He blamed her mouth.
Yep. The whole ride home, he’d fantasized about that mouth of hers. Remembering how good it felt to kiss her. Imagining how good it’d feel to be naked with her and have her slithering down his body, licking and kissing as she went. Visualizing how smokin’ hot it’d be if she were to wrap those pretty lips around him and suck him into that big, beautiful mouth.
Fuck.
The yips from the dogs intensified as the sled rounded the barn and the bunkhouse came into view. Though it was only late afternoon, the sun was already beginning to set and the air had grown much colder. He stopped the sled and removed the dogs’ harnesses and turned to Jolie. She was still sitting, covered by the blanket, her face white, her lips blue.
Shit! The woman was frozen.
“Hey. You okay?”
She nodded and tried to smile but her lips didn’t make it very far. Thad chucked off the blanket and scooped Jolie up into his arms, lifting her and carrying her to the bunkhouse a few yards away. He knew things were serious when she didn’t fight him but instead nestled right into him.
Propping her on his knee, he elbowed the door open and carried her through into his side of the building, setting her on the sofa right beside the wood-burning stove and covering her with a couple of big throws he kept on the couch.
“I don’t know what happened...” Her words were slow and slurred. “I think I fell asleep there for a bit. I feel funny.”
“You’re a little hypothermic, hon.” Thad opened the cast-iron door and set the kindling inside before lighting it with a match and blowing a flame into existence. “Let me just get this fire going and then I’ll come warm you up.” Once the tinder caught, he added a couple small pieces of wood, muttering for them to hurry up and catch because he could hear Jolie’s teeth chattering now. Though chattering teeth were better than the alternative. As much as Thad wanted to see Jolie naked again, if she started taking her clothes off now, that would be a sign of severe hypothermia, where the body gets all messed up and people feel hot when they’re really, really cold.
He blew into the fire some more until the dry wood burst into flames. Then he added a bunch of larger pieces of wood, adjusted the flue and closed the door so that the stove could heat up.
Ripping off his parka, Thad sat beside Jolie, pulled her onto his lap and wrapped his arms around her.
“I don’t think I’ve ever felt so cold,” she stammered.
“I’m sorry about that, Jolie. I really am.”
Her whole body tensed and shivered inside his embrace. Then she turned her head a little. “How come you’re not cold?”
“Because I was standing and moving around. Plus, I’m used to working outside all year long. My blood’s grown thick, living up here.” It was true; he didn’t feel the cold like he used to when he first moved north. But that didn’t quite tell the whole story. He wasn’t about to divulge that it was dirty thoughts about her that had kept him warm. More than warm.
She twitched some more, a couple little shivers followed by one big shudder, and Thad said, “Honey, I’m going to take off this parka of yours. It’s insulating the cold instead of letting in the warmth. Okay?”
She nodded and Thad adjusted her on his lap so he could unzip her jacket. So different from when he’d unzipped it earlier in the day, itching to get his hands on her. Now he just wanted to take care of her and make sure she was warm and safe.
Once her parka was off, he removed his shirt and instructed her to do the same so that they were skin to skin. “Put your hands under my arms.”
She did and he swore.
“Sorry,” she mumbled.
“Don’t be. I’m the one who turned you into a damn icicle.”
He cuddled her on his lap and in his arms until the cabin became a sauna from the pile of wood he’d loaded into the stove. He held her until well after the shudders stopped and the temperature of her hands matched the temperature of his body.
It was Jolie who moved first, drawing her arms out from under his. Slowly. She didn’t move away; she left her hands lying lightly on his chest. He couldn’t help but admire how beautiful her hands were: long, slim fingers gently twining the dark hair between his pecs.
“You’re very strong.”
Thad didn’t answer.
“No one’s ever picked me up like that.” She lifted her eyes to his, a hint of vulnerability in their beautiful brown depths. “Thank you.”
He nodded. For some reason, his voice didn’t want to work. Could be because her hands were moving again. Exploring. Softly circling his nipples and spreading out over his pecs and up, the tips of her fingers circling the purple scar on his left shoulder.
“What’s this?”
“A scar.” He wasn’t about to tell her where he got it. Or how.
“Looks like a gunshot wound.”
“Naw,” Thad answered quickly, his mind searching for an alternative story. “Got punctured by a branch when I was out on a ride a while back.”
“That must have hurt.”
“It wasn’t too bad,” he lied. If she only knew. Thank God the bullet had passed right through, because he hadn’t dared to go to a doc to get patched up properly.
She delicately circled the scar a couple more times before exploring lower, trailing down the middle of his chest to his abdomen. She ran a finger along one line of muscle and then another. “I don’t think I’ve ever been with a man who was so strong.”
Was that what she thought this was? Him being a dick, tricking her into taking off her clothes, just to get with her? “Jolie. This isn’t a come-on. Stripping down was the fastest way—”
She put a finger to his lips.
