by Haley Travis
I’d always been completely independent, and didn’t even like working on projects with people. That’s why I never wanted to join a band. Other people were often difficult, illogical, and just plain annoying. I didn’t know if I could create the music I wanted to if I had to listen to other voices along the way.
Would I be able to create a life that was still my own if I had a partner, with their own day-to-day input?
Tossing my notebook down, I stretched out like a starfish across the bed, giving my shoulders a shake. Then I shook out my hips, once again remembering how seductive Ray’s hands were as he had gripped them so tightly.
Sitting up, I pulled down the track pants, yanking the t-shirt up to see if there were any bruises along my waist and hips.
How strange that I was disappointed that there weren’t! It was as if I needed some memory of his touch branded onto my skin to remind me that whatever happened last night, it was real. I had loved it. It almost frightened me how desperately I needed to experience that again with him.
I’d read about this sort of helpless, breathless desperation so many times. They called it love. I just didn’t know what to think now that it was happening to me .
CHAPTER TEN
* Ray *
I was absolutely haunted by what I had done wrong, even though I had no idea what it was. Should I not have blurted out my feelings for her? Should I not have told her how much I needed her?
The next two days were a blur of hard work, and keeping my eyes open for Kate in case she went for a walk. As far as I could tell, she didn’t leave her cabin at all. Unless she listened for my truck leaving, and only went for walks when I was away. The notion that might be avoiding me to that extent sickened me.
I did some light logging, chopping down dead trees, and a few small ones that needed to be thinned out in a few areas. My brother Dan had marked everything that needed to be removed with a ring of neon blue paint, so they were easy to find. I hauled a few of them back to my workshop for furniture; the rest I split up for firewood.
It would have been perfect if Kate had dropped by while I was behind the big cabin, shirtless and sweaty like the ultimate tough lumberjack. She would dive into my arms, and I would take her straight into the shower, making love with her up against the wall like we almost had done the first hour I’d known her.
But she didn’t come by. And I felt that it would be wrong to go to her. I didn’t want her to feel trapped.
My mind replayed every conversation over and over. Women were supposed to be into feelings, and knowing that they’re needed. At least, that’s what the movies always told me. So what had I done wrong?
At the end of the second day of solid labor, my shoulders had that pleasant slight burn, and I knew it was quitting time.
My quick shower felt strangely lonely. I dressed, put on a jazz CD, and went to the kitchen to find something for dinner. Maybe if I made burgers outside on the grill, Kate would be hungry and join me.
My heart leapt when I heard a tentative tap at the door. Forcing myself to take a second to open it, there was Kate’s beautiful face, looking up at me. She was so damn pretty, in a dark blue sundress with her hair loose, falling around her shoulders.
“Hi,” she said softly. “I came to return your clothes.” She held them out like an offering.
“Would you like to come in?” I asked, taking the folded clothing from her. “I was just about to make dinner. Maybe burgers?”
“Um…” her eyes dropped and she stared at her shoes for a second.
Dammit, I’d made her uncomfortable. What had I done wrong now?
Tossing the clothes on the coffee table, I slipped my arm around her, pulling her inside and closing the door. Leading her to the couch, I sat us down, pulling her so that we were facing each other.
“I don’t know what I did wrong,” I said softly. “If I did anything to upset you, I’m sorry. It’s killing me to think that I might have offended you, or hurt you in some way.”
She shook her head, and I couldn’t stand how uncomfortable she looked. “Everything’s fine,” she said, looking up at me. But I could see in her eyes that wasn’t exactly the truth.
Reaching out to take her hand, I was relieved when she squeezed back. “You can tell me anything, kitten. Please. Did I do something? Did I not do something?”
“No.”After a deep breath, she said, “I think I’m just...overwhelmed. I mean, I wanted you before I even knew your name. That’s weird. I guess…I’ve never been in touch with feelings like lust and arousal before, and it’s freaky. When my girlfriends and I all agreed to look for men this summer, I thought maybe I’d be lucky and meet a guy, and go on a date or something. But everything happened so fast. I need time to process things. I need to see things laid out in a straight line so I know what’s going on. It’s just the way I’ve always been.”
I could feel my jaw clenching, and tried to relax it. “Are you saying that you and your friends wanted to pick up guys this summer…as some sort of dare? “
“No,” she said quickly, “nothing like that. The five of us just agreed that we were going to try to be brave and talk to guys. At least meet a few. You know, stop being so shy and put ourselves out there.”
“So you wanted to outdo them by jumping the first guy you met?” I regretted the words the second they were in the air around us.
“ No! ” She yanked her hand away so that she could clench the fabric of her skirt. “Not that at all. It was just a pact that we should all try to be more open-minded. The thing is, I have no idea what I really want when it comes to relationships, because I’ve never been in one. And I’m at a point in my life where I’m really busy, and focused on my music career.”
