by S. K Munt
More than Words
Book #3 ‘Kissed By A Muse’ trilogy
S.K MUNT
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictionally. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or to actual events or locales is entirely coincidental.
This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with.
Copyright © 2014 SKMUNT All rights reserved. Including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof, in any form. No part of this text may be reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the author.
Cover Design, S.K Munt
Photography 123RF
Edited by Donella Brown & Emm Cole
For Emm Cole, a reader’s writer, a writer’s reader and a shining star.
One
Niagara Falls, Winter 2014
He kissed her until the fire went out and the room grew dark but not cold. No, there could be no cold within Ryan’s arms- for his skin felt as sun-kissed as it looked, and his hold on her was so tight that it did not allow a draught to creep between them.
But the darkness changed things between them. For Leigh, the loss of visual made everything feel more intimate, but Ryan’s behavior changed drastically- his breathing became more labored, his hands more insistent, and his groaning became deeper and longer and all of his restraint evaporated. Leigh stopped feeling like a person, and started feeling like an extension of him, and that was scary; to become so lost and for him to react so strongly to her vanishing act. He stopped remarking on her beauty, and stopped using her name altogether- merely grasped at her, pressed into her and licked the sweat off her skin. She orgasmed repeatedly due to his skilled administrations and reciprocated when she could, pumping his shaft with her fist and feeling his seed spill over her time and time again- once on her breasts as he rammed himself between them until climax, once on her thighs as he slid in and out from behind until they came together, and the last time, by mounting her shoulders and easing his cock into her parted mouth while he toyed with her. It was all so erotic that merely remembering the last thing he’d done to her became enough to push Leigh over the brink again.
But as the night went on the fire flickered out, the deep ache within Leigh’s abdomen became a yawning chasm and she began to fear that nothing would ever satiate her need for him, short of his length in her womb and his heart in her hands.
She was in love and desperate to see his face in the sunlight again- to look into those crystal blue eyes and speak her truth- while Ryan was burrowing into the darkness with her body but drifting further and further into himself and into his dreams. She tried to command herself to walk out before he wore out his resolve to leave her intact, but her legs wouldn’t work.
Eventually, their sheets became too slick and chilled from their secretions for them to stay within and Ryan lifted her and took her into the shower, lighting a candle rather than turning on the light and holding her beneath the warm spray as he soaped up her body with his redolent body wash. Leigh had expected to feel self-conscious but there was no such awkwardness between them- his lips didn’t allow pause for that. He pushed her against the cold tiles and rubbed his soapy, slippery body against hers, taking care to wash her nipples, her hair and between her legs, murmuring the whole while, but saying nothing. Leigh didn’t know how long they stayed in there for but the water was turning cool by the time he shut it off, and then he dried her as thoroughly as he had washed her, his towel-covered fingers creating a brilliant friction against her raw nipples and swollen, puffy sex until she was coming again and having to hold onto him to stay upright.
‘I’m going to make us a hot chocolate, okay?’ Ryan eventually asked softly, sliding her pants back up her legs between kisses. ‘Then I’m going to get the fire going again and we can read.’ He chuckled. ‘I think.’
Leigh lay down on his stripped bed and nodded mutely as he handed her shirt. She was too exhausted to put it on, but she hugged it to her chest, needing the warmth desperately once he’d left the room. She stared around, making out only the intricate silver etchings in the wallpaper, and wondered if she was fucking crazy to be there- on a strange man’s bed, violated every way a woman could be except one- and desperate for more even though the cloak of sleep was descending over her shoulders. She hadn’t worn a bra so she didn’t have her pocket watch, and she had no idea of knowing what the time was because of that. Could they still read? They’d been intertwined for hours!
