Stockings and Suspenders (9 page)

“I forgot the crackers. You can't have
chili without crackers and it'd be a sin to be snowed in without a case of Bud
Lite on hand.”

 Minerva would have preferred a nice
full bodied Merlot, if only the guy sitting across from her hadn't been so damn
hot that her whole body hummed with a long forgotten sexual energy.

He took the next exit off I-40. The
last exit before the North Carolina state line and all those miles of
nothingness. Not that there was nothing going on at this exit either, nothing
but more snow and lots of trees.

“That's my granny's house.” He pointed
to a well maintained rock house on the left. “My grandpa did all that stonework
himself.”

“It's really pretty.”

“That's my parent's place, but they're
on vacation.” He nodded toward a huge wooden house just a little further down
the road. “I won a Christmas cruise by being the lucky caller at that country
station in Knoxville and since I didn't have anyone to go with I gave it to
them.”

He made a left, turning on to a road
that would have been even darker if not for a mobile home lit up with Christmas
lights.

Seeing the tow truck in the the drive
way, she said, “Let me guess, that's your sister's house.”

“Yeah, and as you can tell, they're
home.”

“I bet they're going to have a huge
electric bill,” Minerva had to fight back a laugh over the outlandish display
of lights.

“She's gone overboard with the
decorating ever since she was a little girl. I wouldn't have my own tree if she
hadn't come over and set it up for me.”

“You must be close.”

“Like two peas in a pod.” He pulled
the car in front of a barn, instead of another trailer. “How does Marvey do
around horses?”

“She's never see a horse before.”

He got out of the truck and opened the
door to the barn before hopping back behind the wheel to drive right into the
building.

Leaving the motor running, he got out
again. “Y'all wait right here while rig up the sleigh to take us up to my
place.”

Chapter Two

Brian hooked his favorite and
strongest Stallion to the sleigh he'd in found in the barn a couple of months
after his grandpa's death. He'd painted it up a candy apple red and greased the
runners. To please his sister he'd even gotten some jingly bells from The
Dollar Tree and found a huge fake fur throw at the Goodwill over in Newport.

He still couldn't get over his luck.
The first snow of the season and he finds a cute little blond sitting on the
side of the road like she was just put there waiting there for him. Sarah had
kept telling him if he'd stop pining for Leah that the right girl came along.
And now for the life of him, he couldn't even remember face, and he didn't care
one bit that she'd given him the ring back two weeks before their June wedding.

“Your chariot awaits my lady,” he
said, opening the passenger door of his truck.

Minerva's pretty green eyes widened
and her mouth formed the cutest ‘O’ that made him want to pull her into his
arms and kiss her breathless.

“I can't believe it. You have a real
life one horse open sleigh.”

“Well, it is Christmas Eve.”

He helped her into the sleigh and
Marvey hopped in right behind her not paying any attention to the horse.

After grapping her bags, shutting off
his truck and getting the sleigh maneuvered out of the barn he got in beside
her. She'd changed into her winter boots, bundled up in the parka and added a
cute pink toboggan that looked like something his granny might have knitted.

It gave her a fresh faced innocence
that made her look younger and way hotter than that glamour shot photo on the
book jacket. He wasn't about to admit it, but he'd actually read
Bleeding
Hearts
after admiring her photo. He'd gotten home from making the gift run
to Knoxville to find that his satellite dish had gone wonky for the night. With
no TV and nothing else to do he'd sat down in front of his fireplace and
started reading her book. Two nights later with the TV working just fine he'd
finished it and actually enjoyed the steamy story.

After reading all those hot sex scenes
he couldn't help but wonder about the beautiful woman who'd written such a
juicy story. Now here she was, their knees almost touching, on their way to his
cabin. He couldn't help but wonder if she was as good with her body as she was
with those words.

“I feel like I've stepped into a
Hallmark movie.”

Her accompanying grin made him have to
adjust the blanket over his lap to keep her from seeing the building bulge in
his jeans.

“Dashing through the snow in a one
horse open sleigh.”

“Over the fields we go," he
joined in with her sing-song. “Laughing all the way.”

Marvey barked and right on cue they
both broke into a fit of giggles as the dog climbed between them. She jutted
her head, her tongue dangling from her mouth, obviously enjoying the ride.

Minerva wrapped her arm around the dog
and he almost felt a stab of jealousy. She was a gorgeous animal, almost as
beautiful as her owner, with fur the color of the falling snow set off by a
brown spot over her left eye and a smaller matching spot on her back.

His black stallion effortlessly pulled
the sleigh right up to the small barn adjacent to his cabin. Minerva hopped out
of the sleigh not waiting for his assistance and went up to pet the horse.
“Thanks for the ride.”

Brain could have sworn his horse
grinned when she planted a kiss on his muzzle. He'd been right about her being
an animal lover. An animal lover with one hell of an ass, he couldn't help but
admire her backside in those tight fitting jeans as she coaxed Marvey out of
the sleigh.

Marvey refused to budge until he came
around and carried her to the dry porch. She took a look around and delicately
stepped down into his last footprint to pee before darting right back to dry
ground.

Brian couldn't take her eyes off
Minerva, watching her twirl around oblivious to the snow still falling down to
join the almost foot of white stuff already covering the ground. She looked
like a snow angel soaking up every bit of his little slice of country paradise.

“Holy crap!” She looked up into the
sky. “If this is some kind of fairy tale please don't ever wake me up.”

