by J. H. Croix
She shoved at my jacket, and I shrugged it loose, reaching behind my head to yank my shirt off. I stepped back only long enough to catch the hem of her T-shirt and lift it up and over her head, tossing it to the floor where it joined mine.
My eyes flicked down to find that she was bare naked, not even a pair of panties. Well, except her socks, which were downright endearing.
“Jesus, Holly, you’re walking around without underwear?”
She gasped when I reached out, cupping my hand between her thighs and feeling a tease of her wet heat there. Her skin was flushed all over. Dipping my head, I caught one of her nipples with my mouth, swirling my tongue and sucking it hard and fast, savoring the sharp sting of her hands in my hair, gripping tightly as she cried out.
She was drenched, her slick desire coating my fingers as I teased through her folds. Lifting my head, I caught her eyes. “You’re fucking soaked.”
When I sank two fingers inside of her, knuckle deep, she moaned. “Oh God, Nate.”
“Tell me something,” I murmured.
“What?”
I stepped closer, and her head thumped against the door as I drew my fingers out and sank them inside of her again. “Did you miss me?”
Her gaze held mine, her eyes widening with a hint of that feisty stubbornness that I loved so fucking much. When she didn’t answer, I drew my fingers out again, teasing at the slick heat of her entrance. Then, I drove them deep and she cried out.
“Yes!” she almost shouted.
I was crazed. I hadn’t meant for this to be anything but hot and fast, but I needed her—all of her. Now. With one hand steadying her hip, I sank to my knees in front of her. Hooking one of her legs over my shoulders, I buried my face between her thighs. She was salty and sweet and so wet, I almost came in my jeans. My cock was straining against my zipper, but I needed this first. I needed to feel her come against my mouth.
Fucking her slowly with my fingers and exploring every inch of her with my tongue, she was at the edge in a matter of seconds.
“Oh my God! Oh my God, don’t stop,” she ordered me.
When I grazed my teeth over her clit, my name came out in a broken shout as her hips bucked against my mouth, her entire body tightening and shuddering. I didn’t wait, drawing back swiftly and freeing my cock as I lifted her against me, using the wall behind us to support her.
Gripping my cock in my fist, I dragged it through her wet folds, pausing to catch my breath. It was then, as I slid the underside of my cock against her swollen clit, that remembered I hadn’t even bothered to make sure if I had any condoms with me.
“Fuck,” I muttered, starting to draw back.
Holly’s legs tightened around me, holding me in place. “Where are you going?”
I fumbled in my back pocket with my jeans hanging half off, figuring I had to have something in my wallet. Awareness dawned in her eyes, and her lips curled in a smile. “I’m a nurse. I’m on the shot and clean as can be.”
My gaze slammed into hers. I’d never had sex without a condom. I’d been subjected to my father’s blunt sex talk before I even finished middle school.
“I’ve never had sex without a condom,” I finally said.
Holly’s grin expanded and she leaned her head back against the door. With her hair a messy tousle around her face, her brown eyes dark with desire, and her lips swollen and puffy from our kisses, she was so damn sexy, it took all I had not to bury myself.
“Of course you haven’t,” she said with a husky laugh. “You’re a good boy like that.” Her gaze sobered. “Fuck me.”
I immediately discovered that, when it came to Holly, I was quite good at following orders. With my jeans hanging around my hips and her bare save for her bright pink and blue socks, I adjusted my angle and sank home inside of her.
Her slick, clenching heat felt so damn good, I had to hold still and count to ten to keep from blowing my load right then and there.
Chapter Eighteen
Holly
Nate’s gruff voice drew my eyes open. My gaze collided with his. With my back against the door, the cool wood was a contrast to his heat pressed against me. The feel of him filling me was so damn good, I could barely think beyond anything but the pleasure spiraling inside.
