by Kay Maree
Lena gave me a soft smile. “She knows how much you love him. He couldn’t be in safer hands.”
With the trial starting, there would be renewed interest in our whereabouts. That safety could be tested. All the more reason to lay low. To be ready.
The door swung open, and Mark entered, his coat and shoes already removed in the porch. Lena hopped up and went to him for a kiss.
“Did you have fun?” she asked.
I pretended interest in my paperback, giving them the semblance of privacy as Mark rattled through the details of the evening. But my ears pricked up at a familiar name.
“Bull didn’t know what to do. You should’ve seen his face..”
“What happened with Bull?” I sat up.
Mark pulled a face, his cheeks red from the cold night. “Bull’s ex came in right in the middle of dinner. She was shouting and crying and demanding all kinds of things. The boy was crying, too. Bull tried to manage her, but you know some people. She was there to cause a scene.”
“She brought his son?”
“Oh yeah!” He grabbed a beer from the kitchen. Lena and I followed. “It was heart-breaking. The toddler was holding his little arms out for Bull. So painful to watch.”
“That must have been awkward.” Lena shook her head, her lips hard in a line. “That woman is a walking nightmare.”
I didn’t want to hear about Bull by gossip, but it was hard to imagine him volunteering information. “What’s the problem with his ex?” I asked. “Someone in the bar implied something happened to his son.”
“Not his son,” Mark said, his eyebrows up in his shock of brown hair. “It’s why they broke up. She lied about who’d fathered the boy. Not that you’d know it from the fuss tonight. Poor guy looked distraught after she left.”
Mark then leapt on to a new subject—how drunk a colleague had got—but my mind was stuck on Bull.
He’d thought he was a father, then he wasn’t.
My blood surged, energy cresting. “Can I borrow your car?” I interrupted.
“Uh, sure.” Mark handed the keys over.
I didn’t miss the knowing look Lena gave him as I darted to find my shoes and coat, but it didn’t matter. I was out the door.
****
Snowflakes swirled in the car’s headlights. No traffic frequented the forest road that took me into town, and I put my foot down, driving as fast as I could without risking my neck. Outside a darkened Bhaltair’s, I parked up and paused for a second, watching the building.
Mark had said Bull’s ex left, and it was after hours for staff now. Usually, Bull was the last person standing, so he’d most likely be alone in there now, if he hadn’t already made tracks for wherever he lived.
Drawing a deep breath, I exited the car and marched straight up to the bar’s entrance and shoved the door.
It wouldn’t budge.
I hammered with my fist.
“We’re closed!” came Bull’s gruff yell.
“Let me in anyway,” I called back.
Locks clunked, and the door swung wide, Bull’s face appearing in the frame. He looked me over then glanced behind me and down the street.
“What are ye doing here, lass?”
I had no idea. I could’ve said that I’d heard what happened and I wanted to check on him. But that was more than I was willing to give.
Instead, right there on the snowy step, I pushed up onto my tiptoes and pressed my cold lips to his warm ones.
Bull growled and clutched my waist. In a rapid move, he swung me over the threshold and slammed the door closed before pushing me back against it. Yes. This.
The spark that we’d made with our kiss this morning ignited.
Exploded.
With no room for words or explanation, we pawed at one another, the draw irresistible. Bull hoisted me, and I automatically curled my legs around his waist. We sank into the kiss. I dug my fingers into his tied-back hair, and he gripped my backside with one hand and held my face with the other.
Excitement zinged in my veins. This had never happened to me. Sure, I’d had passionate clinches, but I’d rarely gone looking for it. Never been so bold as to knock on a guy’s door then leap into his arms.
“Don’t stop,” I begged as Bull moved his mouth to my neck. I shivered under his hot kisses and how his beard rasped over my skin.
“Wasn’t planning to,” he muttered in response then, abruptly, he put me down. “What did ye come here for, Autumn?”
“This. You. I thought you weren’t going to stop,” I grumbled.
