Thankful For Him: An Instalove Possessive Holiday Romance Read online

  “You’re all grown up,” he says, and I watch his face shift as though he’s said the wrong thing, but his eyes scan my body instead, making me flush with a new warmth.

  Not the red shame of embarrassment, but the pulse of heat in response to the signals he’s transmitting.

  I don’t know how or even why, but I get a strong feeling that Zak Ramon likes what he sees and the feeling is certainly mutual.

  He smells fresh, crisp.

  Like the woods after aa rain.

  I feel my fingers shift under his. Almost stroking them as I shift on my feet, feeling my legs press together, knowing I won’t be able to say another word that makes sense.

  My only impulse is for him to touch me more, to kiss me even.

  But I tell myself that’s never gonna happen.

  Expectations, remember Misty?

  The low sound he makes brings me back to reality, his eyes shine as they focus on mine again and his strong hand pulls me closer to him.

  Without even asking, I feel myself moving closer to his huge body, reaching out as he opens his arms and pulls my whole body against his.

  He’s so hard.

  I mean, his body is like pure muscle. But I do notice something else, hotter and thicker pressing against my own soft body, which makes me gasp at first but then purr.

  He’s everything I’d hoped for, and more.

  Zak Ramon. I could hold him for a lifetime, but he suddenly holds me at arm’s length, his bag between us.

  “We should probably go,” he says awkwardly, making me wonder if I’ve done something wrong.

  He smiles, letting me know I haven’t, but looking at his watch he gets the same look my Dad might get at this hour, seeing me up.

  “It’s a long drive,” I confess, stifling a yawn and getting a stern look from Zak.

  “Then I’ll do the driving,” he commands, holding out his huge hand, which I willingly plunk the keys into.

  I feel faint like I could collapse into him again, but his firm hand is on the small of my back. I shiver as I feel his fingers sprawl wider, filling the entire space with one hand as he guides me expertly through the airport to the luggage carousel.

  “Just one case,” he promises, and in a minute he has it on a trolley along with his carry on. One hand steering it while the other guides me. Like a laser, I feel the heat and power from his hand, willing it to be someplace else but so content for now to just follow his directions.

  I almost forget all about where we’re going and feel a stab of regret we have to go to the lake house, with my Dad there I mean.

  I suddenly just want it to be us, alone. No, Dad.

  I love my Dad, I do. But having Zak to myself for two minutes makes me greedy already. Makes me want him all to myself, forever.

  Once in the parking lot, Zak needs to know where the SUV is, and if I didn’t know myself better I’d swear my brain had just been sucked out of my body.

  “I… Uh…” I stammer, sounding blonder than I’d like.

  I have no idea where I parked.

  Zak punches the remote door lock on the key and the lights flash to our left, restoring my memory.

  I try to giggle, saying I’m just tired but Zak’s hand is hard on my back again as he makes another low sound.

  Like he knows just what’s wrong with me.

  Like he knows just what I need.

  He helps me into the passenger side, and after taking charge of the vehicle once he’s stowed his own luggage, we’re off.

  Dad was right, the weather is awful.

  Not ten minutes out from the airport it starts to rain big hard drops, then sheets of freezing sleet thrash the windshield.

  I want to move closer to Zak on the front bench seat of the car, suddenly feeling safer in his presence and wanting to feel his body against mine all over again.

  “A real warm welcome,” Zak muses, and I can’t help it, I unbuckle myself and slide right up next to him, latching the center belt over my lap.

  “Dad said if I got caught in bad weather to pull over and call him, that he’d come get me,” I hear myself say loudly, feeling like a little kid next to a real man.

  Zak looks over at me. “You’re Dad’s worried about you, that’s all. I’m here now,” he says in a deep voice, loosening a sigh from me I can’t control, longing for him to touch me again.

  Somehow, anyway, he can.

  Zak’s muscles tense under his jacket, he breathes in and out and steels his gaze to focus on the road ahead.

