Chapter Sixteen
Sixteen
Sloan slowly opened his eyes as his gaze skimmed over the woman who slept snuggled beside him in the sleeping bag.
She lay pressed close to him in the spoon position with one of his legs thrown over her thigh.
She smelled good and was very much naked.
But then, so was he. How did this happen when Leslie had made it pretty damn clear they would have separate sleeping bags?
More importantly, how could he have slept naked with her all through the night and not. ..
Suddenly, memories of the day before flooded his mind. Leslie had awakened him periodically due to a possible concussion. He even recalled her shoving more aspirin and water down his throat each time she did so. And then he’d dozed back off.
Clearly his mind had been fuzzy for him not to fully realize Leslie was sleeping with him naked.
He knew the sharing of body heat was the best way to ward off hypothermia, but he honestly would not have thought she would have gone that far.
But she had. The proof was that she was sleeping in his arms without a stitch of clothing on.
Forcing that thought from his mind, he glanced across the room to look out the window. From the sound of it, the wind was still howling, and it seemed snow was still coming down hard. The timer had kicked on, and the generator was back on for the next twelve hours.
“You’re awake.”
He looked down at Leslie, and all kinds of sensations floated around in his chest. He’d forgotten how sexy a just-waking-up Leslie looked. “Yes, I’m awake.”
She shifted to face him. “How do you feel? Does your head hurt?”
Before he could answer, she reached up to place the back of her hand against his forehead.
He recalled that was something else she’d done a number of times during the night, to check his temperature.
As far as how he felt, it wasn’t this head that was pounding, but the one between his legs pressing against her.
There was no way she couldn’t feel his leg or his erection.
..with the both of them being naked and all.
“No, I’m fine. Actually, I’m feeling a lot better,” he said, trying to sound convincing.
“It’s time for more aspirin,” she said, reaching to grab the pill bottle off the coffee table, along with a bottle of water. Her movement shifted their bodies, but he still managed to keep his leg over hers. And it seemed his erection was determined not to go anywhere, either.
Shifting his body somewhat, he took the aspirin and water, downing both while holding her gaze. He handed the glass back to her. “I guess I’ll live,” he said, grinning.
“You better. Now I’ll go fix that hot chocolate you didn’t get to enjoy yesterday. I trashed the sandwiches but will be glad to make you an omelet.”
Forget about whatever meal he’d missed yesterday. His thoughts were on what he could enjoy this morning. Right at this moment. “Can you wait on the hot chocolate and omelet a minute? There’s something I need to ask you.”
A wary look appeared in her eyes. Did she honestly think he would ask her for sex?
If she recalled, whenever they made love, it had been because the sexual chemistry between them had been overwhelming.
He was attracted to her now, and the sexual chemistry was strong. However, he wasn’t sure it was mutual.
“What do you want to ask me, Sloan?”
He drew in a deep breath. “I need to know what made you come looking for me last night.”
She broke eye contact with him and glanced out the window, not saying anything for a moment. “You were gone longer than you said you would be. I got worried. It was either go see what was taking you so long or pace the floor worrying even more. I chose the former.”
“But the weather had turned into a blizzard, Les.” He then realized he’d called her what he’d normally called her while they’d been together. She had been Les and not Leslie.
“I know that. I also knew you were out there in it. I tried to convince myself that you could take care of yourself, but I also knew with the amount of wind blowing and snow coming down that anything could have happened.”
She paused again before saying, “Chances are, you would have made it back to the cabin, but I couldn’t risk the chance you would not have.”
He tried not to concentrate on the sadness he heard in her voice and saw in her eyes.
Instead, he concentrated on her mouth and in doing so was reminded of just how it tasted.
“Not sure if I would have made it back. My head was hurting, and it was getting harder and harder to make my body move because I was so cold. Hell, I wasn’t even sure I was going in the right direction.
I regret you put your own life at risk, but I’m damn glad you were there when I needed you. ”
“Just like you were there for me and my company when I needed you, Sloan,” she said softly.
