by Pandora Pine
Without overthinking it, I leaned forward and kissed him. His lips were full and hot as if he had a fever. The kiss was electric. Attraction and need zinged through my body like a pinball.
Kodi growled low in his throat. His hands came up to frame my face.
I felt as if I were going to explode. The heat of his hands sunk into my skin. He pulled back, his intense dark eyes bouncing back and forth. I panted for breath, feeling dizzy from his kiss. I couldn’t tell if he was looking for a sign of weakness or if he was trying to see if I was into him.
My erection had managed to free itself from the confines of the borrowed sweats. All Kodi had to do was take a look at my lap, and he’d know how into him I was. I chanced a glance at the naked bear who’d just kissed me to within an inch of my life. He was in a similar state, only his cock was much bigger than mine.
“Are you waiting for an engraved invitation?” I panted. My dick jerked in agreement. I didn’t know what was wrong with me. I’d never been this forward in my life, but I wasn’t done yet. I wrapped my fist around Kodi’s weeping dick. He gasped in shock, which gave me the confidence I needed to keep going.
Kodi’s eyes widened, but his obvious shock didn’t stop him from wrapping his hand around my erection and giving me a couple of fast strokes.
“Keep that up, and I’m gonna come on the spot.” I’d never wanted to come more in my life.
“We can’t have that, now, can we?” Kodi’s hand slowed down. His eyes darkened further.
I matched the rhythm of my hand to Kodi’s. My free hand roamed down the column of his neck, over the divot in his collarbone to tangle in the thick mat of fur on his chest. His muscles rippled beneath my fingers. “So powerful,” I murmured.
“I won’t hurt you,” Kodi promised.
My dick twitched, nearly going off. Kodi pulled his hand off my cock and used it to push me onto my back in front of the fireplace. I gasped in surprise as he positioned himself over me. With his ass raised high in the air, Kodi lowered his mouth over my dick.
“Jesus!” I gasped when he took me to the root. I was lost in the rhythm of Kodi’s mouth. His tongue lashed against my heated fleshed as his lips continued to slide up and down my erection. Looking above me, Kodi’s dick dangled down, just out of reach of my greedy lips. I needed to taste him more than I needed my next breath.
Reaching up, I caressed the twin globes of Kodi’s ass. The powerful muscles quivered under my touch. I slapped both cheeks in an effort to get him to lower himself into my waiting mouth.
Huffing a laugh against my cock, Kodi obeyed, slowly lowering himself down.
If I were claustrophobic, I would have felt trapped by his enormous body hovering just over mine. Unbelievably, I felt safe and perfectly protected. I licked up at the tantalizing dick hovering just over my mouth. The feel of Kodi on my tongue sent a shiver through my body. I wrapped my lips around his crown. Kodi moved down further, sending his dick to the back of my throat. I gagged but wanted more. I needed more.
Kodi made a move as if to pull away, but I wouldn’t let him. I dug my hands into the flesh of his ass and sucked that cock for all I was worth.
All I was worth didn’t last very long. Kodi was giving as good as he got. Each slide of his lips brought me closer to the edge. A dampened finger wriggling against my eager hole sent me over the edge. “Fuck!” I managed to yell around the cock in my mouth. My dick twitched once and started spewing.
A deep grunt vibrated against my still-spasming cock. I steeled myself for what was to come. Kodi’s cock got a bit harder, and then he was coming down my throat. I kept swallowing to keep up with the flow, holding Kodi close all the while.
When we were both satisfied, Kodi pulled away. His dick made a wet plop when he pulled it from my wet lips. I expected him to head off for the bathroom, but instead, he moved so we were lying side by side. With one arm, he moved me to lie against his shoulder.
For some crazy reason, “Almost Paradise” started playing in my head. It was corny and predictable, but absolutely perfect. I couldn’t hold back a snort.
“What’s so funny?” Kodi sounded worried.
“‘Almost Paradise,’” I whispered against his dewy skin. “The song started playing in my head like this was some sort of montage from The Bachelor.”
