by Christi Snow
Instead he lay there as Toni became more and more aware. When she started nibbling on his neck, he lost the battle with himself to rein the control in. With a groan he accepted his fate. He was a goner.
She continued to nibble and then wiggled on top of him. His eyes rolled back in this head. This position had his hard length nestled against her soft heat. She pressed her hips against him and he flexed against her, searching for that incredible, glorious friction. Seeming to agree, she writhed against him. He didn’t know if she was truly awake yet or not, and he was probably a cad to think so, but he was too far past the point of caring. He just wanted more.
He now had one hand up her tank top and the other in her sleep shorts so he could hold her luscious ass, skin on skin. And her skin was so soft and smooth and warm. He could almost come just from holding her like this, with her writhing on top of him.
Suddenly she stilled and her eyes fluttered open. For a moment she looked down at him in confusion. “Brian?”
He swallowed hard and nodded. Please don’t let her stop this.
Her eyes went dark with need as she took stock of their position, her straddling him and pressed against the full length of him. “I guess you still weren’t safe with your shirt on, huh?” She ducked her head and turned red with embarrassment.
He removed his hand from her ass and tucked a finger under her chin to make her meet his eyes. “If you didn’t notice,” he thrust up against her, “I don’t seem to mind too much.”
Her eyes widened and she focused on his mouth. A small dart of her tongue moistened her lips and he couldn’t hold back any longer. He pulled her down to him so he could taste her mouth. Even in the early morning, she tasted of cinnamon and heaven.
Tongues dueling, her hands pulled at his T-shirt, tugging it off. As it came off, he took advantage to steal hers and flip their positions. He settled above her, nestled between her thighs and loved on her breasts. She slipped her hands under his sleep pants to grab his ass and pulled him closer to her. He approved.
She made little mewling sounds as he traced a trail down from her chest, to her stomach, to the waistband of her shorts with his lips. He hesitated for a moment before reaching for her shorts, but her urgent moan of, “Brian,” sounded so needy, he couldn’t ignore it. He lifted and pulled at the waistband of her shorts, slowly sliding them down her long legs.
Every single part of her was gorgeous. He knelt at her feet, his erection throbbing with need for her, and lifted one foot to his mouth, nibbling lightly on her toes. Working his way up her leg with his fingers, his tongue, his teeth, he finally arrived at the apex of her thighs.
He breathed in deeply. She even smelled like cinnamon mixed with a womanly musk here that was pure Toni. It was a mix which he could never get enough of. His erection pulsed and a drop of pre-cum leaked out to wet the front of his pants. He pressed against the mattress, trying to maintain control. Her needs came first.
He slipped his tongue between her folds and she clenched and moaned beneath him. Her fingers threaded through his hair and helped to guide him in what she needed. She was so responsive as her body thrummed beneath his tongue and fingers. He could be happy settled in between her thighs right here for the rest of his life. But as he added a finger and then two, massaging and coaxing her, she began to clench and moan as her arousal climbed. Within moments her muscles spasmed with a climax that shook her entire body as she clamped down on his fingers. The need to feel the pull of those muscles against the hard length of his cock beckoned him.
When she finally settled and relaxed back into the mattress, he rose over her, feasting on her mouth in another soul-scorching kiss. This moment in time was unlike any he’d ever experienced before. He felt more connected to her than any other woman, and that took his breath away. When her hand reached inside his sleep pants and stroked him, he forgot to breathe entirely.
“Toni.” Oh God. That felt so good and he suddenly sounded like he had rocks in his throat. He cleared his throat and tried to keep from coming in her hand as it gripped and stroked with the perfect amount of tension. When she rounded the tip with one hand and flexed across his balls with another, his eyes rolled back in his head with pleasure.
“Toni, hon…” Oh, God, her touch was heaven. “We don’t have to do this if you’re not ready.” Please don’t stop now.
