by Emerson Rose
“To not asking questions,” she says clinking her glass lightly with mine. We drink. Her slow, me faster. I don’t know why I’m bothering with wine. If I want a buzz, I need something stronger.
“Trust is important in a friendship,” she says out of nowhere.
“I agree, it is,” I answer not sure where this is going.
“I want you to know I trust you, and you can trust me. I am in no way out to expose you through my work. I just thought we should have that out there in the open between us, so it’s very clear.”
“It’s clear, thank you.”
“That being said, I wanted to show you some of the photographs I took today. I think you might want a few of the ones with you and Cannon. You two get along so well.”
I snort. “We get along better now that Stella’s in his life. I couldn’t stand looking after him before. He was a hellion.”
“She must have made quite an impression on him. Kids know who to trust and love, and I can see Cannon trusts and loves you.”
“He’s a good kid, misunderstood, but good.”
“Kids, you gotta love ‘em,” she says, and I get the double meaning behind that comment. That’s her way of asking if I have kids without asking.
“I don’t have any of my own.”
“That’s too bad. You seem like you’d be a good father.”
“I’m not so sure about that but thanks.”
Quiet settles between us. She sips her wine, and I down mine. “I’m going to make myself a martini. You can have one if you like.”
“I’m fine, thank you, though.”
In the kitchen, I plink several cubes of ice in a shaker with a couple of shots of vodka, shake, and pour into my glass. I’ve had my back to the living room making my drink. When I turn, Allison is right there, as in, right there in front of me close enough to feel the warmth of her body radiating onto mine.
I look down into her dark walnut eyes and drink her in. She’s breathtaking, her smooth, flawless skin and her full parted lips beckon to be kissed. I’d be a fool not to take advantage of the moment, so I lean forward and gently press my lips to hers.
She tastes like wine and cranberries—sweet and tart at the same time—delicious. I set my drink on the counter and slip my hand around her waist pulling her closer and deepening the kiss. My heartbeat doubles when her hands slide up my back, and her soft curves meld into me. She feels so damn good. I haven’t desired a woman like this in a long time. There’s a connection between us that I’ve never experienced like she was made to perfectly fit in my hands and my hands only.
The kiss lasts and lasts until I’m swallowing her gasps and whimpers and sliding my hands under her ass to lift her up. She wraps her legs around my waist, and I walk her to the couch and lay her down never breaking our kiss. How have I gone from hiding from this woman this morning to wanting to rip her clothes off and bury my cock so deep inside of her she screams my name?
I move my mouth from hers to her neck and kiss a trail along her jaw to her ear where I nibble on her earlobe. Her hands come to my chest, and she pushes me away. Confused, I back up onto my knee that’s between her legs and stare into her eyes that are now black as night with their pupils dilated fully.
Before I can say anything, she’s pulling her shirt up and over her head tossing it onto the floor next to us. The sight of her lying under me in a lacy pink bra and jeans makes me dizzy and ravenous. I lower down onto my forearms and tease her nipple with my tongue and teeth through the thin lace causing her back to arch off the couch against me.
Her hands are at the base of my shirt working it up. When she can go no further, I reach up to the back of my collar and pull it off tossing it onto the growing pile of clothes next to us. When I lower myself against her, our skin burns when it touches, so hot, so sensitive, so incredibly right.
I pull her bra down under her ample breasts and moan when I suck her nipple between my lips and scrape my teeth on her hard bud. “I want you, Allison, and that’s no question.” Enough fooling around on the couch like teenagers, I have a perfectly good king-size bed in the next room. I yank her up and toss her over my shoulder carrying her like a caveman to my bedroom. She gasps and then she laughs until I lay her down on my bed and kiss her again to be sure this is what she wants.
Her hands explore my back pulling, scratching, begging for more. I kiss another trail down her neck past her breasts to the edge of her jeans and unbutton and unzip them. Back up to her mouth, I look into her hooded eyes for approval before going any further. She nods understanding full well what I’m asking, and I back off the bed and stand to tug her jeans off. More lace, pink see-through fucking lace that has my cock hard as steel and twitching in my jeans.