He held still for a few beats and then rocked his hips, just barely, into the cradle of mine, sending a jolt of hot pleasure from my core radiating through me. I hadn’t expected to see him tonight. Much as I wouldn’t have wanted to admit it to anyone, I’d been counting the days, the hours, the minutes, and the seconds until I knew he would be back. Which was completely and utterly ridiculous.
I’d never viewed myself as the kind of woman who would ever get hung up on anxiously waiting for a man to return. He’d been gone a mere few days. I had hoped my trip to Anchorage would keep me occupied. Total fail. I had been occupied in the practical sense of the word. Yet, Nate had never been far from my thoughts. Not even a little. He had always been there, waiting in the wings to stroll through. My mind and body replayed my night with him probably a few hundred times in the three days that had passed in the interim.
It felt as if he were imprinted onto my body and burned into my senses. To have him here now, taking me against the door, it was everything I wanted and more.
With his eyes locked to mine, he adjusted me in his arms. He held me easily, not exactly a surprise. Ever since my body’s antenna had tuned into Nate, I was far too aware of how ridiculously fit he was—all hard muscle, rugged, and roguish. Just now, he had one hand gripping my hip and the other cupped underneath my bottom. With his bare chest brushing against my breasts, it occurred to me I could orgasm from that sensation alone. He drew back more fully and sank in again, lifting me a little higher against the door.
“So,” he murmured, his gaze burning into mine, peeling away what little barriers I had, flimsy though they were, “here’s the thing. I couldn’t stop thinking about you this weekend. The other night was not all we’re having. This”—he paused, his hips shifting back and surging forward, the glide of his cock inside me eliciting a moan—“is happening now, later, and probably tomorrow morning. Tell me you don’t want this.”
On the heels of a ragged breath, he drew his hips back once again, filling and stretching me so exquisitely I could hardly bear it. All this time I’d been craving Nate, I hadn’t imagined it could be like this. With each stroke into my slick core, his pelvis barely brushed against my clit, striking like flint to stone on the bundle of nerves.
Even though I’d been a virgin until a few days ago, it wasn’t as if I had been entirely inexperienced, it’s just that I’d never made it to the act of completion. Even then, I knew without question that I had never felt anything even remotely close to what I felt with Nate.
His expert fingers and mouth had sent me flying once already tonight, and now his words and his cock were sending me over the edge again as the pressure built from the embers of my last climax. My legs were curled around him as if my life depended on it as I chased after another release.
“You didn’t answer,” he murmured, his eyes narrowing.
Through the fog of lust clouding my brain, I stared at him.
“Tell me you want this as much as I do.” The gruff sound of his voice alone sent a hot shiver straight up my spine, a sweet ache building at my core.
“Of course I do,” I finally murmured with a low cry on the heels of a deep stroke.
“Look at me,” Nate murmured, the sound of his voice flickering along my overwrought nerves.
Dragging my eyes open, I met his gaze, dark and intent. I didn’t know how to read what I saw in his eyes.
I didn’t remember not knowing Nate. And yet, what had passed between us in the last few days was such a shift in our connection to each other, it felt as if we were on a new plane entirely. He adjusted me in his arms, lifting me higher against the door as he drove into me again. With his gaze searing into mine, my heart thudded hard and fast in my chest. His strength and heat
surrounded me. I felt as if we were alone in the world, caught in a shimmering web of intimacy, need, and pure pleasure.
My eyes started to fall closed as he drew back, the slow glide sending sparks of pleasure scattering through me. “Look at me,” he murmured again, the warm command in his tone clear.
A spark flared inside. I wanted to argue. Opening my eyes, I met his gaze as he held still, the thick head of his cock teasing me at my entrance. “What if I said no?”
A corner of his mouth curled up, the heat in his gaze nearly burning me. “I wouldn’t give you what you wanted until you did,” he countered.
I started to reply, but then he filled me and whatever I meant to say came out in a low moan.
“I want you to know exactly who’s inside you when you fly apart again. I want to feel you coming all over my cock.”
