“Those are all pleasures we city folk can only dream and read about. Although my mom did once buy a designer bird feeder to hang in the jacaranda shading the pool house. She even had the gardener fill it with bird seed. But then one day she was walking out of the pool house and a pigeon flew off the roof and dove at the bird feeder. She screamed and threw her hat at it. Apparently, only exotic, rare birds were allowed to eat at our bird feeder. She had it taken down.”
Dalton shook his head. “How the heck did you turn out so normal?”
I laughed. “It wasn’t easy. Sometimes it feels as if I’m just sitting on the sidelines watching my family like a spectator. I swear they seem more and more ridiculous with each passing year.”
Dalton stepped toward me. He reached up and pushed a strand of my hair back behind my ear and even though his fingertip barely grazed my skin, it felt as if he’d caressed me. Even after the moment of intimacy we’d had in the dark kitchen, he still seemed to be holding himself back from something as if the sting of my first rejection had stuck with him. “Well, they can’t be all that ridiculous because they definitely did one thing right.” He lowered his hand. “I’m going to go in to take a shower. I smell like wet pine needles and gasoline.”
I laughed. “Is that what it is? I thought you were trying out a new aftershave. I’ll just sit here warming my feet by the fire and then I’ll help you carry the decorations up from the basement.”
I stretched out my legs again. I picked up the book and read the same line several times as the shower started. My mind returned to the sight of Dalton standing in the light of the refrigerator, the feel of my mouth pressed against his bare shoulder, the touch of his hands on my face as he leaned down to kiss me.
It was a fleeting decision, something that was rare for me. But I wanted Dalton North so badly, I ached just thinking about him. I pushed to my feet and walked down the hallway. His bedroom door was ajar and I pushed it open. His snow soaked jeans and shirt were strewn on the floor next to his wet and worn army boots.
I’d never done anything like it before, and it felt almost surreal as I stood in the center of his bedroom listening to the roar of the shower. I’d put up my guard early on, fearful that I would fall for him and leave here brokenhearted. Now I was throwing myself headlong into it. But, suddenly, the risks seemed worth taking. My only real worry was his reaction.
I lifted my sweater off over my head and unhooked my bra. The air in the bedroom was cool and I shivered as I slid off my jeans and panties. I stood completely naked in the center of his bedroom, trembling with nerves.
I pushed open the bathroom door. Condensation clouded the mirror and warm soapy steam filled the air. The wavy glass doors allowed me to see only the outline of his incredible physique. I slid open the shower door. He pulled his head out from the stream of water and opened his eyes. Before he could react, I stepped inside the shower stall.
His chest rose and fell as he looked at me. The bathroom light glinted off his silver dog tags. Water dripped off the ends of his long black hair, and his gaze dropped to take in my body. I felt a split second of terror that he would ask me to leave and then he reached for my arm and pulled me against his hard, naked body. His hand slid behind my neck and warm water cascaded over us as his mouth devoured mine with an urgency that made me dizzy with need. His large, calloused hands caressed my back as his tongue traced my lips and tongue and then his hands slid down to my naked bottom and he pulled me tighter against him. His hungry mouth wandered away from my lips. My head fell back as his tongue ran along my throat. He reached up and pushed my breast against his mouth. I wrapped my fingers in his hair as his tongue traced circles around my nipple. I pushed hard against the pressure of his open mouth, wanting him to take in more of me.
As his hands explored my naked skin, I reached down and took hold of him. He felt hard and thick in my hand. A low groan rolled up from his throat. He lifted his face and his gaze was more heated than the steamy air. The pulsating flow of water seemed to keep rhythm with my heartbeat.
“Let’s go out to the fire.” He lowered his mouth and, even in the warmth of the shower, I shivered as his tongue traced circles around my ear. “I want to taste you . . . and touch you . . . until you scream out in ecstasy.”
His words made me weak and defenseless in his hands. We stepped out of the shower. Rivulets of water trickled over the muscular curves of his chest and abdomen. He wrapped a towel around my shoulders and then yanked me against his wet body. The warm, comforting steam condensed to cold moisture as he kissed me long and hard.
We pulled apart just long enough to dry off. Dalton limped to his bed and for the first time I let my gaze drop down to his bad leg. Deep scars ran like railroad tracks down the back of his leg and there were large dents where the muscle had been torn away. A cold tremble rushed through me as I envisioned the agony he must have endured. He caught me looking at it.
“Pretty ugly to look at,” he said quietly.
I looked at him across the room. Black stubble framed a perfectly chiseled chin and his green eyes looked as if someone had painted them in the extraordinary color, a color that seemed to change with every emotion and turn of light. He was the most beautiful man I’d ever seen. “Dalton North, there is absolutely nothing ugly about you.”
The usual cocky, confident grin vanished and he stared at me across the room. “Sugarplum, where the hell have you been these past two years?”
“I’m here now. So, soldier, what are you waiting for?”
He leaned down to his dresser and triumphantly fished out a small foil package. “If I learned one thing in my short stint in the boy scouts, it was to always be prepared.”
“I’ll bet you were adorable in your little uniform.”
“Well, yeah, naturally.”
