I opened my eyes, my dissatisfaction enhanced by the realization that Ed wasn’t there. My body was throbbing, I wasn’t nearly satisfied, and the object of my desire wasn’t actually present.
And still, I couldn’t fucking sleep.
I finally got up again and opened the door. The glow of his light still came from down the hall. It was tempting, oh-so-tempting to seek out his company in the dark, lonely night.
But I didn’t. Instead, I crossed to the bathroom. I relieved myself, and brushed my teeth a second time.
I slipped back into the hall, and stepped on a squeaky floorboard. In the darkness, it startled me. I clutched my chest, heart pounding.
Wait, it was too dark. Where was Ed’s light?
I shrieked as hard arms suddenly scooped me up against an even harder body. “What—Ed?” I asked, bewildered.
He carried me back into my bedroom, and tossed me on the bed.
I braced myself on my elbows, looking up at him. “What are you—?”
“Shhh, let me help you,” he murmured. He was already over me, kissing me breathless.
I didn’t fight him. I was done fighting; he was what I wanted. Instead, I tangled my hands in the thick material of his jacket.
“That’s better. Let’s take this off you,” he whispered, tugging at my shirt.
I sat up, and he peeled the nightshirt off me and flung it into the darkness. He pushed me back against the sheets and hovered over me, big and overwhelming. The woods-and-leather scent of him flooded my senses… and his eyes were gleaming. It was a hungry look.
His hand touched down on my belly, smoothed upward. “You’re so beautiful,” he said. His voice was hoarse, his touch sure as he cupped my breast. My skin was pale against his hand. My pink nipple hardened against the calloused edge of his thumb.
I reached for him.
“No,” he said, but his denial was gentle. “No, let me. I want to make you cum.” He whispered it near my ear, and just the sound of it, the thought, was almost enough.
I whimpered and let my thighs fall apart. He shifted between them, and something hard and cool and metal pressed against my knee.
Ed kissed me again, plundering my mouth. He trailed heated kisses down my neck, my shoulder. The hand he wasn’t using for support petted me. He traced my waist and hip before coming back up to my breast. He worried one nipple as he took the other gently between his teeth and tugged.
I just about came off the bed. I was beside myself, lost in the sensations. I had a hand full of his hair, and my other went white-knuckled on the headboard as I arched under him.
He moved farther down, exploring me, tasting everything he could reach. His lips and tongue held me spellbound, and his beard was a delight all its own. Its texture made me squirm and moan, especially when he reached my inner thighs.
My heart raced with anticipation.
I felt the wash of his breath against me first, and then, without warning, he slid a single finger into me. I cried out, arching under his mouth, my muscles trembling. My body throbbed around him, a heated, demanding pound.
He didn’t wait for me to calm. I cried out even louder as he buried his mouth against me. His tongue was a fiery lash. His finger pressed deep in my soaked channel, his groan vibrating against me as I squeezed around him.
Pleasure blazed. I shook. A fine sheen of sweat had sprung up on my skin as I writhed under his tongue. He worked the flat of it over me, sliding, rubbing… My hips found his rhythm, meeting each of his finger’s sweet strokes.
I groaned when his tongue left me.
“You want me?” he asked.
“Yes!” I had no shame. Not here, in the dark of the night, my body under his command. I pulled at him, pushed up against him for more.
I almost cried when he slid his finger free. I lay there panting as he shrugged out of his long coat. He usually wore way too many clothes, but it was certainly overkill tonight. While he unfastened his shirt, I attacked the buckle of the belt slung low across his hips. The revolver that’d been pressing into my leg finally swung free, and I thumped the whole gun belt on the nightstand. He shrugged out of his suspenders.
I got his pants open, and then he pushed me flat. I lay back eagerly, pulling my legs up, giving him room.
He was big. Big and wonderful, and considerate, because even with me digging my heels in to him, he pushed into me slowly. He leaned down and kissed my neck, and I melted, accepting him. He took me with slow, exquisite gentleness. I was shuddering under him by the time he was finally inside me.