“I don’t screw around,” he said. His hands went to the waistband of my jeans, and he found the button. Then he sank to his knees in front of me. “If we’re doing this for the duration you’re in town, you’re mine.”
“No argument here.” I clenched his black hair in my fingers and tugged his head back so I could see his eyes. They glimmered with a delicious darkness.
“Don’t, lass. Ye don’t control this. I do,” he bit out.
“Wrong. The same applies to you. If we’re fucking,” I let the word hang, pleased with how I was owning this, “then you’re mine.”
“Done.”
Then there was no time for talking. Bull dragged my jeans from my body, my underwear with them. “Naked,” he ordered, and I shed my jumper, t-shirt, then added my bra to the pile on the floor behind him.
I stood, nude, in front of the door to his bar, the wood cold at my back but the heat blazing in me keeping the chill at bay. The windows’ shutters had been closed to prying eyes; I let myself be bold. Proud.
Bull inhaled through his nose, his gaze skirting over my curves, the low light from the fire gleaming on my skin.
His two big hands found my thighs then skimmed up over my belly to my breasts. He moulded them in his hands, admiring what he’d found. Then he leaned in and took my nipple in his mouth. His thumb and forefinger rolled the other then pinched hard.
I moaned, pressing into his mouth.
He wasn’t gentle. There was a rawness to his attentions, a need that came from him in waves. He kept up his work, sucking on me and turning me on more than ever I had been before.
And we’d barely started.
His other hand wandered south. He took a rude grab of my backside then slid his finger into my soaking core.
I moaned loud and long.
“Good,” Bull murmured.
He stroked me, and when he moved his mouth to my other nipple, he lightly bit me at the same second he pushed two fingers inside.
“Oh, holy fuck.” I groaned, overwhelmed with sensation.
Then Bull abruptly pulled my thigh over his shoulder and dropped his lips from my breast. His hot mouth landed right at the apex of my thighs, and I arched back, my broken cry resounding in the empty bar.
Bull found my clit and sucked and licked me, keeping up a smooth rhythm with his two fingers. Then he added a third, and I yelled and gripped his head.
“Don’t you dare stop,” I growled then arched back as a rough orgasm built.
I tightened around his fingers, and Bull increased his pace, owning my body. Eliciting an overwhelming response built of lusting after him and desperately needing a distraction.
This was almost embarrassing, if it wasn’t so damn hot.
“Fuck!” I yelled as the first waves crashed down on me. I collapsed over him, draping over his head. My eyes closed of their own accord, and my mind swirled with sheer pleasure.
Distantly, I felt Bull adjust his hold of my hips, then he lowered me to hold me in his arms.
“Jesus,” he said, strained. “When ye come, ye fall hard.”
“Your turn.” I shook my head to return to my senses. Under me, his rigid cock strained at his jeans.
He grasped my chin and brought my gaze to his. “Did ye bring condoms?”
I blinked at him. “You don’t have any?”
“Bar’s out. I haven’t bought any in a long time so I don�
��t have a personal supply.”
“Me neither.” I hadn’t exactly thought that a priority when I’d left Scotland.
I adjusted myself on his lap so I was straddling him, completely naked to his fully clothed state. “I’m sure I can find a way to level the playing field without one.”
Standing, I brought Bull with me, encouraging him to his feet. “Sit there,” I instructed, pointing at a chair.
“Strange how I almost like you ordering me around.” His dark gaze never left me as he dropped into a leather wingback. “I dinna enjoy anyone telling me what to do.”
“Get used to it. Take your dick out.” I waited, a few feet back.
Bull complied, unzipping his jeans and dragging them over his backside then taking himself in hand.
Wow.
Sprawled in his seat, he was the image of a huge alpha male. His dark hair, now loose, fell into his eyes, and his thick beard and his huge body made him so heavily masculine my mouth watered. And that dick…
“You are fucking sexy standing there like that. Hottest woman I’ve ever seen,” he said, then stroked himself root to tip, cupping his balls.