I followed him down the hallway as he dragged the quilt out to the living room. He spread it out on the floor in front of the fire. In the intimacy of his shower, I’d found confidence that I never knew I had, but standing in the middle of Professor North’s living room, I felt strangely self-conscious. I crossed my arms over my naked breasts but still felt completely exposed and with good reason.
Dalton straightened the blanket and then looked over at me. He laughed. “You don’t need to hide yourself. This house is completely secluded and private. The only thing that might peek in that big window is a bird or a raccoon. And, unless Dad and Ethan turned around without reaching the city, we still have a good hour alone.”
My eyes widened. “Is that a possibility?” I hadn’t given thought to them returning early.
“Can’t think of a reason why they would turn back.” He walked to me with less limp than I’d ever seen. He took hold of my wrists, uncrossed my arms, and held them out to my sides. “You are amazing, Auggie.” His gaze drifted slowly over my body and heat swirled through me. He’d merely looked at me and I ached for him.
He released my hands and I stepped toward him. My fingers moved softly over his smooth chest muscles and then I kissed him as I had done the night before. My lips moved over the naked skin of his chest and the hard ridges of his stomach muscles.
He took hold of my wrist and led me to the blanket. “Lay down,” he commanded. The soft quilt had been warmed by the fire, and it felt luxurious against my naked skin. Dalton stared down at me. His hungry gaze was too much. I needed him.
“Dalton,” I pleaded, “touch me, please.”
With some effort he lowered himself to the ground. His face twisted slightly as he found the best position for his leg. I sat up and looked at him. “I don’t want this to be hard for you.” I sat on my knees and leaned forward and kissed him lightly on the mouth. “Tell me what to do.” I kissed his neck. “I want you to forget the pain, all of it,” I whispered. I pushed his long hair behind his ear. “I want you to feel only me, touching you, kissing you.” I took his bottom lip
between my two lips and tugged on it. “I’ll do anything . . . just ask.”
He reached back and pulled some pillows down and leaned back against the couch. I moved to straddle his lap but he shook his head. “First, put another log on the fire,” his voice was low and heavy.
I bit my lip and smiled flirtatiously at him. I crawled on my hands and knees, completely naked and exposed to his gaze. I knew he was watching me and the thought of him staring at me so intimately made me want him that much more. As I reached the fire grate, I got up on my knees and leaned far over the stone hearth to drop the piece of wood inside. “Shit, woman, do you know what you’re doing to me?”
I stayed on my knees, complete exposed and feeling deliciously wicked. My skin glowed red from the heat of the fire as I moved slowly away from the hearth.
A low groan rolled up from his throat. “You don’t even know how fucking bad I want you right now.”
I crawled back to him and leaned down over him. He groaned with pleasure as I dragged my tongue along the hard hot length of him. He took hold of my arms and pulled me up. He reached back for the condom and I straddled his lap. I bent forward and kissed his mouth as his fingers drifted down around my bottom to the moist heat between my thighs. A small cry erupted from my throat as his fingers slid inside of me. I moved up and down with the movement of his hand.
I laced my fingers through his hair and pulled his head back. I kissed him, smothering my faint moans of pleasure against his mouth. He skillfully moved his fingers inside of me, bringing me to the edge where I would die of need if I didn’t have him soon. I lifted slightly up on my knees and stared down at him. Long black lashes shadowed his eyes.
I kissed him again. “Please,” I begged. “I want you, Dalton. Please.”
A gasp escaped my lips as he dragged his long fingers out from between my legs. He gripped my hips hard as he brought me down over the thick, hot length of him. I collapsed my knees to drive him deeper inside of me. My fingers dug into his hard shoulders as I rocked back and forth over him, each movement taking him farther inside of me.
I lowered my face against him.
“No, Auggie, I want to see your face.”
I lifted my head from his shoulder and I closed my eyes as my head spun from the intense feeling of him. His fingers bit into the skin on my hips as I moved back and forth over him with increased urgency. His thrusts quickened and my fingers dug deeper into his shoulders. I screamed out as I went over the edge and into an explosion of sensations that sent body wracking tremors through me and the whole time he drove himself even deeper. His grip on me tightened and he groaned as his body went rigid beneath me and then he slowed. I collapsed into his embrace, and we stayed silent in each other’s arms with only the crackling fire for music. The heat radiated across my naked back as I stayed tucked in his large, protective arms.
“I’ve never screamed out before.” A confession that was easier with my face pressed against his shoulder.
“You were forewarned. I told you my plans.”
I smiled and wrapped my finger around the chain of his dog tags. “True.” I lifted my head. “You seemed to enjoy yourself as well.”
He tightened his arms around me. “Shit, Auggie, I’ve been wanting you since I saw you fidgeting in your snow boots and trying your damndest to fade into Karl’s sundry counter. Even before that. What’s that movie line— you had me at ‘please don’t be dead, please don’t be dead’.”.
“Jeez, don’t bring up that embarrassing morning. I wanted to melt into a puddle on the floor when I saw you walk in to the emporium.”
“All I could think was— she might be a crappy driver, but I’ll bet she is one helluva kisser.” He kissed me. “Turns out I was right.”