I groaned, pulling at him, and he rocked forward just a little farther, until his pubic bone pressed mine. I answered with a rock of my own, grinding my clit against him.
He slid away, and I would have protested, but he moved his attentions to the other side of my neck. He murmured my name, just under my ear, and then he pushed into me again. It was a thrust even smoother, even deeper, even better than the first.
The need was growing, clawing at me. As if sensing it, he thrust again, and again, soothing each ache even as he caused it. His body worked over mine, pressing my thighs wide. Our fingers tangled, and he pressed my hand into the mattress. His movements became heavier, his thrusts rocking my whole body.
The pleasure was so acute, I could have cried. I pushed myself into each of his rough thrusts. My breaths came in fast pants, each exhale an exclamation of pleasure. White fire flashed through my body, and I gasped his name as my neck arched.
The first quakes of my orgasm rumbled through me.
Ed growled against my neck, moving even harder, shaking the bed. The knowledge of what I did to him, that he was losing control, ravaged my mind just as surely as he did my body. I gripped his hand as I fell apart.
The earth shook.
“Captain,” came a tinny voice.
My pleasure stuttered. What, and who, had that been? But it was such a tiny blip on my radar, and Ed was still moving in me...
“Captain!”
“What?” I cried. I was pissed at the interruption, which cost me the glorious aftershocks of what could have been a truly epic orgasm.
Ed had gone still. “What is it, Wash?” he asked from above me.
My eyes flew open.
Ed was giving me a look, one brow raised, his lips quirked.
The bed shook under us, lurching suddenly in a long roll—without the aid of Ed’s hips.
“Captain, we’ve been hit!”
The bedframe rattled again, and red strobes started to flash as a klaxon wailed.
“We’ve lost thrust!” cried the disembodied voice.
“I reckon we have,” Ed muttered. He looked down at me. “Well, my dear, I’m sorry ‘bout this, but… duty calls.”
With that, he rolled off me. He shrugged back into his coat, which I now saw was a long brown duster. He tossed me one last rakish grin, and was still fastening his gun belt around his hips as he ducked out the door.
Chapter Twelve
A dream. It had been a dream.
I was still telling myself that. And still kicking myself for crossing Ed with my favorite space mercenary.
I mean, it had been good. Amazing, even. Hands-down the best imaginary sex I’d ever had.
But this morning, I was having a real hard time looking Ed in the eye.
“Hey, did you feel that earthquake last night?” Ed asked.
I blushed really freaking hard, and stared straight ahead as I drove.
“It was a 6.8, centered near Iliamna.” He glanced up from his phone, and I could feel his eyes on me from the passenger seat. “You’re really red right now,” he commented.
Oh, I could die. I fanned myself and fumbled for the vent controls. “Just—hot.” I turned the fans to cool and opened my window.
He was still looking at me. I risked a glance over and saw his eyes were glimmering with a considering light. “You seem kinda… off this morning. Did you manage to get to sleep last night? I thought I might have heard you making… sounds.”
I burst out with a trill of nervous laughter. Who was this crazy woman driving my truck? Ed had me so keyed up, I felt like a spring was about to shoot loose. “Yep, slept fine,” I chirped. “Cereal worked like a charm.”
“Uh-huh.” He sat back, a little half-smile on his face. Still looking at me.
And yes, this time it was me avoiding his gaze. Cowardly, I know.
The rest of the drive to the landing was made in near-silence. We got the barge loaded and launched, and made it most of the way back up the river before I spoke again.
“That boat looks broken down,” I observed.
It was a big boat, canopied, and was pulled up along the side of the river, a blond guy bent over one of the engines. Behind him, a dark-haired woman hovered, looking agitated.
In my barging, it wasn’t uncommon to come across a broken-down boat. Usually I picked up the stranded occupants, and took them to wherever they’d been headed. Once, I’d even picked up a guy who’d swum ashore after his boat overturned and sank.
