Winter Soulstice

by Eden Bradley

  “Of course she did, but I always wrote it off as some silly sentimental—”

  “Apparently not so silly after all.”

  “It’s a coincidence. That’s all. A small world, like you said.” She tried to shrug it off, but the tiny hairs at the back of her neck stood straight up, and the chill she was feeling came from more than her wet clothes. She could swear she smelled lilacs again at the very edge of her senses.

  “You’ve spent too many years analyzing things, perhaps,” he said, his voice quiet.

  “Why do you find this stuff so easy to believe?”

  “It’s an Irish thing, I suppose, to accept the strangeness in the world. We’re a superstitious lot. And when we make a vow, we keep it. Even if it’s others who must keep it for us.”

  He was silent for a moment, as though he were waiting for her to argue. But she couldn’t. In her mind’s eye she saw again her Nana’s face, remembered her stories about her girlhood in Ireland, her best friend who was like a sister to her. She remembered the letters with the foreign postmarks that had so fascinated her as a child, letters talking about Brighid’s daughter, about her grandson who had moved to the states.

  She could not believe this was happening. And yet, it was.

  Reece shrugged, smiled, and she felt a flutter of heat in her stomach. “Come on then. Let’s get you into something warm and dry.”

  She followed him down the hallway to the bedroom, thinking of her superstitious Nana talking to her about the inescapable power of fate.

  What did all this connectedness mean? Dissecting her feelings was second nature, but for the first time in her life, she didn’t really want to question it, to analyze. It was too complicated, too surreal. She pushed the thought aside.

  In his bedroom she couldn’t help but eye the rumpled sheets. The room still reeked of the musky scent of sex. She closed her eyes, inhaled, savored. Her body began to heat up and, when she opened them, Reece stood before her with another of those big, fluffy towels in his hands. His smooth chest shone golden in the pale lamplight. She wanted to touch him. Needed to. And when he laid the towel over her hair and began to rub, that sexual urge was joined by the hungry beat of her heart.

  She’d been lonely, she suddenly realized. She’d never thought of herself that way. She had her friends, her work, her hobbies. It all seemed a bit empty when she stopped to think about it.

  Reece smoothed the towel over her hair, drying it. She held very still, a strange series of sensations and emotions washing over her.

  The rain came down hard outside, the storm not letting up for a moment. In the distance was the muffled rumble of thunder. But here, with Reece, she was warm and safe. When was the last time she’d felt so cared for? Could it all be an act to get her back into bed?

  No. A man who looked like Reece Kellan had no need of such machinations. She was ashamed for even thinking it. He was simply a good man. Good for her? Perhaps.

  Reece withdrew the towel, dropped it on the floor. Very carefully, giving her time to back away, he curled his fingers around her face, cupping it in his big hands. Warmth suffused her entire being.

  His voice was husky, soft. “I’d really like to kiss you, Destiny. Just kiss you. But I won’t unless you tell me it’s okay.”

  His hand heated her skin, reminding her of what the rest of his muscular body felt like when pressed against hers. But she felt something else in his touch, something more. Something she didn’t want to fight.

  To hell with it. She would figure it all out later.

  Her words came out on a breathy sigh. “Kiss me, Reece.”

  Chapter Five

  Reece’s lips met hers, a soft caress. He pulled back. “So sweet,” he whispered, before leaning in to kiss her again.

  The kiss was tender, careful. She wrapped a hand behind his neck, pulling him closer. He deepened the kiss, using his tongue to make a soft exploration of her mouth. The heat was on her again, but it seemed different this time. Yes, it was desire, a fierce, burning lust. But it was also the warmth of comfort and trust.

  Reece pulled away. “Come on. Let’s get these wet clothes off you, darlin’.” He spoke quietly, as though he didn’t dare ruin the moment.

  He ran his hands down her arms before he helped her slip out of her wet sweater. Next were her jeans. They were plastered to her skin, but together they peeled them off, and he tossed them on the floor.

