He’d made his intentions clear for their time away from the world. And she knew what she wanted, too.
She wanted him.
* * *
Austin loved the cabin. His parents had bought the place as a family getaway and it was his home away from home. He came up here sometimes to get a break from the stress of life. Bailey was too young to join him in the woods or to commune with nature but when his parents took her for the weekend, he’d come here and just… breathe.
He’d never brought a woman to the cabin before. Not before Bailey… and definitely not after. Mia was the first. She was a first in a lot of ways.
The first woman he felt protective over. The first he wanted to spend extended time with. And the first he couldn’t get out of his head. He’d tried to convince himself that it was for her safety only that he brought her away from their normal routine. But that didn’t explain why last night, when they’d said good night and gone to their own rooms, he’d been hard as nails and had to jerk himself off to thoughts of her before he could get to sleep.
And even then, he’d dreamed of someone coming after her. He planned to make sure he was between Mia and any shot her ex-employer took at her. It’d just better not be a literal one.
Mia took the spare bedroom in the cabin and he let her. She didn’t need to know she’d be sleeping in his bed until she passed out there from sexual exertion.
After a delicious steak dinner, he helped clean up and she shooed him out of the kitchen, claiming she had a surprise.
He threw another log on the fire. It was cooler upstate and the temperatures were low for late October. Being here wasn’t the same without the warmth and flickering flames. And this particular day, a fire was romantic.
Another first. Giving a shit about impressing a woman. Especially one he kept telling himself was just a fling until he got her out of his system.
“Ready?” Mia called as she walked out of the kitchen, a tray in her hands.
He rubbed his hands on his jeans and stood. “What’s the surprise?” he asked.
“S’mores. When you told me this place had a fireplace, I couldn’t resist.” She put the tray down on the large ottoman across from the sofa. “Marshmallows, Hershey chocolate bars, and graham crackers. And…”
She picked up a roasting stick in her hand. “Skewers so we can toast the marshmallows.” She looked pleased with herself. And with a white sweater falling over and baring one shoulder, she made an extremely irresistible picture.
“Well, then, let’s do it.”
She clapped her hands together and they each took a marshmallow and put it on a skewer.
“Did you get the chance to do this when you were a kid?” Or had she learned as an adult?
He used to go camping with his dad and he hoped she had some good experiences that indicated normalcy in her childhood.
“I did.”
He used the poker to pull open the covering to the flame.
“I had a nice family that taught us to roast marshmallows in a fireplace. Honestly, foster care wasn’t all bad.”
“I’m glad.”
They sat side by side, turning their sticks and roasting their marshmallows.
“So how do you like yours?” she asked. “I prefer them just a little toasty.” She pulled hers out earlier than he did and made the s’mores sandwich.
“I like them well done.”
“Eew.” She bit into her treat and moaned, the sound going straight to his cock. “I love the gooey center.” The marshmallow was messy, getting on her cheeks and her lips. Laughing, she licked at her fingers.
He wanted in on that taste. He glanced at his marshmallow, took it out of the flame, and laid it on a plate on the tray she’d brought in.
“C’mere,” he said in a gruff voice.
Her laughter died down and she inched her way over to him on her knees. He grabbed her wrist and held it up, straightening her fingers, then sliding the one with the marshmallow goo into his mouth.
He licked, sucked, then grazed her finger, pulling the sticky substance off her skin and into his mouth. “Mmm. I think I want more.”
“Go ahead,” she said in a husky voice.
He cupped the back of her neck in his hand and pulled her close, gliding his lips over her sticky ones, nibbling on the flesh with his teeth. She gripped his shoulders, her nails digging through his sweater. He devoured her, tasting the combined sweetness of the marshmallow and Mia combined.
Between the heated need swamping her and the warmth from the fireplace, he was beginning to sweat. He broke the kiss. Reaching down, he pulled his sweater off and tossed it aside.
Taking a cue from him, she did the same, leaving her in a sexy bra he had a hunch she’d chosen because they were coming here to be alone. And he appreciated the effort.
He cupped both breasts in his hands and groaned at the feel of their delicious weight in his hands. He brushed her nipples with his thumbs, toying with the distended peaks until she moaned, arching into his touch.
She slid her fingers to the waistband of his jeans, undoing the button and gliding the zipper down and over the swell of his cock. Any thoughts he had of remaining in control fled at her touch and he let her have her way. Lord knew he’d dreamed of this moment many fucking times over the last few months.
He helped her remove his jeans and kicked them aside, his boxer briefs along with them, leaving his aching cock straining and waiting for her to take charge. She didn’t hesitate, wrapping her smaller hand around his shaft.
“Stand up,” she said.
He had no problem doing as she instructed. Kneeling, she edged closer, pumped her hand down his cock once, twice, before wrapping her lips over him.
He groaned, sliding his fingers into her hair. He massaged her scalp, promising himself he’d hold on and not fuck her mouth the way he desperately wanted to. This was her show and he intended to let her run it, no matter how much his body demanded otherwise.
