Chapter 21
Freya
Oh, that arrogant, filthy son-of-a-bitch. It infuriated me, that he could just flip my switch like that, with nothing but a smoldering glance and a few coarse words.
But my anger didn’t quench the fire one bit. It made it burn hotter. Which was embarrassing and dumb and dangerous. And I couldn’t do a damn thing about it.
I wanted to smack him into next week. I also wanted to knock him down onto his back, rip off his pants, and free up that gorgeous, stiff cock. Then I wanted to mount up and ride him in a long, hard gallop, straight into wild, screaming, throbbing completion.
My hands were clenching, my thighs squeezing, toes curling.
His face was a rigid mask, with streaks of color on his cheekbones, a muscle pulsing rapidly in his jaw. I’m glad he couldn’t hide his arousal. If I reached down between his legs, I was very sure he would not bat my hand away.
It came to me in a flash of sudden, visceral certainty, how he was trying to keep me out. Acting like a crude, entitled asshole to scare me away. Make me back down.
But I was past fear. I wanted inside his mind.
I wanted to be sure of him, after all the data I had collected, which flatly contradicted his behavior the past couple of days.
Risking his mission and himself to protect me, over and over and over, because he just couldn’t help himself, no matter what it cost him…
that was the knee-jerk behavior of a heroic, righteous dude, the one I’d always believed him to be.
The one I desperately wanted him to be.
I needed to know. To get closer. To make him gasp and yell and beg for mercy.
Sex was the only way through his defenses. I’d felt the real Jed last night. I’d felt him this morning, too, when he’d kissed me after depositing me into the cliff cave. I had to find that man again. Running into this cold wall over and over…it was unbearable.
I pulled off my sweatshirt, brushing wild, electrified hair out of my eyes.
“Freya,” His voice was a menacing rasp. “I’m not in the mood for mind games.”
“It’s not your mind I want to play with.” I tossed the sweater away and then undid the clasp of my bra before sending that right after it.
“Don’t push me,” he warned. “I won’t be gentle.”
“Well, thank God for that. Neither will I. Finally, something we agree on.”
I unfastened my belt, let the oversized pants drop to the ground. Stepped out of them, jaybird naked, except for wool socks. The lumberjack nympho concubine vibe.
I straddled him and sat on his lap, my breasts right below his chin. Savoring the hot, angry color on his cheeks, the flash in his startled eyes.
And of course, that magnificent, hot, hard erection against my inner thigh. Excitement made my thighs clench around his. It was cold in the room, but I felt sweaty, feverish.
“Goddammit, Freya,” he muttered. “You just keep pushing and pushing.”
“So stop fighting, you rude, ungrateful brute.” I seized his hand and put it down between my legs, letting him feel hot, slick warmth between my pussy lips. “This is the part where you make up for your bad behavior by making me come.”
My words pushed him past some limit, and he made a rough sound and buried his face between my breasts.
He sucked in my nipple, caressing it in his mouth with exquisite tenderness.
The deep, delicate pull of his lips drew pleasure and wild magic out of me.
I was full of it, an endless fountain of it.
I wrapped my arms around his neck, gasping for air.
Desperate, shuddering breaths. I didn’t know what was so wonderfully different from other times I’d tried this.
Jed did it perfectly right, as if my body were tuned to him, as if his lips had some enchantment that made shivers race wildly over my entire body.
Every kiss and swirling stroke of his tongue lifted me, filled me with light. Sweet yearning, mixed with grace.
Now he was touching me between my legs as he suckled my breasts, stroking my clit so perfectly...then sliding his fingers deeper, deeper, thrusting slowly, pressing and circling. Seeking out the spots that made me sob and wail and melt.
The tension broke. Waves of surging pleasure washed me out to a mindless, timeless state of glowing sensations, shining emotions.
When conscious thought came drifting back, I was collapsed on his shoulder, my arms still draped around his neck.
He was nuzzling me, his lips sliding along my throat, then my shoulder.
Licking, nipping gently. His warm, rough-textured hands stroking the length of my spine, exploring my shoulder blades as if he were mapping my body.
He pulsed his cock against my mound. I moved against him with a sigh of need.
He leaned back, giving me a narrow look. “Hey,” he murmured. “A question.”
My head went up, suddenly alert. “Yeah? What?”
“Nothing scary,” he assured me. “A frivolous question.”
I smiled at him. “I can do frivolous. Shoot.”
“This,” he said, sliding his fingers tenderly up and down my pussy lips, making me wiggle and gasp. “Just a little tiny little bit of fuzz up top here, and nothing else. Is that your usual style? Or was that just to get in character for Sandee?”
The question startled me into laughter, which quickly stuttered into a gasping moan as he flicked his thumb delicately around my sensitized clit.
“Oh, God,” I whispered. “Um, I think it started as a Sandee thing. I usually don’t bother to do it, and it hurt like a bastard.
But afterward? I liked the way it felt. It just feels so silky smooth, you know? ”
“Oh, yeah,” he rumbled. “I know.”
“Do you go for that?” I asked.
