CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FOUR
‘P LEASE TELL ME you’re not a virgin, Melody.’
‘No, of course not! I love sex, I have it all the time.’
‘Are you sure? You’re so tight. Am I hurting you?’
‘No… Just… Maybe a little.’
‘Shh… Here, let me touch you. Let me make it good.’
The heat eddied through Mel’s body, the strong sure touch easing the pain and bringing with it a devastating pleasure—enveloping her, surrounding her. It surged from her core to ripple over her skin and swell around her heart. Strong, vital, vivid…
‘Melody! Wake up. We need to leave the vehicle…’
Strong fingers, his fingers, moved from her yearning sex to her shoulders, and dug into her biceps…
‘Don’t stop, it feels so good…’ she murmured.
Why wasn’t he touching her where she needed him the most? Why was he shaking her? When she was so close to something incredible? When it had been so long? Too long.
‘Dammit, Mel, you need to wake up. We need to move.’
Her eyes fluttered open to find Rene staring at her, his expression fierce, his gaze wary, and concerned. Just as it had been that night.
‘Melody, you’re dreaming…’ His gaze flashed with something hot and intense. But then his jaw flexed and his fingers dug into the muscles of her upper arms.
Cold lanced through her body. The roar of the storm, and the vicious shivers beginning to make her teeth chatter, yanked her out of the dream.
‘It’s f-freezing…’ she said, trying to dispel the last of the erotic fantasy featuring the man staring at her. What was she doing in a car in a snowstorm with Rene? Was this real, or just another of those recurring dreams which always turned to nightmares?
Not a dream. A far too intense memory.
If the brutal ache in her sex was anything to go by.
‘The car has run out of petrol,’ he said. ‘The tank must have been ruptured when the undercarriage hit something about ten minutes ago.’
‘What?’ she asked, still groggy with sleep and yearning.
‘Listen to me, Melody,’ he demanded. ‘The temperature’s dropping fast. And we need to leave the vehicle before we freeze.’
He let her go to lean across the seat well and grab her bag. He unzipped it and began pulling out her clothes.
‘W-w-what are you doing?’ she asked, her teeth chattering harder, her breath fogging the air with his. ‘What time is it? Where are we?’ she managed, still trying to get her bearings.
The dark landscape outside looked eerily beautiful, lit by the car’s headlights. Thick gusts of snow obscured the fir trees wrapped in white, which bent and swayed in the rattling wind.
‘It’s about three in the morning,’ he said, his voice clear and strong and surprisingly calm. ‘The road was blocked. I couldn’t get a phone signal. But the GPS said there was a house, or at least a building, in this direction, so I headed towards it—which was when the undercarriage hit something—and we must have started leaking fuel. We need to find shelter because I haven’t been able to call for help, so no one will know we’re missing until the morning. And we’re a distance from the road now.’
He shoved a couple of sweaters at her, then her coat and hat and gloves. ‘Put these on.’
Definitely not a dream—he kidnapped me.
But even as the reality of where she was, and why, seeped into her brain, the grim expression on his face had the gravity of the situation dawning on her, too.
This was no time to argue with him. Or to be mortified about the fact he’d woken her in the middle of an erotic dream in which he was the star player. That could wait until they’d found somewhere warm and safe. She swallowed the lump of panic, but couldn’t get her fingers to co-operate as she tried to pull on the jumper.
‘Here, let me.’ He brushed her numb fingers aside and dragged the jumper over her head, then fed her arms into the sleeves.
She wanted to take over, but as he continued to dress her like a child, adding extra layers then shoving her arms into her coat, putting on her hat and gloves, her hands were shaking too hard to resist—from fear or cold, she couldn’t be sure.
Once he’d zipped up her jacket and tugged up the hood, he pulled her closer.
‘I’m going to lead the way, okay?’ he said, tugging his belt out of the loops in his jeans. ‘It shouldn’t be too far now.’ Lifting her arm, he wrapped the belt around her wrist, then threaded the end through one of his belt hooks and fastened it. ‘When we get out of the car, hold onto the belt with both hands,’ he said above the whistling wind, and her chattering teeth. ‘I’ll be right in front of you. Don’t let go, whatever happens.’
He grabbed a torch from the glove compartment and switched it on.
‘Right. Let’s go,’ he said, his stark expression set with determination.
But when he swung around to open the door into the eerie, swirling darkness she grabbed his forearm.
‘Wait!’ she cried, her panic having downgraded enough to give way to a depth of emotion which almost scared her more.
He turned back, one quizzical eyebrow raised.
‘What about you?’ she said.
He was only wearing jeans and a thin sweater under the shearling jacket, his gloves looked like driving gloves and the beanie he’d put on couldn’t be that warm either, while she had on four layers of winter clothing. ‘You should take some of my sweaters,’ she added, scared for him as much as herself.
What if they got lost in the whiteout? What if the house was further than he thought? What if it wasn’t a house at all? How could he stay warm?
‘I’ll be okay,’ he said with the same flippancy which had always annoyed her.
Why did he always do that? Pretend to be invulnerable, and immune to elements which could cripple lesser mortals. And make her feel as if her concern was insignificant and unnecessary.
‘But I don’t want you to die,’ she pleaded, keeping a death grip on his sleeve.
He let out a low chuckle that would have annoyed her more if she wasn’t so terrified.
‘That’s good, because neither do I,’ he murmured, then he grasped her head and yanked her towards him to take her lips in a furious kiss.
She opened for him instantly, heat exploding with the giddy rush of yearning. His tongue delved—conquering, demanding, strong and unyielding.
She clung to him, never wanting the kiss to end. If they could just stay here and make love again, everything would be all right. Wouldn’t it? Her fears dissolved until all that was left was the heat and the longing.
But he tore his mouth free with a tortured groan then pressed his forehead to hers, their breaths mingling in the chilly air.
‘We’re not going to die tonight, Melody,’ he said, his strong hands massaging her stiff shoulders. ‘Because we’ve still got a ton of arguments in our future.’
The foolish, flippant words were still echoing in her soul and wrapping around her heart as he launched himself into the frozen storm and dragged her out behind him.