  “Still the same lake house?” he asks me, and I pump my head in a nod.

  Zak knows the way. I’m sure he does.

  And I’m sure he knows his way around a lot more places too. My hand hovers, shaking over his thigh. I feel like all I want to do is touch him, but I’m shy now.

  He’s not in a hurry, the weather’s gonna slow us down too, which suits me just fine.

  More time for just Zak and me. Sensing my mood, Zak lets out another low sound of satisfaction and I feel his leg gradually press against mine as we head for the hills.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Zak

  I’d forgotten how much the weather can change, but did it ever used to get this bad?

  Not sure, but one thing is clear. The feeling I had on the plane? It definitely intensified once I laid eyes on Misty.

  It’s like some fundamental missing part of me has finally made its way back to me, and I know she feels it too.

  But, what the hell am I thinking?

  She’s my best friend’s only daughter. Mark would kill me if he-

  Well. Maybe he doesn’t have to find out, not yet.

  Plus, there’s no guarantee she’s even available. I mean, look at her… any man in his right mind would-

  “Boyfriend?” I hear myself asking a little gruffly, enraged at the idea of anyone else touching her, even being anywhere near her.

  Misty shifts uncomfortably in her seat. “No!” she says quickly, emphatically.

  “You?” she adds, looking up at me. I know what she means though.

  “No, nobody,” I tell her promptly, and we both breathe a little easier in the knowledge each is available.

  Not that it would have made much difference, but it means one less arm I have to break if it means getting what I know I want so badly now.

  I’ve never felt so instantly protective, so responsible for anyone, and I’d hate to be the guy who wanted to stand between me and what I know I want. Need really.

  The sleet shifts to rain and I ease off the throttle some, feeling the SUV start to drift on the icy wet corners.

  “Weather like this every year?” I ask, trying to make some small talk to detract from the now permanent hardness I’ve got throbbing in my pants.

  “No, this is the worst it’s ever been this time of year,” Misty tells me, and I can feel her eyes on me, moving from my face to my lap and then back again a dozen times in as many seconds.

  I try to cover myself with one arm as I steer, but the road is so slippery I have to use both hands.

  If she can see what she’s doing to me, all the better. It might tell her a whole lot without me having to spell it out for her.

  I can also see why her Dad didn’t want her out driving in this. “If this gets much worse, I’m pulling over,” I warn her in advance.

  We’re not all the way into the hills by a long shot, and I’m still passing the odd neon-lit travel lodge and hotel on the side of the road.

  I glance in the rearview, and watch Misty gnaw her lip as she steals another glance at me and my thick length, which is aching now.

  Aching for her, no matter what I tell myself.

  Best friend or not, I didn’t get to where I am by not claiming what’s rightfully mine. What should belong to me and nobody else.

  And Misty is on that list now, like it or not, Mark.

  I just need her to tell me so, to tell me she’ll be mine.

  After all this time though? Maybe I am just imagining it. But dammi
t, if I get the chance to have her tell me what she wants, I’ll take it.

  And then I’ll take her, as my own.

  After a while, we reach the turnpike and I take the exit towards the lakes and the hills.

  It’s a toll road, and I wave away Misty’s offer of the bill required as I wind the window down. It’s manned by an actual person, something I haven’t seen in a while and he cautions us against even driving too much further.

  “Coming in hard tonight, sir.” The stout, red-faced man offers through his little window, stamping his feet from the cold.

  “Powers down in some parts already, phones too. You’d better get your kid home safe or someplace else if you can help it,” he offers.

  I hear Misty sit up, muttering something loudly about not being a kid anymore.

  I slide my hand over her leg, squeeze it, and growl through my own window. “She’s mine asshole. And she’s no kid.”

  His face turns white and he slams his little window shut, picking up a black phone receiver without giving me change.

  I feel my grip on Misty loosen, but her hand over mine keeps it there a moment longer.

