Troping Through the Snow: The Complete Bundle, page 4
I should have thought through what I was doing before I put my cock at her opening and came inside her, but all I could do was go on instinct. The thing inside me that told me to hold her down and spank her ass was the same voice screaming at me to cum in her. All I could think about was making Tinsel my personal plaything while breeding her.
She wasn’t at the bakery this morning, so I decided to go to City Hall and skip the coffee. The thing that’s been weighing on my mind the most is North. As much as I want Tinsel, I need North to be okay with it too. I thought about it all night, and I’m not sure what I’ll do if he doesn’t want me to be with her. On one hand, fuck him, but on the other, he’s my best friend. He’s been like a brother to me and given me a family when I had none.
The more I thought about it, the more I knew that no matter what, I’m done pretending I don’t want Tinsel. Once she stops pretending she doesn’t want me too, we can do this thing for real.
Snow is blanketing the town now, and it looks like a picture out of a magazine. Troping really is something special, and City Hall is right in the heart of it. When I walk inside, I’m surprised to see North leaning over the receptionist desk. Joy, his new hire, is looking up at him with wide eyes like she’s a deer caught in headlights.
At the sound of my entrance, North snaps his head up and then says something to her I don’t catch before straightening and walking over to me.
“Hey Jack, what brings you in here? Another ticket?”
“I need to talk to you,” I say, and his smile falters.
“Is everything okay?”
“Let’s go to your office.”
When he closes his door, he turns to face me with concern in his eyes. “Tell me what’s going on. What’s wrong?”
The sigh that leaves me is heavy, and it feels like this conversion has been years in the making. I guess it actually has, but I’m finally ready to stop pretending. I’ve thought about how to say this, and I’m still not sure. I want to ease him into it so he doesn’t have a chance to freak out. I owe him a thoughtful and complete explanation.
“Jack, what is it?”
“I’m in love with Tinsel,” I blurt out and realize that this is nothing like I was planning.
North stands there frozen for a full two seconds, and I start to panic. “Sorry, I didn’t mean it, I mean, I do mean it, but I didn’t mean it to come out that way. Fuck, I’m doing this wrong.”
Running my fingers through my hair, I turn around and rub my eyes as I try to get a hold of my emotions. Since touching Tinsel and kissing her, I’ve lost all control of my brain.
“North, you’re like a brother to me, but you already know that.” I stare at the wall because I can’t stand to see the look of disappointment or disapproval on his face. “The first time I met Tinsel, I fell in love, but you were such a good friend to me that I didn’t want to cross that line. She’s everything to me and all I can think of. I understand if you’re angry, but I won’t stay away from her. I’ve tried, I really have, but I can’t love her from a distance anymore.”
There’s another long stretch of silence, and I hang my head, hating that North isn’t taking this well. I’m trying to think about how better to explain this when I hear a sound that I never expected.
North’s laughter grows and grows until I turn around and see him bent over and grabbing his waist. There are tears in his eyes as he laughs harder, and my confusion turns to anger.
“It’s not funny,” I say, my voice cold.
North holds a finger up as he tries and fails to hold in his laughter. The last time I saw him like this was the time we got locked out of our dorm and I had to climb in the second-story window and ended up getting busted by campus security. I might have peed a little in the process, but that’s not something I like to bring up.
“What the fuck are you laughing at?” I cross my arms over my chest and give him another chance to knock it off.
“I’m sorry,” North says as he wipes away his tears and tries to catch his breath. “It’s just you were so serious when you said it.”
“Yeah, I know.” I’m beginning to get angry at how he’s dismissing what I just said. “I am serious about her.”
“No, I mean the way you said it was like I didn’t know.” He laughs again, and I stand there in confusion
“What?”
“Did you think I didn’t know?” He looks at me, and his smile gets impossible wider. “Wow, I can’t decide if you think I’m that stupid or you’re actually that stupid.”
“Watch it, North. I kicked your ass once, and I’ll do it again.”
“You accidently hitting me when I jumped out and scared you does not count as you kicking my ass.” North walks over to his desk and leans up against it with his big stupid smile in place.
“I thought I was fighting for my life.” I wave my hand to change the subject. “What the fuck, North? You knew this whole time and you never said anything?”
“It wasn’t my place.” He shrugs like I haven’t been suffering in silence for years. “You haven’t so much as glanced at another woman since you met her. Hell, I knew the first time I brought you home and you couldn’t stop staring at her. I just assumed that one day you two would finally figure it out.”
“All this time.” I feel like North lied to me, but he didn’t. It’s this strange weight off my shoulders, and now I’ve got to figure out what to do with it.
“You know how I feel about you, Jack. You’re my brother by another mother.” He nudges my side. “I couldn’t wish for anyone better to date my sister. But there’s one problem.”
“What?” I sit up, wondering what kind of bombshell he’s about to unleash on me.
“You’ve got to convince her of that.”
“Fuck,” I whisper as I look out his office window onto Main Street. “What the hell?”
Pushing off the desk, I go over to the window and see Tinsel walking into Carol’s dress shop. She’s wearing a long trench coat and—
“Has she got on a wig?” North asks, and I shake my head.
