Stranded On Christmas Read online

  He grinned at the name Pumpkin, but he didn't say anything. He just nodded and went back out into the cold. What a great guy, I thought as I looked around. I loved hearing him say that he would take care of everything. That wasn’t something that I had heard often in life.

  He hadn't said that there was anyone else was in the house, but he also hadn't said that there wasn't. I looked at the hallway and peeked up the stairs. I went up the stairs feeling like an intruder. I opened a couple of doors looking for his bedroom.

  I found one that had a gray blanket on a brass bed. It had looked the most manly.

  All the rooms had been old fashioned with antique furniture, not the fine kind that you see in auction houses but the simple sturdy kind. Otherwise, the rooms were very plain, like no one actually lived here.

  I opened a door and saw that it was his closet. He didn't have much, mostly work clothes. I quietly closed the door. He was being exceptionally nice to me. I didn't want to snoop.

  I opened the next door and found myself standing in a very modern bathroom. I figured that he had bought a fixer-upper and was working from room to room.

  This one was finished. It looked great. It had a huge bathtub and double sinks. Unfortunately, he had chosen gray tiles and black slate floor. The room was very dark but extremely elegant. It was masculine. With a couple of rose-colored towels and some scented candles this room could be feminized. From the absence of such touches, I guessed that he was single.

  I shook my head at myself. There was no way that he would be interested in me. Not even Jamie, who was going to take me to his parents, was really in love with me.

  I got undressed quickly and took a warm shower. The hot water felt so good. I hurried out and wrapped myself up in one of his huge gray towels. I rubbed my body to dry myself off. My blood was finally circulating like it should.

  Once I was dry, I looked at myself in the mirror that covered the area over the sinks from wall to wall and up to the ceiling.

  I noted that I was a little cuddly. Not obese but definitely not model thin either. My breasts were nice sized because of the extra pounds. My waist could be tinier. I wished that I had done all of those exercise DVDs that I'd bought over the years. If I had a bit more discipline, I would be profiting from it now. Maybe if I were prettier or smarter, I could be at Jamie's parents' house right now, and he would be smiling at me. It was a nice dream.

  I snapped out of it when I heard the loud puffing of a tractor outside. I went to the window and looked out. The snow was really coming down. Thick heavy flakes were falling on the other side of the window. Gideon was on the tractor with my car hitched up behind him. He pulled into a well-lit barn.

  Then I saw him coming out with all of my things. He had one suitcase was tucked under his arm, and one he held by the handle. In his other arm he had Pumpkin's basket with the dishes and dog food in the basket. He closed the barn door with his foot. Then he ducked his head down because of the cold wind and hurried into the house.

  I heard him downstairs. He was talking to Pumpkin. It sounded like he was feeding him and talking about laying his basket next to the fireplace.

  This Gideon was making lots of points with me. I was hoping that I would be able to pay him back one day.

  I heard him coming up the stairs, so I wrapped the towel closely around my body. He walked right over to the door. I felt my heart pumping even harder. Would he just come in?

  He knocked, and even though I knew that he was there I jumped a little. “Jessica, I have your suitcases right here. I'm leaving now, so you can come out and get dressed into something warm. I'll be downstairs making you a cup of hot chocolate. If you need anything, just holler.” He had spoken loudly. He didn't seem to know that I could hear him so well in here.

  “Thank you so much, Gideon. I really appreciate everything that you’re doing for me. Thank you.”

  “You're welcome, Jessica.”

  I listened and heard him leaving and closing the door. He went downstairs. I could hear him talking to Pumpkin again.

  I snuck out, opened up a suitcase, and got out the warmest clothes I had packed. I went downstairs with my feet packed up in two pairs of socks. One pair was under my leggings, and one pair was over them. I was wearing one of those long sweater dresses with a turtleneck under it. I peeked into the living room and saw my dog in his basket by a fieldstone fireplace, looking like that was his God-given place in this world.

