Chapter 5
5
KINGSTON
T his wasn’t exactly how I had planned to spend my evening, nor my vacation; however, in the end, it could have been worse. Snow began to accumulate on the windowsill and the trees as well as on top of our cars, but it wasn’t too cold outside. Meaning we weren’t going to end up with heavy ice on branches, or other issues that would mean power loss, or us having to deal with things we rather wouldn’t.
So I was grateful for that at least.
And it was damn beautiful out, even with the wind and snow, and I didn’t mind the view.
Of course, I wasn’t exactly only looking outside the window.
I had a very strong old fashioned in my hand, and Claire stood in the kitchen, bright smile on her face, as she added a whiskey cherry to hers.
“These are potent,” she said, her hips moving to the music as she moved around the room.
I adjusted myself in my jeans, a little worried about the fact that I got so hard when she was around. That wasn’t exactly what I had been planning on showcasing, but it wasn’t as if I could change that. I couldn’t control what my body did when it came to seeing her.
Then again, that happened often.
That first time we had seen each other in the forest, I had sucked in a sharp breath, and been enraptured by her face.
Yes, she had been a little fierce, a little manic since a bear had walked past the park restroom where she had been hiding, but she had been so full of energy, I couldn’t help but laugh right along with her.
And then we saw the instant connection between Kane and Phoebe, and I had taken a step back.
Frankly, Claire was good as my friend. And I liked that.
I liked the fact that it was easy around her. Or at least, it had been.
Before everything had changed, and she had been hurt.
But Claire and I had just been friendly. Yes, I had found her attractive .
Just because I never allowed myself to see Claire in that way, didn’t mean that somewhere deep down it hadn’t been there. Waiting. Lurking. Especially for the most inopportune time.
Like when we were alone in a cabin in the woods in a snowstorm, where she needed to be able to trust me. And I needed to not be the asshole who got a hard-on whenever she was around. But those hips kept moving.
They were intoxicating. As if they were calling to me.
Maybe I should switch to water.
But then Claire moved forward, and clinked her drink to mine, and grinned.
“At least we’re having fun, right? I’m sad the others aren’t here.” She tossed back half her old fashioned, and I winced, and realized maybe we both needed water. But then I had another drink, and realized maybe it was okay that we didn’t.
Maybe it was okay that we just enjoyed ourselves.
There had been enough stress and heartache going on around us. So I was just going to let the bourbon do the talking and thinking for us all.
“These are really strong,” Claire said, as she sank into the cushions of the couch next to me and let out a deep breath. “But it’s good that they’re strong. Because then it lets me forget about the fact our best friends are stuck back at home or at the bottom of the mountain because they can’t get up here.”
“We always knew that closing the pass was going to be a possibility,” I said, trying to be adult about the situation. Only I was pretty sure I slurred a couple of those words. What did I know?
She smiled up at me and took another sip.
“I just feel bad. But I would feel worse if you were up here alone and I hadn’t made it. Or if I was up here alone. And then I would have serial killer mountain dweller, Bigfoot worries.”
I nearly snorted the bourbon and had to set down my glass for a second.
“Did you just call Mr. Sasquatch a serial killer?”
“Did you just call him Mr. Sasquatch?” she asked, those gorgeous eyes of hers widening.
I really needed to stop thinking of her eyes as gorgeous if I was going to make it through this night whole.
“We have to put respect on his name.”
“I’m saying serial killer or Bigfoot. Or Sasquatch if that’s what name you’d like to use.”
“I just feel like that’s what name he would like. Bigfoot sounds kind of derogatory.”
“I thought if you had big feet, you had a big dick. Why would you think that was a bad thing?” She blinked at me slowly, before she pressed her lips together, her eyes comically wide.
“I really don’t want to think about Mr. Sasquatch’s dick.”
“I’m pretty sure that’s not a sentence you’ve ever thought you would say aloud in your life.”
“There’s really no going back from this.”
“This is a ridiculous conversation.”
