by Lily Harlem
I swallowed and looked into his eyes. “I was wrecked once before, when my mother died. It was horrible. I was only young, my father was heartbroken and I had nowhere to turn. But I got through the darkness and I came out of the other side, eventually.”
“And you will this time too.”
I glanced away. It was too soon to talk about recovering fully from Aimery and Ryle’s deaths. The grief was still young and volatile. It could break me at any moment, the strength of it unpredictable minute to minute.
“I would like, after we’ve eaten, to have sex with you again, Bea. If you’d be up for it of course.”
I was a little taken aback by his sudden change of subject, but then I became aware of his cock hardening against my stomach. He was fully erect now and his eyes were a little glazed with desire.
“I don’t think we should wait,” I said. My nipples were tingling and I could feel heat rushing to my pussy again.
He laughed. “We should indeed. You need some meat on your bones, pretty lady.”
He released me and turned to the stove, his cock bobbing heavily.
A snap of disappointment rushed through me, but I knew I was on a promise, and besides I was hungry. So I pushed the feeling aside and reached for cutlery to set the table.
“Do you think you should wear an apron, or put some underwear on?” I asked over my shoulder.
“Why?”
“You might, you know, burn your dick by mistake.”
He turned and winked. He had a wicked smile on his face. “Bea, surely you know by now, I can stand the heat.”
I shook my head and left him to it. If he wanted to risk his beautiful member getting scalded that was up to him.
Though it would spoil my plans for the evening.
Chapter Eleven
After we’d eaten and the dishes had been washed and stacked to dry, I went to the window by the front door and placed my hands on the cool sill. My breath fogged the glass and I watched the mist spread into a small circle.
Caleb was adjusting the fire, adding yet more wood to keep the biting cold at bay. I listened to the rustle of ash and the thud of logs and looked beyond the fog to examine the new layer of snow on the balustrade surrounding the porch.
I would guess another three inches had landed today and although it was now dark outside, the ghostly glow of the snow meant it was still possible to make out the trees in the distance.
I rubbed away the condensation I’d created then hugged my arms around myself. I couldn’t help but think of Isaac out there, alone, in the extreme conditions.
“Hey, what are you thinking about?” Caleb walked up behind me and curled his hands around my body, resting them over my arms as he pulled me into his warm, bare chest. I could feel his cock, hard and curling sabre-like toward his belly.
“I was just hoping Isaac is okay.”
“He’ll be fine. He’s used to roaming around in the wilderness.”
“But…”
Is he roaming as a wolf?
“Really, you mustn’t worry about him. He has everything he needs to survive. He won’t be cold, not in the slightest and he can find food no matter where he is.”
An image of the wolf, the rusty-brown one came to my mind. He’d have no trouble surviving in the cold. He had thick fur and sharp instincts to keep him warm. “But what if Isaac comes across Elfrida?” I asked. “What will he do then? If he meets her?”
“Isaac is a skilled fighter. He also has a sharp brain. Elfrida is no match for him.”
I didn’t agree with that statement; whether Caleb was talking about a man or a wolf, Elfrida was to be underestimated only by a fool. Hell, Aimery had been a vampire, like her, yet he was always cautious of what tricks she could get up to. “But how will Isaac—?”
“He’ll call for backup,” Caleb interrupted. “Listen, don’t worry about Isaac. He knows what he’s dealing with; vampires are not new to him.” He turned me within his arms. “I’m confident he’s fine and able to cope with whatever the mountains throw at him, and right now.” He paused and grinned. “I have other things to concern myself with.”
I pressed my hands to his cheeks and looked into his face. “And they are?”
“Reminding you of the woman you once were.”
“I like the sound of that.”
He stooped and swung me into his arms.
I locked my hands behind his neck as he strode to the bedroom he usually shared with Isaac.
I tried to push my worries aside about Isaac being out in the cold and Elfrida possibly hunting him, but it was hard. Even if Caleb was super-confident that he’d be fine I knew I’d still worry about him.