  “Jessica,” Gideon called out to me. He had just walked into the room through a swinging door from the kitchen. He had a tray with two mugs on it in his hands.

  This guy was a dream come true.

  “I was thinking that we should sit down by the fire, so you can warm up better.”

  “Sure. That sounds great.” I went over to Pumpkin and sat down on the rug by his basket.

  Gideon set the tray down on the hearth and sat down next to me. He handed me my mug and smiled at me. He had great eyes. I could hardly believe that I was sitting in front of a fire with this beautiful man. And I thought that Jamie had looked good, but he couldn't hold a candle to this guy. Jamie wasn't nice like Gideon was either. If Jamie had been the one to save me, I would never have heard the end of it. He would have let me know exactly how I had inconvenienced him, and he would have mentioned it often.

  “Thank you so much for coming to my rescue. I don't know what would have happened without your help.”

  “It was really clever of you to send out the SOS. I heard it and wondered about my sanity, but you kept right at it, so I went out to check what was going on. I'm glad I got to you when I did. The temperature in the car would have dropped quickly otherwise. Tell me, what were you doing out in a snowstorm anyway?”

  “I'm on my way to my aunt and uncle's house for Christmas. I didn't know that you were having a snowstorm today, or I would have postponed my trip.”

  He smirked at me and shook his head. “You always need to check the weather before you take off on such a long trip,” he scolded me as if he was honestly worried about me.

  “Don't worry. Consider that a lesson learned. I’ll never just take off on the spur of the moment like that again. No matter what happens.”

  “Did something happen that caused you to leave at the spur of the moment?” He looked concerned.

  I ended up admitting the whole story, even telling him that my aunt and uncle had no idea that I was coming.

  Somehow or another I ended up in his arms while he was whispering that any man who didn't want me was a fool.

  He leaned down and kissed me then. There was so much passion in his kiss that I felt the butterflies in my tummy, just like the ones I read about in cheesy romance books.

  His hand slipped into my hair, and his fingers combed through it. “I like your long hair. It is really beautiful.”

  I was moved to tears. Today had been too much for me.

  “Hey, he isn't worth your tears. If I had a girl like you, I would never give you the feeling that you weren't the most important thing in the world to me.”

  “Do you honestly mean that? Or is it part of your routine to get women to sleep with you?”

  He was shocked and taken aback. He moved away from me. “He slept with you, and then he didn't marry you?”

  “I guess I was naïve. I shouldn't have believed him. He said that he loved me, but obviously he didn't mean it.” I shook my head like I was trying to erase the memories.

  Jamie had lied to me. He had only been with me until he met someone better. Our relationship wasn’t meant for the long run. Why hadn’t I heard that clock ticking in the background? The one that was counting the minutes that we would be together. Only when the alarm sounded, telling me that the time was up had I notice it.

  “I am so sorry that he hurt you. I would never break your heart like that, I promise.” He looked like he meant it.

  I sat up a little more. I thought about giving Gideon a kiss. Should I?

  I leaned over towards him and kissed him. This
time it was my hands in his hair pulling him close. He was grinning from ear to ear when we came up for air.

  I noticed that his hands hadn't wandered, as men's hands tend to do when they are close to a woman. He was waiting for me to take the lead, but I really wasn't that kind of woman.

  What if he didn't really want me? What if he changed his mind when he saw me naked? That would break my heart, and he had promised not to do that. I was so unsure of myself.

  “It's late. I think we should go to bed,” Gideon suggested.

  I moved away from him and stood up. “I just need to step outside for a moment.”

  His face fell like he was disappointed. “You smoke?”

  “No, of course not. Pumpkin needs to go outside.”

  At the mention of the word 'outside' Pumpkin raised his head.

  “Don't worry about that. I'll take him out. You stay here by the fire.” Gideon was on his feet in seconds. “Come on, Pumpkin, let's go.” Pumpkin followed him out of the door like he had done it a million times before.