“This is going to be harder than I thought,” I admit, and North laughs.
“Welcome to the family.”
CHAPTER 9
TINSEL
Carol does a double take when I enter her dress shop. “What the hell are you doing, Tins?”
“You recognize me?!” I was sure this disguise was perfect.
I’m doing my best to avoid Jack at all costs. After what happened, I don’t think I can look him in the eyes. He spanked me and then came inside me before he just walked out. A girl can’t get some cuddle time? Not that I wanted any, but I would have liked the option to turn it down.
“I don’t want to hurt your feelings, but maybe undercover work isn’t your thing.”
“I’m not doing undercover work,” I mutter.
“Then what are you doing?” Carol laughs as she rubs her stomach. I’ve never seen anyone more adorable while pregnant than her. She has the perfect little baby bump that just popped out recently.
“What’s with all the questions? I’m the cop here. You want to tell me where you got that baby bump?” I point at her stomach, and Carol flushes.
“Your mama never told you about the birds and the bees?” she teases me.
Oh, she told me. She just happened to leave out the parts about the bees spanking the birds.
“Why is it even called that?” I scrunch my nose.
“I think it has to do with bees pollinating flowers, which symbolizes male fertilization, and the birds laying eggs equates to female ovulation.”
“I think they need to do an updated story.”
Carol snorts a laugh. “Why don’t you write one?”
“I’m a cop.” Why do I have to keep reminding people of this? Carol shakes her head at me like I’m ridiculous. I should investigate what bee pollinated Carol. Now that’s a mystery I’d love to solve.
“Is there something that brought you in here? You want to get your mom a dress for Christmas?”
“Hey, what if I want a dress? I rocked that red sweater dress the other night.”
“That was Frostie’s.”
“Jeez, you have to call me out?”
“All right, let me pull some dresses for you to try on,” she challenges, and I fold like a cheap chair.
“Whoa, let's calm down. I was only testing my disguise.”
“Well, if you think it’s going to work on Jack, you’re dead wrong. He was already by the coffee shop trying to find you.”
“Jack who?” Carol laughs. “Wait…” I snap my fingers. “He owns that resort, right? Place is a dump.”
“If that’s how you want to play it. It’s not like Frostie and I didn’t see him go up to your apartment and not come down for quite some time.”
Great, how many people saw that? Secrets in this town never stay that way for long. It’s probably why Carol isn’t saying who her baby daddy is. I have done the math, and I think it happened when she was out of town one week, but I could be wrong.
“Okay he kissed me,” I admit. “But there wasn’t tongue.” The bell over the door goes off, and Frostie comes walking in. “You told her I was here.”
“I did.” Carol shrugs unapologetically as Frostie locks the door behind her.
“A business must remain open during posted hours,” I remind them, and they ignore me.
“You’ve been avoiding me.” Frostie puts her hands on her hips. “You didn’t even come down for your coffee this morning.”
“I’m the cop around here! I don’t need extra coffee and donut stereotypes.”
“What’s going on with you and Jack?” Frostie pushes on, determined to get information from me.
“You mean Jack-ass,” I correct.
“Whatever. What’s going on?”
“Nothing.” I pull the stupid wig off. This thing is freaking hot. “We hate each other. Don’t you all remember?”
“Nah, we’ve all had bets on when the two of you would finally crack,” Carol informs me.
“Seriously?” They both nod. “You’re telling me that Jack-ass is a jerk face to me because he likes me? What are we, in the fourth grade?” Now I’m getting mad, though I don’t think I would mind him pulling my hair. Oh my God, Tinsel. Get yourself together.
“We all see how he stares at you.” Frostie nods in agreement.
“You mean glare. He glares at me.”
“At the last winter festival, there was a group of college guys here from Townsin, and they were talking about how hot you were. One was going to ask you out, and Jack freaking lost it. He grabbed one by the collar and threatened him with an ass stomping if he or any of his friends went near you.”
“You’re shitting me,” I grit out. “I could have gotten him on assault. That would have been a good ticket.”
“I wasn’t sure if it was some big brother thing or jealousy,” Frostie admits. “That's why I didn’t say anything to you about it.”
“Oh, it was jealousy. I promise you that. I’ve never seen Jack so pissed in my life.”
“This is bullshit! Have you been to the resort? Those little snow bunnies flock to him, and I don’t say anything, but he’s scaring off someone that might want to date me? That’s messed up.”
“I’ve never heard about him hooking up with them,” Carol says, and she is a pretty good source. She knows most of the good gossip.
“Yeah, but he can sneak them back to one of his rooms or up to his fancy secluded cabin and no one would know. Not only that, if what you’re saying is true but if he’s been into me all this time, why hasn’t he done anything about it? He treats me like a jerk instead.” Frostie cringes, knowing I’m right.
“I’m sure it has to do with your brother.” Carol is always trying to be the voice of reason.
“Then he can date my brother. I’m apparently not worth fighting for.” I turn to storm out of the dress shop, but when I wiggle the lock, it doesn’t budge. It really ruins the whole storming off in anger when you can’t get the door to open.
