He laughed along with her. “We’ll have to keep you out of the kitchen. And in my bedroom,” he added in a hot growl that made her giggle again. He shifted his hands to her hipbones and scooted her closer. “You know, you did great out there last night. A little training and you could be rappelling down cliffs rescuing crazy black diamond skiers.”
She laughed it off. “I’ll pass. I don’t mind patching them up, but someone else has to rescue them.”
“See? We’re the perfect team.” He grinned at her and nuzzled her forehead with his. “I don’t know why you’re fighting it. Give it up, Nicole. Admit you want me.”
“I never said I didn’t want you.” That breathless tone…the way she shifted on his lap…the light lavender fragrance that made him think of last night’s sheets…
With their foreheads touching, he couldn’t see enough of her face to read her expression. But he sensed the conflict running through her, and could guess at what she was thinking. She didn’t want to get involved—he got it. They were at odds with each other when it came to the lodge. But did that mean they shouldn’t enjoy the fantastic chemistry they shared?
“Nothing’s changed,” she finally murmured. “Since last night, I mean.”
But something had changed. She was here, wasn’t she? “Not true,” he said. “Something very big has changed. And I do mean big.”
She tilted her head back to meet his eyes. “What are you talking about?”
Deploying his most devastating smile, he winked at her. “We have condoms now.”
Kai carried her to the big bed that dominated the guesthouse. Wild excitement coursed through her, sweeping away all her reservations. Kai was a big boy. He was an adult, a grown man who’d shouldered many burdens in his life. He’d kept secrets to shield his family. He’d rescued strangers at the risk of his own life. She didn’t have to worry about hurting him.
And maybe that was part of what drew her to him so much. She’d had enough Birdie worry to last a lifetime. Being with Kai—the whirlwind of Kai—made all of that other stuff disappear.
He tossed her on the bed and unzipped her pants. “Need to say a little hello first. Don’t want to be rude.”
She laughed as he yanked down her underwear and buried his face between her legs. His hair tickled her thighs as he nuzzled her. Not to arouse, just to flirt and tease. Then again, she was already aroused from the feel of his iron thighs under hers. Sitting on Kai’s lap, listening to him talk about his mother, was an incredibly powerful aphrodisiac. His love for his mother shone through, along with his protective nature. Sure, he was a “rebel,” but the impulse behind his rebelliousness was protectiveness.
Face it, her respect for Kai was growing the more time she spent with him. And the more she respected him, the more she wanted him.
Give it up. Admit you want him. Take this joy. Grab this pleasure while you can.
He stripped her sweater off, then the rest of her clothes, until she was entirely naked.
“I’m going to feast my eyes for a minute, don’t mind me.”
Under the scalding weight of his stare, she couldn’t have moved if she tried. He made quick work of his own clothes, that magnificent physique revealed bit by bit, muscles already tense, erection jutting between his thighs.
She reached for him. “My turn to say hello.”
“Nice to see you. It’s been too long,” he said, almost formally. “We really must do this more often.”
Laughing, she touched the velvety skin of his penis. “At this rate, we’re talking once a day.”
“Exactly. How about every hour on the hour?” He crouched over her and licked his way up her inner thigh—Lord almighty, how did he know that was one of her most sensitive spots? She moaned and parted her legs farther.
Oh please. She wanted more of last night, more of his rough tongue on her clit, his warm mouth doing those magical things.
She felt his body heat, the slide of his skin against hers, the soft brush of his hair, and all of a sudden she was on fire. She grabbed his hand and brought it to her mound. “Touch me, Kai. Touch me everywhere.”
He looked up at her, eyes flaring with wild heat. Then he was everywhere. Mouth on her nipples, hands stroking between her legs, along her sides, over the knobs of her hipbones, along the curves of her breasts. She lost track of everything except the sparks igniting everywhere he touched.
Then he turned her over—oh God—and spread her out on the bed. Nibbled the backs of her thighs, tongue sweeping across the crease between her ass and her thighs. She felt so exposed in that position, and yet so deliriously free.
