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“What things?”

She gives a little shiver. “Feeling that someone else is here, that we’re not alone in this place. Strange things happen here. Isn’t that part of the reason I was brought here, so the three of you would have a distraction? What if there was a way to stop it? To fix whatever is happening?”

“Impossible.”

“Is it? Has anyone even tried?”

“You can’t change the bones of something. We just have to wait it out.”

She shakes her head slightly, her beautiful pale blue eyes wide. “Doesn’t it scare you, Dov? How can you get through each year knowing this time is coming?”

I pause, considering her question. “This is the time I most look forward to. Perhaps it’s because I feel like I’m a part of it. I’m most comfortable in the darkness. When the hotel comes to life, so do I.”

Is she looking at me thinking the same as my brother now, that I’m a freak? Perhaps they’re all correct, and that’s what I am.

Standing at the shelves of books, I trail my fingers along them slowly. She said she likes stories with mystery and romance, but I’m not sure I know any of those.

“What about something gothic?” I reach for an old bound copy of Wuthering Heights. “It has romance… of a sort.”

“Sure.” She flashes me an awkward smile, unsure where I’m going with this.

My brother’s words ring in my ears. Make her know how special she is...

“Come here. I’ll read to you.”

I catch her by the hand and lead her, with the book in my other hand, over to a large occasional chair in the corner. Sitting first, I pull her onto my lap. She gives a cute nervous giggle, and I can’t help smiling.

Being around her makes me feel different. For so long, I felt like I was existing as a shadow. Even when we’ve had other women here, I was never drawn to them like I am to Aspen. I’d always found them intimidating, which is ironic, because I’m sure they’d been scared of me, too.

Nothing about her makes me feel like less of a man.

30

ASPEN

He pulls me onto his lap, so I’m curled up with my head on his chest. The solid thump of his heart beats against my cheek. The fire in the grate creates a warm, comforting ambiance. I’m physically tired from the hike, and this extra comfort only makes me sleepier. My fears of what the hotel might hold seem to dissipate, my worries unfounded. Maybe everything will be all right. If I embrace this place, as Dov has, and accept both the living and dead housed within its walls, I’ll reach the end of winter with my heart and body intact.

Dov has a good reading voice. His timber is so deep, it rumbles through his chest. I could honestly listen to this man read a shopping list and I’d still be enthralled. Sometimes I have to remind myself that this is the same man who drugged my water so he could come into my room at night, undisturbed.

He holds the book open in the hand of the arm he has supporting my back. His other hand strokes my hair, then my cheek. It’s an absentminded touch, as though he doesn’t realize he’s tracing my face with his thumb. He strokes my forehead, across my eyebrows, my cheekbones and jaw, and finally my mouth. He continues to read, his thumb brushing back and forth across my lower lip. Then he pushes it across my lower teeth and back out again, wetting my lip with my saliva.

There doesn’t seem to be anything sexual in it. I feel like I’m giving him comfort as much as he’s giving it to me. We haven’t had sex, not fully, and I wonder if tonight will be the night. What would I do or say if he wanted to? Would I give myself to him? He’s touched me intimately and made me climax, but that’s all. I get the feeling he’s worried about what will happen if he allowed himself to lose control.

His thumb pushes into my mouth, and, instead of him pulling back out again, I find my mouth closing around his digit. The pad presses to the roof of my mouth, my tongue curling around the nail of his thumb, and I suck.

Dov lets out a sigh and pulls me closer. He places a kiss to the top of my head, and I allow my eyes to slip shut, losing myself in the sensations of having him surrounding me. He continues to read, and I absorb the sound of his voice while I suckle on his thumb.

I feel so safe with him. How is it possible that this huge, gentle giant is capable of such violence?

We’re in a good place, the four of us. Levi seems to have softened toward me, Blake and I are still kind of tentative toward each other, but we’re heading in the right direction, and I’m starting to feel more comfortable with Dov.

Dare I allow myself to believe we might make it to the end of winter?

31

ASPEN

It’s another week before I can bring myself to go into the basement again.