She licked over the head, dipping her tongue along the slit and then around the rim. He shuddered and gripped her hair tighter, tugging and silently asking her to move. She picked up a rhythm that had him rocking his hips in time to the laps of her tongue as she pulled him deeper into her mouth.
One hand on his thigh, she moved the other to cup his balls and he nearly came right then. Instead he managed to breathe through the desire to come and let her continue to give him the best damned blow job he’d ever had. Not because of technique but because she put her mind to the task and was wholly focused on him.
Attuned to his moans and thrust of his hips, she kept her licks and the glide, pull, and suck of her lips in time with his need. His body was hers to command and she did, pumping her hand up and down his shaft as his cock glided along her tongue to the back of her throat.
His balls drew up tight, his head swirled, lost to her ministrations and talented tongue. And then she swallowed around him, and it set off an intense climax the likes of which he’d never felt before. She continued to suck and milk him, swallowing all he gave her, not stopping until he’d finished.
She sat back, a satisfied smile on her lips, and he grinned, easing down beside her.
“Looking pretty pleased with yourself.”
She laughed. “I got the result I wanted.”
“Now it’s my turn to get the result I want.” He grasped her hips and pulled her toward him, undressing her as quickly as she’d done to him.
Her jeans landed on top of his and he took in her naked body, the sight of her bringing his cock back to life. She amazed him with her ability to arouse him again so quickly.
With her naked body his to play with, he picked her up and carried her in front of the fire, laying her down on the fuzzy rug there. He stretched out beside her, gazing into her eyes, which were hazy with desire and studying him intently.
“I don’t know what it is you do to me, but you twist me up inside,” he muttered, and before she could reply, he covered her body with his, kissing h
er hard and fast so she would lose herself in him.
Because he’d sure as fuck lost himself in her.
* * *
Mia’s head was spinning and her body was on fire. Taking Austin in her mouth and making him lose control had been a heady feeling, one that caused her entire being to unravel along with him. Her arousal was at its peak, her sex empty and needy. And when he slid himself on top of her, grinding his ever-hardening erection into her, she nearly came right then.
She gripped his bare ass and arched her hips upward, seeking harder contact, more friction, a faster movement of her sex against his cock. He didn’t disappoint her, either. He ground himself into her, pumping his hips until the sensations swamping her became too much.
“Austin!” She cried out his name as she shattered, an orgasm that was spectacular and yet left her pulsing and empty.
He pulled on her hair and she met his gaze. “I’m going to get a condom.”
She nodded and barely had time to catch her breath before he was back.
He stood over her, powerful and hard, as he rolled the condom over himself before kneeling down before her.
“Now I’m going to make you feel good,” he promised, notching himself between her thighs, pushing his cock through her swollen folds, gently at first, then thrusting hard and deep.
She sucked in a shallow breath. The feel of him stretching her was incredible. He’d braced his hands on either side of her head and his gaze was hot on hers as he began to move, sliding himself in and out of her in long, languid strokes.
She wrapped her legs around his lower back, crossing her ankles behind him. The movement joined them even more tightly together and he groaned, his big body shaking with need as he gathered rhythm and began a steady, punishing thrusting that had her seeing stars. The best kind of stars, the ones that glowed and sent her body soaring higher.
She rocked her hips against him as he continued to drive into her, shifting his hips and hitting the right spot inside her. She dug her nails into his back and moaned, a keening, wailing sound she didn’t recognize but knew came from her.
“Oh, God.”
“No, Austin. Say it,” he said, pulling out and pausing.
“Austin!” His name on her lips triggered something primal inside him and he plunged into her over and over again, triggering her orgasm almost immediately. “Oh, God, I feel you.”
He groaned and took her harder, her inner walls contracting around him, causing the most exquisite sensations to sweep over her.
His rhythmic thrusts continued until he expelled a harsh breath and came hard, his hips grinding into her over and over until he collapsed, his big body covering hers.
He pulled himself together quickly, rolling to the side because he obviously knew he was crushing her. “Be right back.”
He disappeared and returned quickly, kneeling down and scooping her into his arms.
“Where are we going?” she asked, wrapping her arms around his neck.
“To bed so I can rest up and do this all over again.” He headed not for the small bedroom she’d chosen for her own but the big master one on the other side of the single-story cabin.
They fell into bed, a tangle of limbs, and passed out, until she woke to the most delicious feeling of his mouth on her sex, licking her awake and into an almost immediate unexpected orgasm. And after she’d come down from that one, he was inside her again, turning her upside down with his skill and attention and essentially ruining her for all other men.
Chapter Eight
Mia woke up first. She rolled over and realized she was sore from the night’s activities. She also remembered her last thought before falling asleep for the night… and knew she wasn’t wrong. There was something special between her and Austin, something she doubted she’d find again with any other man. He was in tune with her body, her emotions, and attentive to what she needed and when. She was falling for the man and it wasn’t hard to do. Not when she was living in his house, taking care of his daughter, and caring about everything he was going through with his ex.
