She reached out her hand, palm up, and he stepped closer taking her hand in his and lacing their fingers together.
“I don’t want to rush,” he said, his tone reverent. “We’ve never made love without having to hurry. For that matter, we’ve never made love in a bed. The other day didn’t count.”
“Oh, it counted. If anything, it released the pressure of the last twelve years.”
“Speak for yourself.” He smiled. “I’m feeling enough pressure to fuel a trip to the moon.”
Suddenly, she frowned. “What about your arm? Are you in a lot of pain?”
“The only pain I’m in will be relieved once I’m inside you.”
“Well, then,” she smiled a sexy grin, “I hate to see you hurting.” She scooted onto the bed, and Aidan placed a knee on the mattress next to her hip and followed her down.
This was the way it should be, the way it should have been from the very beginning. They’d lost so much time. He swore to himself, then and there, that he would spend the rest of his life making up for the lost time.
Raven held her breath as Aidan loomed over her much like the black wolf that had surprised them earlier that day, saving their lives. Aidan was so big, so strong, so intense, and the gleam in his eyes had her swallowing hard. She felt like he would devour her until he owned her soul. He already owned her heart. She’d given it too him twelve years ago and had never gotten it back. No wonder life seemed so pale and washed out without him in it. She’d barely been living. Going through the motions. Doing all that was required of her, but not taking care of herself. Not seeing to her needs. The man above her certainly seemed intent on seeing to each and every one of her needs.
She gasped as his rough hands slowly inched up the silk of her nightgown. Erotic shivers followed in the wake as fabric lightly dragged over her sensitive skin. This was so different than anything they’d done before. There was no time limit other than morning, which was many hours off. Hopefully that would be enough time to explore each other. She doubted it. Each moment they’d been together, had been stolen. Needs and desire were rushed in order to satisfy, leaving them anything but completely satisfied. She hummed as his hands cupped her bare breasts.
“Yes.” She moaned. He molded, then lightly stroked around her nipples, inching ever closer to the taut peaks begging for him to lick, nibble, suck.
“So beautiful,” he said, with a groan, taking a nipple into his mouth.
She arched her back, her hands going to his jean-clad behind, and pulling him closer to the junction of her thighs. She burned for him, needed him inside her assuaging the ache that had overtaken everything. She pulled at his jeans, trying to get them off. His hands reached out and grabbed hers.
“No, sweetheart,” he said breathlessly. “The minute my pants are off, I’ll be inside you.”
“And that would be a bad thing?”
Aidan chuckled and dragged her nightgown up and over her head, leaving her wearing only her underwear. “Not yet.” His eyes scanned down her body, his fingers looping into the thin elastic of her panties. “I have much more that I want to do to you.” He stripped her last barrier down her legs and tossed them away. His smile promised all sorts of wicked things.
She moaned in anticipation. Then his mouth went to work, licking flames of pleasure up and down her body. He worshiped her with his tongue, her breasts, her stomach, and then he spread her thighs, and devoted his attention toward driving her insane. He entered her with his fingers, her hips arching off the bed, his tongue continuing to make her whimper as her body clawed toward the building climax.
Her fingers entwined in his dark hair as he pleasured her with his mouth. His tongue circled, flicked and then he sucked her clitoris into his mouth. She bucked as her body separated from her soul, his name a hoarse cry on her lips as she soared toward the shivery moon.
Slowly she drifted back to earth, back to Aidan. His hands caressed her, sliding long, lavish strokes over her sensitive skin.
“You okay?” he asked, nuzzling the underside of her breast.
“Uh-hmm,” she hummed. “I’m fine. Very fine.”
He chuckled, the vibrations causing shivers to erupt on her skin. Would she ever get enough of this man?
“We have a slight problem,” he said, palming her breast as he kissed her nipple.
“What problem?” How could there be a problem, when everything finally felt so right.
“Your ‘go with the flow protectively’ is in jeopardy. I know we already let the dog off the leash last time. But we shouldn’t take the chance. I don’t have any way of protecting you.”
She felt the heat of a blush infuse her whole body. How could she be a mother of an eleven, almost twelve year old, and still blush like a school girl? “I have some,” she whispered.
Aidan lifted his head and met her eyes, cocking an eyebrow. “You bought condoms?”
“Uh…no. Tern made me take them.”
He ducked his head, trying to hide a smile. “Where are they?”
She pointed to the clothes she’d tossed onto the back of a chair. “Front pocket of my overalls.”
He was up and off the bed in a flash, rummaging through her pocket and coming up with the square box Tern had thrown at her earlier. Had that only been this morning? Then he was back, a triumphant smile on his face. “We are going to have to do something very special for your sister. And later, much later, I want to hear how she came about giving you these.”
Raven’s blush deepened, but she ignored it. Instead, she rose to her knees, taking the box from him. She opened it, trying to look sophisticated, and failing as she struggled to free one of the foil wrappers. She flipped it around her fingers, and glanced at him, uncertain. “I don’t know how these work,” she whispered. “I know what they do, but not the mechanics of getting them on.”
His grin got wider. “We’ll just have to practice until you get it right.”