I wanted to go home with more blog entries and photos than I could ever write! But I’m going to be going home with a broken heart! Meeting Kathryn tomorrow should be what has me wide awake- not waiting for him to come back and…
Leigh groaned and pushed up into a sitting position, then moved toward the window, hoping that a glimpse of the falls would anchor her in reality and keep her there. The floor was icy beneath her feet and though she slipped her shirt over her head and hugged it to her to keep the air away from her aching breasts, her teeth began to chatter violently anyway, telling her that it had to be well past midnight- the temperature had not only dropped but plummeted. She was about to turn in search of another towel, one to wrap around her head and protect her shoulders from her sodden hair, but then she saw it- the fine powder dusting the boughs of the oak tree in front of the house, and her body jolted as though shocked by a million watts of euphoria.
‘Ahhh!’ She turned on her heel and raced for the bedroom door. ‘Ryan!’ She took the stairs three at a time, and Ryan came shooting out of the kitchen like a snake had bitten him- just in time for her to trip over the last step and catapult gracelessly into his arms.
‘Leigh? What is it?’ He sounded scared, but Leigh couldn’t answer him straight away- she’d landed hard on her knee on the floor and it was throbbing too much for her to think around. ‘Honey, are you okay?’
‘It’s! Ow!’ Leigh climbed up him and twisted her fingers in the sleeves of the short white shirt he’d donned. He was wet and beautiful once more, but right then, he was the last thing she wanted to focus on. ‘It’s snowing!’ She shook his shoulders. ‘For real for REAL SNOWING!’ She released him and began to hobble towards the front door. ‘I have to-’
‘Whoa! Hey, you’re limping!’
‘I’m fine,’ but Leigh was not- her leg was killing her and her face was hot with embarrassment as she headed for the front door. ‘I have to see this and- oh! The tree!’ She opened all of the locks on the inside of the door and pushed it open, stumbling out onto the porch and hissing when the frigid air made her limbs lock up with her jaw. ‘Eek! Oh! Cold, cold, COLD!’
‘Christ, it is! Wow! I’ve never seen snow before! Um…’
‘You don’t think you’ve seen it anyway, I know the score…’ Leigh made it to the edge of the porch and bent down to pick up the sad little Christmas tree they’d adopted, dusting the snow off some of the green branches remaining before turning to shove it to him. ‘Take that inside, will you? It won’t last a second in this.’
Ryan raised an eyebrow. ‘You’re afraid it’s gonna get the flu?’
Leigh glared up at him, annoyed to see the ‘she’s so quirky’ grin on his lips. ‘I don’t know! But I know it’s sick already so getting a flu as well won’t help. I’m no tree expert- are you?’
Ryan blew some snow off the branches. ‘No… but I do know that they’re an outdoor thing...’
‘And a cactus is a desert thing and they’re doing fine in your kitchen,’ Le
igh pulled herself up the banister and then turned to stare at the grey sky through the leaves of the oak tree. ‘So humour your friend and take the fucking plant inside, won’t you?’
Ryan laughed, but she heard the porch creak beneath his weight as he went inside, and then again when he returned. Warms arms slid around her and pulled her close, and his chin rested on her shoulder.
‘This is incredible…’ he whispered, his breath both too warm then too cold against her ear as he regarded the sky over her shoulder.
Leigh held out her hand and caught a tiny snowflake on the tip of one of her fingers, grinning. ‘It really is. And it’s weird- it feels warmer than the air.’
‘That’s because it’s burning you.’ Ryan pressed his face into her neck. ‘But I was talking about us.’
Leigh’s heart began to flop about in her chest. ‘Us?’ she repeated.
‘Yeah. We were strangers three days ago. Now, I can’t stand for more than a foot of space to open up between us.’ He crushed his arms around her and groaned into her hair. ‘Sweet, beautiful, crazy little Leigh…what am I going to do when you’re gone?’
Leigh’s pulse was going crazy. He said things in such a romantic manner, the words sliding over his lips so effortlessly! She wanted to cry out: Write to me! Call me every day! Get a Facebook and send me dirty private messages constantly and ask me to come back so, if I get a green card and you become available, we can be together again!