Kodi snorted and started laughing.
I had no idea what dawn would bring. Would Kodi drop me at the hotel like a lost suitcase? Or would he want more of this? Would he want more of the paradise we’d created for ourselves here?
8
Kodi
I couldn’t remember the last time I’d woken up with a gorgeous naked man in my arms. Tanner was snuggled against my left shoulder with a leg thrown over my middle. He was absolutely adorable.
Tanner shifted against me and opened his emerald eyes. “It wasn’t a dream.”
My stomach soured. It was one thing to think back on the amazing shared blowjobs, but there was more at stake here than simply spending an enjoyable night together getting our knobs jobbed. “No, not a dream.”
Tanner leaned up to kiss me when all hell broke loose. My phone blew up, first with text jingles and then with voicemail tones. Seconds later, the lights came back on.
“Fuck,” I muttered under my breath. I reluctantly disentangled myself from Tanner and grabbed my phone. There were text messages from my colleagues, along with voicemails to match. Not only were they worried about me, but they were also concerned about Tanner, since none of them had found him.
“Shit, the guys have the entire world out looking for me.” Tanner sounded despondent. “I guess it’s time to face the music.” He touched the phone’s screen and the room filled with the sound of it ringing on the other line.
“Tanner? Is that you?” a voice I didn’t recognize asked.
“Yeah, Cabot, it’s me. I’m okay.”
“You’re okay? You were gone for the entire night. No one knew where you were and that’s all you have to say?” Cabot half-shouted.
“Keep your pants on.” Tanner sighed. “I went out for a hike alone because you were AWOL with biggest dick ever and Archer and Wells were both hungover. I had no idea it was going to snow, and I slipped and fell, knocking myself out in the process. I spent hours in the woods, lost and alone, until I was rescued by a ranger from New Hampshire Fish and Game. Before you jump down my throat again, neither one of us had a cell signal and the power was off.”
“Jesus Christ, Tan, are you okay?” Cabot sounded out of breath.
“I’ve got some pretty ugly bruises, my head is aching, and my left ankle is sore, but I’ll live. If it weren’t for Warden Grimes, I would have frozen to death or been eaten by an angry owl.”
I bit my tongue to keep from laughing.
“Anyway, we’re snowed in pretty good here. I’ll be back to the hotel as soon as I can.” Tanner sighed. “Let Archer and Wells know I’m okay and that I’m sorry.” Before his friend could respond, Tanner hung up on him.
I wanted to pull him into my arms, but the look on his face held me back. “While you were on the phone, I got in touch with command and let them know you were safe. It turned out they’d called off the search around the time the power went out.”
“Great, so they would have left me out there alone to freeze to death.” Tanner frowned, looking lost.
“It was snowing very hard when I brought you back to the cabin. It wouldn’t have been safe out there.” There were protocols in place to keep everyone safe, but I wasn’t about to explain that to him now.
“I know. It’s just that…” Tanner shook his head. “I’ve never done anything so stupid in my life.”
I couldn’t help wondering if he meant going out for a walk in the woods alone, or his night with me. I decided to go with the former. “Accidents happen. All that matters now is that you’re safe. I’ll have the driveway plowed out in no time, and I’ll get you back to your friends.” When Tanner didn’t argue, I did that very thing.
It was th
e longest forty minutes of my life. I managed to take care of the driveway and the huge mound of snow pushed against the front of it by the big plow trucks that came by overnight.
I had my phone with me the entire time I was gone, but it never jingled once with a call or text from Tanner. I don’t know what I expected from him the morning after, but this wasn’t it. It was possible he was still stunned by the asshole response of his friend. To be honest, I had no idea what Tanner was thinking.
When the driveway was finished, I headed back inside the house. Tanner was dressed in the clothes I’d found him in yesterday, with a blank look on his face.
“All set to go?” he asked, never taking his eyes off his scuffed boots.