She lost the blush and shared his smile. Everything between them had always been easy, comfortable. Aidan had not only been her first love, he’d been her best friend. She pushed him back onto the bed, being careful not to bump his injured arm. “My turn.”
He answered with a groan of eagerness.
It was her turn to drive him insane and she went about it like the artist she was. She skimmed her fingers over his sensitive skin, and kneaded those parts that weren’t, until he growled for her to hurry. If anything she slowed. Savored the control, the feelings she brought out in him, until she had him panting, begging.
He hissed as she scorched her nails over his stomach. Purposely, she fumbled around the zipper of his jeans, until he swore and pushed her hands away, tearing off his jeans.
“Now,” he growled, taking her hips in his hands.
“Condom, remember?”
“Shit.” He threw his head back against the pillow, closed his eyes and exhaled out of his flared nostrils. “Give me a minute.”
Now why should she give him a minute, when he hadn’t spared her any?
She was turned on more than she ever thought she would be by taking control. She opened the foil wrapper and took out the flimsy, thin condom, and then looked at Aidan’s thick, pulsing erection.
How the hell was this supposed to cover that?
Being ever so careful, Raven placed the condom on the tip of Aidan’s penis. He jerked, and his hands fisted. “Raven,” he said in a ragged breath. “I need some time.”
“Time’s up.” She fumbled in her attempts to roll the slick condom down his hot, throbbing shaft.
Aidan swore again, and pushed her hands out of the way. In one expert move, he sheathed himself, flipped her over onto her back and entered her.
Her breath escaped in a whoosh as her body tried to adjust to his hard penetration.
“I’m sorry,” he said, thrusting into her. “Next time. We’ll. Practice.” Then he was lost in her body, grabbing her hips as he plunged into her, their joined bodies automatically lining up their tattoos.
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Raven melted around him, relishing that she’d made the man she craved lose control. Next time she was taking top position. Just knowing that there would be a next time had her inner muscles contracting. Aidan moaned, and his thrusts increased. The veins on his neck protruded, the muscles in his shoulders and arms flexed. And then he was grinding against her as he climaxed, her name a guttural prayer on his lips.
She took off in flight right after him.
They’d used up Tern’s box of condoms before they were sated with each other. Raven’s body still twitched from the electrical overload of so much pleasure. If she put her mind to it, she swore she could levitate. Aidan lay next to her, sprawled out on the bed, breathing heavy.
“You okay?” she asked.
“I think you’ve killed me.”
She leaned up on her elbow and twirled a finger around his taut nipple. He was beautiful in the moonlight cascading through her windows. His dark hair on her pillow, his naked body taking up most of her bed, felt so right.
“I’ve ascended onto another plane of existence.” He turned to look at her, wonder in his eyes. His hand came up to cover her fingers, splaying their clasped hands over his heart. “There’s no other explanation for the level of happiness I feel right now.”
Tears tickled behind her eyes and she had to duck her head to hide them. She kissed his knuckles where their hands were joined. “I have something for you.” She reached over to the night table, and opened the drawer, taking out the leather choker she’d kept all these years, not able to throw it away even in her angriest moments. “You’ll need this to help navigate your way.”
She held up the leather braid, a hand-carved face of a timber wolf dangling as a talisman.
Reverently, he reached for the wolf his own mother had carved him as a boy, before the alcohol had taken its toll. “I never thought I’d see this again.” He looked at her. “You kept it?”
She shrugged, emotions making it hard to speak. He’d given the necklace to her that last summer as a sort of promise ring. “I couldn’t throw it away. The wolf is your totem, your protector.” Sitting up, she opened the clasp. “You need to have it with you.” She reached around his neck—he lifted his head to help her—and she secured the leather, smoothing the wolf in place to hang in the hollow of his collarbone. “Perfect, like it’s home.”
He caught her fingers, bringing them to his lips for a kiss. “Thank you.”
Tears threaten again, so she snuggled down into his arms. He wrapped his good arm around her, bringing her in close to his heart. They stayed that way for a while and then Raven whispered, “Don’t go alone.”
He stilled. “Was this what tonight had been all about?” She stiffened, and he immediately responded, “Forget I said that. Please.” Remorse was heavy in his voice.
“There’s still a lot we need to learn about and forgive each other for, isn’t there?”
He kissed her forehead, pulling her tighter against him. “Promise me, you’ll give us time.”
“I promise, as long as you promise not to get yourself killed.”
He chuckled. “I promise. I suddenly have too much to live for.”
She snuggled down into his arms, his body a warm, comforting blanket that soothed her into a deep, restful sleep.
When she woke, he was gone.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
“Fox!” Raven yanked on her overalls and t-shirt, struggling into socks as she raced for the kitchen. “Fox, we overslept. Hurry!” She had to get him to school and then find Aidan. She searched the main room. No sign. No clothes lay about. He’d even put the sofa bed back together.
“Fox!” Where the heck was he? The cabin was silent, dead silent. She reached for the door of the fridge to pull out Fox’s lunch and saw the note in Aidan’s handwriting stuck under a salmon magnet.
Raven,
I took Fox to school after we fed the dogs. I couldn’t make myself wake you, as you were sleeping so beautifully.