One hand stole around to her front and found the little nub screaming for attention. He pinched her clit between his fingers, drawing a wild shriek of pleasure from her. His hot shaft pressed against her lower back. He surrounded her with hard, hot maleness, with muscles and hands and cock. He whispered a flood of hot words into her ear—I can’t wait to bury my cock inside you, come for me beautiful, let me hear that scream, I can’t get it out of my mind, come on you hot sexy thing, you wild woman, I’m going to fuck you so long and hard…
And then she was coming, suddenly and completely out of control, bucking against his hand, against the sheets, exploding again and again, crazy sounds spilling from her mouth.
She was still gasping and trembling when Kai flipped her over onto her back. She’d never seen that expression on his face—so hot, so focused, so intent. He reached to the nightstand and pulled open a drawer with so much force that it toppled over. But he managed to snag a condom first—he held it up in triumph.
She laughed weakly, still rocked by that incredible orgasm. “Nice rescue.”
“Count on me when it matters.” With a strained grin, he tore open the package and tossed it aside. He rolled the condom over his raging erection. She could still remember how it tasted, how it felt against her tongue, but now wasn’t the moment for that.
Now she wanted more. She wanted Kai inside her, over her, all around her. She tugged him down so the full length of his front was joined with hers. The light scatter of hair on his chest created a delicious friction against her nipples. She felt it all the way to her sex, which still pulsed from her climax.
He parted her thighs with his knee, a little rough, as if he was hanging onto his control by the barest thread. And that drove her own lust even higher. This powerful, sculpted, passionate wild beast of a man wanted her just as badly as she wanted him. Talk about an aphrodisiac.
He placed his hands, so strong, so calloused and capable, on her thighs and pushed them back, opening her even farther. Her sex practically wept with anticipation. “God, you’re sexy,” he muttered as he ate her up with his eyes. “Are you ready for this? I sure as hell am.”
“So ready,” she breathed. “Any more ready and I might explode.”
“I like it when you explode.” He took his cock in his fist and found her entrance. The sexy sight of his corded muscles bunching as he moved into position made her wild. She arched her back, offering herself, offering everything. He made a rough sound in his throat, as if he were giving up on words and going for grunts instead.
The blunt tip of his penis pressed into her—so wide, so thick. Her throat closed as the rest of her opened up. Inch by glorious inch, he entered her, watching her every step of the way. She felt his gaze on her face, but kept her eyes closed so she could focus on the sensation of being filled to the core. By the time he was fully seated inside her, she brimmed with heat, overflowed with it, a fountain of pleasure coming to life inside her.
Had sex ever felt like this before?
Nope, never. She might as well be a virgin, because nothing she’d ever experienced had come close to this. No reason bothering to even remember those other, forgettable times. They’d never mean anything to her again.
Kai slowly withdrew, almost all the way out, while her inner tissues clung to him. With a powerful flex of his hips, he thrust all the way in again. Parting her flesh, piercing her
with pleasure, sending her mind into a freefall. The grip of his hands on her thighs, the way he dragged against her clit, the restrained power behind every move he made—it all sent her out of her mind.
“Oh my God,” she babbled, all dignity gone. “Go more. Harder. It feels so good.”
He pushed her thighs farther back and drove deep. “Oh yeah, sweetheart. That’s it. Jesus,” he muttered, just as incoherent as she was. “Fuck, you feel good. It feels so fucking good to be inside you.”
He set up a rhythm that took her breath away, that she couldn’t wrap her head around. Didn’t matter, because her body took over. She met his every move with one of her own, wanting him deeper, feeling the hot sensation expand within her, the explosion just out of reach, waiting for her, taunting her. “Please,” she begged. “Oh please, Kai…”
“I got you, sweetheart. I’ll always take care of you. I got you, honey.” His low mutter, almost out of her hearing, made some hidden tension release inside her. She didn’t need to worry because Kai was the kind of man who would make sure she came. That was his nature—to take care of the people he was with. Especially in bed. This amazing man was on a mission, and it was all about pleasing her.