As he thrust into her heavenly hands, she smirked at him. Licking along his pulse, she pulled back and cocked an eyebrow down at his swollen, hard penis. She whispered in his ear, “I don’t think your other head heard that.” She bit down on his ear lobe and his breath echoed as it sawed in and out as he searched for control, for some self-discipline, but that was gone.
“I want you, Brian. No doubts. No regrets. Tell me you have a condom and we’re good to go.”
Condom, yeah. They’d need one of those. He glanced to the nightstand, sure that it held one. Damn, it was so far away and would require him to move out of her reach to get to it and he wasn’t sure he even had the self-will to do that yet. Who thought this massive bed was a good idea? Twin beds, so that everything was within easy reach, that was the way to go.
“Are you honestly talking about bed shopping right now?” She continued to stroke him while giving him a hard time, which just made him harder.
He didn’t realize he’d said that aloud, as his gaze lowered to her twitching mouth. He groaned. This was just another example of how far-gone he was already. As much as it pained him to do so, he pulled out of her grasp. Maybe these few seconds would give him more rein over his shredded self-control. While he grabbed the condom, Toni slid his pants down and off his legs.
But as she took the condom out of his hand, opened it with her teeth, and slid it on, he accepted that his control of the situation and his body was completely out of his hands. Arousal sizzled along his spine and arced across his balls and he still hadn’t even entered her yet. He met her eyes as he lowered himself to her entrance. Immediate heat brushed at him, the need for her core pulling him closer.
Slowly, so slowly, he inched forward into her tight embrace. Her internal muscles clenched at him in the most delicious ways as he breached her folds. Trying to hold his hips in check to make this last for her, for both of them, took every shred of self-discipline he had left. But she shattered that as she thrust her pelvis up at him, sheathing him all the way to the balls as she wrapped her legs around his waist to draw him in even deeper.
Sweat trailed down his spine and he groaned at the ecstasy of her embrace. She gave him no time to center himself, to regain control. She may have been on the bottom, but her hips swiveled and rocked so that he had no choice but to go with her. Way too soon, his thrusts increased and his balls drew up with impending orgasm. He needed her to go over this precipice with him.
Lifting one of her legs to his shoulder, he switched his angle. Frantic moaning from her followed as well as an increase in the tremors flowing through her internal muscles. He found the bundle of nerves of her clit and rubbed his finger over it, once, twice…and with a flick of the pad of his thumb, she screamed his name and orgasmed, milking his cock so that he had no choice but to follow her to Nirvana. As he pulsed into the condom, it felt as if this orgasm was going to last forever.
Finally, the spasms ended, the only sound in the room was their harsh breathing. He held himself up by his elbows, trying not to squish her, but not ready to leave the comfort of her body, yet. He trailed soft kisses along the side of her face and ear.
She raised a hand and cupped his cheek. Her eyes were filled with so much emotion as she whispered fiercely, “That was beautiful, but I know you. You are not allowed to regret this. No second thoughts. No going back. Whatever happens, happens, but this,” she ran a hand slowly down his side to cup his ass in her tight grip and flexed her internal muscles to stroke his cock, “this was fabulous.” She devoured him with a scorching open-mouthed kiss.
He hadn’t even left her body yet, and already he was getting hard again. She did know hi
m. How did he get so lucky?
Unfortunately that luck didn’t last as seventy-five pounds of chocolate Labrador Retriever chose that moment to join them in bed, pushing his wet nose between them.
“I guess we didn’t get the bedroom door closed tight,” Toni said as she giggled.
He had no choice but to abandon the blissful embrace of her sheath as Sam pushed his big body in between them. He bit back the urge to do his own growling, but couldn’t help but grin at the overgrown puppy wagging his tail, thinking he was missing out on some fabulous game they were playing. He stripped off the condom and gave Toni a quick kiss. “Give me a minute to take care of this and I’ll take him outside.”
“Thanks, Brian. His leash is in my purse on the kitchen counter.”