His words, so blunt and dirty, sent a thrill through me. I couldn’t have looked away if I wanted to now. It was almost a dare, as if I were going to shy away from it. He didn’t rush. With the cool wood of the door against my back, he fucked me slowly and intently, his pelvis rocking against my clit with every thrust.
Each time, shards of pleasure shot through me. Toeing the edge of another climax, I shuddered, chasing after my release with Nate’s eyes locked to mine. On another surge, when he filled me deeply, my over-sensitized nerves snapped, fire flashing through me as I trembled in ecstasy.
He drew back, surging into me again, his hips pounding hard and fast. I barely registered the force of it, the line between pleasure and pain blurring. His name fell in a breathy chant from my lips as I felt the heat of his release filling me, my own name a rough shout from him on the heels of a guttural cry.
I was spinning, pleasure rushing through me, around me, and inside me as I tried to catch my breath. The only anchor holding me to reality was the feel of Nate clutching me fast against him.
Still holding me, his head fell into the dip of my neck, his breath gusting across my skin. My own breath came in ragged gasps as I tried to pull myself together. I didn’t want to move. I wanted to stay held in his strong embrace, lost in this web of need and intimacy that I had never imagined, much less with Nate.
After a few moments, I felt him shift as he lifted his head. At that moment, his stomach growled. He chuckled, a rueful smile teasing his lips as I dragged my eyes open. Reality snapped me into motion. I started to move, but he held me close. Leaning my head back, I cocked it to the side. “Are you gonna let me down?”
My cheeks felt hot. The heat of the moment, so to speak, had passed and reality was coming at me hard and fast.
“I am, but first…” Leaning forward, he caught my lips in a swift kiss. His tongue slid in to tangle against mine for a moment before he drew away again. Just like that, my body tingled all over again.
He didn’t say anything else, he simply drew out of me slowly and eased me down. I was shaking, and my body was still reverberating from a succession of two intense orgasms. I felt wrung dry with pleasure. Emotion was hot on its heels, emotion I didn’t quite want to face.
I thanked the stars I had the door behind me to hold me up. Placing my palms flat against it, I suddenly felt bare inside. I was bare all over with the exception of my socks.
Nate didn’t step far away and stood there, his eyes on me. Oh geez. He was just ridiculous with his jeans hanging open and his rather generous cock visible. My eyes greedily tracked over him. If my body had its way, we’d go for another round.
Conveniently, his stomach rumbled again, giving my common sense a moment to assert itself. With my legs still shaky, I pushed away from the door. “Are you hungry?”
“Clearly,” he said, with just enough sarcasm in his tone that it prodded my snarky side to life.
“Were you silly enough not to bother to get something to eat before you came over?” I asked as I strolled past him, fetching my T-shirt off the floor and slipping it over my head quickly.
When I turned back, he was buttoning his jeans and shrugging into his shirt.
“I didn’t care about food. I wanted to see you more than I wanted to eat.”
My common sense didn’t last very long. My heart practically sat up and clapped at that comment. Next thing I knew, I was suggesting we order pizza. Even though it was close to dark, I hadn’t eaten yet either.
“Sounds good,” he replied.
“I’ll order,” I said quickly as he started to slide his phone out of his pocket.
Willow Brook was a very small town. Well, maybe not that small. But I didn’t doubt for a second that if Nate put in the order, word would somehow travel that he was here at my apartment. He paused, his finger hovering over his phone screen.
“I can get it.” As he looked at me, his gaze cleared. “You’re worried someone might notice I’m here.”
My cheeks heated, and I didn’t care. “Yeah, yeah, I am. Alex is your best friend, and I’m not quite ready for him to know what’s going on with us.”
Nate’s hand dropped, and he slipped his phone back into his pocket. “Understood,” he said with a nod, and I raised my eyebrows.
His laugh sent a shiver skating over my skin as I turned, walking to the kitchen to get my phone off the counter. Hitching my hip on a stool, I looked back at him. “What’s so funny?”