  He stopped, leaving her in bra and panties, then picked up the towel again. He rubbed it over her skin, so carefully. Caringly. She shivered.

  “You’re cold.”

  She didn’t bother to correct him. He stood close enough that she could breathe in his male scent, clean and masculine. Sexy as hell. She moved closer. “Warm me up, Reece. Touch me, please...”

  That was all he needed to hear. He swept her up into his strong arms, then laid her on the bed, brushed his fingertips over her face, her neck, her shoulders, before he slid one bra strap down, then the other. She trembled at his touch, fire blossoming between her thighs. Her breasts ached for his touch, and once more, as though he knew instantly what she needed, he drew his fingertips over the edge of her bra, undid the front clasp, and cupped her breasts in his hands. She moaned.

  God, his hands felt good on her, but she wanted more. He paused long enough to strip away his pajama bottoms and get into bed with her. But not before she’d caught sight of his erect cock. Big and full, the head of it swollen, and god, she needed to touch him.

  She ran her hands down the length of his body, loving the solid muscle she felt everywhere. Like iron sheathed in smooth, golden skin. When she feathered her fingers over the dark, pulsing head of his cock, he groaned.

  He worked her panties down over her hips, her legs. Then he kissed his way down the front of her, his mouth hot on her skin. When he reached the damp V between her thighs, she couldn’t help but open her legs and arch into him.

  He gave her curls a few teasing sweeps of his lips, then laid a soft kiss on the tip of her clit, and she thought she’d go wild if he didn’t start working her in earnest. But it seemed he wanted to tease for a while.

  Using his fingers, he caressed the seam of her pussy lips, a maddeningly gentle touch. So were the small kisses that followed, over her swollen lips, her hard and aching clit. One soft kiss after another, making her crazy with need, never quite slaking the keen edge of desire.

  “Reece, please,” she breathed.

  “Your wish is my command, my darlin’.”

  He spread her sex wide open with his hands, took her clit into his eager mouth, sucking hard. At the same time, his thumbs entered her, pushing deep inside her. She came almost immediately, fierce spasms of pleasure wracking her body, making her writhe while he sucked and stroked her. She shook with the force of it, ran her fingers through his thatch of dark hair, and held on.

  “Reece, I need you inside me. Now.”

  He snaked his way up her body to face her. His gaze burned into her. “You know what might happen”

  “I know. But I need you. I won’t be afraid this time.”

  He nodded, leaned over, and pulled a condom from the nightstand drawer, quickly rolling it on. Then he was on top of her, and the sweet weight of him felt so good. She opened her thighs for him. He kissed her mouth, his still salty with the ocean scent of her juices.

  “We’ll take it slow,” he whispered.

  He raised himself up on his arms, and she looked into his face, so full of passion and warmth. She locked her gaze to his fevered blue one as he pushed into her.

  The first moment was a shock of molten pleasure that reverberated through her body. But when he inched farther in, she had that odd surge again of doubled sensation, of both cock and pussy, sheathed and filled. She saw his blue eyes go wide, saw her own green ones answer in kind, as he must see her. But she concentrated on the sensation, focused.

  “Incredible.” His voice was ragged with pleasure and wonder. He thrust a little deeper, watching her face.

>   “It’s okay, Reece. I want it all.”

  He groaned as he rammed in to the hilt. His thick shaft filled her completely, stretched her, made her shiver and clamp around him. When he pulled almost all of the way out and thrust home again, it was even better. For her, for him, it was all the same.

  He fell on her, kissed her neck, licked the sensitive skin there, then moved his hips again. He began to pump in a rhythmic motion, and the sensation overwhelmed her, flooding her mind with incomprehensible images and her body with a nearly painful pleasure. His thick cock pulled at her insides. He was sheathed and squeezed by her tight pussy. His balls contracted, drawing tight. And she felt it all as though it were her own male body. As though she were male and female at the same time.

  Impossible, but she no longer cared. It was too good.