  I decided to clean up the mugs in that time. I put the empty mugs back on the tray and carried them back into the kitchen.

  The kitchen surprised me. For one thing, it was huge. The other was it was old-fashioned. It was filled with cupboards everywhere, floor to ceiling. The walls (without cupboards) were painted white. The cupboards were a soft light green color with white knobs. There was a table in the middle that was white but the legs were decorated with green stripes that matched the cupboards.

  It was so perfect that it could be in a magazine, but it was just so unusual to see something like this. I guessed that as a guy he didn't know better or he wanted to redo the kitchen later. He had probably just painted over the cupboards and thought that would suffice until a woman told him otherwise.

  I washed up the cups and dried them with an embroidered dishtowel. Had those been here too?

  I started opening up cupboards looking for the cups when I saw that the cupboards were new, like brand new. I could smell the freshly cut wood. He must have just put all of this in.

  He had cupboard after cupboard of preserves. This room was like going back in time. A hundred years ago this room would have been the hit.

  From the looks of the stove you needed to light a fire to get it to heat up food. There was still heat coming from it. It looked like something I once saw in a museum. It was a dark copper-color, but the oven doors were white. It had six different sized circles for placing the pots and pans on. There was a pipe that went up to the ceiling. It could only be for the smoke. I was surprised that something that old still worked – and that someone wanted to use it.

  I opened drawers to put away our spoons. Hanging up the pot he had used to heat the milk was easy. The pots were hanging from the ceiling from hooks. Only one hook was empty.

  “Thank you for cleaning up, Jessica.” I hadn't heard Gideon come in.

  “You're welcome. It was the least I could do after everything that you have done for me today. Thanks for going out with Pumpkin.”

  “I was glad to do it.” He was staring at me. “Tell me, why did you name him Pumpkin?”

  “He was born on Halloween.”

  Gideon laughed lightly and nodded. “I guess that makes sense then. Come on. I'll show you where you can sleep.” His eyes lingered on mine for a moment longer than would be considered normal.

  Was he asking me if I wanted to sleep with him?

  I liked the idea of that. Seeing him undressed would probably be very pleasing to the eye. But him seeing me undressed would embarrass me to death. Someone like him would have been with some very beautiful women.

  I couldn't sleep with him, but I wouldn't mind cuddling with his warm body, and then waking up with his arm around me. That would be nice. The lucky woman that he would marry one day would get to do all of that with him.

  Would she know to appreciate him? Perhaps she would never have a Jamie type of guy in her life, and she would only know Gideon. She might take him for granted.

  I walked over to the door he was holding open for me. He was the perfect gentleman.

  I went to the stairs and peeked over my shoulder. Pumpkin was following me. “Umm – he usually sleeps with me in bed. I understand if you would rather he didn't.”

  He thought about that for a while. “I'm gathering that you don't want to sleep alone.”

  “I guess, I don't.” It was something that I had taken the time to train Pumpkin to do. I had laid doggy treats on the bed and taught him to jump up. With time he had found his place. He slept by my feet every night. I had tried to get him to sleep in my arms, but he preferred my feet. It was what he saw all day long anyway.

  Gideon went over to the fireplace and grabbed Pumpkin's basket. He carried it up the stairs, and Pumpkin hopped up the stairs behind him. I followed the two of them up.

  Gideon laid the basket down in the corner of his bedroom. Pumpkin jumped right into it, again like he had done it before. Gideon seemed to have a way with him.

  “You honestly don't have to give up your room for me. I could – we could – Pumpkin and I could sleep in another room.”

  He cocked his head to the side and looked at me for a while. “I kind of thought that maybe you wanted to – I mean we were kissing and now – Never mind.”

  “Are you serious?” I couldn’t believe that he wanted to sleep with me. He was even nervous about asking, like rejection would truly hurt him. He was good at this. The butterflies were fluttering in my tummy again. He played the innocent shy guy so well that my heart was softening up.