But she couldn’t say those sorts of things- they were needy chick things to say and though Leigh had lost sight of herself, she was never EVER going to be that clinging, wet-tissue of a girl she’d closed books on before.
‘You’ll play your guitar,’ she said softly, breaking out of his hold before she lost the ability to. ‘And I’ll read. That’s what we do.’
Ryan’s chest stilled against hers. ‘That’s it?’ he asked carefully. ‘You’re not going to ask me to write you or anything?’
Leigh almost laughed. Write her? She was in paradise in his life, and he was offering to send postcards after? She tried to think of a way to express all she was feeling, and how awful life was going to be without him and how nothing short of knowing that he loved her and wanted her forever was going to soothe the anxiety she would face after they parted ways- but there wasn’t a way she could say that without putting the whole ‘Needy chick’ thing on the table.
Besides, why should she be the one to beg for continued contact? Why wasn’t he asking her to write him? He was the one with the issues, not her! He was the one with the wall up- how could he ask her to scale it without hinting that he’d catch her on the other side first?
‘Oh… I get it.’ Ryan released her and she turned, startled by the sudden bitter note in his voice. He had stepped back and was hugging himself. ‘This is about the other guy, right?’
Leigh’s eyebrows shot up. ‘I’m sorry… what?’
Ryan stared hard at her. ‘We keep talking about my issues Leigh- my dream girl, my amnesia, my hang-ups with certain songs… but you’re not really giving me anything back, you know.’
Leigh blinked at him. ‘Did you get drunk while you were in the kitchen or something?’
Ryan made a huffing sound and turned around. ‘Your hot chocolate is on the kitchen bench, okay? I’m seriously behind on this whole book thing and time’s ticking away so…’
Leigh followed him inside and closed the door softly behind her. ‘So... what?’ she asked, feeling scared and confused. She wanted to ask him to stop- to talk to her and give her a chance to answer all the questions that he was firing at her, but he was acting so cold!
‘So I’m going to be up late. You’ll be better off sleeping in your own room, you know?’
Leigh’s heart sank- she’d been hoping to sleep in his bed with him. She didn’t want to be that far away from him, but the fact that she was so scared of the idea of it was the exact reason why she had to suck it up and go to her own room, wasn’t it?
‘Okay,’ she said softly, reaching for her hot chocolate. ‘Fine. Um...’ she watched as Ryan lifted his own cup and turned toward the stairs. ‘Uh... thank you? For tonight.’
Ryan paused, but then shook his head slightly and began to climb the staircase once more. ‘At your service, Miss Dallas-Hone.’
Leigh bared her teeth, but went to her room. As she passed the foot of the stairs, she stooped to pat the top of her little fir tree and whispered to him that they’d both be okay- that they’d both survive him, but then the door upstairs slammed with a clank and both she and the tree shook together on the cold first floor.
Ryan
Four days! Four days four DAYS! What are you doing?
Ryan paced his bedroom for exactly three minutes with the book in his hand before he let out a frustrated snarl and picked up it and his hot chocolate and went back downstairs. Leigh had turned off all the lights but he found the way to her bedroom easily, and didn’t bother to knock before he opened the door.
‘Are you still awake?’ he demanded, although it was clear from the lamplight spilling across the floor that she was.
‘Um… yeah…?’
Ryan stepped over the threshold and regarded her with what he knew was still a sour puss. Leigh was wearing the icky, old-fashioned nightie, and was snuggled up against a mountain of white pillows. It was funny but with the glasses, old-lady nightgown and loosely plaited hair; she could have been Imogen a month before. She had a book propped up on one pillow, and it was one he did not recognize.
‘What happened to the other book you were reading?’
Leigh glanced at her side table and sighed. ‘I just couldn’t get into it.’ She glanced back at him and to The Hardest Fall in his hand. ‘What happened to the book that you’re supposed to be reading?’