Chapter Three

“This place is amazing.” Minerva
looked around Brian's living room still trying to let it all soak in. The
polished hardwood floors, the high beam ceiling, all complimented by a real
pine tree tastefully decorated with silver and red ornaments and lit with tiny
clear bulbs.

“I built it myself.” His smile sent
that heat surging straight to her pussy. “Well, me and my family. My brother's
a contractor and we have a construction company. I've always loved working with
my hands.”

Minerva couldn't help but imagine
those hands working there way over her naked flesh. She couldn't have written a
better hero for one of her books if she'd spent a whole week in front of her
keyboard flushing him out and just letting her imagination run wild.

“I've got a big tub upstairs if you
like to relax while I tend to the horse and the goats.”

“Sounds like a plan.”

“Right this way, my lady,” he said
carrying her bags up the stairs.

She followed a couple of steps behind
to admire the view of his ass in a pair of form fitting Levis.

“I bet I'm the only guy you've ever
met who sleeps under the stars and has to mow part of his bedroom.”

 The loft opened up into a sunroom,
complete with a step down area with real grass and pepper and tomato plants
growing up the side wall. A giant Jacuzzi with a stonework waterfall completed
the floor to ceiling glass enclosure.

Marvey plopped down on the soft grass
and sighed like she'd died and gone to doggie heaven.

“Bubba's the same way.” He laughed. “I
keep it nice and warm in the winter and cool in the summer. No mosquitoes and
the ceiling fans kick up a breeze just like being outside.”

Minerva surveyed the incredible view.
The house sat perched on a bluff that overlooked a lake. There wasn't a street
light or power line in sight. A perfect wilderness winter wonderland.

“The whole house is solar powered.” He
looked up at the glass paneled ceiling. “And there's a water runoff that
filters through back into the house.”

“Amazing.” A real life hot guy who
actually cared about the environment.

“My big sister designed the whole
thing. She's an engineer at NASA down in Huntsville,” he continued. “I don't
know how it works, but it melts the snow just like a defroster on a car.”

“I think I need to hire y'all to build
me and Marvey one of these tricked out sunrooms.” If she ever finished those
three books and didn't have to return the enormous advance.

 “Maybe I can even get you a
discount.” His grin made him look like an overgrown teenager. “The bathroom's
right in there, just make yourself at home.”

Minerva waited until he went down the
stairs and heard the front door close before opening her suitcase. Too bad she
hadn't packed any of sexy stuff she'd amassed thanks to her employee discount
at Hustler Hollywood.

Her characters might have been getting
it hot and heavy, but it had been way too long since Minerva had gotten any
action herself. How sad was it that she'd had her new tits for almost three
months now and so far her doctor had been the only man who'd gotten to see
them?

“What have I really got to lose?” she
whispered. “It's not like I'll ever see this guy again.”

Minerva pulled her sweater over her
head and stood in front of the floor length bathroom mirror accessing her new assets.
She popped the clasp of her less than flattering beige bra, letting it fall to
the floor. Aah... that was much better. She squeezed her breasts together,
admiring her newly acquired cleavage. It had been extremely painful and a lot
more expensive, but the going in through the belly button, under the pectoral
muscle, inflation procedure had been so worth it. There were no scars and a tug
on her nipples proved they were still sensitive.

Candles and bath salts were two things
she never forgot to pack. She called upon her inner Goddess and lit the red
seduction candle before dumping some bath salts into the tub.

Not wanting to mess up what was left
of the previous day’s professional blowout, she clipped up her hair before
sinking into the warm bath. Just thinking about Brian sent her hand straight to
her clit. He'd already gotten her so aroused that it only took a few minutes of
finger action to stir up a much needed tension releasing orgasm.

Chapter Four

Brian leaned against the shower wall
thankful that his mom had convinced him to install a shower in the barn. Now
way did he want to go back in that house smelling like horses or goats. Not
with his snow angel so very close to his bed.

He wanted to fuck Minerva so bad he
could hardly stand it. Yet, having two sisters he knew the importance of being
a gentleman. He'd always been taught that respectable women weren't down for
getting naked with a guy they had just met. But what if he took her back to her
car tomorrow and never saw her again?

It wasn't like there was much of a
chance of a rich and successful woman wanting a relationship with someone like
him. He lived a good life out in the country surrounded by his family, but she
probably travelled all over the world. Hell, he didn't even have a computer,
much less an internet connection out here in the woods.

He might have to turn in his man card
for admitting it, but that book of hers had totally gotten under his skin. He'd
even jacked off a couple of times after looking at that glammed up photo of
hers. Imaging it was him and her in all those steamy sex scenes she'd written
had totally done him in.

Without even realizing it, his hand
had gone straight to his cock working up a major hard on. He could either
finish the job himself or go back into the house, throw her down on the bed and
fuck her senseless. That second option had his dick doing the decision making.
He came so hard he had to lean back against the cool shower tile to keep from
sinking to his knees.

It took him a few minutes to regroup
and slip into a pair of clean underwear and jeans he kept in the barn for quick
changes. Since he only had a clean t-shirt, he thanked his mom once again for
suggesting the add on of a utility room between the barn and his kitchen. She'd
even picked out the washer and dryer, along with all the kitchen appliances to
keep him from having to drag his dirty laundry down the mountain.

Back in his warm kitchen he filled
Bubba's food bowl and got a plastic container of kibble to take upstairs to
Marvey. He iced up a cooler and filled it with beer. Then he loaded up a tray
with two steaming hot bowls of chili and crackers.