“It really is. But there is security out here. It’s sort of what my family does.”
Her face sobered for an instant, and I could have cursed myself. We had had security in the apartment where she’d almost died before. And it hadn’t been enough.
“I trust you guys. It’s the whole woman living alone thing. Even before…well before that incident. But I’m just going to have another drink and I’m not going to think about this, okay?”
She said the words very quickly, so quickly that it took me a minute for me to understand them all.
“I’m so fucking sorry.”
She put her hands to my mouth, my lips pressing against her skin. “No. You don’t need to be sorry. It’s over with and done—it’s in the past.”
“Claire,” I whispered against her skin, and she pressed firmer. So I kissed her fingertips. I didn’t mean to, it just felt like something I should do. When she froze for an instant, I realized that was probably a very bad idea.
Her fingers fell, and I felt bereft, but I didn’t say anything. Instead I just stared at her, as she looked down at her hand, and then back up at me.
“Sorry.”
“Claire...”
She shook her head. “Okay, so you’ll protect me against Bigfoot. I mean Sasquatch. Good to know. However, I’m glad I’m not alone up here. Even the wind gets creepy in the trees when you’re alone in a cabin in the woods. I’m pretty sure there is a serial killer. Or maybe like a monster.”
“Other than Mr. Sasquatch?” I asked, playing into the joke.
“Other than him. Like the one from another dimension, or a portal that opens up and tries to take you into a hell dimension. You know, so we can go visit the guys from Supernatural .”
“Why do you sound so excited about visiting the guys from Supernatural ?” I asked dryly.
“I’m in love with Jensen Ackles. There I said it. I love him.”
I let out a sad sigh. “We’ll never live up to them, will we?”
“You really won’t. But it’s okay. He’s happy in real life, and totally not the guy who likes pie and screams when he sees a cat.”
“You know I have no idea what any of that means.”
She put her hand to her chest, and I did my best not to look at her breasts. “Are you kidding me right now? You don’t know what I’m talking about?”
“Well not really. I’ve seen the memes. And all the videos.”
“Wait. How is that even possible? I know that your cousins love the show. At least some of them.”
“Well, I have like forty-nine cousins last time I counted. We haven’t watched all the shows out in existence.”
“But you have family jokes with the Supernatural lore,” she pointed out.
I shrugged, feeling a little embarrassed. “I watched the first episode when I was younger, probably too young, and the lady on the bridge really scared the fuck out of me. It didn’t help that Kane had been hiding behind a door and jumped out at me when I was going around the corner, and then also scared the shit out of me, and I did scream. Much like Jensen Ackles in that meme.”
“Oh my God. Well we’re going to have to watch it. I’m really sorry. But I’ll hold your hand if you get scared. As long as you know you don’t let the serial ax- wielding monster, Mr. Sasquatch, get me while we’re here in the forest.”
I looked at her and laughed, before taking another sip of my drink.
“Fine. But you have to hold me if I’m scared.”
The snow continued to pound against the window, increasing in its ferocity, and I let out a breath, before she nodded, and went to turn on Supernatural .
We sat in the dark, and I tried my best to keep my heart from pounding, and it had nothing to do with the jump scares on the TV.
“I thought his voice was lower,” I said, and Claire rolled her eyes and sighed deeply against me.
“I think his voice gets lower as the show moves on. I mean, it’s Jensen Ackles, I’m pretty sure he just ended up with the Dean voice.”
“You say that as if it’s a thing.”
“Oh it’s a thing,” she said with a dreamy sigh.
The fact that I could feel the warmth of her breath against my chest forced me to keep still.
Because she was leaning against me, both of us drinking a little too much, and both of us continuing not to care.
But maybe it was just the storm, and the mood, and nothing to do with where my mind was going.
When the first episode ended, and the boys got into that ridiculous car of theirs that had to eat up a tank of gas every ten minutes, she let out a happy sigh, and sat up.
I ignored the fact that I missed the feel of her body against mine instantly.