It was his turn to laugh. “Sure. It drives me mad with lust. But I’m guessing a full bush would have the same effect. It’s you who gets to me. The rest? Just details.”
Aw. That was so sweet. “I don’t think Sandee is really that much of a mask,” I confessed. “She’s just a side of me that I finally let loose. A more instinctive part. She’s been waiting her turn, and I needed her help, so I let her come out of her cage.”
“For me,” he said softly. “Wow.”
I felt vulnerable, having shared that with him. I moved slowly against his stiff rod, trapped in his jeans, thrumming with readiness. “Don’t you want more?”
“We used up all the latex,” he told me. “We didn’t think ahead. Too busy.”
I thought about it for just a few seconds before it burst out of me. “I have a contraceptive implant. I got it last year, but the relationship didn’t pan out, so I never really had a use for it. So we could just, you know. Go for it. Full speed ahead.”
His cock swelled with eagerness against me. His eyes dilated, and his hands, gripping my ass, dug in, massaging me. “Aren’t you going to ask me if I’m clean?”
“Are you clean?” I echoed dutifully.
“Yes,” he said. “I haven’t been with anyone since before.”
He didn’t have to specify. The Ready Line massacre had slashed all our lives into a Before and an After. But there was something strange about his tone. I’d never offered sex without latex to any guy. Not once. I would’ve thought he’d be pleased.
But he looked almost angry.
“Well?” I encouraged. “What are you waiting for?”
His brows knit together. “For real? You’re just going to take my word for it?”
“Shouldn’t I?”
“Oh, come on, Freya.” His voice was scolding. “That sounds like a classic Sandee thing to do. All instinct, no brains. You’re supposed to be smart, right?”
Anger crackled through me, driving away my dreamy sexual buzz. “Well, thanks for reminding me. Just in time. You’re absolutely right. Get your hands off me.”
But Jed’s hands tightened on my waist. “No.”
I smacked his chest. “What the hell? Figure it out. You want me, you don’t want me. You give me an orgasm, then you lecture me. You’re giving me whiplash!”
“You shouldn’t make yourself vulnerable like that,” he said. “Laying yourself wide open. You should know better. It scares me that you don’t.”
“Oh, definitely,” I agreed. “Be afraid, be very afraid. Thanks to you, I’ve been saved from a disaster of my own making. Yay, you. Now let me get up.”
“I can’t,” he said starkly.
“Then why are you scolding me?”
“I don’t know!” he said. “It was a dick thing to say. But I never know what I’m going to say to you. Stuff just comes out of my mouth. I’m as surprised as you are.”
I stare at him thoughtfully for a moment. “Okay,” I said. “Let’s try this again from the top. Jed, look me in the eye. Do you have any diseases?”
“No,” he said. “I’m clean.”
“Well, guess what? I believe you. I’m fine, too. Haven’t been with anyone in ages. Had blood work done since then. It’s all good. Do you believe me?”
“Of course,” he said.
“Great. That’s settled. So. Do you want this?”
“Fuck yes,” he said.
“Well, thank God,” I said sharply. “Then shut up and take it.”
He lifted me effortlessly, and with a few deft moves, got his own belt open and pants down.
His cock sprang out, and he shifted me into place, holding his cock in place beneath me.
Caressing me with it. His smooth, broad cockhead stroked my sensitized pussy, petting my folds, teasing them, then nudging slowly inside.
I loved that slow, tight glide as he entered me, sinking to full length.
I felt so soft, so slick, honey-sweet, meltingly tender.
A good thing, too, because there was a lot of him, filling me up.
I rocked and squeezed around his stiff girth.
He lifted me with his hands under my ass, and of course, instantly, it was perfect.
The angle, the pulsing stroke, each expert thrust just running over my spot, sliding over it, stroking it, loving it.
Everything about him got to me. I loved the beard, the long, thick hair. The bruises and scratches on his face were valiant signs of heroism. His eyes were hot with arousal as he stared at me, driving me closer…closer…
Into another crashing wave of incredible, pulsing sweetness.
When I opened my eyes, he was carrying me down the corridor.
“The bed in the right-hand room is made up,” I told him.
He turned to the right, leaving the door open, but didn’t turn the light on, thank God. I felt too raw to be seen. The light that filtered in through the corridor from the kitchen at the end of the hall was already too much.
He sent me down on the bed, and gestured for me to turn around.
“Hands and knees,” he said. “I’m going to finish.”
“Okay,” I whispered, but in my current blasted state, it was more like face, elbows, and knees.
I braced myself against his deep thrusts.
Not gentle, not rough, just perfect. Hot and lusty, and just exactly what I craved.
He stirred me up, giving me all his strength, all his need, all his thick, gorgeous cock. Harder, deeper, wilder.
I realized that he was waiting, holding off on coming in order to bring me off once again before he let go…and I was right there, teetering on the edge…almost…
We exploded together.
Somehow, he managed to get us both under the covers. I had no idea how he did it. But I had the quilt pulled over us, and I was against his heat, my head under his chin.
I was too wrecked to think clearly, but a stark realization still drifted through my mind. This stunt hadn’t necessarily gotten through his guard.
All it had done was completely trash what little was left of mine.