Chapter Seven
Lukas’s heart had thrummed in his chest. His skin had felt red-hot everywhere that Katherine had touched him. It was as if she’d ignited him and he’d burned up like flash paper.
And he was coming to see that she had brought out this reaction in him in every heated exchange.
In every thought. Every touch. He’d needed to break the connection of their bodies and had done so, but he couldn’t move away, because it was a thrill to be so close to her.
Because she was cold and anxious. Because of all that she had told him.
So he stayed on the couch, under the blanket, with her. Sat with her in silence until they dozed off.
And when he finally opened his eyes to find the fire grown low, adding a log or two was not his first thought. Not when he looked beside him and found Katherine curled towards him in her sleep. With her head on his shoulder and her hands pressed under her cheek. Peaceful. Beautiful. Dangerous.
She was off-limits to him. He shouldn’t want to brush her cheek or kiss her lips but he had wanted to earlier. He still wanted to.
He needed space. Air.
Laying Katherine down on the cushions as gently as possible, he extricated himself from the blanket and tucked her in tightly.
Then he threw a couple logs on the fire and looked out the window.
The wind had died down. The snow was no longer falling.
The night sky lay beyond the filmiest of wispy clouds that were slowly blowing away.
He needed air and now he could get it.
He shoved his feet into his snow-boots and tugged on his jacket as he stepped out onto the porch.
Nothing but thick, untouched snow lit up in a hint of silver from the crescent moon as far as the eye could see.
The trees were like glittering pillars of white.
Only the very edges of their needles poked through the pillowy snow that stood out in stark contrast to the black, shimmering night sky.
Lukas took a deep breath.
And then another.
And another.
Being away from Katherine cleared his head a little. He hadn’t realised that it had happened but in the days they’d been together she had taken over his every thought. A pervasive presence. A woman he didn’t want to be around and yet he so clearly did.
‘How can you want to kiss her after all she’s done?’ he asked in the still night.
He would have loved to know the answer. Why did his body feel like it was breaking to get the smallest of touches? He hated her. Hated her.
It wasn’t always that way.
No, it wasn’t. The image of the first time he saw her lived in his head. The way she’d taken his breath away. There has always been something between them. Something electric. Something chemical. Something highly reactive to even the smallest stimulus. He couldn’t deny that.
Lukas looked back at the closed door of the cabin. Part of him wanted to go back in there. Sit beside her pretending it was nothing, but inside he knew what it would be: an adrenaline junkie seeking out the thrill.
He turned away to lean against one of the large posts and as he looked up, he saw the night sky shift.
Light slowly dancing across the heavens.
Muted and nearly white but the longer he stared at it the brighter it became.
Brush strokes of pink and green dancing overhead between Lukas and the stars. It was breathtaking.
And he wanted Katherine to witness it with him.
He ran inside and knelt beside the couch.
‘Katherine.’ He fought and lost the urge to run the backs of his fingers down her cheek.
She mumbled sleepily making him smile. She was rather adorable like this.
‘I think you’ll want to see this.’
‘What is it?’ she slurred.
‘The aurora.’
Her eyes flew open. ‘What?’
He laughed at her reaction and fetched her snow-boots, slipping them onto her feet and then bundling her tighter in the blankets. ‘Come on.’
He led her outside and held her back to his body, making sure her blanket didn’t slip, keeping her warm. ‘Look up.’
The lights were flaring beautifully now. Streaks of colour feathering to the heavens while jagged lines swirled and snaked against the black canvas of the sky.
‘Wow,’ Katherine breathed. ‘Thank you for getting me. It’s stunning.’
And then he looked at her. Saw the wonder in her blue eyes. The soft smile on her lips. She turned and caught him staring. Her smile growing full and contagious, stealing his breath.
‘You’re not looking at the sky.’
‘I can’t.’ Pure honesty fell from his lips before he could think about what he was saying.
But he couldn’t take it back. Katherine was smart.
She knew exactly what he meant. And he was sure his heart ceased functioning altogether when she turned in his arms. The smile dropping off her face as she searched his.
Her eyes touching every inch of his skin before trapping his gaze.
Something was sparking between them, and they were tinder catching alight.
They couldn’t fight it any longer. Not when they were moving closer, when their breaths mingled, when their lips touched and every explosive interaction, all that fire and electricity had somewhere to go.
Katherine gasped and Lukas wasn’t sure if the sound he made was a moan, an anguished wail, a curse or prayer.
Maybe it was all those things. His arms banded around her just as her hands peeked out of her blanket to fist the front of his jacket.
And he kissed her. Slowly but desperately.
Hungrily but savouring. Her taste consuming.
Her tongue against his setting off a series of explosions in his body.
Making him hard. Needy. Ravenous. And when she angled her head, he brought his hand up to the nape of her neck, holding her in place while he kissed her deeply.
Losing control. Licking the roof of her mouth.
His tongue dancing with hers. His teeth catching her bottom lip, and he ripped himself away.
He took two steps back and turned away from her. Adrenaline flooded his body. This was how he felt when he threw himself out of a plane, or went skiing off piste, or when he caught his car from spinning at three hundred kilometres an hour.
He was alive.
Katherine made him feel like this.
He shouldn’t be surprised. Hate was a passionate emotion and there was unbridled passion here.
Do you really hate her?
No. He didn’t. Not anymore.