  “Harder, Reece.”

  “I want to take you from behind.”

  He flipped her over, wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her up onto her knees so that her ass arched high in the air. She felt open, exposed. Lovely.

  The tip of his cock brushed her opening, then pushed inside. One hand caressed her breast, teasing the nipple again, rolling it between his fingers. He reached down to toy with her clit in the same way. When he began to move, sliding in and out of her, she was in his head once more, feeling it all: her hard, tight nipple in his fingers, the swollen nub of her clit. And the sliding sensation. Moving in and out of her pussy. Even the sight of her own rounded ass was thrilling through his eyes.

  She rocked back against him, wanting to come one more time, and she did, her inner walls grabbing hard around his cock. And all the time she could feel him holding back, on the brink himself, making her own orgasm more intense, more striking.

  Suddenly, he flipped her over, plunged into her again before she had a chance to think about it.

  “I need to see your face when I come,” he rasped out. “I need to feel you. Be with you.”

  “Yes, Reece!”

  While her body still shook with the impact of her climax, even as he thrust his cock into her, bringing her body new waves of sensation, her heart swelled, reached out to him, and connected.

  He pounded into her, each sharp motion of his hips bringing her exquisitely close to the edge once more. He was so close himself, she could feel every lance of sensation as though it were her own. Still he held back, waited for her to reach once more for her own peak.

  When she came again, he came, too; their gazes locked together. Her pleasure, his, it didn’t matter. It was all the same, rolling over them both in a hot, powerful tide. It went on and on, a relentless wave that reached deep into her being. Into her soul.

  * * * * *

  The lazy aftermath of sex had never felt so good. Her limbs were liquid, tingling. And the sex itself... Well, it was incomparable. That moment when he’d locked gazes with her, she’d been so much a part of him, and he’d been a part of her in a way she’d never experienced before. She’d never had this odd intensity of connection, this exchange of body, heart. Soul. She knew she never would again, not with anyone else. And she wasn’t scared this time, because he was right there with her.

  Reece.

  He lay stretched out on his side next to her, one arm looped over her hip. She noticed for the first time how the muted glow of lamplight tipped the dark hair on his forearms in auburn. Turning, she took in his face, his features relaxed, his eyes closed. He stirred. His eyes fluttered open, and her stomach quivered as that bright blue gaze caught hers. The quiver turned into a warm rolling wave that spread throughout her body when he smiled.

  “Hi, darlin’.”

  “Hi.”

  He reached up to stroke the tip of her breast with one finger. Her nipples sprang to attention.

  “Randy little thing, are you?” he teased.

  “Only with you. A lot of things are different with you.”

  “Yeah, aren’t they? Do you want to talk about it?”

  She shook her head, her curls brushing her bare shoulders. “Not right now. Not yet.”

  “There’ll be plenty of time to figure it out later.”

  “I was hoping you’d say that.” She snuggled down onto his chest and breathed him in. He smelled faintly of the rain still falling outside.

  She smoothed a hand over his chest. His heart drummed a steady beat beneath her palm.

  “This is real,” she murmured.

  “Yes.”

  “That’s all I need to know right now.”

  “Come here.”

  He used his arm to gather her close, pulling her tight against him. His body was all long, strong lines, hard-packed muscle. And he was hard again. She arched her hips against his heavy erection, felt it jerk and pulse in return.

  “You call me the randy one. Where on earth did you get the term ‘randy’, anyway?”

  “From my grandmother.”

  “Ah, it’s back to the grandmothers. It feels so inappropriate to be discussing anybody’s grandmother right now.”

  “You asked.”

  “Sometimes I need to shut up.”

  “I know just the trick.”

  He leaned in and crushed his lips to hers, those lush lips of his that were so soft and warm they made her melt inside. The melting turned into liquid fire as he thrust his hot, wet tongue into her mouth. The fire turned into volcanic heat when he slipped a hand between her legs and found her damp cleft.

  “I like that you’re always so ready for me, darlin’.”