“I was just thinking the same about you. I’ve never seen a man like you.” Advancing on him, I dropped to my knees to the cold stone floor.
“Hands off.” Pushing between his thighs, I took his dick in my hands—the job requiring both—and gave him a long stroke.
Bull grunted encouragement, but I didn’t need it. I was going to blow his mind. If he thought he could resist me before, those barriers would be well and truly destroyed.
In a rapid move, I enclosed the head of his dick with my mouth, sucking hard and sliding down a couple of inches. I used my hand to cover the length I couldn’t get to and braced myself on his chest.
“Fuck,” Bull ground out.
There was something powerful to having such a man at my mercy. I used my tongue on the underside, working him, setting a nice rhythm, and loving the groans coming from him.
Bull took hold of my long hair and wrapped it around his fist. Oh God. I tested his strength, straining against his hold. Without knowing, he’d hit on something I loved in bed, not that I’d slept with many guys who were up for taking instruction. The slight pain of my hair being pulled sent me wild.
I moaned onto his dick and ramped up the pressure. Then I moved my hand to play with his heavy balls.
“Woman.” His deep voice reverberated through his chest. “Ye have no idea…”
His sentence broke off as I shifted up a gear, needing his surrender and needing it fast. I bobbed up and down over his lap, my breasts swaying with every move.
Bull jacked his hips in narrow circles, fucking my mouth. His breathing came ragged, and his grip on me strengthened.
In my mouth, his smooth dick swelled even further, and I knew he was close.
“Autumn, lass, fuck—” He gave a broken roar and thrust hard, then his balls pulsed in my hand.
Down my throat, he came a flood.
Almost as if he hadn’t come in months.
I sucked on him, working him through his orgasm and his aftershocks. Then I sat back on my heels and grinned.
Bull had his head tipped to rest on the leather chair, one arm thrown over his eyes, looking every inch the well-satisfied man. “Fuck,” he said again.
“Glad you enjoyed yourself.” With an irrepressible smile, I leapt up and located my underwear, dressing myself in quick order. “I’ve got to get back.”
He blinked, his hazy gaze focusing on me. “You’re leaving?” Then he stood, reinstating his jeans, and crossed to the window. “The snow’s heavy. I’ll take ye home.”
“I’ll be fine. Anyway, I borrowed Mark’s car so I can’t leave it here.”
“Then I’ll drive behind ye.”
“It isn’t necessary.”
Bull huffed and gave me a glare. “I’ve had a shite day. Just let me do one thing to make sure it ends on this high note.”
Ah, his other visitor this evening. “That was why I came here, other than wanting to jump you. Mark said what happened. I was worried.”
For a moment, he didn’t say anything, but emotion played out on his features.
I understood his hesitation. We were nothing to one another. A flirtation and a blazing-hot clinch did not make a reason to share life stories. I swallowed down my need to intrude in his personal life and spoke first to save him the pain.
“It’s okay. Let’s just leave it here. We both know what this was. If you still want to escort me home, I’d appreciate it.”
The light in Bull’s eyes dimmed, and he gave me a gruff nod then stooped to pick up my jacket.
In short order, we were on the road, in separate cars, fighting the snowstorm to reach Lena’s. Once I’d parked up, Bull waited on the drive for me to open the front door to the house. Then he spun his snow tyres on the ice and sped away.
CHAPTER TEN
Relief
Bull
For two days, I was a walking hazard, constantly distracted by Autumn. The bar was packed from morning to night, the town’s Christmas market bringing day trippers and the party bookings cramming every seat in the evenings. Tips flowed, the mood was high, and everyone was chirpy.
Apart from me.
By the second afternoon, I’d had it. The surge of relief I’d had at Autumn’s clever hands—and mouth—only served to make me hungrier. The secretive glances she gave me, and the sly touches as we’d worked side by side serving customers drove me insane.
I paced the hall between the bar and the kitchen.
She appeared at the end.