“You’re not going anywhere.” Carol drags me back. “Why don’t we give him a taste of his own medicine?”
“What do you mean?” I perk up at that.
“Tonight the resort is hosting that cocktail party they have every other Wednesday during the winter season. They do festive drinks and finger foods for the guests, but we can crash it. I’m sure there will be out of towners since we don’t date locals.”
“Does Jack go to these cocktail parties?” I know they’re at his resort, but I’m sure he can’t be involved in everything.
“Let me see.” Carol pulls out her phone and sends out a text. A second later, an alert sounds.
“Emily said he’ll pass through to check on things but doesn’t normally stay.”
“Yeah, passes through to pick up some chick,” I mutter.
“You’re really stuck on him hooking up with other women.”
“Why shouldn’t I be? He’s been scaring off men I could be dating all because he might have a stupid crush on me all the while doing whatever he wants. Fuck him.”
“Whoa.” Frostie’s eyes go wide. “Maybe this isn’t a good idea. She’s pretty mad and owns a gun.”
“No, I’m doing this. Doll me up, girls. I’m going to walk into that bar and kiss the first man I see.”
“This is going to be bad,” Frostie says.
“I think it’s going to be perfect.” Carol gets an evil grin on her face. “I don’t only have dresses. Wait till you see the lingerie I have too.”
CHAPTER 10
JACK
“You’re coming, aren’t you?”
“What?” I turn around to see Emily standing in the door of my office and blink away visions of my cock buried inside Tinsel. “Oh, the cocktail party.”
“Are you okay?” She frowns at me, but I wave her off.
“Just distracted. I’ll swing by for a minute or two. I’ve got some things to take care of tonight.” The main one being to track down Tinsel and make good on my promise for avoiding me.
“All right, I’ll see you in there.”
After Emily leaves, I force myself to concentrate and finish up the last things I needed to do before leaving. My mind is so distracted with thoughts of Tinsel and how I’m going to make her mine. She’s so damn skittish about letting this happen, but I plan on proving that this is the only path she can take.
How else am I supposed to live my life without her? There’s no part of my future where I don’t see her in it, and now that I’ve had a little taste of her, I want the whole fucking thing.
Halfway down the hall, I can already hear the music from one of the party rooms. We have a few that we rent out for weddings or events, but every week, we have a mixer. It gives the people from out of town a chance to meet some locals and let loose. I’ve been told they can be a lot of fun, but I’ve never stayed to find out. I swing by to only check in on things.
It looks more crowded than usual, but then I remember it’s the tourist season. This is when we get the big rush for the holidays, and tonight is at its peak. Walking through the packs of people, I say hello to a few locals and a couple of return guests I remember. By the time I get a break in the crowd, I see the bar ahead and decide having a drink might be exactly what I need.
As I move closer, an older couple ahead of me moves to the side, and standing there is a woman that has dangerous curves written all over her. The tight navy dress is cinched tightly at the waist and around her ass, an ass I would know anywhere.
Tinsel turns around and leans against the bar but doesn’t see me yet. It’s a good thing because I’m standing there staring at her and drinking her in. The top of her dress is a corset that has her tits trussed up like an offering to the gods.
“Fuck me,” I whisper to myself, because seeing her like this literally takes my breath. Her hair is pulled to one side, and the line of her neck makes me want to sink my teeth into it.
Did I suddenly become a vampire?
I stare at her for so long my eyes dry out, and I have to blink a few times to clear it away. Was I so worried that she would disappear if I closed my eyes? Maybe. Deciding that I can’t stand the distance between us a second longer, I make my way over to the bar and crowd her space.
At first she’s shocked, and then she looks around to see who is watching. I don’t give a fuck if this is televised. She knew what she was doing when she put that dress on.
“You’re pushing me,” I say through clenched teeth, and then I hear the bartender clear his throat.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” She takes the champagne from him and brings it to her lips while her eyes stay on me.
“That’s the thing, love.” I put my hands on either side of the bar with her in between them. I’ve blocked her from the crowd in the room, and the only thing I see is her. “You know what I’ll do when you push me to the edge.” Bending down, I put my lips to her ear. “And you like it.”
Her breath catches, and I watch the swell of her breasts rise and fall. I lick my lips as I stare at them, and I don’t miss the way she watches me. The heat coming off of her could warm me for eternity, and I’d still want more.
“You’re wrong.” She says it with a straight face, and I smile my best cocky grin at her. That’s when I see the flash of anger that I love so much.
“Liar,” I say, and she turns to take a drink of her champagne. “Finish that,” I tell her, and she narrows her eyes.
“Don’t tell me what to do.” She takes another drink and gives me a side-eye. “Why?”
“Because as soon as the last drop of that is on your lips, I’m going to drag you into my office and fuck that dress off your body.”
The champagne flute pauses at her lips as her eyes widen. I can practically hear her heartbeat as I lean close and inhale her sweet scent. It’s so perfectly Tinsel that I’m conditioned to get hard every time I smell her.