* * *
Brian wandered through the yard with Sam, letting him explore all the new scents and plants. He hadn’t been up to the cabin in about a year, but Hudson and Rand had given him a key and told him to use it whenever he needed to escape. They’d been his closest friends in high school and had never made it any secret that they worried about the hours and stress of his job.
His job. Guess that wasn’t going to be a problem for him anymore.
Not that either of them was much better when it came to working too much. Both of them ran their own businesses—Rand owned a custom motorcycle shop in San Antonio and Hudson ran a restaurant and bar in Austin. He needed to get in touch with both guys to let them know he was here.
Here, where it would be so easy to get caught up in nature and Toni and forget everything else happening in Lubbock. Autumn was his favorite time of the year in the mountains. The nights were brisk and the golden yellow of the aspen trees painted the mountainsides with huge brushstrokes that made him happy to be alive.
Sam was pretty happy with their new location, too. He explored the property, wagging his tail with his tongue hanging out. As he watched the dog, it occurred to him that if he was a dog, he’d be wagging his tail, too.
Toni had said no regrets and logically he knew that he probably should be feeling them, but he just couldn’t. This morning had been fantastic, so much more than he ever expected or even fantasized about. Getting personally involved with someone from a case was always a huge no-no, but regardless of whether they slept together or not, he was already personally involved. He cared about Toni and Nathan, to the point that he had quit his job to protect them.
But in this instance, he just couldn’t see that as a detriment. He needed them to stay safe and would do absolutely everything he could to make sure they stayed that way. He had no idea if they had a chance to make it last. There were so many obstacles standing in the way, first and foremost, he had no idea what his future held since he no longer had a job.
But if nothing else, the close call yesterday had taught him that he needed to grab his chances at life when they came at him, because he might not have them again. Any one of those bullets could have had horrible consequences. It was just pure luck they all survived. He wouldn’t let that luck go to waste.
He’d finally unhooked the leash from Sam, trusting him to stay within eyesight and had moved to the stairs on the porch to watch over him. He leaned up against one of the columns of the porch and an arm holding a mug of coffee reached around him. He’d been so lost in his thoughts, he hadn’t heard her come out. The beginning of a smile lifted the corners of his mouth as he twisted his head to look at her. When he caught sight of her, his nerves sizzled.
Slowly and seductively, her gaze slid down his body, lighting up the layers of his skin as if she was actually touching him. He groaned low as he turned and wrapped his free arm around her to give her an open-mouthed, passionate kiss.
They were both breathing heavier when the sound of Sam barking at some wildlife among the trees brought them back to reality.
Toni settled under his arm and they sipped their coffee while looking out over the lush forest landscape. “It’s so pretty here. If I had access to this place, I’d have a hard time leaving.”
He nodded. “When Hudson and Rand bought it, we all planned to come out as much as possible, but life and work got in the way. I would bet good money that neither one of them have been here in over six months. It’s too easy to lose sight of what’s important.” He pulled her in tight against his chest. “It’s too easy to lose sight of what living really entails. Work isn’t the be-all, end-all. I’m beginning to figure that out.” He kissed her lightly on top of her head. “Thank you for helping me with that.”
She leaned back to look up at him with a surprising misty sheen to her eyes that melted his heart just a bit. She swallowed hard against the emotions. “Anytime,” she said and quickly turned mischievous as she hopped up on the porch railing, hooking her legs around his waist and pulling him in tight against her. “I’m thinking we could live a little right here, too.” She patted the top of the railing and then ran her fingertips across his burgeoning erection.
He swallowed a groan. “Hmm, you want to give the wildlife a show, huh?”
“Probably not a good idea, is it?” Her smile was flirty, but then suddenly her eyes widened. “I completely forgot about it this morning, how is your back doing?”
“My back is perfectly fine. You distracted me from it completely.” He pulled her tighter against him. “But I’m afraid I’ve left you with the wrong impression. I’m fully in support of the general idea.” He thrust lightly against her hand. “It’s the location that I find a little problematic.” He leaned down to whisper into her ear, “But right now I’m hungry for more than just you. I need some food for energy if you want to keep this up. We need to go into town for supplies.”