Her eyes widened as she spied me. With unspoken but mutual understanding, we took the few steps into my office, and I slammed the door behind us. And locked it.
Autumn launched herself at me, and I caught her, our mouths locking together in fever. We warred to control the kiss.
“Bull?” Denise hollered through the door. “The organiser of tonight’s party is in the bar. He’s worried about the storm coming in. Bull?”
“Fuck. Fuck it.” I put Autumn down.
“Tell him to have everyone come an hour early then be done by nine,” I yelled back, not taking my gaze off the lass. “They’ll be home in time.”
“Will do,” my bar manager called back.
I leaned in for another kiss when the voice came again.
“He also wants to talk about the menu. Food allergies.” Denise’s voice held laughter this time.
My growl could fell trees in the surrounding forest.
“Go. We’ll pick this up later. I’ve got er, provisions, this time.” Autumn gave me a squeeze.
“I do, too.” I’d restocked the bar’s supply of condoms as well as my own. No running out again.
“Then we’ll see how many we can get through before I go home tonight.” The lass winked then reached around me. She unlocked the door then mouthed, “Later.”
I’d hold her to that.
The day drew on, and the storm worsened. By eight, the evening crowd took their desserts to go and made their ways home. I sent the staff with them until there were only two of us left.
Autumn bolted the door on the swirling snow and turned to face me.
All day, I’d expected a return of Cindy. Yesterday’s display had not only been awkward, but she’d upset the bairn—a wrongdoing I couldn’t forgive. Maybe she’d accepted the fact I wasn’t ever going back to her, but I also knew she was in a dark place.
I wasn’t the man to help her.
Now, with the deadbolt in place, I finally relaxed.
“You know, I should really leave, too.” Autumn strolled the length of the room. She reached the fireplace and stooped to collect a log. A flare of sparks rose where she tossed it into the grate.
“Aye, ye should. You’ll be stuck here, otherwise.”
“I called home. Benjamin’s asleep and had a good evening. He won’t wake unti
l six or seven tomorrow morning. As long as I’m home by then…” She let the sentence drift into the space between us.
Holy fuck. I had her all night?
Suddenly, there was nothing else in my head than getting on her, in her, and possessing her.
I stalked down the room but stopped abruptly and changed direction. I’d had an idea. I veered right to the store cupboard off the hallway. In there was a sheepskin rug I’d bought to go in front of the fire but hadn’t yet used. Perfect for what I now had in mind.
I hauled it out and stripped the wrapping then strode back into the bar and set it in place.
Autumn’s eyes widened.
“Clothes off,” I ordered, standing over her. “I want ye naked and lying on that rug.”
“Whoa. Anyone would think this was a fantasy of yours.” She took the hem of her Bhaltair’s shirt and pulled it over her head.
My mouth watered at the sight of her. Her round tits overspilling her black bra…
Then she shimmied out of her skirt then kicked off her shoes and stepped onto the rug.
“I said naked,” I repeated. “I want that gorgeous body ready for me, nothing in the way.”
“You’re fully dressed. This time, I want to see all of you. Not just your dick. Strip, big man.” She raised a wry eyebrow and waited, her hands on her hips.
Yeah, about that… A small ripple of doubt rose in me, but I slid my jacket from my shoulders and toed off my boots. I knew I had a body lasses admired, but that wasn’t what had me wincing. A year ago, when life had been a million miles from where it was now, when I’d held a newborn bairn in my arms and called him my own, I’d got myself a permanent reminder of that duty.
I stripped my shirt.
Autumn watched me, her teeth on her lower lip. The second she saw it, her jaw dropped.
In black tattooed letters, the name ‘Archie’ stood out on my side.
To her credit, Autumn didn’t say a word. Instead, her gaze drifted over my form, and her expression rapidly turned back from shock to heat.
I shucked off the rest of my clothes in a second and moved in on her. The firelight and the low glow from the bar were the only illumination in the room. Autumn’s skin gleamed, and energy charged me.