Her words made him realize that they’d been there for each other when it had mattered the most. He didn’t want to think what would have been the outcome if he’d been at the cabin alone as originally planned and the snowstorm hit.
Nor did he want to think what would have happened to her and her company if Redford hadn’t told him what was going on.
The potential outcome of either made him shiver.
“You’re still cold. I’d better go and get that hot chocolate going,” she said, shifting to get up and reaching for her clothes.
“Don’t go yet,” he said, not ready for any distance to be put between them or their bodies.
She glanced over at him. Their gazes held and then, as if she’d just noticed his erection pressing against her thigh, she said, “You do know the only reason why we’re naked in this sleeping bag together, right?”
He nodded. “Yes. Because I needed your body’s heat last night.” He inched his mouth closer to hers and then said, “Only problem is, I still need your body’s heat, Les. But now I need it for a totally different reason.”
And then he leaned in and kissed her.
Leslie knew she should break off the kiss, pull herself out of Sloan’s arms and put on clothes and head for the kitchen.
But on the other hand, she didn’t want to do any of those things.
All she could think about was that she could have lost him.
She forced the thought from her mind that she really didn’t have him, because that didn’t matter.
No matter how he felt about her, she knew how she felt about him, and that was what mattered to her.
So instead of pulling away, she settled into the arms holding her while he was giving her one hell of a hot, deep and thorough kiss. It was a kiss that had her sliding her arms around his neck and kissing him back like her life depended on it.
Every muscle in her body seemed to come alive beneath the onslaught of his mouth.
It was different than the kiss they’d shared in North Pole under the Northern Lights.
There was something more seductive about the way his mouth took hers, gliding his tongue over hers like he thought it belonged to him.
She then felt the tightness of his arms around her as the kiss blazed heat into her.
Somehow during the kiss, they had wiggled their way out of the sleeping bag and were naked on top of it.
When she felt his palm caress her nipples, she couldn’t hold back her whimper.
In the deep recesses of her mind, she thought about all the other times they’d made love, but then she pushed them away.
This was a different time. Same man. What she felt now was even more powerful.
Sloan was kissing her long, he was kissing her hard.
He had her heart pounding in desire so strong she felt herself drowning in it.
Last night, she’d accepted the realization she still loved Sloan.
And now in the brightness of a new day, she knew she had never wanted Sloan Outlaw more than she did at that very moment.
She wanted him and she needed him. It didn’t matter that there was no future for them, or that whenever the weather cleared, he would still be taking her home.
At that moment, she needed the ultimate in sexual pleasure that only Sloan could give her.
Panting heavily, she broke off the kiss, and their eyes locked while they both fought to get their breathing under control.
The eyes staring back at her were dark, hot and filled with more yearning than she’d ever seen in them.
This Sloan was ten years older, which meant over the years his desire, wants and needs had changed.
Could she handle this more experienced Sloan?
A more important question to ask was...would she be enough for him?
He took her wrist and brought it to his lips to place a kiss there. Still holding her gaze, and as if he’d read her thoughts, he said, “I want you, Leslie. I want you more than I’ve wanted any woman. That hasn’t changed.”
His words managed to calm her rattled nerves and appease her unsettled mind.
Yet heat flared through her. Was she imagining things, or were their heartbeats in sync?
She could tell him that she wanted him more than she had any other man, and that since him there had been no one else.
But then she figured that was something he didn’t need to know right now—or possibly ever.
“Are you sure, Sloan? You said you wanted me for Christmas, but we both know when you said it, it was for all the wrong reasons.”
“I still want you for Christmas, but now it’s for all the right reasons. What I should be asking you is whether you want me. Do you, Les?” he asked while trailing the tip of his finger down her jaw to her throat.
His touch generated a hunger deep within her, and the eyes staring back at her were expressing a desire that was making her heart rate increase.
Why was he calling her Les? Did he not know doing so brought back memories of a time when just the sound of him calling her that would send her body into a tailspin of longing?
“Les?”