“Ready for round two?” she asked, and I nodded.
“Yeah, let me get a snack or something. Another drink?” I asked, knowing we both should probably stick to water.
But then she nodded, and I licked my lips.
I didn’t miss the fact that her gaze went to the action, but I ignored it, or at least tried to. It was probably just me seeing things.
I went to make some popcorn, and on my way back in, Claire was standing, and stretching. She had her arms above her head, and I could see a sliver of her stomach as her shirt rode up. It also made her breasts rise, and I had to pull my gaze from them.
She was so damn beautiful. And there was seriously something wrong with me.
I cleared my throat and set the popcorn down.
“Okay. Is this a good enough snack?”
She nodded, and as we both reached down for the popcorn, our hands brushed, and she jumped back. Only I sort of jumped forward in an odd jerky motion, and then the popcorn was flying to the ground, as was she.
“Shit. ”
I gripped her hips to keep her steady, and of course that meant I was pressing her hips against my hips, and then she could feel everything.
Every single hard line of me.
She put her hands on my chest, keeping her steady, and then both of us were looking at each other, our breaths coming in pants, and both of us leaning to the side just a bit.
My mind was a bit blurry.
“Sorry.”
I nodded, but didn’t say anything, instead I did something monumentally stupid, and I reached out to cup her cheek, my thumb sliding along her cheekbone.
“No problem. I’m pretty clumsy.”
“As clumsy as Mr. Sasquatch?” she asked, her voice a little breathy.
“I didn’t realize that he tripped.”
“If Mr. Sasquatch falls in the woods and nobody’s around to hear, does he really fall?” she asked.
If she could come up with a sentence like that, maybe she wasn’t as drunk as I thought, but either way, I had to make sure. At least before I made a stupid fucking mistake.
“Claire?”
“Kingston?”
“How much have you had to drink?”
“Just as much as you. ”
“So if I were to kiss you right now? Would that be a really big fucking mistake?”
“Probably? But I’m not drunk enough to regret it.”
I took that as a yes, and so when I leaned forward and brushed my lips against hers, I couldn’t help but relish the soft moan that escaped her lips.
She tasted of bourbon and cherry, with a touch of orange, and Claire.
And because I couldn’t stop thinking of this, because I had ignored this moment for so long, I deepened the kiss, both of us groaning.
I should have pulled back. I should have laughed this off.
And yet, as the power flickered around us, and the snow began to fall in earnest, I just felt. I just let myself. When her hands slid up my shirt, her warm palms on my back, I growled.
“Tell me to stop,” I whispered.
“Don’t.”
My lips quirked into a smile against hers, and then there was no thinking. I tugged her shirt off her, one quick motion that surprised us both, and then my thumbs were playing over the swell of her breasts, sliding between them to undo the front clasp.
Her eyes darkened, her pupils dilating as I met her gaze and undid the snap. Her breasts fell heavy into my palms, and she threw her bra to the side, as I leaned down to take one puckered nipple into my mouth, and then moved to the next. Her hand tightened in my hair as I continued to feast on her breasts; they were so firm, larger than my palm. I knew that one day I would want to fuck those tits, to suck on them until her nipples were hard cherries, and her flesh was covered in my marks. But not now. No, I needed all of her.
I let her tug off my shirt, and I tossed it over my head, as she raked her nails down my back, over my chest, as we continued to explore each other. I pulled down her leggings, and knelt in front of her, loving the way that her whole body blushed at the sight. We hadn’t bothered to turn on the lights, so only the few candles and light from the TV shone on us, and maybe this was good. Maybe that was best for both of us. That meant I couldn’t quite see in detail the scar that had changed everything. And I didn’t want to think about that. Because I knew she didn’t want to think about it either.
I kissed down her stomach, over her panties, and nuzzled her pussy. She let out a shocked gasp, her body shaking.
Mine .
I didn’t say it. I wanted to. But damn it, she was everything in this moment.
