by Marie Force
Drinking in the bright smile that made her eyes light up with joy, Will couldn’t think of a single thing better than that.
CHAPTER 6
We are collecting sap. The lower tanks are filling up. Sunshine this morning stirred the trees; the temp finally pushed 40°F. The snow pack on the woodshed roof has begun to curl over the edge, notched at the edge like jigsaw puzzle pieces.
—Colton Abbott’s sugaring journal, February 28
Colton came awake slowly but was instantly aware of the soft female curled up to him. Her hand rested on his chest, directly above his heart, which began to beat double time when her scent filled his senses. Dark auburn hair spread out on the pillow next to his, and he was pleased to see that the curls he’d become quite fond of had returned overnight.
He wound one of them around his finger, pulled it straight and then let it spring back into place. She’d told him she hated those curls, but he couldn’t imagine why. He loved them. Moving slowly so he wouldn’t disturb her, he put his hand on her shoulder and smiled when she burrowed deeper into his embrace.
Then she startled, and her body went rigid.
“Hey,” he whispered. “It’s just me. Sorry to wake you.”
She relaxed in tiny, uncertain increments, as if she weren’t entirely sure why she was sleeping naked in his arms.
He vividly remembered the incredible night they’d shared. He’d never forget it. Despite his isolated life on the mountain, he’d been with his share of women, but none of them had ever rocked his world the way Lucy had. Just thinking about how amazingly responsive she’d been had him hard and longing for more of her.
When she shifted to find a more comfortable position, her belly pressed against his erection, making him groan.
“What’s wrong?”
Not wanting her to think he let his dick run his life, he pulled his hips back, seeking relief. “Nothing.”
“That didn’t sound like nothing to me.”
“Nothing a cold shower won’t fix. Don’t worry.”
Damn if her hand didn’t start to move south, sliding from his chest to his stomach and below. Before his brain could catch up to anticipate her intentions, she had her soft hand wrapped around his extremely hard cock.
“Lucy,” he said through gritted teeth. “You don’t have to do that.”
“Why not?”
The innocently spoken question was in sharp contrast to the way she stroked him, from root to tip, running her thumb over the moisture that gathered at the top.
“Christ.”
“Good?”
Was it good? He wanted to laugh at the absurdity of the question. “Mmm. Yeah.”
Then she shocked the living shit out of him by pushing him onto his back and kissing her way down the front of him, taking the same path her hand had traveled. He couldn’t believe that shy, reserved Lucy was about to—
Holy mother of God and all things holy. The heat of her mouth on him was nearly enough to finish him off—and that was before she brought her tongue to the party.
Colton grasped handfuls of her hair as he tried to ignore the overpowering urge to take control.
“Am I doing it right?” she asked, looking up at him with those crystal blue eyes that were a window to her emotions. In them he now saw concern and hesitation.
“You’re perfect in every way.”
Her smile lit up her face before she bent to return to the task at hand.
Colton sucked in a sharp deep breath and kept his eyes open to watch as he gave in to the exquisite pleasure. The combination of her hand stroking him, her lips and tongue . . . “Lucy . . .”
She mumbled something that sent a shock wave of vibrations through his cock.
“Lucy.”
Stopping what she was doing, she looked up at him with those eyes, her lips gone swollen from her efforts. “Did I do something wrong?”
He sat up, reached for her and pulled her on top of him. “You did everything exactly right.”
“I wanted to finish.”
He kissed the pout off her lips. “Another time. I want to finish with you.”
“Oh.” Her entire body flushed with color and heat. He couldn’t bear to have her so close and not touch her, especially when her skin turned that appealing shade of pink. With his hands on her back, he encouraged her to lean back so he could reach her breasts as he entered her.
As he took a hardened nipple into his mouth, her slight whimper had him stopping. “What?”
“A little sore from last night.”
“Do you want to stop?”
“No,” she said, sounding as breathless as he felt.
“Mmm, I’ll go easy.”
She released a deep breath and combed her fingers through his hair, surrendering to him so completely it was all he could do not to move things along quickly. But he wanted to give her time to catch up before he gave in to the desire that pounded through him relentlessly.
Mindful that she was sore, he remained wedged just inside her as he sucked gently and licked softly, first one breast and then the other, loving the soft sounds of pleasure that came from her.
“Colton.”
“Hmm?”
“I want . . .”
“What do you want, honey?”
“You know!”
“Tell me anyway.”
“You. I want you.”
“I’m right here.”
She groaned with frustration and aggravation as her forehead landed on his shoulder.
He chuckled as he cupped her breasts and ran his thumbs over her damp nipples. “Tell me what you want. Be specific.”
“You’re trying to embarrass me, aren’t you?”
“Not at all. I want to be sure to please you.”
“You do please me. You know you do. I gave you ample evidence of just how much you please me several times last night.”
The conversation was making her complexion even pinker, if that was possible. He kissed the rosy glow of her cheeks before focusing on her lips, which were pink and puffy and so very tempting. As he captured her mouth in a deep kiss, he cupped her bottom and pulled her in tighter against him.