“Shh... I know exactly what you did for me.” She reached around behind her back and unclasped her bra. “And I know exactly how I want to thank you.”
* * *
JOLIE BARELY RECOGNIZED HERSELF. Who was this bold, brazen woman who had no qualms about stripping in a virtual stranger’s cabin? Whatever teeny doubt she had about her actions vanished the second her bra dropped and Thad looked at her. His gaze wasn’t lascivious; it was something else. The way he slowly drew in a breath. The way his mouth stayed firm but his nostrils flared. The way his lids grew heavy and his gaze liquid. It was like he was awestruck or something.
It also didn’t hurt when he whispered, “My God. You’re beautiful.”
Though she was warm now, his hand on her was warmer. She lifted her chest up into his palm as he cupped beneath her breast and ran a rough thumb across her nipple. When she shivered this time it was not because of cold but out of pure pleasure, and when he leaned down and sucked a nipple into his warm mouth, circling with his tongue, she cried out.
With a groan, Thad pulled away. She wanted to demand Why the hell did you stop? But then Thad was bending down and picking her up again, and this time she got to witness the effect of the wonderful maneuver on the play of muscles across his bare chest and down his arms. She ran her hand along his bicep, marveling at the strength evident from the bulge in his muscles as he carried her.
His bedroom was only a few steps away. Though it was dark, she could tell it was a small room because the bed was a step inside the door. He set her down and then reached for a light attached to the wall above the bed. The room was bathed in a golden glow. Jolie didn’t spend much time checking out the small space; she was too focused on Thad and the way he was gazing down at where she was propped on her elbows, her chest bare.
“Whatever you do, don’t stop.”
She smiled, gnawing on her lower lip. “I won’t, as long as you take off your jeans.” Oh. She loved being bossy with this big man.
Apparently he liked it, too, because his lips turned up on one side in a seductive smile. “I’ll take off my jeans if you take off your tights.”
Pinching her nipple and arching her back—on purpose—she said, “You first.”
“You drive a hard bargain, miss.” His hands lingered on his belt buckle, not moving, and he seemed content to just stand there and watch her.
“Do you need help?” she asked, sliding closer to the edge of the bed where he stood.
“Naw. Just enjoying the view.”
The belt opened and his fly popped. He was standing so close—within reaching distance—that Jolie was able to run her hand up the inside of his thigh. She could feel his strong, muscular legs beneath the denim, which was a turn-on but not as much as watching Thad slowly unzip his fly and then move back so he could push his jeans down and step out of them. When he stood, dressed only in his boxer shorts, she gasped from the glorious sight of him.
Gorgeous. The man was gorgeous.
She needed to touch.
But when she went to reach for him again, he stopped her.
“A deal’s a deal.” He pointed to her tights. “Off.”
He didn’t need to ask twice. Jolie lifted her ass off the bed and pushed the elastic waistband down over her hips, then brought her knees up and wriggled in an act she’d hoped would look provocative.
Dammit.
She’d forgotten she was wearing two pairs of leggings, and her feet got stuck as she twisted and kicked to get them free. Thad had to come to her rescue, pulling the tights off her legs, taking one big woolen sock with them and leaving the other behind.
Totally not the sexy, seductive look she was going for.
She sat up to remove it, but Thad pushed her gently back down. “Allow me.”
If someone had asked her whether she thought taking someone’s sock off could be hot, she would have said no.
And she would have been wrong.
Because the way Thad did it was seductive as hell. Jolie had no idea her feet were erogenous, but when Thad sat on the bed, her feet in his lap, his hand caressing her calf before rolling the sock down and pulling it off, it felt like he was stripping the most intimate part of her. When he took turns massaging her insteps, Jolie propped herself on her elbows to watch, her blood pumping and her breaths coming in short little pants as if he was touching her between her legs, not her feet.
“You like that?”
“Mmm.”
Never taking his eyes from hers, he lifted a foot and kissed the top. Then, setting her foot aside, he caressed up higher, from calf to knees to thigh. “You’ve got the prettiest legs.”
She sighed.
“Those tights you wear show them off. Tempting me to do things I shouldn’t.”
Jolie was incapable of forming sentences, particularly when Thad’s hands reached up higher, stroking her hips, caressing and massaging; the feeling was even better than it’d been with her feet.
“I can’t lie to you.” He stretched out beside her. “I saw you that night in the tub. All of you.” He played with the elastic around her panties. “Except this part.”
Jolie lifted her hips off the bed in encouragement, but Thad chose to ignore her invitation.
Instead he ran his hand up the side of her ribs to her chest, drawing delicate lines around her breasts. “Is it wrong that I’ve been thinking about getting you naked ever since?”