“Should we stop to help them?” I asked. I was already throttling back, and turned the wheel to guide the barge closer.
“No,” Ed said, shocking me.
My head whipped around. Ed was refusing to help somebody? “What?”
“No,” he repeated, his voice firm. “Keep driving.”
“Seriously?”
“Yeah.”
“Why?”
“That’s my sister. She’s a bitch, and I refuse to help her. Now please, keep going.”
I stared over toward the boat. That was his sister? This was the woman threatening to sue me?
Then, I realized I recognized that boat. And the woman in it. It was the lady from the landing, the one who’d been spewing verbal abuse at the kid behind the counter. She’d had the same expression as she wore now, in fact.
She was yelling at the handsome blond fumbling with her engine. He glanced up at us, looking miserable, and in that moment, I felt sorry for him.
I hesitated. I wanted to help them, if only for that poor guy, but…
Ed’s sister looked up then, and her glare seared its way through my windshield.
I veered away, gunning my engine to recover speed as we roared past. That witch could fend for herself.
We dropped off the groceries, and another load of 55 gallon drums. Throughout, Ed was silent. I had no idea what was going on in his head, what the story was with his sister…
But I’d been reminded I needed to find that nugget, ASAP. I’d sorta forgotten about her letter, but now she was here, and she was gonna sue me if I didn’t hand over her nugget in… 11 days.
I had no good leads. Not even bad ones, really. But one thing I did know: I hadn’t searched Ed’s bedroom.
Could he have stolen it? I glanced over at him, wondering. I didn’t think so, but there was still a niggling doubt. The barest possibility.
I couldn’t stand it anymore. I was more attracted to Ed than I’d ever been to any man, and he was still on my list of suspects. I needed to find out for sure.
I was going to search his bedroom. If he’d taken my nugget, I’d get it back. If he hadn’t…
We pulled up to his place. “Can I use your bathroom again?” I asked as I swung us in toward shore.
He glanced at me, brows raised. “Sure.”
“It’s pretty urgent. You mind if I just run on ahead while you hold the boat?”
“Okay.”
We crunched in to the shore, he jumped out, and I quickly followed suit. I hurried away from him and up the trail. I thumped across the covered bridge, and kicked my boots off just outside his door.
Then I stepped inside. Moving quickly in my socked feet, I climbed his stairs. It was the standard cabin layout; bedroom upstairs, everything else down. His bedroom door was open, and I paused in the doorway.
The décor here, too, was artsy rustic, with lots of natural wood. He had one of those beds, the ones made of whole logs shimmed together. It was queen-sized, unmade, but still relatively neat. His sheets were plaid flannel, forest green and light brown. The room smelled like spruce.
I turned to the right, determined to search everything else before I messed with his bed. Not that I thought he’d be sleeping with my nugget, if he had it. But maybe he’d hide it underneath? Or in a compartment in the frame itself? If it were anyone else, I’d say that wasn’t much of a possibility, but this was Ed. He’d just pull out the tool bag he seemed to carry with him everywhere, and in less than an hour, he’d have a secret compartment complete with hinged door to make the whole thing invisible. I should probably be knocking on floorboards…
I started opening dresser drawers, trying to hurry. I pushed Ed’s clothing around, searching for anything solid. The next drawer contained underwear, and I sighed, looking down into it. Now I could tell the whole river Ed favored heather gray boxer briefs.
Just kidding. I’d keep that little tidbit to myself.
Steeling myself, I reached into the drawer, and touched the soft cotton of his underwear.
“What are you doing?”
I jumped back, and was trying to look casual, when I realized that one of Ed’s boxer briefs had come with me. It hung damningly from my hand for three whole seconds before I had the presence of mind to get rid of the evidence. I flung it over my shoulder.
“Uh. I was just—” Think fast, Suzy, what the hell could you possibly, legitimately have been doing up here? “—just checking to see if the décor in here was as awesome as that in the rest of the house. I thought you were gonna hold the boat,” I said.