“You were ready for a fight, weren’t you?”
I rolled my eyes and stuck my tongue out at him, something I’d probably done a few hundred times in our lives. “So what if I was? Moving on, what kind of pizza do you want? I’m ordering from Alpenglow Pizza. It’s my new favorite.”
“I’ll eat whatever.”
I should’ve known that would be his answer. Because Nate would eat whatever I wanted. He wasn’t a picky eater. At all.
“Okay, then half pepperoni and half Greek because I want both.”
While I was on the phone, he finally kicked off his shoes and fetched his jacket from the floor to hang it on the hook by the door. As I waited for the woman taking our order to finish another call, he stepped behind me, slipping his hands around my waist and dipping his head to dust kisses along the side of my neck.
Butterflies spun in my belly and my channel clenched. Oh dear God. I was already in over my head, so deep I was practically drowning.
Chapter Nineteen
Holly
A few days passed, during which I kept reminding myself of the plain truth and the contradiction within it. I couldn’t fall for Nate. Yet, I was falling—hard and fast—for Nate.
I suppose the truth was I had already been deep in danger of falling for him ever since our first tipsy, fuzzy, madness-infused kiss from over a year ago now, in a coat closet at a party. Then, I had to go to that stupid fundraiser. I had regained my footing before that night. Thinking back, I figured I could’ve recovered if nothing else happened.
Then, there was the elevator incident, as I’d come to call it in my mind. By that point, I was lost. And now? Well, now, far too much had happened.
The second day of February dawned cold and clear. Groundhog Day. I woke in the darkness, wide-awake, and hot and bothered over a dream about Nate. After our second night together, I’d had two night shifts in a row. It had been convenient for my sanity, if only because it saved me from having to purposefully avoid seeing him.
I’d never thought much about his work schedule. When I came awake with my skin flushed and my panties wet, I instantly wished he was with me. Sweet hell.
I wonder if he’s working today. Oh my God. You need to stop wondering about Nate and his fucking work schedule.
I’d never wondered about any man’s work schedule. Which made this all the more embarrassing.
Nate ran his own business and took flights as he pleased. I knew summers were busier for him because they were busier for any backcountry pilot in Alaska. Come winter, he did contract work for a few local airlines out of Anchorage and flew adventurers out into the backcountry for ski trips and the like.
Restless, I kicked the covers off and hu
rried to the shower. Much as my body was begging for it, I refused to give in and find release at my own hand with nothing but Nate filling my thoughts.
Although, I had done that a few hundred times in the last year or so. So fucking embarrassing. With the hot water practically scalding me, I washed away my dream, but I had no luck kicking Nate out of my mind. He filled every corner of it.
Normally, when I had an early shift like I did today, I would have coffee at home and maybe grab a bowl of cereal before I went in to the hospital. Today, however, being alone with my thoughts made me restless. Once I was dressed, I stuffed my feet into my winter boots, shrugged on my down jacket, and headed out to grab coffee and a breakfast sandwich at Firehouse Café. Those who lived through long winters often came to the conclusion that one of the best inventions ever known to humankind was the remote start for cars. I had tapped mine on while I was still getting dressed and climbed into a nice, toasty car a few minutes later.
Within minutes, I pulled up in front of Firehouse Café just down the street. In the summer, I would’ve walked, but I was no glutton for punishment. It was still dark out, with the stars still bright in the sky and a pretty, curved slice of the moon sitting above the mountains behind downtown Willow Brook.
I took a deep breath of the bracing air as my footsteps crunched across the snowy parking lot. The lights twinkled in the windows, beckoning me inside. Pushing through the door, warmth and the scent of coffee and baked goods spun around me, infusing my senses.
Despite the early hour, there were a few people here, and I could hear the bustle in the kitchen behind the swinging doors into the back. Walking to the counter, I grinned at Janet when she looked up.