  “I didn't mean to insult you; I just kind of thought that we had a moment downstairs. I hoped that you wanted to continue it – ”

  He looked so hopeful that I had to smile. But the idea of getting undressed with him watching would be too embarrassing.

  “I got the picture. I overstepped a boundary. My apologies. You have been through so much today. I was insensitive.” He went over to a drawer and opened it and pulled out a pair of pajamas. He tucked them under his arm and went to the door.

  Somehow I didn't want him to leave. “I umm – Thank you for everything that you did for me today. I’m so sorry for showing up out of the blue, like I did. I’ll be out of your hair as soon as possible. In fact, I can't believe that I’m intruding like this. I would feel more comfortable if you slept in your own bed. I can't kick you out of here, too.”

  He set his pajamas down on the bed and took hold of my face in his hands. He kissed me so tenderly that I felt my eyes moisten up with emotion.

  “I think I’ve fallen in love with you. I didn't know that something like that could go so fast. Just hearing you talk about being out of my hair – ” He shook his head, like the thought was too much for him to bear. “I like it when your fingers are in my hair.”

  “I like you a lot, too,” I admitted.

  He kissed me more deeply, and I felt myself swooning. I wanted to be loved and held. I even needed it, but I knew out of experience that after a guy got sex that a girl became uninteresting to him. Men would either leave, or want you to leave, or they would turn on the TV and ignore you completely.

  “I don't even know you.” Those words could only be considered a last ditch effort to wake myself up from the trance his kisses were putting me in.

  “We have a whole lifetime to get to know each other. I'm really looking forward to it.” The way he talked made it sound like he wanted to be there for me for the rest of my life. He sounded so sure of himself that I caught myself believing him even though I knew it was just some line.

  Gideon walked me over to his bed. He sat down and pulled me down on his lap.

  “I'm not just jumping from one mistake to the next, am I?” I held his face in my hands and turned him, so he was looking at me.

  “No, not this time.” His amazing blue eyes could lie so well, and I wanted to believe the lie tonight, so I leaned in and kissed him.

  We shyly undressed. He turned the light out before
I got a good look at his body, but what I saw was perfect. He pulled the covers back, and we both climbed in without saying a word to the other.

  Gideon shyly started to kiss me again. I was feeling a little braver in the dark, so I moved in close to him, pressing my breasts into his chest.

  He groaned like he was in agony. I pulled back, but he pulled me in close again.

  I laid my hand on his shoulder. He even had muscles there. I felt a need to pull him closer to me. His hands were timidly touching me.

  He was taking his time. He didn't seem to be in a hurry even though it was already so late.

  I had to guess that it was already after midnight. I had been on the road all night and all day. I should be tired, but he was doing a good job of holding my interest.

  “I want to make love to you,” he whispered in my ear.

  I wanted it too, but I wasn't sure what to say. Would this just end up being uncomfortable or would this end up in a long distance relationship? Maybe he honestly meant everything that he was saying, and we would get married. Then this could be our vacation home. I kissed him as an answer.

  “Are you ready?” he asked.

  “Yes,” I whispered.

  He gently rolled me on my back and carefully laid himself on top of me. I could feel his penis in this position. He was rock hard. I felt especially flattered about that. It amazed me that my body could get his to do that.

  “I think I need your help,” he told me.

  I reached in between us and took hold of him. He groaned loudly again. I pumped him a couple of times. He started to pant.

  I guided him into me. That felt so good. It was like Goldilocks lying in baby bear’s bed. It was just right.

  “This is amazing.” He placed a hand under my head. Then he began to make love to me. He did it slowly, but he was breathing very heavily.

  He grabbed onto a breast and squeezed it tightly then he pushed into me hard.

  I could feel that he was coming inside of me.

  I was surprised that he was finished so soon. I didn't consider myself to be so hot that he would come so quickly.

  He was trying to catch his breath. Once he did, he kissed me all over my face. “Thank you, Jessica. That was incredible.”