Ed stepped the rest of the way into the room and crossed his arms. “You were ‘checking’ my underwear drawer. And I decided to tie it off, instead.”
I groaned. I was well and truly screwed, and I badly wanted to bail. I glanced toward the window. It was like twelve feet to the ground, though, and I didn’t have enough padding on my body to make it gracefully through that kind of fall. The doorway behind him was also looking really tempting. He’d probably grab for me, but I’d been told on multiple occasions by Helly that I was a ‘fast little shit’.
“Suzy,” Ed said. “What were you doing in my underwear drawer?”
I hesitated.
Ed’s lips twitched as he glanced over at the damning drawer. “You find what you were looking for?” he asked.
I gnawed on my lip. My heart was thumping, and in that moment, I wanted to run pretty damn bad.
“Suzy.”
Oh, damn. I loved it when he said my name. I raised my eyes up to his.
“Is this about your gold nugget that went missing?” he asked.
My breath heaved out on a sigh. He knew. “Yeah.”
“I don’t have your nugget,” he said.
“Well, that’s great to hear, but you’d say that in any case,” I pointed out.
“I didn’t take it,” he said.
I eyed him. He looked perfectly honest, his expression earnest, every line of his body sincere. I shook my head, still not convinced.
Ed turned, and shut his bedroom door. My heart sped a little faster as I was closed in with him.
And he didn’t act all benign, either. He started walking toward me, step by slow step.
I backed up. Ed coming steadily toward me, the entirety of his attention on me, was actually sort of unnerving. He didn’t usually hold eye contact.
He was holding it now. “Why would you think I took your nugget?” he asked.
I backed up another couple steps, and realized he was doing it on purpose. He was stalking me.
“You’re a logical suspect,” I said. “It’s reasonable to expect you to be upset that Ralph didn’t give you the nugget. Helly and I thought you might have been willing to force the issue, and steal it back.” I stumbled over a rug, came up against a wall, and had to turn.
Stalking me, indeed. This was completely out of character for Ed, and it was throwing me for a loop. I had no idea what to do, so I kept backing up. And talking.<
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“Plus, you’re mysterious. Just before I asked for your help, I realized I didn’t know anything about you,” I continued. I knew I was running off at the mouth, but Ed was making me nervous. “You could have easily been a thief, a criminal. I wanted to find out what kind of person you were.”
A second after I’d backed myself into a corner, I realized I’d done it. Oh shit. My voice went up an octave. “In fact, I’m kinda thinking you might have an informational black hole over here. I didn’t know you made metal sculptures, or that you even had a sister...” As I talked, I eyed the bed he was backing me up beside. I could scramble over it if I had to.
He came even closer. Four feet away. Then three.
I nudged up against the nightstand.
Two.
He was looming over me, dominating my space, blocking the light. He leaned close.
Trapped, I stared up into his eyes. I trembled, caught somewhere between bolting and jumping his bones. This newfound domineering side was confusing me even as it made my pussy gush. I suddenly felt like I didn’t know this man, not even after several days in his company.
“Can you keep a secret?” he asked, his voice soft.
“Of course,” I said. Sometimes. Depending. If he revealed he was some sort of child molester, no. In fact, in most cases no. I was shoddy at keeping secrets. But I wasn’t gonna retract my statement. I wanted his secrets too bad.
He dropped to his knees, and my breath caught. He reached past my leg, fiddling with something under the night stand.
But he was still looking at me. His gaze was knowing, his manner lazy, the tilt to his lips teasing. I couldn’t stop staring at him; forgot, in fact, whatever the hell he was doing behind me and just returned his gaze.
This man was fascinating.
A little wedge of door swung open beneath the night stand, gaining my attention as it brushed my leg.
“Look,” Ed said. He moved back slightly, giving me room.
I tried to bend and look, but the angle was wrong. So, casting a cautious glance at Ed over my shoulder, I dropped down to my knees.
Then I gasped.
Two Captains, One Chair: An Alaskan Romantic Comedy Page 15