“I am not a crappy driver. And, even though I could easily sit here all night, naked in your arms, the embarrassing incident on the road would be nothing compared to having your dad and brother walk in on us in this state of undress.”
His arms tightened. “First, you’ll have to free yourself from my grasp.”
“Fine, but if we get caught the humiliation will send me from this house forever.”
He dropped his arms but made no move to leave our cozy spot in front of the fire. The hunger from moments before returned to his green eyes. “How the hell am I going to brush past you in the kitchen, or slide by you in the hallway, or sit across from you at the table without touching you? Maybe we could send my dad and brother off on a cruise for the rest of the break.”
“We could send him to the south of France. I’ll just tell my mom we needed to get rid of them so we could have wild, unbridled sex in front of the fireplace.”
“Sounds like a plan.”
I smiled down at him. “Being a normal warm-blooded girl, I can tell you that I could spend the rest of the day, hell, the rest of winter break, watching you strut around stark naked, but I think you should probably get dressed too.”
He sighed. “I guess.” He rubbed his stomach. “I just realized I’m starved too.” He pushed off the floor without the usual amount of breath holding. “My leg feels better after warming it by the fire.”
“Oh, I was hoping you were going to say that I made it feel better.”
He reached for my hand and pulled me into his arms. “No, you made every other part of me feel better.” He kissed me again. “Including some very special parts.”
“O.K. now you are sounding like a salesman. You’ve already made the sale, remember? But now that you’ve brought it up, maybe you should use a heating pad more on your leg. It seems like the cold, harsh weather outside would aggravate the pain even more.”
“Maybe. I’ll see if Dad has one. He has problems with his knee sometimes, one of those harrowing golf injuries.”
I lifted up on my toes and kissed his chin. “I’m getting dressed before this whole dreamy afternoon goes badly south.” I swept up his blanket and hurried down the hall to his room. I slid on my jeans and pulled on my sweater. Compared to the air surrounding the fire, the air in the rest of the house was quite chilly. I raced in my bare feet across the freezing wood floor to the comfort of my slippers, made even cozier by the fire.
A very breathtaking, very naked, Dalton leaned against the kitchen counter nibbling on a cold chunk of macaroni and cheese impaled on the prongs of a fork. “It’s like a noodle and cheese popsicle.”
“Don’t you think you should get dressed? Please.”
He sighed and put his popsicle on the counter. “I guess I’ll get dressed and then we can decorate that tree.” He used the counter and the wall for support as he headed to the hallway. He stopped and looked back at me. “I just had a great idea. Naked tree trimming party.”
I lifted my brow and pointed toward the hallway.
Ethan and Professor North had still not returned by the time we’d dragged up the boxes of decorations and placed the tree in a stand.
I tossed a strand of lights over the top branches. “I hope they didn’t have trouble with the car in this snowfall.”
“Nah, my dad is up to something. I know he had a good explanation for the guys in the black car but something is going on. Just not sure what. His whole mood seems off.”
I looked around the tree at Dalton. “So, it’s not just my imagination? I thought maybe he was just a completely different guy at home than in the classroom.”
“No, he’s definitely not acting like himself, and Ethan is acting weird too.”
I dragged the strand of lights around the tree. “What do you think it could be?”
“No clue, but I think my arrival has thrown a wrench into whatever it was.”
“Strange.” I lifted a fragile white snowflake ornament from the box and held it up. Tiny facets of colored glass sparkled in the light of the room. “It looks like your mom put a lot of thought and care into
picking each ornament. This one is amazing.” I hung it on a branch.
“My mom loved the winter holidays. She’d start decorating long before Christmas. The house would be covered in ribbons and pine wreaths.”
I leaned over the box and lifted out a round circle of clay that had a tiny stick reindeer etched into it. The name Dalton was scratched in crooked letters beneath the reindeer. “Oh my gosh, this is so cute.” I held it up for him. “We never had stuff like this on our tree. My mom had some interior decorator friend create a theme for the tree each year. We never saved ornaments from one year to the next. Our tree always looked like it should belong in the entry way of the White House.”
“I made that in boy scouts.”
I laughed. “While I am very thankful for the boy scouts teaching you the all important skill of being prepared, I have to say that I just can’t see you sitting in a little uniform making picture frames out of macaroni noodles.”
“I joined for one thing and one thing only. I wanted to race in the soapbox derby. Our troop held a race once a year, and I really wanted to fly down the street in a homemade car. It was hard because I had to suffer through the meetings. I think the scouts would have much more long term membership if they allowed girls into the troops. Just saying.”
“Actually, you’re probably not too far off base there. So did you win the race?”
“Dad helped me build an awesome car. We painted it dark blue with gold stripes. And it was fast, too fast. I was in the lead when a back wheel flew off and I fishtailed into a telephone pole. My mom came racing down the street in her heels, holding her purse and screaming, ‘my baby, my baby’.” He laughed to himself and grew quiet as he seemed to get momentarily lost in the memory. “The whole thing was pretty damn embarrassing.”
“Were you hurt?”
“Only my pride.”
“Your poor mom. She must have been so scared.”