He gripped his hair at the roots, then spun around and saw her watching him.
Every shackle broke loose.
Katherine saw the moment Lukas threw caution to the wind.
He closed the distance between them. Everything about him screaming hunter.
A silver-eyed wolf. But she wasn’t prey.
The moment he was within reach, she grabbed the front of his jacket and tugged him to her.
She kissed him the same instant his hands cradled her face, breathing him in just as she heard him inhale this kiss.
His lips were urgent but so were her hands and then he was spinning them around.
Pushing her against the thick post. His body pressed against hers.
Her stomach was in her throat. Chest heaving.
Moisture pooling her core. Teeth and tongues clashing.
Uncontrolled, just like they always were.
Whether they were arguing or kissing, there was never any controlling what they brought out in each other.
And she wanted to touch him. Wanted him to call out her name and to make him beg, but there was no getting through his bloody jacket, and yet she felt his hands push through the gap in the blanket and slide under her top.
His hands, surprisingly warm, left a path of tingles in their wake that had nothing to do with the temperature of their skin.
And then they were moving again but she stepped on the blanket and Lukas growled in frustration. Picking her up bridal-style, he took her back inside.
‘The sky is beautiful right now, but I have no patience in me,’ he said, teeth grazing her neck.
‘I don’t want you to be patient,’ she confessed breathlessly.
She just wanted him. He always heightened what she felt.
It was no different when the sensations were physical.
The moment he set her on her feet, she threw off the blanket, and his hands were pulling up on her top and pushing down on her leggings, desperate to get to her skin.
But she understood because she was shoving him out of that jacket and tearing at his sweater.
Lukas bent down, allowing her to yank it off his head.
Katherine had seen many impressive athletes in her life, but she was ill prepared for the perfection of Lukas’s lean, cut body. Every muscle defined, hard and exquisite. And yet his skin was so soft, as if silk had been poured over a perfect frame to form him.
‘Enjoying the view?’
She grinned. ‘Yes.’ She had always been brutally honest with him, there was no reason to hide her thoughts now.
That moment was all Lukas gave her before finally pulling her top off and laying her in front of the fire on the thick, fluffy rug. His fingers slid beneath the waistband of her leggings and underwear alike, pulling them both off in one. And then he was kissing her…there.
Everything was moving so fast but not fast enough. She wanted his lips on hers and his hardness inside her. There was heat in her veins and lightning in her belly. Lukas’s tongue sent sparks of pure pleasure throughout her body but she wanted more. More. More.
Gripping his hair, she lifted his head off her.
His eyes were half-lidded, drunk on the pleasure that was intoxicating her, and placing her hand under his chin, she urged him up her body but she didn’t have to ask for what she wanted; he knew.
He kissed her with a ferocity, holding himself up on his arms, allowing her hands to go to his pants and undo the belt, button and zip without looking. He shoved all the layers off him.
Finally, he was naked.
Gloriously so.
Impressively so.
God, this man should be on display in a museum.
‘Glad you think so,’ he said into her ear and she flushed red, realising she had spoken the words aloud. He sucked on a spot on her neck and she moaned out loud.
‘Make that sound again,’ he instructed. He begged.
His tongue teased the same spot, but this time his hands travelled down her body, his fingers parting her sex, slipping in.
‘Lukas,’ she moaned louder.
‘Mmm, that’s even better,’ he said, voice like gravel. He pulled his fingers away and brought them up between them, showing Katherine that they were drenched. And then he licked them clean. She couldn’t take it anymore.
‘Dammit, Lukas, give me what I want,’ she demanded.
‘And what’s that?’ he taunted.
‘You inside me.’ She couldn’t breathe. She needed relief from the assault of pleasure on her senses.
‘I don’t have a condom, Katherine,’ he admitted in a seductive voice.
‘You can’t leave me like this,’ she begged. She was certain she would cry if he stopped now.
‘I have no intention to. I’m happy to feast.’ He licked his pink lips and she blushed to her roots.
‘I’m on the pill and you haven’t been with anyone in three years.’ A fact she trusted because Lukas always spoke the truth. He was blunt and seemed like he didn’t care how his words landed so there was no reason to doubt him now. Regardless of how much she hated him, his integrity was undeniable.
The thought made her realise something: She didn’t hate him anymore.
‘The pill wouldn’t make a difference anyway,’ he said against her skin. His fingers teasing her once again. ‘Are you sure?’
‘Yes,’ she panted. ‘I want you now.’
Lukas didn’t need telling twice and thrust his hard, throbbing cock into her.
She gasped loudly, arching her back. And then he raised her leg and set a pace that made her light-headed.
High. Her lungs were no longer adequately functioning and each of his growls and curses and pants raised goose bumps on her skin. Made her heart skip beats.
This was beyond anything she could have imagined. He kept pushing her higher, higher, higher. Like a firework rising above the clouds.
‘Come for me, Katherine,’ he commanded, and she exploded around him in pyrotechnic glory.
Lukas, her pyromaniac, was close behind.
He slid his large hand under her head, holding her forehead to his, cursing out her name as his body tensed, his muscles lower down undulating in waves until he could finally take a breath.
Until he relaxed and let her leg down. Until he finally opened his eyes. They were molten silver.
‘Lukas,’ she breathed, scarcely able to believe what they’d done or how incredible it felt or how badly she wanted to do it again.
‘I know,’ he replied.