But that was the crux of the problem. His ex-wife had ruined him for future relationships. He’d made that clear to Mia before sleeping with her, so she had no one to blame but herself if he was coming to mean more to her than an easy fling.
She pushed herself out of bed, leaving the sexy man sleeping on his back. The sheet had dipped to his waist, revealing the corded muscles, hot tattoo, and sexy sprinkling of hair trailing down to his waist. He’d flung one arm over his eyes as if covering them from the incoming sun from the window. He breathed in and out in a deep sleep.
She smiled at the sight, turned and headed for the room where she’d put her things, and took a hot shower in the spare bathroom. She changed into a faded pair of jeans and a red and black flannel shirt, tying her damp hair up in a messy bun. Then she walked into the kitchen to make breakfast for them both, determined to put her emotions on lockdown as she’d often done as a child.
Yes, her childhood had been fine, but she’d learned to wrap up her feelings and store them in mental boxes with tight lids that wouldn’t, couldn’t open up and spill out all the painful things that could hurt her.
Like Christmas, when all the kids at school listed their many gifts and she knew she’d been fortunate to get the one item she received from her foster family. She’d heard stories from the social workers who spoke in hushed voices about the kids who weren’t as fortunate, who didn’t celebrate Christmas or receive anything for the holiday.
So she’d told herself she didn’t care about the number of items, that it was the thought and the one she’d gotten that mattered. Then she’d boxed up the pain she’d felt listening to the others, the hurt that came when she thought about how her parents weren’t alive to celebrate with, and pushed it all aside.
And now, as she cracked eggs for their omelets, she boxed up her growing feelings for Austin because he could never, would never reciprocate them, and told herself to be grateful for now. For this weekend in the cabin and her time alone with him. Soon enough they’d have to deal with the problems that awaited them back home.
“Good morning!” Austin strode into the kitchen, freshly showered, his hair damp, wearing a pair of jeans that looked sexy on his muscular frame and a dark grape-colored Henley.
He looked good enough to eat.
“Morning!” she said as she scooped the second omelet she’d made with vegetables, cheese, and eggs onto a plate and placed both dishes on the table.
“Wow. You didn’t have to do this.” He glanced at the meal. “But I’m glad you did.”
She handed him a cup of black coffee the way he liked it and settled into the chair beside him. “My pleasure. So what’s on the agenda for today?”
“I thought we’d take a walk. It’s beautiful this time of year. And then I figured we’d come back here and fuck like bunnies until the real world intrudes.” She caught the sinful look in his eyes as he raised his cup and took a long sip before he turned more serious. “I’m supposed to get a call from the PI I hired. He’s due to update me on my ex—and I asked him to pull someone in and get them looking into your former boss. We need to prove he’s sending someone after you. Otherwise this shit will keep going on and I won’t have it.”
Her body went from tingling at the mention of fucking like bunnies… to ice-cold at the reminder of the trouble waiting for her in the real world.
“Most of that sounds like a really good day.” She forced a smile.
He covered her hand with his. “Sorry for the blunt reminder. But we’re going to get ahead of both things. I have faith.”
And she believed in him. “I know.” They finished their meal in silence.
A little while later, they pulled on their outerwear and headed for a walk. The air was crisp and it smelled like fall, dry leaves and grass. Her mood lightened at the feel of the cool air on her cheeks and the fresh scents all around her.
To her surprise, Austin reached out and grabbed her h
and, holding on as they hiked through the woods. “So… let’s just get to know each other,” she suggested into the silence. They’d begun on the car ride up but there was more she wanted to know. Little things to learn about him and store away in those mental boxes of hers.
“Okay. Favorite color?” he asked.
“Yellow. Yours?”
“Blue.”
She shook her head and laughed. “You’re such a typical man. Favorite music?”
“Classic rock,” he said.
She eyed him with amusement.
“What?” he asked.
“You’re just predictable to me.”
They stepped over rocks and crunchy leaves. “Your favorite music?”
She bit down on her lower lip thought she didn’t need to think long. “Pop music. Like Taylor Swift and Summer Michelle,” she said of the up-and-coming pop star who’d won the television show Star Power.
He tugged on her hand and she met his gaze. “Ben, who works for Alpha Security, is engaged to Summer. My bet is you’ll be meeting her when her tour comes to New York.”
“Oh my God! That’s amazing!”
He grinned at her enthusiasm.
“Okay, let’s keep going. Favorite drink?” she asked.
“Alcoholic or not?”
She shrugged. “Both.”
“Beer… and water. I’m not fussy. You?”
“White Russian and a chai latte.”
He laughed. “Okay… favorite holiday?” he asked, picking the next question.
She swallowed hard. “You go first,” she said. No matter her sunny outlook on life, holidays had always been hard for her. They always would be.
Tempt Me Page 10