“I’d never want to get in the way of your songwriting,” I said carefully.
“There’s so much more to it than just that, though,” she said. “Marketing, developing a brand, social media, researching all of the open mic nights, building a following, getting opening spots for other acts where you would align with their fans to bring them over…it’s a huge amount of time and energy.”
“And you’re not sure if you want a guy around to distract you,” I said flatly.
“I don’t…” She looked up at me, her eyes filling with tears.
“Jesus, no,” I murmured, pulling her into my lap and into my arms. “Please don’t cry, kitten. I would never want to overtake your life. I know some couples spend every waking moment together, but that would drive me nuts. I have my own work. I’m a total loner. I just…maybe there’s a way we can figure things out.”
Her face tilted up to mine, as I wiped away a tear with my thumb. “My sweet little kitten,” I whispered, “Could you think about it for me? Could we find a way to be together that will make you happy?”
She froze, staring at me strangely with her hands gently holding my biceps. She paused, as if she was breathing me in. Then her hands slid up my arms, my shoulders, gliding into the back of my hair.
“I don’t know how you manage to make me feel this good,” she murmured. Then her sweet lips met mine, my hands sliding down to grip her ass as I pulled her against me. My cock lurched under her, instantly completely hard, straining against the fabric of my jeans.
“I love how much you want me,” she gasped, then her eyes flew wide as if she was shocked at what she had just said.
“I just want you to love me,” I growled without thought. Before I even knew what was happening, she had straddled me, unfastening my jeans as I lifted her skirt and tore her panties off, throwing them across the room as she squealed again.
Slipping a finger inside her, she was already drenched. “Fuck, I love how wet you are for me,” I murmured, pulling down the front of her dress to suck her nipple into my mouth while I fingered her.
Lifting my hips, I awkwardly pulled my jeans down with one hand while she helped me. Feeling her little hands around my shaft made my teeth tighten on her skin, her cries making me even hotter.
�
��Do you know what you’re doing to me right now?” I rasped, gripping the back of her hair to look into her eyes. I had to be sure that she was seriously into this.
Kate flashed me a sassy smile as she nodded. “I’m going to be a naughty kitten for you,” she breathed.
A shudder ran through me. Fuck, I loved that she already knew how to hit my buttons. Angling her hips, I moved my hand away. “Put it in, kitten. Play with your new toy.”
The fire in her eyes was almost as erotic as the feeling of her obeying me, taking the head of my shaft and dragging it through her soaking pussy lips.
“Like this?” She was teasing both of us perfectly, her eyes lighting up from the contact on her hot little button. I watched as she stroked herself with my skin. Those sweet green eyes blazed mischievously.
Yanking her against me, I nuzzled her throat, working up to her ear, my words spilling out frantically. “Ride me, kitten. Show me you love me. Take me inside you and ride me until you scream.”
The sweetest word I’ve ever heard in my life filled my ears as she began to sink down onto me.
“Yes.”
CHAPTER ELEVEN
* Kate *
A vortex of new emotions was swirling inside me as I moved slowly, hoping that this time I could take a bit more of him inside me, without pain.
The urge to open myself to him in every possible way was overwhelming. Knowing that he loved me, and suspecting that I loved him, made everything blur together.
Staring into his eyes, I could see that Ray didn’t have a filter. He didn’t seem capable of hiding his feelings.
His large hands cupped my ass gently, helping me balance as he guided me slowly down. My thighs tightened as I bobbed slightly, trying to ease his girth into my snug, wet tunnel. Sparks flew through my bloodstream as I felt my body opening for his. Each stroke nudged his length a little deeper, until I felt him finally touch the very end of my tunnel.
A shudder ran through both of us, his eyes wide. Then he smiled, darting in to rake his teeth across the skin between my neck and my shoulder. “My sweet little kitten. So hungry for me that she took the whole thing.”
We began to rock together, deep and slow. I whimpered loudly when I realized that if I leaned forward a bit, I could rub my clit directly against him.
All logical thought drained from my mind as my body took over completely. Rising and falling, I moved his body through mine, making both of us moan. I felt powerful, even as I felt like he was controlling me. It was hard to think at all as he gripped my hips, helping me by pumping up into me gently.
My mouth fell open, my head falling back to stare into his eyes as we both lost ourselves. I could feel his heat swelling and throbbing inside me, so warm, even through my constant stream of moisture.
“Your pussy feels so perfect,” he whispered. “Other-worldly. And oh baby, if you could see your eyes right now…”
He kissed me hard and deep as we rocked, both of us beginning to tense and twitch. It was shocking how badly I needed to feel his release inside me. Almost as much as I needed to feel my own.