“You still haven’t said the words,” he whispered as he went to work on her neck, licking and nibbling his way from her jaw to her throat.
She reached between them, curled her hand around the base of his erection and squeezed, making him see stars. “I want this. All the way inside me. Now. Any questions?”
“Nope. I think I got it.” With his hands still full of soft buttocks, he lifted her and brought her back down. Her sharp intake of breath had him slowing things down. “Still sore?”
“A little.”
“Want to stop?”
“Don’t you dare stop.”
“You’re in the driver’s seat, babe. Go as slow as you want. I’m all yours.”
Though it cost him tremendously to turn over control to her, the last thing he wanted was to cause her pain when everything about this felt amazing to him. He propped his hands behind him, reclined slightly to enjoy the show.
Lucy leaned forward to put her hands on his shoulders and began to move in slight increments that had his head falling back and his eyes rolling into his skull as he bit down hard on his lip, hoping the pain would give him something to focus on other than the growing crisis below.
She felt so damned good, and so damned tight and so damned hot. He’d never felt anything even remotely like the pleasure he’d found with her right from the very beginning, before he’d ever even touched her. She was funny and sweet and loyal and talented and sexy as all hell, especially when she wasn’t trying to be.
Then he’d touched her and kissed her, which was all it had taken to discover she was different from any other woman he’d ever known. He couldn’t begin to articulate what made her so special. There was just something about her, and he’d known that from the first time he saw her.
Last night had demonstrated once again that his connection with her wa
s unique, something to be treasured and nurtured if only she’d let him.
He was almost to the point of no return when she finally took all of him, and suddenly it wasn’t enough to only be connected to her there. He needed more. Sitting up straight, he wrapped his arms tight around her and held her close, loving the feel of her breasts pressed against his chest and her racing pulse under his lips on her neck.
The flutter of her internal muscles expanding to accommodate him took him right to the edge of insanity, and they’d barely moved yet. “You are incredible,” he whispered. He wished he could tell her everything she made him feel, but he lived in constant fear of going too far too fast and driving her away. “You feel so good.”
“So do you.”
“Does it hurt at all?”
She shook her head.
He flattened his hands on her back and ran them down to her hips and then to her legs, curling them around him before moving back up to cup her ass. “Hold on to me.”
She tightened her arms around his neck but kept her eyes locked on his, watching him carefully as he began to lift her up and down. As a sexy flush overtook her, he watched her lips part and her eyes flutter closed.
Colton picked up the pace, his biceps doing most of the work as they moved together at an increasingly frantic pace. He curled his left arm under her, freeing his right hand to reach between them to coax her. At the same time, he dragged her nipple into his mouth and felt her detonate around him, crying out from the pleasure and sending him into an equally explosive finish.
She sagged against him, pulsating from the aftershocks that continued to ripple through both of them, and held on tight to him.
He buried his face in her hair, breathing in the alluring scent of her as he came down from the incredible high. Still lodged deep inside her, he arranged her so she faced away from him and cuddled into her back, continuing to press into her repeatedly until she trembled in his arms.
The words amazing, incredible and life-altering filtered through his mind in the aftermath. He wanted to tell her that it’d never been like this for him before, not with anyone, ever. But he didn’t. He didn’t say that or anything. Rather, he reveled in the pleasure of having her in his arms, of the feel of her soft skin under his hands and lips and the internal contractions that massaged him until he was hard again.
“You’re out to kill me, aren’t you?” she asked with a low groan as she squiggled back against him, taking him deeper.
“Not hardly. I can’t help it if you make me want you all the time.”
“How do I make that happen?”
He kissed from the end of her shoulder to the sweet curve of her neck. “By being here and being naked and being you. That’s about all it takes.” Colton smiled when she tipped her head ever so slightly to encourage his kisses. “I had all kinds of plans for today.”
“What kind of plans?”
“Beach time. Maybe take the canoe out or the sailboat or the Jet-Skis.”
“That all sounds fun. So you don’t want to do that?”
“I do, but after what we just did, I can’t imagine ever letting you leave this bed again.”
“We do need to eat, and a shower would be nice.”
“Uh-huh.”
She yawned and then jolted when he flattened his hand over her lower belly, his fingers landing just above her mound. “Colton . . . I can’t take anymore.”
“I’m not doing anything. Just holding you.”
“You’re doing much more than that, and you know it.”
“Feels so good. You feel so good.”
Lucy sighed and reached back to curl her arm around his neck, which he naturally took as encouragement to continue what had started as languid aftermath and turned into round two.
He cupped her breast and tweaked her nipple, drawing a deep moan from her as he continued to slide into her repeatedly.
“Are you trying to show me that Jet-Skis are vastly overrated compared to the considerable charms of Colton Abbott?”
Laughing, he spread his fingers on her lower belly and surged into her. How did she expect him to not fall for her when she insisted on being so damned sexy and funny and cute all the time?
