"Wake up, snowflake. It's a beautiful day and you need to get outside."
Xenia opened bleary eyes, surprised to see her lover standing over her, fully dressed in jeans, a flannel shirt open over a white T-shirt, and sturdy outdoor boots. He looked as rugged and handsome as ever, one lock of dusty brown hair dipping recklessly over his forehead, his chin dusted with stubble.
"You know I need to write," she said. Just like yesterday, spending the day with him would be delicious, but she had to protect herself. This was now officially more about her heart than the book, she was just growing way too close to him the last couple of days.
"Don't worry. I'm not trying to drag you away from your work, but it occurred to me that you literaly haven't set foot outside this house since you got here, and it's a sunny day, so we're having breakfast on the deck."
She blinked her surprise. "Um, isn't the deck covered with snow?"
"Not since I just shoveled it. Now come on, get up. I've got eggs ready to fry and English muffins ready to toast. Just pull on a pair of sweats, shoes, and your coat while I cook, and I'l meet you at the back door in ten minutes."
As Justin turned and walked away, Xenia simply stared after him, blinking yet again. Oddly, it felt almost as if he were . . . wooing her or something. Or, at the very least, caring about her a little, concerned to see her get outdoors. She hadn't thought about that how confined shed been here. As she'd recognized before, she rather enjoyed the strange sense of isolation, given that it came with a sexy, commanding lover. And she couldn't help but think it would be freezing outside. But if Justin had cleared the deck and was making her breakfast, she wasn't inclined to refuse.
After locating panties and a pair of black jogging pants, she tossed on last night's sweater, then found a thick pair of socks and laced her boots up over them. It was only as she walked into the kitchen, saying, "Hey," that it occurred to her what an awful outfit it made.
He didn't seem to notice, merely turning from the stove with a smile on his face and a spatula in his hand. "Grab me a couple of plates from the cabinet, snowflake?" Then he expertly flipped an egg in the skil et.
"Sure," she murmured, falling a little more in love with him. He was her perfect lover, she thought, standing there staring at his flannel clad back. He pushed and persuaded her past her normal boundaries to bring her unfathomable pleasure and yet, at the same time, he was so easy to be with, like right now. Her perfect man. And she was leaving him in a few short days.
"Plates?" he asked.
"Oh. Yeah. Sorry." She scurried to get them, then watched as he plopped flawless eggs onto each just as four muffin halves popped from the toaster.
She rushed to grab her winter jacket from the foyer closet and a moment later, they were sitting down at a wooden picnic table built into the deck.
Although the sun had already dried away most of the wetness left by the now, she noticed Justin had brought out thick towels for them to sit on.
"This is nice," she said, smiling over at him as she forked up a bite of her eggs. To her surprise, the sun was so bright that it made the cold manageable, more brisk and refreshing than bitter. The view of snow-covered mountains as far as the eye could see was gorgeous, maybe even more than usual because she could feel the mountain air and see just how far the expanse of blue stretched overhead.
It was as if he read her mind. "Nothing like a clear Colorado morning."
"How did you come to buy a house here anyway?"
"I used to take ski trips to the area with friends back in college. Over time, I fell in love with the place and with the stark contrast from L.A. so when I had enough money for a second home, Vail seemed a natural choice."