And that did it—she fell over the edge, streaks of pleasure shooting through her, blinding her to everything except the incredible ecstasy. Her climax must have swept him along with her. She heard his shout of release, as if from very far away.
She held on to his sweat-slick back, where the muscles felt like steel, rigid with tension. They rode out the waves together, like skydiving off the edge of a cliff. She floated, spiraling, blissful, powered only by pleasure.
Then everything relaxed, his muscles uncoiled, and he rolled over next to her. She curled onto her side, so deliciously spent that she wasn’t sure she’d ever move again.
“Damn,” he breathed.
She could barely breathe, let alone answer. He kept talking, something about how amazing she was, but not even those sweet words could hold sleep at bay. She drifted off, snuggled close against his side. The last thing she felt was his arm pulling her closer, and his lips dropping a kiss on her hair.
The last thing she heard was his soft whisper somewhere above her head. “You go ahead and sleep. I got you.”
22
After that night, Nicole spent as much time with Kai in their “box” as she could. Either she waited until everyone else was asleep, then ran across the property to his guesthouse, or she left her dorm room door open for him. It didn’t make a difference to her, although she allowed herself to scream and shout more at his place. Which he loved. His favorite thing to do was use his magic tongue on her clit until she came —which in turn made him so hard he came almost as soon he slid inside her.
Other times he liked to draw it out. They’d snuggle on the couch, watching movies, as he lazily stroked her. Not just the obvious places—but also secret spots like the inside of her forearm, the back of her neck, the small of her back. Time seemed to slow like honey while he caressed her like that. She’d be like a trembling rag doll by the time he drew her skirt up her thighs and slid his hand under her panties.
“Open for me,” he whispered in her ear. Right there on his lap she spread her legs apart. And came as soon he slid his big thumb along her sizzling clit. After that he tumbled her onto the couch, had her kneel, gripping the back, while he flipped her skirt up and drove into her from behind. She came then, too.
Wherever he led, she followed because it always took her to a place of bliss and joy.
They didn’t always make it to one of their suites. One day he cornered her in the old library, where she was reorganizing the books the lodge had accumulated over the years. With a wicked grin, he pinned her against the wall between the mystery section and the field guides.
“Did I ever tell you about my naked librarian fantasy?”
“Shhhh.” She scolded him with the most severe frown she could manage. “No talking in the library, you naughty boy.”
“See, that’s exactly how it goes. Unbutton your top, lady. Show me those tits.”
She loved it when he talked dirty like that. As he lifted her up and wrapped her legs around his hips, she undid her blouse, fingers already trembling.
“Hold on tight,” he muttered as her breasts came into view. She tightened her legs around his hips and rested her head against the wall. With a groan, he cupped her breasts in his hands, thumbing the nipples into aching peaks, stroking the sensitive undersides. With his hands still filled with her flesh, he claimed her mouth, kissing her so deep and hard her head spun.
Then he abandoned her breasts and gripped her upper thighs, his fingers digging into her flesh. His fingertips brushed the edge of her panties, then found their way inside. He stroked her until she was right on the edge, shaking and frantic.
A book fell to the ground in a little cloud of dust. Someone rattled the doorknob, which Kai had locked.
None of it mattered. There was only her and Kai, and this amazing, compulsive chemistry. A finger inside her now. Then another. Those long, strong fingers that knew exactly where to press, and how hard and how deep. When he brushed his thumb against her clit, she exploded, burying her head into his neck so as not to scream out loud. He came too, groaning along with her, rubbing against the place where his hand met her pussy.
“Are you crazy?” she hissed when the last spasms had died away and reality set in. She relaxed her legs from around him and planted her feet back on the floor. “This is a semi-public place. Guests wander in here all the time.”
“Which is why I locked it.” Kai smiled smugly. “Besides, you know that saying, rules are made to be broken.”
