Stay With Me (13 page)

“I only need to look at the bonus room, and then I’m done and we can leave.”

The way he looked at me, you would have thought I told him his favorite dog died. His eyes fell to the floor before he turned and started walking down a hall.

With a quick peek behind a door, it revealed the laundry room. Good. I was about to ask if he put it in the garage. That would suck during the winter.

The set of stairs were tucked behind the laundry room with another door leading outside to a covered walkway that lead to the garage.

“So you’re thinking you’d like to have your office up here?” I asked quickly sketching out the room.

“When I was little, my favorite thing to do used to be going to my grandmother’s house.”

I stopped what I was doing and turned to look at him.

“She loved being in her garden. She didn’t speak much English, so when my brothers and I were little, our parents talked to us in both English and Greek. We quickly picked up both. Our grandmother, though, if she knew a word in English she would speak it. One day I was standing there and about ten ladybugs landed on me. I was in heaven.”

With a light chuckle, I imagined the scene in my head.

Thano cleared his throat and shook his head. I swear, it looked as if he had tears in his eyes.

“Anyway, I guess when you said I was calling you ladybug, it threw me. I’ve never called anyone by a pet name.”

I smiled. “Well, maybe I remind you of your grandmother?” Oh, gesh. I just compared myself to his grandmother. Well, if I was looking for sex from him I killed any chance of it.

Gesh, Kilyn. Stop talking.

Tossing his head back, Thano busted out laughing. At first I chuckled along with him. But when he kept laughing, almost to the point where he was holding his side and wiping tears away, I got pissed.

“What is so funny?”

Walking up to me, Thano cupped my face with his hands, causing me to hold my breath. “Kilyn, you are nothing like my grandmother.”

Jetting my lip out in a pout, I went to talk when Thano ran his thumb across my lips and shook his head.

“If you reminded me of my grandmother, I wouldn’t be able to do this.” Pressing his lips to mine, I quickly got lost in the kiss. There was something about them that swept me off my feet and left me breathless. I’d never in my life experienced those feelings before. I could get used to it.

When he finally pulled back, I sucked in a rush of air. Thano leaned his forehead against mine and closed his eyes. “What are you doing to me, Kilyn?”

My throat grew thick as it hit me all at once. I was falling for Thano. I was falling hard.

“I could ask the same thing,” I mumbled.

His lips kissed my forehead while he intertwined his fingers with mine. “Let’s head back downstairs to the main house; it’s getting cold in here.”

Not saying a word, I let him guide me back down the stairs and through the house. I had a very strong feeling Thano was the dominant type. Both in and out of bed. Yet, he did it in such a caring way, so much so that I was slowly letting my guard down. Inch by inch I lowered the wall and let him climb a little more over it.

Would I be able to let it down completely?

I had no idea. All I knew was, for the first time since Peter stole my innocence, I was ready to open my broken and fragile heart up again.

I prayed Thano would guard it.

M
Y HEART WAS
pounding as I led Kilyn over to the fireplace. “Let me go grab some pillows from the bedroom.”

She barely nodded her head as she looked into my eyes. It was like I was looking into a mirror. Her eyes wore the same nervous look as mine. There was something else in them. Sadness. I wanted desperately to know why that sadness was there. She tried hard to hide it, but it was always there.

Releasing her hand, I quickly walked to the master bedroom and grabbed the pillows off of the bed before walking to the closet. For some reason, I brought up extra pillows and blankets the last time I stayed and I was thankful I did.

As I walked back into the living room, my phone and Kilyn’s went off with a warning.

I stopped walking as a feeling of dread washed over my body. Dropping everything to the floor, I reached into my pocket and pulled out my phone.

WEATHER WARNING.

A WINTER STORM WARNING HAS BEEN ISSUED FOR YOUR AREA.

Glancing up, I couldn’t help but notice the panicked look on Kilyn’s face. “Maybe we should head out.”

My eyes darted over to the fire I had made. “The fire. I can’t leave until it goes out.”

She nodded while chewing on her lip. “Let me hook up to your Wi-Fi and pull up the weather.”

Reaching for the pillows and blanket, I headed over to the fireplace and spread them out on the floor. First thing on the list was furniture.

“Oh, Thano. Look!”

Kilyn handed me her phone and all I saw was snow covering the area we were in. We both looked out the window. “When in the hell did it start snowing? We were just out there!” I said as I rushed over and threw the door open. The wind was blowing like crazy.

Kilyn walked up next to me and asked, “Do you think we can beat it if we leave after the fire goes out?”

“We’re going to try.”