She hopped off the railing and glanced around the yard and surrounding mountain. “Do you think we’re safe here?”
“There’s no reason for anyone to think to look for us here. I have friends in town, but this is a small town. No one here is connected to what is happening with Nathan’s case in Lubbock. And no one should be able to trace me to this cabin since it’s not mine. We should be fine. Right now, we’re more in danger of starving to death than anything.” He held up his steaming cup of coffee. “Although, I’m surprised but very thankful you were able to find some coffee. I didn’t figure there were any supplies here at all.”
“Yeah, there was a bag in the freezer, but I didn’t see much else as far as provisions go, unless we can live on twenty-year-old malt Scotch.” She wrinkled her nose at him.
“Okay, well let’s get the teen awake and we’ll head into town for some breakfast and some groceries. Have you ever been to Snowcroft before?”
She shook her head. “No, I’ve always heard about people visiting here, but haven’t ever made a trip myself. From what I’ve seen, I can definitely see the appeal.”
“Just wait until you see the town. You’ll want to move here immediately. If only there were jobs here.” He frowned for a moment. “Not that I have one of those in Lubbock anymore, either.”
“How are you feeling about that today?”
“I don’t think it’s really sunk in yet. It all feels a little surreal and I have no idea what I’m going to do now.”
She gave him a hug. “You’ll figure something out. Don’t worry about it this week. Look at this as a mini-vacation which I know you’ve earned. So what is there to do in Snowcroft?”
“Hiking, fishing, mountain biking. Hell, there’s even a golf course up here.”
“Seriously?” She eyed the up and down terrain of the mountain. “I’ll bet that’s a workout.”
“Oh, yeah, but before we do any of that, we need some sustenance. Come on. Let’s go get the boy up and find us some breakfast.”
* * *
An hour later they walked along the boardwalk in town. Toni couldn’t believe they had an honest-to-God wooden boardwalk that fronted a couple of blocks of old-time looking stores. The complete kitsch of it was just too cute. They headed toward The Loggers Bar and the teen bitched.
“I can’t
believe y’all are taking me to a bar for breakfast. Seriously, don’t they have ‘contributing to the delinquency of minors’ laws in New Mexico?”
“Chill, Nate. This is life in a small town. I can promise you there will be very little alcohol served for breakfast.” Brian reassured him.
Nathan smirked. “Very little, huh? Which means some. And God, it’s so early.” He twisted his arm to look at his watch with a groan. “It’s too damn early to eat, much less drink something alcoholic. Who the hell drinks at breakfast?”
Toni rolled her eyes at him. “Haven’t you ever heard what the best cure for a hangover is?”
“No, what?”
“More alcohol.”
Brian gave them both a push down the sidewalk. “He probably didn’t need to know that much,” he muttered to her.
Aw, there was her cop. They may take away his badge, but that didn’t change who he was inside.
“He’s seventeen and lives on his own in a college town,” she retorted. “I don’t think I told him anything he wouldn’t learn on any given Friday or Saturday night out on the town in Lubbock.”
Nathan grinned at her. “You know that argument might hold more water if I actually went out sometime.”
Brian looked at him quizzically. “You never go out?”
“Not really,” Nathan mumbled, looking down at the ground.
“Why not? As Toni already pointed out, you’re still young. You should get out and at least hang out with other kids your age, although I really hope that won’t include the drinking Toni is so sure about.”
When Nathan looked up from the ground, stark pain reflected in his eyes. “I don’t have a working gaydar and I’m trying to avoid bad situations like what happened. It’s safer to stay home.”
The poor kid had had nothing but pain and ostracism dumped on him based upon his sexuality. That was hard at any age, but at seventeen could become completely debilitating. She exchanged a worried look with Brian, but he just gave her a reassuring nod and slung an arm over Nathan’s shoulder.
