I pulled it open and ran out onto the landing but stupidly away from the stairs. Once Alex saw where I was, he slowed and prowled towards me knowing he had me caught like an animal in a trap.  A smile was widening over his lips and his arms hung to his sides, fingers flexing in his anticipation to touch me. I felt myself flood; I could not believe what he did to me without having even laid a hand on me.

He didn’t speak. I watched him intently as I couldn’t tear my gaze away. His eyebrows rose at me in question and he caught his bottom lip between his teeth. Lifting one hand, he beckoned me towards him using a crooked finger. I slowly made my way back to him and he gathered me in all at once to his hard body. One of his hands now held my arms behind my back and slowly, all too slowly, he kissed me. I struggled to control my breathing and he compensated for me, allowing breaks in between, where he lavished affection on my tart button, my exposed neck. I could feel my heart rate accelerating and I pushed my body harder against his erection.

‘Holy hell, what you do to me, baby,’ I heard him hiss through his teeth.

Just like that he pushed himself away and started to gallop down the stairs, laughing.

‘Alex?’ I held on to the balustrade for support and raised my other hand to my swollen, well-kissed lips.

‘Anticipation... baby.’ He gave me one more wink before he disappeared from view.

The teasing bastard.

I waited a few minutes and followed him down the stairs. All three of them were now busying themselves putting the food away and taking bags to various rooms. Music was playing in the background. I stopped at the bottom of the stairs just to take in the memory.

The beautiful room.

The glow, of the wood burner.

The laughter, of my best friend.

The man I love, laughing deeply with his brother, my friend.

I had done this since I was small. Happy times in my life had always been in such short supply. To try to preserve them I took a photograph in my head and recalled it later on when needed. I couldn’t help the smile that took over my face. Without realising I had even done it, I was now aware of my arms tightly wrapped around my body, almost hugging myself.