“That’s it, come for me, baby. Let me feel you.”
I gasped, almost oblivious to the world around me as I felt the deep, tingling pressure enveloping me completely.
“Dammit, baby, I want to spend my life buried in your pussy, except when I’m busy kissing you, licking you, bathing you and cooking for you. Kate, I need to care for you. Show me you love me, kitten. Let me hear you when you come for me.”
I could feel the walls of my pussy pulsing around him as the climax hit me, the two of us rocking his length harder and faster.
“Ray…” I choked, unable to pull in enough air even to scream. My gasping moan seemed to please him, as he bounced me faster, his cock jerking hard inside me as he exploded, filling me completely with his release.
When our mouths met, our lips practically sizzled. His hand reached up to comb through the side of my hair, deepening the kiss as he pulled me in.
My hand skimmed across his chest so that I could feel his heart pounding. The effect we had on each other was like a chemical reaction. Two elements creating something with an unnatural force.
Feeling his arms circle my shoulders and back, pulling me against him, was so right, so comforting and exciting at the same time.
After a few deep breaths, my body began to stiffen up. I realized that I couldn’t stay in this position . As I moved to get up, Ray held me still.
“Kate, this is not some sort of summer fling. I love you. I need you. It scares the shit out of me, but I’m not ashamed to tell you that.”
“It scares me too,” I said softly. “I don’t know why I’m so terrified.”
“It’s alright, Kate,” he murmured, kissing slowly down my throat as his hands caressed my back. “Just let me love you. Please?”
I knew that I should try to figure this out with him, and be sensible. But then I felt his shaft begin to twitch deep inside me as if it were coming back to life. Instantly I melted again, grabbing his scruff between my hands to bring his lips to mine in an absolutely scorching kiss.
A sharp knock at the door made me jump.
“Relax, it’s probably just one of the other guests,” he said gently.
“Washroom,” I whispered, jumping up and bolting from the room.
It was one thing to face a stranger all flushed with my hair tangled. It was another thing to reveal, well, physical evidence of what just happened.
After using the toilet and cleaning myself up, I heard Ray’s voice on the other side of the door. “Kate, I have to run over to another cabin to fix a leaky faucet. Leave your number on the table and I’ll call you later, okay?”
“Sure,” I said automatically.
I heard the front door shut behind him as he left. Was it strange that he left me alone in his cabin to possibly snoop around?
I would never do such a thing, but as I left the washroom, I couldn’t help but walk very slowly by the shelf of CDs. He had said that his brother lived here most of the year, but the deep, sultry jazz that was playing right now had obviously been his pick.
The variety of music was fascinating. Almost every genre, and plenty from every decade since the fifties. I couldn’t help noticing that each shelf was arranged by musical category, then alphabetically. It was exactly the sort of precise system that I would have laid out.
Picking up my destroyed underwear from the floor, I jammed the shredded fabric into my skirt pocket, my heart thumping loudly at the memory of the feeling when he’d torn them off. That sort of fire was...euphoric.
As I rushed back to my cabin, I heard Ray’s booming voice through the open window of cabin number five. “Sorry about this, folks. This sink leaks every few years. Just takes a little plumber’s tape and a couple of cuss words, then I’ll have you fixed right up.”
Laughing to myself, I darted up the path. Ray was funny. Charming. Obviously hard-working, and focused. He seemed to understand that I had a lot of work ahead of me as well.
Why did every other part of me dissolve and disappear when he held me close?
Maybe it was pheromones, or my completely ignored sex drive springing to life for the first time and taking over. I honestly didn’t know if I could control myself around him.
What if I were faced with some wonderful opportunity, but then Ray showed up at my door? Would I have the strength to turn him down?
On some level, I knew that he would understand, and be fine with it. But I just couldn’t trust myself. I’d never behaved this way before, and it was completely freaking me right out.
Getting back to my cabin, I had my notebook out, scribbling through page after page before suddenly remembering that I hadn’t left my number.
I could always leave it in his mailbox. Or, a tiny voice whispered in the back of my mind, I could stay focused and get the heck back to work. I’d promised myself years ago that I’d give this my all. This was not the time for distractions.
CHAPTE
R TWELVE
* Ray *
I gave Kate some space for a few days, avoiding her completely.
There might be reasons why she was so skittish. Perhaps she had a rough childhood, or some other obstacles that prevented her from trusting men. I tried not to let my mind go down dark paths, but I worried about her.
I found myself trying to hang around the cabin more and more. Any work that had to be done away from the cabin, I did it first thing in the morning. Then most afternoons I found myself with my sketchbook, designing new ideas for furniture based on the wood that I’d been gathering.
Every time I heard footsteps on the path, my head would perk up, peering out the window .