  Driving on, we both glance at each other and bursts out laughing. Misty grips my arm with both of hers for a second, making me groan with pleasure.

  “You mean it?” she asks, and I feel her eyes on me again as she tries to sit next to me without clawing at me.

  “I’m yours?” she asks again, the clear, sweet look in her eyes makes me shift my eyes from the road just long enough to miss the corner.

  I hear the skidding of the SUV’s tires and Misty gasp, her hands clutching me tighter.

  I swear as I feel the vehicle leave the bitumen.

  We’re ditched, but unhurt. I hope.

  The airbags don’t even go off, making me wonder about this whole bus as I grip Misty by the shoulders in her seat.

  “Are you alright?” I ask her, commanding, pleading really; not wanting a hair on her head to be out of place.

  “I’m okay,” she groans, returning my grip and letting her arm brush my groin, which feels like fire now.

  Now I know how much I need her.

  Now I know how much she means to me.

  How much I know she wants me too.

  I think.

  Something snapped under the SUV, I felt it and heard it. Hoping it was a branch, I move to get out and go investigate before I even try and figure out how to get our vehicle back on the road.

  “Stay here,” I order Misty, and I mean it. Her fingers claw at my arm, but I need to know how bad our situation really is.

  Slamming the door shut, I curse again under my breathe.

  Idiot! You could’ve got her killed!

  I survey the front, it’s a branch alright, big too. The rear axle is fine with just some scratches up front. I should be able to reverse us out.

  A set of fog lights dazzles me before I make my way back up to the front. Another truck, pulled up to see if we need help or just how bad it is.

  I feel the presence of another male, the twang of a country accent and scent of tobacco from his cab, my hands ball into fists at the thought of yet another man trying to make eyes at my Misty.

  Trying to lay claim to my girl.

  I stride up to his open window, and before he can even ask, I give him such a filthy look and a growl as I clutch the side mirror, making it creak, he spins his tires in the mud as he speeds off.

  “Mine,” I growl aloud again, into the cold, the rain on my face doing nothing to still the heat building inside me.

  “Mine!”

  CHAPTER FIVE

  Misty

  Zak is drenched, his shirt and pants clinging to him as he draws himself back into the cab of the SUV, panting like an animal.

  The smell of his body against the rain is enough to make me feel a fresh wetness of my own, wanting him to hold me hard again like he did just now.

  But he’s got other plans.

  “I’m getting in the back, to weigh down this… car,” he says with a note of contempt. “I need you to punch the gas when I say, holding the wheel straight to back us out, just to the edge of the shoulder. Can you do that?” he says firmly.

  I nod without hesitation.

  Dad didn’t raise no snowflake, and I know how to help get a truck out of a jam.

  I feel the weight of the cab shift as Zak gets in the back. He must be two hundred pounds.

  “Two fifty,” he says, reading my mind and smiling so I can see the whites of his smile in the light as I press for some traction from the gas.

  “More!” he says firmly. “Harder, Misty… give it to me!” he growls, grinding his jaw with a power I suddenly crave between my legs.

  I plant my foot, and almost feeling like something inside me comes loose with the vibration through the seat plus Zak’s commanding tone, I hit the brake once I feel the wide wheels gain traction on the firm shoulder of the road.

  “That’s my girl!” Zak beams. His hand brushes my hair and cheek from behind, making me swoon so hard I struggle to put the damned car in park as I start to shake and tremble all over.

  Once the SUV is back on hard ground, Zak is back at the wheel and skids the tires into action as he speeds us back on track.

  Back towards the lake house I know he wants to get me to, to keep me safe.

  My mind goes to Dad, and how he’s doing in all this.

  I would normally have heard from him by now, and checking my phone, the zero coverage signal reminds me of what the toll booth guy said.

  I try in vain to dial the lake house directly, but nothing.

  It’s like we’ve been cut off and this storm is a sea between the island of the house and my Dad.

  But with Zak as my guide, my rescue party really, I feel nothing but hope that we’ll make it just fine.