Caleb laid me on the bed and my body melted into the soft fur blanket that covered it.
“You should take off your clothes,” he said, starting the job for me.
“Do you prefer to not wear any?” I asked, admiring the way his abdomen had tensed into a row of neat squares as he pulled at my sweats.
“Yes, they make me hot and they itch.”
“But it’s not exactly a warm place to live. Why are you so hot?”
He smiled and tugged off my top. “I guess my blood just runs at a higher temperature than most.”
“And does Isaac’s too?”
“Yeah.” Caleb shrugged and placed my clothes on a nearby dresser.
I admired his buttocks as he faced away from me. Indented at the sides, they were a perfect-orbed shape and not a blemish on his skin.
“We both feel hot,” he said, turning back to me, “too hot in the summer, about right in the winter, if we’re not overdressed that is.”
“Is that why you live here, in the Arctic Circle?”
He walked back to the bed, his erect cock bobbing, and stretched out next to me with his head propped on his hand. “Yes, it suits us for many reasons and hey, lucky place to live when pretty damsels in distress turn up in our back yard.” He kissed me, slow and gentle, still with passion but without the desperate urgency of earlier.
I looped my arms over his head and gave myself up to him. Questions and worries and the hole in my heart would have to go on hold for a little while. Right now I needed Caleb and the way he could make me feel. He wasn’t a cure, I knew that, but he was medicine for right here, right now.
“You taste so sweet,” he murmured against my ear and shifting between my spread legs. “And you smell like flowers.”
“Really?” That surprised me. I’d been using their strong, coal-tar soap for weeks. I’d had no choice.
“Yes, your skin, it’s like petals, the first blooms of the spring. Delicate and fresh.”
“You can smell it over your soap?”
“Yes, it’s delicious.” He dipped his head and took my right nipple into his mouth, suckled and licked sending darts of pleasure shooting through my body.
I bit my lip. His talk of taste and smell made me want to sample him. I hadn’t had the pleasure and it had been so long. Too long and now I craved hot, hard cock in my mouth.
Caleb’s hot, hard cock.
I shoved at his chest and was surprised when he allowed me to tip him onto his back. He grinned up at me and reached for his erection, fisting the shaft in his big hand.
“So is it my turn?” I asked, eyeing the plum-shade of his crown as it peeked from his grip.
“For what?”
“To use my mouth on you.”
“Feel free.” He grinned in a lazy and oh, so sexy way that creased the skin at the corners of his eyes.
I licked my lips, slowly, suggestively and then dropped and flicked the tip of my tongue over first his right nipple and then his left.
“Mmm…” he said, resting his free hand on my shoulder. “I like watching you do that.”
“I think you’ll like watching me do this even more.” I shimmied down his body, his hot skin brushing against mine as I settled my pussy over the lower half of his right leg. The hardness of his shin pressed against my clit and I couldn’t help a little rub against it to s
toke the simmering heat.
He lay, almost sacrificial, as I unwound his fingers from his cock and took the steely shaft in my hand. My heart was beating fast and saliva pooling in my mouth. I swiped the tip of my tongue into the hot depths of his slit, sampling his peppery flavor.
“Bea…” he gasped and squirmed. “I…”
“What?” I glanced up at him, licking my lips and spreading his taste over them.
He’d raised his head from the pillow, the tendons in his neck straining as he stared at me.
“It’s… fuck, only Isaac has done this to me. For so long, it’s only been him.”
“Would you rather I didn’t?” A shot of panic whizzed through me.
“No, God no. I want you. I need it, I…”
I sank him into the hot moistness of my mouth, feeding him deep and curling my tongue around his shaft.
“Ah, fuck, yeah.” He groaned, dropping his head on to the pillow and bucking his hips, up and off the bed.
Oh, he wanted this all right and so did I.
As his big body lurched he hit the back of my throat. I battled with my gag reflex and dragged air through my nose.
“Bea, you’re amazing,” he gasped.
