Two Doms for Christmas (4 page)

Chapter Four

The drive to the store was slippery
and snowy, but he handled the vehicle well. They strolled up and down the
aisles, picking out the ingredients she needed to make dinner, and getting some
things he was out of. They were back underway within half an hour, but the ride
to his house was slow and treacherous. It didn’t seem to bother him in the
least, but Haley was nervous as hell. She was considering the possible
stupidity of going to his house, with no way to get home. She didn’t really
know Austin, and her impromptu decision to trust him in such a way might not
exactly have been prudent. It wasn’t like she had told anyone or that anyone
would really miss her.

Maybe her family would invite her
for the holidays, but she had already said no for the last two years. When
considering it, she realized it had probably been two months since she had
spoken with anyone in her family. She really needed to take the first step and
give them a call.

Austin slid to a stop at the red
light. Luckily, there was very little traffic and the radio was asking people
to stay home. It was probably good advice that she should have heeded herself.
The farther he drove, the more nervous she became. He gently laid his hand
overtop hers. “Are you okay? You’re as white as a sheet.”

“I don’t like driving in this shit.
I’m also a bit worried about getting back home safely. If anything happens to
me, then my dogs are all alone.”

“We’re almost to my house. If you
prefer to go home I can turn around, but hopefully it will be a better drive
later on. The snow is supposed to stop by noon and then they can begin clearing
the roads better.”

She sighed. Hopefully she was just
being stupid. She really didn’t relish the idea of turning around and enduring
the mostly uphill drive back to her house. It would be much easier to make once
they had plowed and sanded. Her road was actually high on the priority list of
the back streets, because of her hill. There was also a man down the street who
worked for the city, so that probably helped.

“Okay. I just get really nervous
driving in the snow. You seem to be a good driver though,” she added just to
verify that she didn’t think it was him.

“Thanks, but it’s not me I’m
worried about. There are bunches of idiots out there that don’t know how to
drive, but still insist on going out. I’m trying to keep an eye out for any of
them. Case in point, the idiot on the right who just realized that his light is
red and he can’t stop.”

Haley turned her head quickly and
gasped as the car spun full speed around to the side and then into the center
of the intersection. The guy was spinning, trying to get his car in the right
direction, and she turned to look and see if anyone was coming up behind them.

Austin threw the truck in reverse
and backed up, going through the gas station. As he drove out the other side of
the driveway, she looked and saw that if he had remained where he was, the
other car would have hit them. “Nice move.”

“Thanks. He has no idea what he is
doing and I figured he would slide in our direction sooner or later. Plus it
was making me nervous to be sitting at a green light when we couldn’t move.
Visibility isn’t all that great.”

Haley nodded. She suddenly needed
to be closer to him and unbuckled her seatbelt, sliding over and putting on the
central one. At least that way if they were hit on her side, she wouldn’t be
against the door.

Austin put his hand on her knee
briefly and gave her a smile. “You really are nervous, aren’t you?”

“Just a little. If it had been me,
I would have stayed in the house until it melted some. On two different
occasions I was driving home in the snow and was almost hit. Then of course there
is my hill. You have to take it quickly or risk getting rear-ended. The hill is
so steep that you also need the momentum to get up it. If your tires don’t
catch, you slide straight into a tree. I actually stopped with maybe two inches
to spare one day. Then of course, was the job of getting the car rolling again.
To be stuck on the bottom and have someone else try to make the turn, you are
both in trouble.”

“I can understand that. Your hill
is a bitch. Of course this truck has four-wheel drive which helps.” He pulled
into a long driveway and headed toward the back. “A young couple owns the front
house, but there is a right-of-way clause in the land agreement. They have to
make sure I always have access to get through.”

The driveway was unplowed further
back and he stopped the truck, putting it in park. “Stay put for a few minutes
while I plow this. I don’t want to pack the snow down.”