“Ready when you are.” My heart broke as he got up from the sofa and walked past me outside. He’d only been gone for thirty seconds, but already the cabin felt empty and cold without him here. I hadn’t really thought much about it until now, but last night, with Tanner here, the cabin had finally felt like a real home. Is that all I deserved in this life? Twelve lousy hours of bliss.
Not knowing what else to do, I locked the cabin door behind me and headed to the truck. Tanner was already buckled in with his head turned out the window. “It will only take ten minutes to get you back if the rest of the roads are as well plowed as this one.”
Tanner grunted in response.
Awesome. Fucking awesome. I put the truck in drive and headed down the bumpy driveway. It was packed dirt, but maybe come spring, when all the snow had melted, I’d call someone out to pave it over. Like it or not, I was stuck here in New Hampshire. I could never go back to Alaska, not that I wanted to. Last night showed me this place could be a home if I let it.
Thankfully, the rest of Base Camp Road was plowed and salted. The usually blacktopped roads took on a milky white color from the liquid salt solution sprayed on the road overnight. Equally well plowed was Route 302. The Presidential was a mile down the road. It was now or never. I cleared my throat. My hands shook on the steering wheel.
“You don’t have to worry about me telling anyone about the bear thing. My lips are sealed.” Tanner didn’t bother to turn from the window.
“That’s not what I was going to say, but you answered my question anyway.” My heart shriveled in my chest. A man who’d had the time of his life with a new lover would ask to see him again. Obviously, I was one and done where Tanner was concerned. Shit, what the hell was wrong with me? It wasn’t like me to get upset over something as fleeting as a one-night stand.
I kept my eyes on the road as I flipped on the left blinker to turn down the driveway leading to the massive hotel. I saw Tanner move his head to look at me, but I kept my eyes forward.
The hotel’s red roofs were visible even after the nearly three feet of snow we’d gotten. Made of metal and heated to boot, the roofs stayed clear of snow and dangerous icicles and ice dams. The sight of the bright red against the snowy mountains was gorgeous, but I couldn’t have cared less. I pulled up to the front portico, which thankfully had been shoveled out and salted. “Here we are,” I said, trying to add cheer to my voice.
Tanner turned and looked at me. His features were blank. “Thanks for saving me.” He held out a hand to shake.
I took it, grudgingly. Shit, I’d never had a one-night stand shake my hand before. I pulled one of my business cards from the console in front of the gear shift. “If you need anything…” I had no idea how to finish my sentence, so I didn’t bother.
Tanner took the card and hopped out of the truck. I watched, numb, as he limped up the stairs to the front lobby of the hotel and disappeared inside. He never once looked back.
“Well, that’s that.” I sighed and shifted the truck into drive. Tanner wasn’t the only one who was an expert on not looking back. In the four years since I’d left Alaska, I hadn’t made one call, written one email, or looked up even one person on social media.
If I could get over losing my friends and family and being banished from my ancestral lands and my birthright, I could handle a cold fish of a one-night stand. I’d survive. I was sure of it.
9
Tanner
Each breath I took from the time I got into Kodi’s truck until I walked through the lobby doors of the Presidential Hotel felt like my lungs were filled with broken glass. Even worse, none of my friends were in the lobby to meet me. I’d texted them when I was in the truck to tell them I was on my way back, but no one was here.
I deserved it. I’d abandoned my friends, and now they were returning the favor. I couldn’t help remembering the angry look in Kodi’s dark eyes when Cabot had started yelling at me about being lost. Unless I missed my guess, he’d been ready to go off on my friend, who himself had been MIA the entire first night we’d been at the hotel.
Too tired and sore to attempt the grand staircase, I took the elevator to my room. Nothing had changed. I don’t know why I thought it would have been different. I’d seen a lot of those true crime shows about missing people, and their loved ones always rifled through their things looking for some random clue that would lead them to the missing person.
A quiet knock on my room door pulled me out of my head. Looking through the peephole, I saw it was my friends. “Hey, guys.” I opened the door wide to let them in.
“Jesus, Tan!” Wells pulled me in for a tight hug. The others wrapped their arms around the two of us. “I was scared to death when we couldn’t find you. I remembered you said you were going for a walk, and that’s the information I gave the police.” He pulled back and led me to the sofa across the room.