“I know that saying, doesn’t mean I live by it.”
“Are you sure? Maybe my motto is rubbing off on you.” He winked at her, then winced as he looked down at himself. “Gotta go change. You’re really a distraction, you know that? A million things to do, and here I am, making trouble with you again.”
“Don’t pin this on me.” Buttoning her blouse, she made a face at him. “I was innocently minding my own business.”
“You were impersonating a naughty librarian, which happens to be a longtime fantasy of mine. If you saw Miss Thurston, the Rocky Peak librarian back in the day, you’d understand.”
Stupidly, she felt jealous of that long ago librarian. She wanted Kai all to herself. She wanted all his fantasies focused on her.
Which was wrong and bad in so many ways.
Because outside of their sizzling sexual connection, nothing else had changed.
The end of the designated month came and went, but Kai stayed.
She started avoiding Felicity’s calls. Things had shifted since that confrontation after the bird-watching party. Max wasn’t interested in new ideas anymore. He deferred to his oldest son on just about everything. He asked his advice about which plumber to hire to fix the bathroom. He allowed Kai to hire a mechanic to come to the lodge for a day and give all the rigs a tuneup.
And then one morning at breakfast Max announced that he wanted Kai to become an official signatory on the lodge’s bank accounts.
Everyone at the table knew what that meant. It meant Max was doing the unthinkable and asking for Kai’s help.
But of course Kai reacted to it in his own way. “You’re trying to torture me, aren’t you, Dad? Send me screaming back to Colorado?”
“Nah, that’s just a bonus,” Max said in his rumbly voice. “An extra-nice bonus.”
Kai’s laughed, while Gracie tossed a blueberry at her father. “Stop that, Dad. Kai is not allowed to leave. Not yet.”
“Good to know,” Kai said mildly. “Let me know when that changes.”
Nicole bit down on her lip. She didn’t want him to leave. No, it wasn’t that, since she too would have to leave soon. It was that she didn’t want anything to change. She wanted to stay with him, in their cozy little box, as long as she possibly could.
But how long would that be? Where was this
headed?
Was there any way to reach some kind of harmonious resolution that didn’t involve the Rockwells finding out the truth and then despising her? Could she disappear before Felicity made her offer? Could she deny any connection to the Summit Group?
Of course she could, but that would mean leaving the lodge. And the truth was, she was becoming more and more deeply attached to it. Not just because of Kai, though that was a huge part of it. She was discovering her own favorite spots—a rise where the wind smelled of flowers she couldn’t see. A bramble patch with the biggest, juiciest blackberries imaginable. An overgrown path that led to a bench situated with a view toward the winding road that led into town.
The bench made her think of Amanda Rockwell, and all of Kai’s revelations about the accident. Had Amanda sat on this bench, watching for arrivals? Or dreaming of the day she could go back to the beach?
Even though Nicole had grown up on the coast, she didn’t miss it. She didn’t miss sand in her shorts or the smell of diesel boats. She loved the crisp clear air and the swaying spruce forests. She loved the homey, authentic feel of the lodge. She loved Max and Gracie, and the whole Rockwell attitude. Work hard and laugh your ass off, as Kai put it.
And Kai…yes, she loved Kai too.
She loved him in a detached way, because she had no faith that they’d ever really “be” together. She loved him because he was so fierce, so strong, so kind, so outrageous. Because he made an impact just by walking into a room. Because he made her laugh, because he freed her to be herself—a forgotten self that had been buried under worries and responsibilities. And because he cared, because he would always care. Even when it hurt to care.
“Everything okay, Nicole?” Kai was looking at her with concern, and she realized she’d blocked out everything after Gracie’s comment about his leaving. She’d been staring at her oatmeal bowl, lost in thoughts of Kai.
“Yeah, sorry. I was just putting together a shopping list in my head. We’re out of Mason jars.” She’d been helping Renata with the garden harvest, putting up green beans and making sauerkraut from big-headed cabbages.
The Rebel Page 16