Tugging up his hood, Austin got
out. He hurried to a shed off to the side of the driveway and swung open the
large door. Within minutes, he was zipping out in a quad with a plow on the
front. Haley sat and watched as he wove a zigzag pattern back and forth across
the driveway, pushing the snow to either side. He disappeared into the falling
snow and she wondered exactly how far back his property actually went.

Turning on the radio, she
discovered it was a station she liked. She started to sing, despite the fact
that her singing voice was horribly off key. It wasn’t like there was anyone to
hear her, and it offset the creepiness that was seeping slowly into her brain. To
be sitting in his truck, waiting for him to return was unnerving. When she saw
him racing back up the driveway a few moments later, Haley breathed a sigh of
relief. He pulled the quad back into the shed and then came out, shutting and
locking the door behind him. Stopping only to shake some of the snow from his
jacket, he hopped back into the truck.

“I love this song.”

“So do I. Everything all plowed?”

“Yup. I plowed the road and the
circular driveway and then came back. Did you miss me?”

She actually had missed him. “Of
course I did.”

“That’s sweet. Thank you.” He gave
her a bright smile and pushed back a wayward strand of her hair. “I love your
hair. It’s soft and shiny.”

“Thank you.”

Austin put the truck back in drive
and headed forward. The house was closer than she thought, just past a row of
tall pines that looked as if they had been planted for privacy. The house was
stunning. The circular driveway had a three-tiered fountain in the center that
would be beautiful in the summer. For now it was coated with a layer of clear
plastic that was buried at the bottom by snow. He pulled into an overhang at
the side of the driveway and shut the truck off. “We’re here. It isn’t much,
but
it’s
home.”

It was bigger than her house and
had a beautifully engraved front door. He got out, walking around and opening
her door. Haley groaned. “The seatbelt is stuck.”

“I don’t think anyone has every
used it.” He leaned into her, pushing hard on the button and it popped open.
“You are free, my little bird.”

Now she was a bird? Sliding over,
she got out. Austin flipped the seat forward and handed her two bags, taking
the crockpot and the remaining bags himself. Together they headed to the front
door and he let her inside. It was nice to have a protective overhang so the sidewalk
didn’t need shoveling.

She inspected the living room. It
was tidy with an oriental rug on the floor patterned with large swirling
flowers. He opened a door and the two dogs were on the other side. They trotted
gracefully out into the living room. “If you go sit down they will come say hi.
They both have issue with people hanging over them to pet them. Otherwise they
are very friendly. Whippets tend to be very emotional little dogs.”

Haley put the groceries on a small
side table and took a seat on the sofa. As predicted, the two dogs jumped up to
either side of her. They both sniffed her over and then lay down, curling up
against her thighs. Austin laughed. “I’ve never seen them do that before. They
really like you.”

“They are beautiful,” she said as she
slowly put a hand to each dog and began to pet them. They both snuggled closer.

Austin sat down in the chair. “Now
you have a problem. They don’t like to be disturbed once they are comfortable.
I guess you get to give me orders on how to make dinner from here.”

She giggled. “I could, but I would
rather help.”

“Then give them each a soft pat on
the head and say that you are getting up. They understand.”

She did as instructed and got a
grumble from the dogs. Haley pulled the blanket from the back of the sofa and
covered the two of them up. They poked their heads out to watch as she and
Austin walked into the kitchen. It was an amazing room, a full set of ceramic
lined pans hanging above the stove. There were counters all around it and
plenty of shelves for storing things. He moved the crockpot over by the wall
and plugged it in.

“Okay, what now?”

Haley dug through the bags and
pulled out the needed items. She handed him the onions. “They don’t have to be
chopped, just sliced thickly.” Removing the potatoes from a bag, she went to
wash them in the sink. “The onions go in the bottom and then the potatoes and
cabbage. Do you have any flour?”

He pointed to the canisters against
the wall. “How about a Ziploc bag?”