They moved together like seasoned lovers, and once again, Colton found himself fighting to maintain control. That was also new. With other women, he’d never found it a problem to hang on until they got what they wanted. Now, with Lucy, it took every bit of fortitude he could muster not to give in and let go.
He cupped her breast and teased her nipple, using his other hand to caress between her legs. Again, the combination had the desired effect, making her tremble and moan as she came.
Free to take what he wanted more than anything, he came hard, harder than he had the first time, if that was even possible. Afterward, he held her close and tried to think of something he could say that could properly convey all that he was feeling. But then he felt her relax in his arms, her breathing deepening, and he realized she’d gone back to sleep.
He closed his eyes and released a deep breath of his own, more relaxed than he could remember being, yet still on edge when he thought about where all of this might be leading. Paradise or disaster? He had no freaking clue, and he hated that.
CHAPTER 7
The sap is just starting to trickle, and I’m in the sap shed turning on the vacuum pump. This pump is ten horsepower large and supplies vacuum to all of our ten thousand tubing taps. That and the reverse-osmosis machine are the reason we bring in generators during the season.
—Colton Abbott’s sugaring journal, March 1
Cameron and Will took their time traveling across Northern Vermont, stopping around noon to buy sandwiches and drinks that they took to a park in Waterbury. They fed the dogs from the bag of dog food Will had brought with them and let them romp around in the open field while they ate. Tanner and Trevor came over to their blanket every so often to check in and nose around for smells. Will rewarded them with a potato chip each time.
“They are so spoiled,” Cameron commented after Trevor had returned a third time for another chip.
“No, they aren’t. They’re well trained and obedient.”
She snorted with laughter. “Is that what you tell yourself when they won’t stand still and let you towel them off when they come inside soaking wet?”
“That’s a rare instance of disobedience, and P.S. no one is perfect.”
You are, she wanted to say as she took a good long look at him. The blond highlights in his honey-colored hair were particularly golden in the afternoon sunshine, his arms were tanned from shirtless hours outside and his muscles bulged from the way he sat, partially reclined on his outstretched arms. Yes, he was indeed perfect in every way that mattered to her.
“What’re you looking at over there?”
“You.”
His brows narrowed suspiciously. “What about me?”
“Everything about you.”
“That’s a pretty broad answer.”
“I love everything about you, and I particularly love looking at you. Is that better?”
He stared at her for a long moment before reaching for her hand and bringing it to his lips. “I love everything about you, too. I feel like I’m living in some sort of dream come true since you moved in with me. And then you say something like that, and it gets even better than it already was. How is that possible?”
She leaned forward and kissed him, tipping her head to delve deeper when he hooked an arm around her to keep her from getting away. Somehow she wound up reclined on the blanket as one kiss became two and two became three. Trevor’s cold wet nose between them finally interrupted the moment, making them laugh.
“Damn it, Trev.” Will scratched the dog’s ears while also pushing him back. “You need to leave me alone when I’m kissing my girl.”
Trevor whined as he always did on the rare instances when Will actually chastised him.
“It’s probably just as well that he saved us from making a specta
cle of ourselves in a public park,” Cameron said.
Will gathered up their trash and put it in the brown bag their lunch had come in. “It’s your fault.”
“How is it my fault?”
“You say awesome things to me, and then you kiss me until I forget where I am.” He got up and offered her his hand to help her.
Laughing, Cameron took his outstretched hand. “I believe you were a willing participant in the kissing.”
He wrapped his arm around her and kissed her again. “You bet your ass I was.”
“I don’t want to bet my ass. I might lose it, and my boyfriend tells me he loves it.”
The low growl that came from Will made both dogs bark.
Cameron lost it laughing and took off running for the truck with the dogs in hot pursuit. A glance over her shoulder told her Will was right behind her, with the blanket tossed over his shoulder and the bag of trash in hand. Nervous giggles escaped from her lips as he caught up to her and hooked an arm around her waist from behind.
She screamed with laughter when he swung her around.
The dogs barked and frolicked at their feet.
Cameron had never felt more “herself” or at home than she did with him, especially in moments like this when they were silly together. For so long she’d affected a tough outer shell that she showed the world, which was how she grappled with the early loss of her mother and the attention deficit disorder that had marked her lonely childhood.
But with Will—and his big, rowdy family—she’d discovered the tough outer shell wasn’t necessary. She didn’t need to protect herself against him or them. She’d allowed herself to believe that his love was forever.
He put her down and kissed her neck from behind.
Cameron covered his hands with hers and leaned back against him, loving the way he surrounded her and made her feel safe in a way she’d never felt with any man before him.
After weeks of living with him and sleeping with him, she wasn’t at all surprised to feel the press of his erection against her back, just as he probably wasn’t surprised when she rubbed herself against him shamelessly.
“In the car, woman,” he said, with a playful smack to her rear end. “I’m suddenly very anxious to get to the lake.”
