Ice Cliff, Colorado
Two weeks later
Sierra's last day at the general store went by uneventfully. After declining Everest for a date, she focused on getting ready for her first day at Jones Accounting Firm. So much so that she didn't even notice that he'd stopped trying to contact her.
Good, she originally thought.
On a Friday, however, another blizzard was brewing. Luckily this time, Sierra is home. The beautifully red and orange fire blazing and kept her cabin warm. Her mind went back to Everest for the first time since refusing him. Her skin finally felt a little normal.
Her sheets don't feel the same, she ignores it. Her body craves him every night, she ignores it. His phone calls, ignored.
"A man that good looking is not going to keep chasing you, Sierra. You need to make a choice. Either you're interested or you're not." Her coworker preached one day during lunch.
"You wouldn't understand." She mumbles but the girl doesn't hear her.
Sierra finishes her shower and lays in her bed to find sleep.
She tosses and turns in the night. One of those dreams that don't make sense is giving her discomfort. Strong arms pull her close. A gentle kiss on her forehead. Her tossing stops.
Another night, Sierra unconsciously seeks out the man that's sharing his bed. Throwing her arm across his chest before going into a deep slumber. Everest's warm skin made her smile.
Her legs swung over the bed. Her naturally curly hair wild all over her head. Just how he likes it. After a late-night session, her skin still shined in the moonlight.
"You needa chill, my legs hurt." Her voice a little raspy from calling his name so much.
"Okay then..." he agrees. Then he pulls her legs across his waist. "Let me hold you." He kisses along her jaw. Butterflies erupt in her belly, sparks burning her skin.
"No. I'm fine." Her hands pushing his chest. "I got it." Wait, I lied, Sierra finished in her head.
Snapping herself out of her tortuous thoughts, Sierra flung the covers off her body and turned the fire again just in case.
"You gon give me a chance." Everest vowed as he held her body to his chest. Holding her just like he requested. Something about his natural dominance gave her security. His natural masculinity was leaps and bounds more than her pseudo-masculinity. A faux representation of the walls she's created for herself.
"You haven't done anything to request such a thing, Everest." She retorts. Her smaller body curled into a ball in his lap.
"Because of the confines of this cabin, I haven't maybe. I'm speaking in future terms, Sierra." His nose took in her natural scent. She shivers when his hands caresses her gently.
"We'll see..."
Sierra snaps herself out of her thoughts as the snow danced outside her window. Moving sideways reminded her of something else.
Everest slid her down on his member, her toes already curling. "Watch me." He softly demanded her. Her breath caught in her throat.
Though she was on top, his natural dominance and masculinity took over the situation at hand.
"You're determined to..." she doesn't finish her thoughts before he starts moving slowly, seductively inside of her waiting cove. She wraps her arms around his neck and caught his rhythm, staring in his eyes like he requested.
The nonverbal communication shakes her core.
He held her in that position for what felt like hours. Sucking her flesh, whispering her name, treating her body in extreme care. Sierra refused to acknowledge what was happening to her.
Her heart thumps wildly in her chest as her body spoke what her mouth refused.
"That was definitely not FWB behavior." She groans to herself. Her nerves more frazzled than they've been in two weeks. She fans her hands. I miss him, she finally admits.
Greyson watched Everest in his mancave of his home. Cigar smoke and a shot of brown whiskey in his hand, Grey wondered if he should address the elephant in the room. He stayed on the most northern part of Everest's land in his own mansion after deciding that he'd get his own when he found his person.
"You not yourself bruh. What's going on?" Greyson watches Everest shift his body on the couch. "It's the woman." He wasn't asking.
"Sierra. That's her name." he admits slowly. Greyson shifts his eyes in a nonverbal way of requesting more. "Yeah...it's her."
"Her? Your Bond?"
"Yes...and she's refusing me. After three days in my cabin."
"That's not the whole story bruh. I know you..."
"Her truck stopped on Country Road 13 and she ended up on my land. I rode up there on Phoenix and took her to the nearest cabin." He admits, taking a long sip of his whiskey.
"Mhm...interesting. So she's refusing you? I'm sure you pulled out the stops."
"She's not that type actually. Very earthy. Almost Mika-esque, just not that far out." Everest takes time to describe Sierra's personality.
Flashes of her memory disrupted his thoughts. "I'm gonna go on down the path." Everest stands.
"Yeah, the blizzard picking up some." Grey gestured to the wall length window. Everest daps his cousin up and leaves.
His mind is on Sierra as he walks in his mansion. He went back after about a week. Only because her memory was far too strong for him. At first it made all the sense in the world to him but now, craving her was becoming too much too.
He showers and lays in his bed, naked.
Sierra lays in her bed, naked.
Their memories bounce around simultaneously.
"My favorite color?!" she laughs at the man. His grey eyes sincere. "You really wanna know?"
"I wanna know everything about you." His answer shakes her to her core. Everything? But she recovers quickly.
"My favorite color is...pink." Her face turns red in embarrassment. Everest is surprised. "What did you think my favorite color would be?"
"Black or something off the wall."
"Boy shut up. Sometimes white is so beautiful to me too. It's so clean but when it gets dirty...it's dirty!" her face wrinkles up in displeasure.
Everest chuckles when he imagines her face.
"Like snow." He nods his head.
"JUST like snow! What's your favorite color?"
"Blue."
"Just blue? Nothing else? Like red, like candy apple red. Red Corvette red."
"I had a Corvette once. It was yellow. When I was about seventeen." Everest smiles when he thinks about that car. "I traded it in for a ...another car."
"Tell me the story about Phoenix the horse." She asks him, scooting her body close to him, laying her head on his chest. Playing with his fingers. The clock reading one am. Her natural femininity showing.
Sierra twists her lips at the memory. Why did I do that? she thought.
"Like I said, I got Phoenix as a birthday present. He was just a pony. I was turning fourteen. I distinctly remember my mama saying this was my chance to prove that I really wanted a horse and not just infatuated with the thought of having a horse. I had been fuckin with her since we got back from our trip about it. Every day and then every month until she cussed me out.
"On my fourteenth birthday we had the party in the field. I thought that was weird. So anyway, she told me to close my eyes and I hear a soft neigh. I spazzed out I was so happy man."
"Aww, and you still get a gleam in your eyes. That's so sweet." Sierra kisses his cheek. She glances at the clock. "I really don't want to go to work. I'm surprised EM hasn't sent an email about when he wanted the store opened.
"Don't worry bout it, I'm pretty sure he'd want you to be safe."
"Maybe so. Maybe so." She yawns, and tucks herself into his body and falls asleep.
Sierra smiled to herself as she got closer and closer to dreamland. In some weird way, she felt like Everest was right with her, holding her close like he did every night for three nights.
Everest could smell her natural scent. A smell forever ingrained in his brain.
The next morning, Sierra awoke with nerves. Her first day at a new job.
From Everest 6:30 am
Good luck on your first day. I got faith in you.
Her fingers shook for a moment. "A man that good looking is not going to keep chasing you, Sierra. You need to make a choice. Either you're interested or you're not."
Sierra blows a breath.
To Everest 8:00 am
Thank you. I needed that.