A gust of wind blew and all I heard was a loud crack and then the sound of a tree hitting something. Kilyn screamed and slammed her body into mine. “What in the hell was that?”

Wrapping my arm around her, I brought her back into the house and shut the door. “I’m not sure. We need to try and get this fire out so we can get the hell out of Dodge.”

Kilyn and I raced around the house looking for anything to fill up with water. I’d clean out the damn fireplace later. We needed to get home before this stuff stuck.

Fuck. Why in the hell did I bring my car and not my truck?

Kilyn came back down from upstairs and shook her head. “There’s nothing. Usually the builders leave trash somewhere.”

“They cleaned up yesterday since nothing else needed to be done. Shit.” Pushing my hand through my hair, I let out a frustrated sigh. “Wait. I have a bucket in the garage.”

Racing out the side door, I came to an abrupt stop at the sight before me.

“Holy shit.”

“Oh no,” Kilyn mumbled from behind me. “There’s a tree . . . on your pretty sports car.”

Closing my eyes, I pulled my phone back out and hit Thad’s number. It rang five times before he picked it up.

“You better have a damn good reason why you’re not here with us. Mom is hounding me and Nicholaus about grandchildren.”

I shook my head and sighed.

“Did you hear me, Thano? Grandchildren!”

“Listen, Thad, I need your help.”

He laughed. “Fuck you. I need your help! Maybe you didn’t hear me. Grandchildren.”

Glancing over to Kilyn, I watched as she turned and headed back into the house. No use in trying to put the fire out now. We were stuck.

“Thad! A tree fell on my car and I’m stuck up at the cabin.”

“What? Why in the hell are you up there? Didn’t you check the weather? A storm is blowing in.”

Rolling my eyes, I pushed out another breath of air. “Yes. I know. The last time I checked the weather it wasn’t supposed to be in until later tonight. It blew in earlier and Kilyn and I are up here. We can’t leave because my car is crushed. Is there any way you can come and get us in your truck?”

“Um . . . yeah. How bad is it up there?”

“It’s getting worse, but the snow isn’t sticking yet. I think you can make it fine; it’s getting out of here that has me worried if the snow keeps falling like this. And bring something to eat just in case. There is nothing in the house.”

“Wait, what do I tell Mom and Dad? They’re going to ask.”

Staring at my car, I moaned. “I don’t care what you tell them, just come get us.”

“I’m on my way.”

Dropping my hand to my side, I slowly shook my head and cursed under my breath for being so stupid.

“Thano? Maybe we should add more wood to the fireplace.”

Her voice snapped me out of my daze. “Right, I’ll grab more.”

After hauling in more wood and piling it next to the fire, Kilyn and I both looked at each other. “Do you think your brother will make it?”

Not wanting her to worry, I flashed her a smile. “Hell yeah. He goes hunting all the time up in the mountains and has driven in worse than this.”

She barely grinned as she nodded her head. Plopping on one of the pillows, she stared up at me. “Do you hunt?”

Sitting next to her, I stared into the fire. “I used to go a lot when I was kid.”

“Did you grow out of it or something?”

I turned to look at her and my breath caught. She had her legs pulled up to her chest with her chin resting on her knees. My chest ached as I looked at her. I don’t think I’d ever seen anyone so beautiful, and that thought alone filled me with guilt. I used to think Savannah was the most breathtaking woman . . . but Kilyn . . . she stole the very air around me.

Lifting my hand up, I pushed a piece of her dark hair behind her ear. “Omorfía sas eínai áthiktos.”

Her eyes lit up with desire as I spoke to her in Greek. Why I did it, I had no clue. I have only ever talked to my family in Greek. Maybe it was because I didn’t want Savannah to hear the things I desperately wanted to say to Kilyn.

Lifting her head up, she tilted her head and asked with the cutest damn smile ever, “What did you say?”

I fought within myself to lie or tell her what I really said. In the end, I wanted her to know.

“Your beauty is untouchable.”

Swallowing hard, her lips parted slightly. Her eyes sparkled with a happiness I desperately wanted to see every time I looked at those beautiful green eyes.

“No one has ever said anything so beautiful like that to me before.”

My heart hurt knowing she hadn’t been loved like she deserved to be. If I wasn’t careful, I was going to start falling for her. If I hadn’t already.

“That’s a shame; you deserve to be treated like a princess.”

The sparkle in her eyes vanished before she turned and looked into the fire. For a few moments she was lost in another world. One that I instantly knew was unkind to her.

“I’m sorry I got us stuck up here,” I finally admitted.