I closed my eyes and got into rhythm, provoking yet another, long guttural groan from him that was so primitive the noise blasted straight to my clit. Fire burned in my womb and heat rose on my cheeks. I shifted against him, using his leg to apply friction to my slit as I rubbed up and down. My pussy was plump and wet making it an easy glide and I was coating his body hair in my juice.
He was coasting close to the edge with each passing second. His cock was swelling against my tongue and pre-cum oozing from the end.
Suddenly he dragged me up, tossed me onto my back and loomed over me.
The loss of him from my mouth left me a little stunned. He’d moved me so rapidly and so easily.
“Caleb,” I gasped.
“I want to look at you, your face, as I come,” he said, staring down at me, his hair hanging messily around his flushed brow and tickling the rise of his cheeks.
“Yes, yes,” I managed, spreading my legs for him.
He was already at my slick entrance. His cock-head nudging its way in.
He shivered and trembled, his arms locked straight and he curled his hips under, seating himself slowly and carefully as though savoring each inch of my pussy coming into contact with his shaft.
“Bea…” he whispered.
I cupped his jawline, sprinkled with sharp stubble. “It’s so good. To be with you like this.”
“I’ll remember it always,” he said, staring unblinking at me. “Forever.”
I didn’t want the moment to be a memory, it was now and real and I’d been living in the past for too many months.
“Please…” I said, curling my feet around the backs of his wide thighs. “Make me forget it all. Make me come.”
“Your wish is my command.” He sank to full depth and a rumble of pleasure growled up from his throat.
I fluttered my internal muscles around him, hugging him close and relishing the absolute fullness that added a heavy denseness to the pressure mounting in my pelvis.
“Concentrate on me,” he said, brushing his lips over mine. “Let it all go, just think of me and us here, doing this. There is nothing in the past and nothing in the future. Here and now is all that exists.”
It had been the right thing to say to me, and I adored him for it.
As he set up a gentle grind by circling his pelvis against my clit I let my mind go blank. All that existed was pleasure and our fused bodies. My muscles were tense, stiff but also somehow relaxed and at one with Caleb. I got the feeling he was holding me together, cementing the new strength in me that I’d been looking for.
“You’re so pretty,” he said, lifting up again to study my face. “So soft and sweet and pretty.”
“And you’re so big and…hard.” As I’d said the last word a chesty sigh stuttered from my mouth. Fuck, I was getting close. What he was doing with his hips was devilishly good. Goosebumps broke out across my skin and perspiration settled in my cleavage.
“That’s right, good girl, let it go,” he murmured.
“It’s just you,” I gasped. “Just you, Caleb.”
And it was, that and flashing lights and a wild pulse ringing in my ears and the pressure building, growing, about to cascade.
I reached for his buttocks, squeezed tight and buffeted my pussy up against his body, greedily snatching all the connection I could from his hard pubis and tipping so the head of his cock hit my G-spot just right.
It felt amazing and I was unable to ignore the demands of my body. I held my breath, climbed those last few blissful seconds of ecstatic torture, and then let it all spill out.
I allowed a yelp of delight to leave my mouth, completely uninhibited. My pussy spasmed and I gripped Caleb, free-falling through pleasure he was my anchor in a wild storm of delight.
“Open your eyes,” he gasped, filling me deeper than ever and not letting up on my clit.
I wasn’t aware that I’d shut them so I blinked open to the light and looked into Caleb’s face. His brow was creased and he was biting on his bottom lip.
“Come with me,” I panted. “Fuck, come with me.”
“Urgh…” He shoved in hard, his balls colliding with arse. His cock pulsated in my pussy, the heat of his semen coated my insides.
“Ah, yeah,” he said, withdrawing and smoothing back in through the moisture—his and mine. “So good, you make me feel so good.”
“And you me…” I slid my hands up his back, over his shoulders to his face and pushed his hair from his eyes. “I didn’t think I’d ever feel good again.”