I breathed hot air over her dampening panties before slowly, oh so slowly, sliding them over her hips. She was bare before me, a little triangle of hair on her mound. And it was all I could do not to bury my face between her legs and feast on that glorious cunt before me.
When I licked my lips and let her panties reach the floor, she kicked them to the side. Then I found myself kneeling in front of her, both of our breaths coming in pants. We should probably stop. Honestly, with her naked before me, and my dick so hard I could barely see straight, there was no going back.
“Tell me to stop. I’ll stop right now. Tell me to stop.”
I didn’t know if I was begging her to stop, or to continue.
In answer, she nodded at me, and for an instant I thought it was a disappointment, before she slid her hands through my hair again.
“Don’t stop.”
As a man on a mission, I let out a feral snarl and feasted. I latched my mouth on her cunt, her sweet and tart juices coating my tongue. She let out little whimpers as I ate my fill, sucking on her clit, and using my tongue to dive deeper into that pussy of hers.
Her lips were swollen, her whole body shaking. So I kept one hand on her ass, keeping her steady as I pressed her to my face, and let her roll her hips to ride me.
I knew she came when her whole body shook, and my mouth flooded with her arousal. I lapped up every single drop, as she panted my name, and then I was standing, crushing my mouth to hers. I needed her to taste herself on me, to need every ounce of me. I slid my jean-covered thigh between her legs, and she rode me, rubbing her clit on my thigh, leaving evidence of her wetness down my denim.
It was the single hottest fucking thing I had ever seen.
And then we were shoving off my jeans, and I sat down on the couch.
“Ride me. Let me taste those tits as you ride me.”
Her eyes widened as she looked down at my cock, and I put one hand at the base, and gently slid it up to the tip, rolled my thumb over the pre-come there, and slid it back down.
“You can take me.”
“I’m not quite sure I can take all of you,” she said a little dryly, her lips swollen, her body red.
I just smiled like a man in fucking heaven. “Way to feed a man’s ego.”
“You’re welcome?” She froze, her body shaking. “I’m on birth control but…it’s not perfect,” she whispered, and I cursed under my breath.
“Shit. I can’t believe I forgot. I’ve got a condom in my wallet.” She raised a brow. “It’s always a smart thing. ”
“I have one in my purse. Even though I’d never planned on using it.”
And at that moment there were far too many words between us, so I stood up, my dick pressed against her stomach, and kissed her again, needing her.
We had moved so fast, but this pause seemed to slow everything down. So instead I continued to kiss her, running my hands over her body, cupping her breasts. And when we slid the condom on, I let her do it, pumping me a few times before she squeezed the base of my dick.
I nearly saw stars, and then I was sitting, with her hovering above me.
“Take me. Take all of me.”
Her eyes widened but she nodded. I knew the drink was still buzzing between us, and whatever else was going on. But I knew we wouldn’t forget this in the morning.
I just didn’t know why we were doing this, and why it had taken so long.
In that moment, when she slid down on my dick, her sweet pussy clamping down around my cock, I knew I didn’t need any answers in the moment. Everything else could wait.
Instead she slowly, painstakingly sat down on me, her body stretching to fit me .
“Are you okay?” I asked, my hand on the back of her neck. “If I’m hurting you, let me know.”
She shook her head, those beautiful eyes wide. “No, you’re just really big.”
“Thank you, baby.” And I kissed her again, as she rolled her hips.
That action pulled moans out of both of us, so I used one hand to slide my thumb over her clit, as she rolled her hips and rode me. I kept my other hand on the back of her neck, my hands making a fist in her hair.
She was so fucking beautiful, an empress.
My empress.
And when she came again, clamping around my cock, I followed her into that temptation, into that bliss with no ending. I lowered her to me, keeping my mouth on hers, afraid of what words would come.
There were none, just feelings, just us.
And there was nothing else to say.
Just this moment. Just this promise.
I just held Claire…and hoped the drink would be enough for us to breathe again.
And we wouldn’t run once morning came.