Austin opened a cabinet door and
handed her a package. She put some flour in it and then pulled some sea salt
from the spice rack. She ground some into the bag and then did the same with
the mixed pepper. The mixture would be used to dredge the meat to make it brown
nicely.

Once the meat was cooking, she
stood back, watching him slice the potatoes and then the cabbage. The man
actually had an idea what he was doing. They layered everything in the crockpot
and she set it to low. “All done. Now it has to cook.”

He smiled radiantly. “I’m
impressed. You know the ingredients by heart. Is it one of your favorite
meals?”

“I haven’t actually made it in a
few years, but it was one I liked. How about you? What is your favorite food?”

“I don’t know if I actually have
one. I enjoy most foods as long as they are flavorable.”

She giggled. “Flavorful or
favorable?”

His pleasant expression instantly
went dark. “I will warn you that I very much dislike being grammatically
corrected. It is something my mother used to do constantly and I hated it. I
said and meant flavorable.”

“Oh.” She had no idea how to
interpret his instant and obviously hot anger. She hadn’t meant anything bad by
it. “I’m a writer, the computer and editors constantly correct me. Have you
been hiding the fact that you have really bad temper?”

He lowered his eyes, closing them
for a second as he blew out a long and calming breath. “I already told you I
went through anger management. I don’t usually become angry any more over
little things. I’m sorry. As I said, my mother used to correct me. I guess I
still carry scars from her stern demeanor. If you are worried about me hitting
you, I would never do that. If I became enraged, I would walk out the front
door before I ever laid a hand on you.”

His words did little to assuage her
fear. The cold rage in his eyes had scared the hell out of her. If she had a
way to get home at the moment, she would jump in her car and run like hell.
Unfortunately, it was still snowing like crazy and she was stuck with him.

“Fuck,” he whispered as he leaned
his head back and exhaled dramatically. “Look, Haley, I’m not perfect. I have
faults like anyone else. I promise on my life I would never hurt you or any
other woman. If I could take that moment back, I would, but I can’t.”

Maybe she was just being too quick
to judge. Everyone had their quirks that pulled up a bad memory here and there.
“Okay. I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt, but if you ever strike out at
me, or give me any indication that your temper is out of control, I’m gone.”
She had already told him she wasn’t interested in a relationship. That wasn’t
exactly true. She was lonely and wanted someone to spend her time with. She so
much missed human affection, companionship, and sex. They were things her dogs
couldn’t supply and despite her bouts of self-denial, she wanted a man in her
life.

“Thank you. I hope I didn’t ruin
the day. Tell me what I can do to make it up to you?”

“Prove that you are telling the
truth. Otherwise, let’s have a good time. Isn’t that what today is supposed to
be about, acting silly and laughing?”

He nodded and then smiled, but the
expression shadowed an undertone of guilt. He felt really bad for snapping at
her. Toward the end of their relationship, Jack had become quick to accuse her
of things. Of course, it was usually because she was asking about something
simple like why he was working so much. She had no idea his late hours were due
to his girlfriend. That had come as a total shocker. “So what are we doing?”

“It’s kind of frigid out to go
sledding yet. How about I start a fire and we wait for the storm to calm down a
bit. Getting frostbite isn’t exactly what I had in mind.”

“Me neither. A fire would be nice.”

He nodded and walked past her,
going back into the living room. There was a good-sized pile of wood by the
hearth and he put some into the grate and used a fire starter to get it
burning. Once the glass doors were closed, he left the room. Austin came back a
moment later with a huge rolled cushion. He folded it in half and put it on the
floor by the fire. “I sleep out here sometimes, and this is really comfortable
to sit on. Do you like games?”

“What kind of games?”

“Yahtzee, Monopoly, Setback, name
your poison.”

“How about Yahtzee.” She hadn’t
played that in years. With a nod, he went for the game and she sat down. He was
right; the covered cushion was quite comfortable. Austin came back with the box
in his hands and sat across from her.

“It’s been a long time since I
played this.”