I kiss her between her legs over the lace, and she gasps and bucks up violently. I can’t wait until there is no barrier between us.
“Allison, I want to make sure before…”
“I want you to fuck me, Ridge. Do it, don’t wait. I want you inside me, please.”
So much for consent. You can’t get any clearer than that. I stand up and shed my jeans and boxers while she watches panting on her back before me. I slide my hands up her bare thighs and pull off her lace panties while she unclasps her bra and discards it as well.
I take a moment to appreciate her beautiful, curvaceous body. “You’re so fucking beautiful, Allison. Spread your legs wide for me.” She does as I ask, and I reward her with my mouth between her legs. I make her scream with the first of many orgasms I have in store for her tonight.
I open the drawer in the nightstand and grab a condom, rolling it on while she’s still coming down from her high. When I’m ready, I pull her up off the bed and sit on the edge. “I want you to ride me.” She steps forward with a wobble still reeling from her orgasm, and I help lift her onto my lap. Her long, dark hair has come free, and I tuck a piece behind her ear gazing into her soulful, wise eyes. “Are you ready?” I ask, and she nods rising and placing her hands on my shoulders.
I guide my cock to her entrance, and she slowly impales herself onto it sinking down, down until I’m deep inside her warm, slick walls. I pull her against me and bury my face in her neck savoring the feel of being so completely one with this gorgeous creature.
She rises, and I grip her ass digging my fingers into her hot flesh and forcefully pull her back down. She cries out and pushes me down onto my back on the bed with her hands splayed out on my chest to ride me hard and fast and then slow and steady alternating until I flip her over and retake control.
“You’re going to make me cum.”
“That’s the idea, isn’t it?” she pants.
“Not yet, I want more of you,” I say pushing in slow and deep. Her eyes roll back into her head, and she grips the comforter on either side of her. After a few slow thrusts, I pull out without warning, and her eyes snap open. She whimpers until I flip her over onto her belly and pull her ass up in the air.
I slide a finger down her spine to her crack pausing to place pressure on the pucker of her ass for a moment before guiding my cock back into her soaking-wet crease.
She moans, and I wrap my arm around her so I can stroke her clit while I drive into her until we both cum with a force I’ve never known. When we start to come down from the most intense sexual experience I’ve ever had, I slide out and roll onto my side pulling her with me to spoon behind her.
“Oh my God, Ridge, what the hell was that?” she says astounded and laughing.
“I believe you just asked me a question, angel.”
“To hell with the no-question thing. I can’t even think straight.”
“So I scrambled your brain?”
“You scrambled my everything.”
I chuckle. “I’ll take that as a compliment.”
“Yes, you do that. And if you want to do any of that other stuff again, please, be my guest.”
I turn her in my arms, so we are nose to nose. “This is crazy you know? I wanted to hate you this morning, and now
I’ve fucked you scrambled. How did you manage that?”
“You’re going to have to answer that one yourself. Most of what happened was all you.”
“Ah, but you started it when you came up close behind me in the kitchen.”
She wrinkles up her nose. “Yeah, I guess I did. Do you regret it?”
“Hell no, do you?”
“Nope. This is now my favorite snowstorm pastime.”
“Yeah? Well, I’d like to propose we move to Alaska then.”
She giggles and nuzzles against my chest.
“I like you, Ridge Noble. You’re full of surprises.”
“I could say the same for you.”
“I’m glad Stella suggested I bring you your dinner.”
“You and me both.”
Eight
Allison
Have I Told You How Much I Love Snowstorms?
Who would have thought a couple of glasses of wine would make me so brazen? When I went into Ridge’s kitchen, I was planning on stealing a kiss. I had no idea it would cause such an intense spark between us.