  “Your Dad’s fine,” Zak reminds me. “He’ll be waiting for us. My job now is to get us both to that lake house,” he says, renewing his command over the grip on the wheel and not taking his eyes off the road for a second.

  His determination is set, like his jaw.

  Solid like iron. The rest of him the same, for me I hope.

  It’s a gray dawn light that greets us over the top of the range, a few miles from the lake house.

  Still dark and gloomy, the rain eases but never enough for any real sunlight to show.

  I never got wet from the rain, but I’m still shivering from the sight of Zak, stoic and resolute as he steers us both home.

  Home.

  The word rings like a bell in my mind, and I don’t know if I’ll ever feel it any other place unless Zak’s there.

  With me.

  “Thanks, Zak,” I tell him in a loud voice, meaning it. Knowing my Dad would mean it too if he was here with us.

  He only curls his lip; that same satisfied look again.

  Like he knows something maybe I don’t.

  Like maybe he already knows I’m his.

  Like I wish I was right now so I could burrow into him, nuzzling him and telling him I love him.

  “Let’s get to your Dad first,” Zak says as if he’s reading my mind yet again. Comforting me, but scaring me a little at the same time.

  There’s a light, frosty drizzle by the time we round the bend and make our way up the half mile track to the lake house.

  Zak observes aloud the single set of tire tracks leading out.

  “I think we missed him,” he says, a worried look in his eyes.

  “Dad wouldn’t-” I start to say, but once we draw up to the view of the house, the drive… I see Dad’s truck is missing.

  I gasp aloud and feel Zak’s hand on mine.

  “It’s alright. We’ll get to the bottom of this,” he says with so much confidence I actually sink back into my seat.

  Feeling relieved, safe.

  Home.

  The lake house really is a house, it’s not a shack like so many of the original homes on the lake.

  I realize the lack of power once t
he automatic lights out front fail to light up the gravel drive, which I can see too, has the deep-set tracks of my Dad’s truck from his recent departure.

  It’s still raining, but nowhere near as hard once I let us both in.

  Zak reaches out for me once we’re inside after I fumble for the lights, hoping for something.

  “It’s alright. Misty,” he assures me. “Just direct me to the candles and matches, we’ll get some lights up soon enough.”

  The dawn is bringing nothing inside, and I take Zak’s hand in mine, leading him to the kitchen he no doubt remembers himself.

  I can’t help feeling like he’s letting me hold onto him just for the sake of touching me again, which makes my heart beat like a rabbit's.

  Then I see it.

  The note.

  It’s Dad’s chicken scratch alright, and written in a hurry, probably by candlelight by the stub next to it, which I re-light with the matches next to it.

  I snatch it up in both hands, but Zak eases it from me gently once he sees I’ve read enough.

  Misty/Zak

  I waited and waited, then heard the weather on the radio until the power went out and I tried to call you both – now I’m heading down the hill to find you myself. If you get this note – Stay put! Don’t leave the house and I’ll see you both soon.

  Love Dad/Mark XXOX

  P.S: Welcome home, buddy!

  CHAPTER SIX

  Zak

  I feel split in two. Tired from the long trip, and now faced with a homecoming that feels more like a rescue mission gone wrong.

  But on the other hand…

  If Mark’s not here, it’s just me and Misty.

  I try and push the thought from my mind, knowing or maybe hoping that Misty’s thinking the exact same thing.

  “You stay here, I’ll take the truck back down the hill-” I start to say, mostly out of reflex. I take charge in a crisis, it’s what I do, and it’s been my job for the past twenty years.

  A billion dollar takeover or finding a guy driving down a hillside? What’s the difference?

  “You can’t!” Misty exclaims, grabbing a hold of me, making my heart leap at her touch.

  “I mean… the note, he said to stay put,” she adds.

  “And what if he’s in trouble now?” I ask her, casting my eyes out into the gray gloom, the black clouds rolling in over the lake.