A tremble wound down his body and he stilled. “Where there’s life there is hope, and you, I can vouch for, are very much alive.” He kissed me, long, slow and tender, working his mouth with mine and dancing his tongue slow and sexy over my lips.
Yes, I was alive. It wasn’t the life I was used to, but Caleb had shown me the here and now and that it was easier to exist in bite-sized pieces, especially when if felt so damn good.
When I woke the next morning Caleb was gone. But he’d been with me all night. I could still feel his arms around my body and the patch of blanket next to me held the warmth of his skin.
I stretched, yawned, wiggled my toes and stared up at the roof. It was made of pale wooden logs slotted against one another like rows of fat pencils. I could make out several thick knots, where branches had once grown, and three directly above me looked like two eyes and a long, snout-like nose. A bit of a squint and I could almost imagine it was a wolf face.
My stomach suddenly rumbled and I finished my perusal of the bedroom ceiling and stood.
The cabin was quiet and I guessed Caleb had gone for his usual morning run or whatever it was he did as soon as the dawn broke.
Check their territory?
After using the bathroom and dressing, I made tea and went to the front door, the steaming mug cupped in my hand. I pulled the door open, lured by the sight of the blue sky from the kitchen window and the sunshine sparkling off the snow. I needed a bit of up close and personal time with the elements surrounding me. It had been so damn long since I’d been out of these four walls.
I narrowed my eyes against the glare. The brightness stung my retinas. But although startlingly white, the winter sun didn’t quite reach the doorstep. It stopped its glittering journey at the far point of the veranda, cruelly missing the very spot I wanted it to be. I yearned for the heat of the sun on my skin; the feel of its warmth on my face and the caress of its rays on my flesh.
With my eyes now adjusted, I glanced left and right. My snowy world was perfectly still and utterly quiet. Nothing moved, not even a bird or a deer. There were no footprints on the veranda other than Caleb’s big boot imprints going down the steps and into the distance.
I’d never felt so alone or so isolated.
I sipped my tea, shi
vered and looked at the patch of sunlight again.
What harm would it do if I slipped on my shoes and stood there for a moment?
There was nothing and no one around for miles and miles. I was in a desolate, snowy wilderness.
Quickly, I retrieved the heels I’d arrived in and set them by the door. They were quite possibly the worst shoes for snow imaginable, but I couldn’t place bare feet on the freezing ground. I’d have frostbite in minutes.
Still gripping my drink, I wriggled my feet into the shoes. They were a fashion crime with the homemade sweats but they’d serve a purpose.
Once again I peered into the distance as I stepped out of the cabin for only the second time in months. There was no movement in the trees, everything stayed the same, exactly as it had been before I moved over the threshold.
Thoughts of Elfrida whizzing like a crazed banshee from the forest faded. What harm could this do?
I breathed deep, loving the way the crisp air sliced through my nostrils and into my lungs. It awoke every nerve in my body. This was good for me despite the risk and the warnings from the men.
Wanting more sensation, I walked carefully to the patch of sunlight at the end of the veranda. The snow avalanched over the ends of my shoes and my heels sank deep. But I didn’t care. I needed that heat on my skin as much as I needed to take my next breath.
It took about ten paces to reach my goal and when I did, I took my attention away from the tree line and tipped my face to the crystal-blue sky.
Bliss.
The sun beat down; it was weak but still warm enough to kiss my flesh and penetrate to my bones. I sighed and rolled my shoulders. I ached from my lovemaking with Caleb but it was good to remember the muscles I’d neglected for so long. A body that I’d taken no notice of for months and physical connection and pleasure I’d missed sharing with another person.
I shut my eyes and let the sunlight infiltrate my closed lids turning my world from black to blood-red. This was what I needed, life outside the cabin. I had to get out into the real world again.
But not yet.
Soon.
When spring came perhaps?
For now I was okay, licking my wounds and working through my sorrow. And it wasn’t as if I didn’t have sexy company for the duration. I felt better being connected to someone who understood me, could kiss away some of my pain. Caleb was the prop holding me up at the moment. I couldn’t leave him.