I’ve never felt that with any man. It was as if I had no control over my body. I was willing to do anything. I was one hundred percent at his mercy. And when he wanted me to take control, I did. That is not like me at all. I’m a follower in sex, not an initiator. I certainly don’t take the lead, but with Ridge, it was so easy and natural, and there were no inhibitions or awkward moments.
But now lying here in his arms in the dark watching the snow continue to fall outside through a giant picture window, I’m wondering if I made a mistake. Not that the sex was a mistake, God no, but the powerful emotions I’m feeling are unsettling.
I like this man a lot. What we shared wasn’t just physical. There is something else there, something electric and deep, something I want more of. How am I going to get more of him when I’m thousands of miles away in New York raising my brother and working sixty hours a week?
He stirs in his sleep and pulls me tighter against his warm, hard body. That small unconscious act makes my heart flutter, and that makes tears prick at the back of my eyes. Why is this happening here, now? Why couldn’t I have met Ridge in five years when David is off at college, and I’m free to live my life for me again?
Because that’s not how life works, Allison, and you know it. Timing has always been off for me, and in this case, it’s no different. I’ll be going home to the city Ridge despises in a few days, and he will be hard at work here keeping Ash organized and safe. That’s just how it is, but it doesn’t mean I hate it any less.
I look at the clock on his bedside table—it’s four in the morning, and I haven’t slept a wink while Ridge has been peacefully cuddled up behind me breathing soft and steady for hours. I wish he were awake. Now that the question ban was lifted, I have a million of them to ask.
First and foremost is why did his marriage end? How long was he married? What happened with the pop princess and how on earth did that whole thing get so blown out of perspective? These are all questions that will have to wait until I’m given a good opening to ask them. If I even get the chance.
“You’re wiggly,” he murmurs against my neck.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you.”
“What’s wrong?”
“I, uh, I don’t sleep in an unfamiliar place very well. Creature of habit.”
“Mmm, me, too. I hate hotels and guest rooms. Is there anything I can do to make you more comfortable?”
“Well, I do need to use the restroom.”
“I’ll let you go on one condition.”
“That I promise not to wet the bed?”
He chuckles. “No, well I’d prefer if you wouldn’t wet the bed, although I’d just clean it up and put you back into it anyway. My condition is that you return.”
“As in you don’t want me to sneak out after I pee?”
“Yes.”
“I’m not going anywhere but to the bathroom and back into this bed.”
“Good, because I will just go downstairs and bring you back, but I’d like to avoid the hassle.”
Now I chuckle. “You’re used to getting what you want, aren’t you?”
“Most assuredly.”
I pat his arms that are wrapped around me tightly. “Okay, let me out, or you’ll be changing some sheets.”
He releases me, and I hurry into his en-suite bathroom and shut the door. The light comes on automatically and progressively so by the time I’m done peeing, the room is bright as day. I flush and turn to face the mirror startled at the sight of myself.
“Good grief,” I say to the woman with crazy bed head and dark mascara circles smudged under her eyes staring back at me. I try to comb through my hair with my fingers to no avail and quietly pull open a drawer in the vanity praying for a hairbrush but knowing the likelihood of one being there is slim.
The drawer is almost empty but for a tube of toothpaste and some floss. I close it and try another—no brush—just as I suspected. I gather up the mess and twist it into a loose knot at the base of my neck. It’s still not pretty but out of sight at least.
A knock at the door makes me jump. “Are you all right?”
I open the door. Ridge is leaning his shoulder on the edge of the door with his arms crossed over his chest. “I’m fine, other than this wad of tangles and these circles under my eyes.”
He smiles, and it’s a smile that reaches his eyes and makes my insides melt into mush. He pushes off the doorjamb and reaches out to cup my cheek. “You’re perfect, even with your tussled hair and tired eyes.”
I snort. “I’m glad you think so.”
“Come back to bed. I’ll help you get to sleep.”
“It’s almost morning. I might as well stay awake now.”
“It’s only four-thirty. You have a good four hours of sleep ahead of you. Come.”