Jolie shook her head. How could it be wrong when she’d been thinking the very same thing? Crazy, sexy, inappropriate thoughts about Thad. She’d even written them down, which was ludicrous. The idea that he’d shared her thoughts and that now they were acting on their secret desires was nothing short of miraculous.
His hands were gentle as he explored her body, up over her breasts to her shoulder, holding lightly to her neck as his thumb traced her jaw and lips. When he came close again, she opened her mouth and touched his thumb with her tongue. He groaned but didn’t do anything about it except keep caressing her.
“Thad?”
“Yeah, baby?”
“I’m not fragile.”
“Huh?”
“You don’t have to be so...careful with me.”
He took a slow breath, gritting his teeth, nostrils flaring. “You don’t know what you’re saying.”
“Oh, yes, I do.”
He shut his eyes for a second. What did he see back there? Jolie could only guess, but when he opened again, there was something in the depths. Something dark and irreverent.
She liked dark and irreverent.
“Tell me what you want,” he rasped.
Could she do it? Could she be honest with him?
She moistened her lips. Maybe the old Jolie wouldn’t have had the guts, but this new Jolie? She did. “I want you to take me, Thad. Hard.”
7
While on holiday, I rarely regret the things I do, and more often regret the things I don’t do.
Jo Duval
LYING ON HER BACK, gazing up at Thad in the soft light, Jolie wondered if she’d gone too far. Asked for too much.
“Sha, Jolie...”
Wrapping her arms around his neck, she pulled herself up close and nibbled the edge of his jaw. “Please.”
“Damn, woman.”
He threaded his fingers through her hair and tugged, pulling her head back so her neck was exposed. He licked a cord along her neck and then held it gently between his teeth.
“Oh,” she sighed, giving him more of her neck to do with as he wished.
He moved his mouth to her ear, licking and sucking, tasting the inner shell, tilting her head to give him better access. “You like it hard, huh?”
“And fast.” She trailed her hands down his chest and paused for a millisecond at the waistband of his shorts, then she wriggled her fingers underneath.
Wow.
How was it possible to be so aroused? Deliciously, magnificently aroused? She wrapped her fingers around him and squeezed.
He groaned, removed her hand from his shorts and then rolled on top of her. Taking hold of both wrists, he pressed her questing hands into the mattress beside her head.
She loved it.
Parting her thighs, Jolie made room for him, arching upward just as he ground down into her. So good.
So, so good.
“Do you have any idea how sexy you are?” He bit the lobe of her ear and then moved lower to suck the skin of her neck.
Jolie had never felt sexy. Not until this trip. Not until she’d met this man. But now? Now she felt more than sexy. She felt wanton and provocative, and the feeling was exhilarating.
Still holding her wrists above her head, Thad transferred both to one hand and slid his other down the inside of her arm to her side, passing over her breast lightly en route to her throat and jaw. He rubbed his thumb back and forth across her lips and she parted, drawing him inside.
“Damn this mouth,” he ground out, taking his thumb away so he could kiss her. Thoroughly. Licking the seam of her lips, then inside, sucking on her tongue when she went to meet him and plunging past to explore.
So good.
Needing to
touch, she fought against the hold he had on her, but he held her firm, keeping her captive.
Why did she love it so much? She had no idea, but she had to show him, so she wrapped her legs around his waist, opening herself to him, needing him closer, needing as much contact with this man as possible.
“Jolie...?”
“Yes.” Whatever he was asking, the answer was yes.
He leaned across her to the small bedside table, slid the drawer open and reached inside. He pulled out a plastic square and rolled off her. “Don’t you dare move,” he commanded.
She didn’t budge; she was too taken with watching. He sat on the edge of the bed, pulled off his shorts and rolled the condom over his length. Jolie had a moment when it hit her—what she was doing and who she was doing it with—but then Thad was moving toward her, fitting his fingers beneath the elastic of her panties and sliding them down her legs until she forgot about second-guessing herself. Instead, she gave herself over to existing completely in the here and now. The sensation of her silky panties sliding off her feet, the heat that spread across her chest and down, pooling between her legs as Thad touched her for the first time.
“Beautiful.”
His voice had a reverent quality to it that stole her breath. Or was it the sight of him hovering above her, big and masculine, sexy and maybe even a little fierce?
“Thad?”
He moved lower, kissing her hip and her belly. When she wriggled, he held her hips down. “Don’t move.”
Those two words sent prickles of arousal skittering across her skin.
“Open your legs.”
He was being bossy now and Jolie reveled in it. Wanted it. She let her knees fall open and cool air tickled her heated flesh.
“You are as pretty here as you are everywhere else.” Thad petted her, softly playing with her clit before sliding his fingers past her pussy lips, dipping just the tips into her warmth. “Oh, baby, you are wet.”
A Christmas Seduction Page 7
