Forbidden Seduction [ Forbidden Obsession]

I jump when I feel his hand take mine, and I don’t fight it when he weaves our fingers together. We ride the rest of the way in silence, hand in hand. I try not to dwell on the past and the sadness it still brings me, but the memories come anyway. Of being shuffled between the houses of my aunts and uncles, of Brad crying and asking why he didn’t have a daddy when everyone else did, of the loneliness and hardship of parenting alone.

By the time I pull into the farm I feel down, the same way I always feel when this spiral of thoughts catches me. There aren’t many cars here, which is good. It will make it easier to pick a tree if there are less people vying for the good ones. I put the car in park, and before I can even turn the car off, Trevor is out of his seat. He’s standing in front of me on my side of the car when I open my door. He closes the door for me, and wraps his arms around me. It’s unexpected, and welcome. I feel myself relaxing into the warmth of this embrace.

“I’m sorry I asked,” he says. “It’s obviously not a fun thing to relive.”

“No, it’s not.”

He pulls back far enough to see my face. “No one deserves that,” he says. “Especially not you.” The kiss he places on my lips is chaste and sweet, and something tugs inside my chest. A yearning for this kind of simple intimacy. He releases the kiss and takes my hand again. “Let’s find the prefect tree for your house.”

Finding the tree is one of my favorite things. I love these fields filled with trees that vary from tiny young trees to ones that might be older than Trevor. The air is clear and crisp, the sun blinding on the snow. “Come on,” I say. “I’ve always found my favorite trees at the bottom of the hill.” I gesture towards the back of the farm. The farm itself covers several acres, including a giant hill that’s a shame isn’t available for sledding. But in the little area at the base of the hill is where I’ve always managed to find a tree that calls to me.

“Let’s go then,” Trevor says, suddenly grinning. Keeping a firm grip on my hand, he starts running, pulling me through the trees and snow towards the base of the hill. My feet are sliding all over the place as I try to keep up with him, the snow getting deeper here. The cold air is burning in my lungs and tears are pooling in my eyes because of the brightness. But at the same time, there’s a smile on my face, Trevor’s joy leaking out of him and into me lifting me out of the pull of dark thoughts and memories.© 2024 Nôv/el/Dram/a.Org.

We reach the bottom of the hill and Trevor stops so suddenly that I slam into him, have to cling to him to keep from falling face first into the snow. “Look at that,” he says. The hill is right in front of us, stretching upwards and covered in various sized fir trees. But between us and the trees is a huge swath of ground, the snow perfect and unblemished, brilliantly white. “There is no way we’re not making snow angels in that.”

I laugh. “Seriously?”

“I never joke about snow angels,” Trevor says, pulling me after him again. We run up the side of the hill right into the middle of that perfect snow, and then Trevor release my hand, throwing himself backwards into the snow. He moves his legs wildly, back and forth, creating the classic snow angel shape and showering me with snowy bits. I try to shield myself, but it’s no use.

I follow his example, letting myself fall back and be caught by the snow. I don’t remember the last time I made a snow angel. Maybe sometime with Brad when he was younger. Trevor scrambles up, and reaches out, pulling me out of my angel. They’re side by side, Trevor’s comically larger because of how much taller he is.

“Come here.” Trevor pulls me to a fresh patch of snow, and I fall into it, but this time Trevor comes with me. He grabs my hands, and together we make a snow angel. Real angels would be blushing because of the kind of kiss we share making that angel. Our tongues tangle together and my body warms in spite of lying in the snow.

“We’re going to melt the angel,” I say, a bit breathlessly.

“Good point.” He struggles to his feet.

I try to get up, but slip and fall face first into the snow drift next to our angel. Trevor’s laughter rings out across the hill as he tries to help me out of the snow. I come up covered in it, crystals clinging to my hair and drops running down my face. “Now you’re the snow angel,” he says, and leans in for another of those sweet kisses. His tenderness is throwing off my balance, because I can’t seem to keep on my feet now. On the way down the hill I keep falling, and Trevor does his best to catch me, though I usually end up in the snow.

Crossing back into the rows of trees, I slip again. Trevor manages to get his arms around my waist, and he drags me against him, laughing. Then I’m laughing too, and I can’t remember the last time I had this much simple fun. I tug Trevor’s face down to mine, unable to keep myself from kissing him in this moment, because I feel bubbly and happy and free. Even if I were to only have this day with him, I know right now that I will never regret it.

He kisses me back, slow and soft, until I forget where we are and why we came here. It seems like an eternity has passed when I open my eyes and find him looking down at me. His mouth quirks up into a smile. “We still need a tree.”