I leaned my weight on him as we walked. My ankle was aching. “Thanks.”
Cabot grabbed a bottle of water out of the fridge. He twisted off the cap and handed it to me. “What happened?” He took the empty seat next to me on the couch.
The real question was how much of the real story to tell them. I’d promised Kodi his secret was safe with me, and it was. I trusted my friends implicitly, but I would keep that part of the story to myself. “I took a hike up the Adams Trail. It’s the easiest one.” I shrugged. In my mind’s eye, I could see the pretty river with the boulders and hear the way the fallen leaves crunched under my boots. “I reached the top of the trail and realized it had been snowing.” Heat rose in my cheeks. “I’d been kind of lost in my head, and the snow didn’t really register until it started obscuring the trail. I knew I needed to get back as soon as I could, but not being able to see the path meant I had to go slower.”
“Why didn’t you call or text us for help?” Archer asked.
All three of my friends, who were looking at me like they were about to burst into tears, abandoned me yesterday. One for a big dick and the other two for booze. I bit my tongue on what I really wanted to say. “I tried to text you, but I had no signal. Maybe from the weather, but I assumed it was because I was so far away from civilization.” I shrugged. It’s not like it mattered now. “I started making my way carefully down the trail, but I slipped and fell. A tree stopped my descent and I passed out.”
“What are you saying?” Archer looked back and forth between Wells and Cabot.
“If the man from Fish and Game hadn’t found me, I would have frozen to death under three feet of snow.” As long as I lived, I’d never forget the terror of that realization.
Their mouths hung open.
“What did you think happened to me? That I was out fucking some park ranger while you all worried about me?” Technically, that’s exactly what I was doing, but I wasn’t about to tell them that.
“How did he find you?” Cabot asked, still wearing a stunned look.
“He had the lucky square in the grid search. Kodi dragged me back to his cabin which borders the hotel’s property. I woke up on his sofa after dark.” My heart pinched as my mind replayed our night together.
“What’s that look?” Cabot asked. “You all saw that, didn’t you?”
“You fell for him a little bit, didn’t you?” Archer asked.
&n
bsp; I shrugged. I hadn’t fallen for him a little bit. I’d fallen a lot. “I don’t know.” It wasn’t like it mattered anyway. I was never going to see him again.
“Don’t give me that bullshit.” Cabot wrapped an arm around me, giving me a squeeze. “You like him.”
I sighed. It was no use lying to my friends. “Yes, I like him.” It was all I was willing to say on the matter.
“So, then, what’s the problem?” Wells blurted out. His eyes widened a second later. “He didn’t like you.” It wasn’t a question.
“No!” Kodi liked me. Of course he did. Well, he liked sucking my dick well enough. “I think he liked me. He gave me his card and seemed bummed to be dropping me off at the hotel.” It felt better saying it aloud, but even with as good as it felt, my coming clean with the guys didn’t help matters.
“I’m confused.” Archer shook his head. “If you both like each other, why are you sitting here miserable?”
“I don’t know.” I really was an idiot. Kodi had given me his card because he wanted me to call him.
“You must have hit your head harder than you thought.” Wells shot Archer an uncertain look. “What’s your middle name? Who was your crush freshman year? Name your favorite episode of Star Trek.”
“Chisholm, Bobby Wayne McRay, and the one where Kirk fights the Gorn.” I rolled my eyes. I didn’t have a concussion. My brain was fine. My judgment was suspect.
“Your middle name is Chisholm?” Cabot grimaced.
“How the hell would you have known if I was concussed or not if you didn’t know my middle name?” I found my first smile since arriving back at the hotel.
“I figured you’d look at me cluelessly.” Cabot shrugged. “Anyway, how do we get you and your hero back together?”
I opened my mouth to protest that Kodi was not my hero, but he was. I might be able to spin anything else that happened after he rescued me, but him saving my life was undeniable. “I have his number.”