I love you,
Aidan
She glanced at the clock and growled. It was just after nine. If Aidan had planned on coming back after taking Fox to school, he would have been here by now. The blasted man had gone off to confront his uncle. She’d bet her life on it.
Damn it. Why were men so stupid and irrational? He’d promised her, just mere hours ago, that he wouldn’t get himself killed. Fear coiled in like death whispers.
She didn’t think. Just grabbed her dad’s forty-five, loaded it, and headed for Earl’s.
Aidan parked the rental a mile up the road and hoofed the rest of the way to Earl’s cabin. He was going to settle this for good. He would protect his son, his woman, and her family. All the while trying not to give up his life in the process. After all, he’d promised. A grin flashed as he remembered the staggering love making he and Raven had shared last night. He didn’t know when he had felt this happy, this hopeful. Dr. Foster had been correct. He’d needed to return to Chatanika, return to his past, make things right. Everything had been so wrong for so long.
Now he had to neutralize Roland, which seemed child’s play compared to winning back Raven’s heart.
He snuck up on the cabin, scanning the wilderness, listening for anything suspicious.
A ptarmigan cooed to his lover hidden in the underbrush. The sun still had a few hours until it would peak over the horizon. It was freezing, and the ice fog seeping up from the river valley was thick and ominous.
The cabin squatted in the shadows of the hill behind it. There was no sign of activity. No smoke coming from the chimney, no lights glowing through the curtain-covered windows. If someone was inside, he wouldn’t be able to tell. But then Roland wouldn’t know he was out here either. A level playing field.
He’d rather have an advantage.
Slipping to the cabin, he stayed next to the logs as he made his way to the back door. The soft powder of snowfall from the day before cushioned his footsteps. For once he didn’t crunch through a frozen layer of ice-crusted snow.
He stumbled, almost triggering the thin fishing wire pulled taut across the path to the cabin. The meager light bouncing off the snow had caught the wire just right, glimmering iridescent for a second, before blending with the surrounding area. Aidan followed the wire with his eyes until he saw the cans hanging in the spruce branches. One brush of the twine and the cans would have pealed together like bells. Aidan carefully stepped over it, making sure there wasn’t a backup poor man’s doorbell.
He reached the back door and suddenly, his feet slipped out from under him. He fell hard and heavy, grunting as he hit, his injured arm taking the brunt of it. The crafty son of a bitch had iced the area by the back door. Aidan struggled to his feet, slipping again when he reached the stairs. Water had been poured over them too. His shoulder throbbed, and he felt wetness seep down his arm. He’d torn his stitches. Eva was going to make him pay for that.
He’d expected the alarm at the back door. It was set up much the way the other one had been. Only this time the cans were positioned to fall if the wire was brushed, clanging on their way down, most likely knocking the intruder out in the process. Aidan carefully disarmed the cans and then cut the wire strung across the door with his knife. He pocketed the knife in his jeans and pulled the magnum out of his waistband. Slowly, he turned the knob and slid the door open a crack without a sound. Deciding to grease the dirty, rusty hinges with WD40 a few days ago had been a stroke of genius. When nothing came at him, he inched the door opened far enough to peek inside.
The kitchen was empty, but he heard scraping from the other room. Silently, he entered the cold cabin, quietly closing the door behind him. He waited, barely breathing, but the sound didn’t change from the other room, so he slinked farther into the space. When he reached the corner, he gave a quick glance into the living room.
There was Uncle Roland crouched down, pulling up the floorboards.
The last few months had not treated him well. He’d lost weight, but then being on
the run from the law would do that to a person. He’d grayed more, too, and his skin had a yellow cast to it, like he’d upped his cigarette intake. If anything he looked meaner and leaner, with long, wiry muscles that gleamed menacingly in the dim lantern lighting.
“Find anything?” Aidan asked, enjoying Roland’s jolt at being caught unawares.
His beady eyes swung to Aidan, scoffing at the gun he held in his hand. “Gonna kill me like you did your daddy?”
“Am I going to need to?”
Roland cackled. “Looks as though murdering a man has finally given you a backbone.” He rose slowly to his feet, a plank of wood—bent nails sticking out of one end—gripped in his hand. “So, how do you want to play this?”
“I’m going to turn you over to the law.”
He scoffed and rolled his black eyes. “Like that’s gonna happen. I’ve forgotten your sense of humor.”
“I’m not laughing.” Aidan moved a few steps to the left, blocking Roland’s path to the rifle he’d left out of reach, leaning against the cold wood stove. But there was still Earl’s gun cabinet, fully stocked, at Roland’s back. Aidan doubted the old man would be fast enough to arm himself from the cabinet before Aidan was on him, but he wouldn’t put it past him. “Put down the wood. You’re coming with me.”
“The only way I’m going anywhere with you is if I’m dead.” He cocked a brow. “You willing to kill me too?”
“Lana’s here.”
A spasm of pain crossed Roland’s weathered features.
“She’s real scared, Roland. For some reason she still loves you after all the crap you’ve put her through.”
“Well…she’s too tender-hearted. Too much like her mother. Nothing I can do about that.”
SHIVER Page 23