  He slipped a few fingers inside her, and her inner walls clenched around them. He used his thumb to massage lazy circles on her clit. She was ready to explode almost instantly. But she wanted him with her, inside her, when she came.

  Again, he seemed to read her mind.

  “Not yet, my darlin’ girl. I’m going to fuck you now.”

  “Yes!”

  “And we’ll make it a little dirty, just because of that grandmother comment.”

  She giggled at his wicked grin, her sex giving an anticipatory squeeze.

  Reece grabbed her around the waist and rolled until she was on top of him. He sheathed himself in a condom, then encircled her waist with his big hands. Raising her up, he impaled her on his thick shaft.

  She groaned from the heat and size of it. From the dual sensations of her own pleasure and his. His hands guided her, up, then down, filling her almost to bursting. Again. Shivers raced through her.

  “Not yet,” he commanded, as he pulled her up, his cock slipping out of her.

  Using his strong hands, he moved her, slid down until his face was beneath her open, aching pussy. Her thighs quivered, thinking about what he was going to do to her.

  Reece used his fingers to spread her pussy lips apart. She’d never felt so open, so exposed. And his fingers on her were too good. If only he’d move them an inch or two higher...

  “You’re eager, are you?” he teased, massaging her swollen lips, manipulating them, sliding inward to spread her inner lips, as well.

  She shivered, wanting to come just from having him look at her so intimately. She let her head fall back, closed her eyes, and almost jumped when his tongue shot out to flick against her opening. It was too good, and she surged down, wanting his whole mouth on her.

  “Not yet,” he said once more.

  He licked again, then shoved his tongue into her. Her thighs shook as he used his tongue to thrust in and out of her, mimicking the motion of his cock when he was inside her. She swore she could taste the flavor of her own sweet juices.

  She angled her hips, wanting his mouth on her aching clit. She found if she concentrated, she could feel the pulsing beat of his cock as if it were her own. Wanting, filling, growing thick with the same aching need that thrummed in her clit, throughout her body.

  “More!” The demand slipped from her lips.

  He laughed, then sat up, picked her up and carried her through the house.

  She wrapped her arms around his neck and held on. “Where are we going?�
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  “The bedroom isn’t nearly dirty enough. I did promise you dirty.”

  He carried her down the hallway and into the kitchen, where a light over the stove illuminated the room in a faint glow.

  “What to do with you?” Reece muttered, making her sex throb at the thought.

  “Anything. Everything.” She bit his earlobe.

  God, he smelled good. Like man and sex and him.

  Reece deposited her on the top of the kitchen table. The granite was a shock of cold against her skin.

  “Reece! This thing is freezing!”

  “I’ll warm you up.”

  He pushed her down on her back, encircled her waist with his hands and slid her to the edge. Then he seated himself in a chair between her legs and parted her thighs, draping her legs over his shoulders.

  “I’ve never seen a lovelier sight,” he said in hushed tones.

  She felt so open to him, physically and emotionally. She would have done anything he wanted. But right now she wanted this, too. Wanted him to see her. Wanted even more for him to touch her.

  Reece brushed his fingers over her pussy lips, used them to spread her open. Her whole body shuddered, her sex flooding once more with a new wave of damp heat.

  “God, you’re all smooth and glistening.” He used his thumbs to delve inside. “And so damn hot.”

  Then he leaned in and started in with his mouth, licking and sucking on her clit. Even his fingers holding her open felt good. The cold, hard granite against her back only added to the sensation.

  She was soaking wet, throbbing, on the edge of orgasm almost immediately. But he didn’t stop, just kept working her, quickly, expertly. Her climax rolled over her, crushing in intensity. Her sex clenched, her hips thrust against his mouth, and she cried out as pleasure shook her, stabbed through her, numbing her mind.

  She was still shaking with it when he stood up, held her thighs wide and slid into her. One smooth motion, all slippery and thick, his cock went into her, right to the hilt.

  “God, Reece.”