Ryan scratched his calf with the back of one of his feet, feeling uncomfortable. ‘I just couldn’t…’ he cleared his throat, wishing she’d just ask him to join her, or offer to read it or ask what was on his mind or anything- but she just lay there, staring at him expectantly. He sighed and leaned against the door. ‘My sheets are still in the wash. They’re going to take ages to dry so…’
Leigh pulled back her bedspread, making room for him. ‘Get in.’
Ryan’s grin made his cheeks hurt. ‘Really?’
Leigh rolled her eyes and squirmed back more. ‘To READ, Mr Weaver.’ She gave him a stern look over the frame of her glasses, and she was SO Imogen that his chest ached. ‘If you embarrass me in front of Kathryn tomorrow because you can’t get your mind out of my pants long enough to turn four hundred pages, you’ll never get in them again.’
Ryan laughed and got into bed beside her, stretching to put his coffee cup next to hers and enjoying the way they looked like that. ‘I know- I want to finish it too.’ He reached behind him and patted her rump. ‘But you’re wearing this again so I’m less likely to get distracted now anyway...’
Leigh thumped him on the head with her book, but she did laugh and the sound eased him. He let his weight sink into the narrow, soft bed and opened his book, relieved to see that he had managed to make it past the halfway mark at least. If he concentrated, he could finish the book within an hour and a half. ‘Just out of curiosity… how quickly could you finish this?’
Leigh paused, and he felt her lean over his shoulder. ‘Hmmm… half an hour?’
Ryan pursed his lips in an impressed smile. ‘Is it weird that that turns me on?’
‘Can you read music?’
He nodded. ‘Of course.’
‘Then we’re even.’
Ryan grinned and lay on his back so that she could see it. ‘You can’t?’
‘It’s like trying to read hieroglyphics… without the helpful pictures.’
He reached up and tweaked the end of her nose. ‘I bet you could learn.’
‘I’m sure I could…’ Leigh mused, lifting her book between their faces. ‘But then I’d officially be able to do everything and no one would be worthy of me…’
&n
bsp; Ryan laughed heartily, turning to face her. He tapped on the book. ‘So that’s the problem huh? The lady is too accomplished to find a worthy mate?’
Leigh lowered the book and smiled at him. ‘No. The lady just can’t stand it when people talk when she’s trying to read, so she ends up kicking them all out of her space if they interrupt too many times…’ she lifted the book again. ‘Same goes for talking during movies, FYI.’
Ryan rolled back over. ‘Hint taken.’
‘Lady relieved.’
Ryan lifted his book again, but only managed to skim a few more lines before he sighed and leaned back against her. ‘Aren’t you even going to ask me why I threw a tantrum?’
There was silence for a moment, but then he heard Leigh clear her throat. ‘No. The elephant in the room is keeping us warm, so let’s just let it be, hmm?’
Ryan frowned. ‘You’re okay with that?’
‘If it keeps you squished into my bed, yes.’ Papers rustled against his hair and then, he felt her sweet lips on the back of his head. ‘Read, Ryan, and don’t worry about the ending- if it’s you, you’re already living the sequel, okay? You don’t have to fear dying.’
Ryan swallowed hard and lifted the book to his eyes, more scared than he could recall ever feeling before. It was dying that he was afraid of, but living without the way he was feeling beside Leigh.
Leigh
Leigh didn’t know exactly when she’d fallen asleep, but when Ryan’s whispers roused her, the room was filling with a pale, eerie light through the crack in the curtains and The Hardest Fall was being held open by his forearm on the author’s bio page. She sat up, smiling, and pulled the book from beneath his arm.
Good boy! You did it!
He was beautiful, even in sleep, but his dark brows were knitted together, and his thick black eyelashes were shivering as he attempted to open them, but failed. Leigh brushed the back of her hand along his sharp cheekbone, shaking her head in appreciation.