He takes my hand and leads me back to bed. “Lay down on your stomach.”
I look at him suspiciously out of the corner of my eye. “I don’t think sex is going to make me sleepy.” He smiles again, and it warms my heart.
“I’m going to give you a massage. Lie down.”
I crawl into his big, comfortable bed and lie down and close my eyes. A moment later, I feel the mattress dip, and he is hovering over me rubbing his hands together. The smell of chamomile and lavender wafts through the air making me relax before he even touches me. But then his warm hands are on my shoulders digging into the sore muscles that hold all of my tension, and I’m moaning long and deep. “God, you have no idea how good that feels,” I murmur into the mattress.
“You’re tight. You carry all your stress here, don’t you?”
“I guess so.”
His hands travel down my back in long sweeps and back up in circular motions until I am a worthless puddle of glop in his hands. While he’s massaging me, he hums. It’s not a song or a tune but more of a monotone trance sound that knocks me out.
I open one eye and look around the unfamiliar room. It takes me a moment to remember where I am and how I got here. I open both eyes and sit up with a groan when the pain of sore muscles rolls through my body. I will not need to run today, or tomorrow for that matter. We had a full cardiac workout for hours last night. I’m probably good for the rest of the week.
Ridge isn’t in bed, and I glance at the clock, it’s ten-thirty, shit, shit, shit! I was supposed to start today’s shoot in Ash’s office at nine. The crew is probably trying to get ahold of me, and I think my phone is on Ridge’s dining room table.
I jump out of bed and regret it immediately when my muscles scream for mercy. This is my job, my career, it’s the way I feed my brother and pay our bills. I have to be responsible.
I scan the room for something to cover myself with in case Ridge isn’t alone in the house, but there’s nothing. I open the door an inch and peek through the opening. “Ridge? You here?” I call. Nothing. I open the door a little more and tiptoe across the room to the couch where the
majority of my clothes should be in a pile, but they aren’t there.
Shit, where did he put my clothes? Where is he? I scan the room and still find no trace of my things. Back in his bedroom, I look for a note, still nothing. He has a land line on the table next to the bed, thank God. I sit down and pull the top sheet off his bed and wrap it around me. When I pick up the phone, I realize I don’t know who to call. I don’t have his number, and I don’t have Ash’s memorized. Mine, that’s what I’ll do, I’ll call myself. Maybe my phone is still here, and if it’s not, whoever has it might answer.
I dial, and it rings twice before someone answers. “Good morning, angel. How was your sleep?” It’s Ridge, he has my phone, and he sounds chipper as hell.
“Too long. Ridge, it’s after ten o’clock. I was supposed to start my shoot at nine! My crew is going to kill me,” I hiss.
“Calm down, it’s fine. Everything is running hours behind today because of the snow. Ash isn’t even here, he’s out helping with the animals, and I gave your crew the day off.”
“What? You gave them the whole day off? That’s going to put us behind. We have to get done and fly out tomorrow night.”
He chuckles. “Allison, have you looked outside, honey? It’s still snowing. It never stopped, and there is at least three feet of snow on the ground. You won’t be able to leave for a while. Is your brother somewhere he can stay an extra day or two?”
A day or two? Three feet of snow? What the hell? It couldn’t have snowed that much. I stand up to look out the window and wince when my muscles object.
“What’s wrong?” he asks.
“Nothing, I just got up too fast.”
“Lay back down. I’m bringing you breakfast. I’ll be there in a few minutes.”
“Where are my clothes? And my phone?”
“The clothes are in the laundry room, and I’m talking to you on your phone. Stella’s sending you something else to wear today, and a maid will be bringing your things from your room to mine.”
“Whoa, wait a minute.” I shake my head and hold out my hand even though he can’t see it. “I can come down for breakfast. I need to talk to my crew anyway. And you don’t have to move all my stuff. I’m okay in my room. You don’t have to go to all that trouble.”
