Chapter 9 Darby
DARBY
I’m not athletic in the slightest but I give it the old college try, flinging myself up at him as hard as I can.
He snags me effortlessly, giving me a little toss so I can wrap my arms around his neck. Holding on for dear life, I suck on his bottom lip as he carries me up the stairs. Again, like I’m nothing more than a little wisp of dandelion fluff that doesn’t even make him breathe hard.
His hand slides beneath my sweatshirt, his fingers wrapping around my bare breast.
“Fuck,” he growls.
“Sorry?” I gasp out, laughing.
“No, you’re not. Not for one second. I suppose you’re not wearing any panties either?”
“I am,” I say defensively. Though I considered going commando. But how embarrassing would that be—
As he sets me down on my feet, his other hand shoves down the front of my pants.
I gasp with shock, desire, and yeah, a little alarm.
Only two men have ever touched me intimately.
Well, three, though Michael never knew about the quick, clumsy groping I did with my Homecoming date the year before we started dating.
Robby had been too shy to actually go beneath the material.
There’s nothing shy about the way Henrik strokes me. He wraps his palm around my whole crotch, curling his fingers around my flesh. Searing heat rushes through me, and I sway, a little off balance. He’s staking his claim on me, even if he doesn’t say the words, “this is mine,” out loud.
“Too fast?” His voice is rough and low, very much a growl.
“A little,” I admit.
He drops his forehead to mine, bending his big body down around me.
He doesn’t pull his hand out of my pants, but he simply holds me.
He breathes deeply, though I don’t think it’s exertion.
Especially when he rubs his nose along my cheek, into my hair, nudging his face deeper behind my ear. “You smell like a bakery.”
Aw. Maybe once upon a time. “I used to come home from work covered in icing and flour, but that was years ago.” I force out a laugh, hoping to cover up the heartache. “I’ve certainly showered a time or two since then. Now I work for a finance company.”
He grunts softly, rubbing his mouth against my ear. “You still smell like cookies. Good enough to eat.”
Still cupping me, his fingers flex, nudging against the damp material, gliding just a bit deeper.
His other hand tangles in my hair, squeezing my nape, making me feel the strength in his hands.
I’ve never felt so controlled. Possessed.
Overwhelmed by his size and confidence. He touches me like he knows my deepest, darkest desires I haven’t admitted even to myself.
It’s crazy. Yet it feels incredible too. Caught in his massive hands, I could almost come right now without even trying.
“How is this possible?” I whisper, burrowing deeper against his chest.
“Fate.” He strokes his index finger along my seam, making my entire body shudder with desire. “Guess I owe Ren big time. You ready for me to throw you on my bed and ravish you? Or is it time to eat that rabbit?”
For a moment, everything is frozen by the howling winds and blowing snow outside. We hang in the balance, a momentous decision. Throw caution to the wind and careen headlong into the raging storm curling through me? Or pull back, slow down, and take a rain check?
He’s giving me the chance to escape gracefully.
Instead of answering with words, I start unbuttoning his shirt so I can stroke the wide planes of his chest. Heavy slabs of muscle, sprinkled with hair in a thicker stripe down his sternum straight south.
The soft fleece pants don’t hide a thing, especially something as long and thick as his erection.
Which—holy fuck—is just as big as the rest of him.
“Whoa,” I breathe out shakily.
“Yeah. Which is why I won’t rush you. I can’t, if I want you to feel as good as possible, and I do, babe. I want you to feel so damned good that you refuse to leave.”
I bite my lip, but my conscience twinges. I have to admit the truth. “I’m just driving through. I only considered this because I quite frankly won’t see you again.”
“I know.” He squeezes my neck, moving his thumb around to tip my chin up to him.
“This is me laying my cards out on the table too. One way or the other, I have every intention of convincing you to stay.” His rumbling tone is serious and hard, the same curmudgeon lumberjack who cut up the rabbits.
Though one corner of his mouth quirks up.
“I’ll be making sacrifices to the snow gods to keep this blizzard blowing for days so I can blow your mind with countless orgasms. You won’t even be able to walk, let alone drive away. ”
“Snow gods?” I scoff. “You forget I’ve got the goddess of destruction on my side.”
Between one breath and the next, he shoves my pants down my thighs, steps on one leg’s cuff, whips my sweatshirt over my head, and then lifts me up, stripping me bare except for my panties in seconds.
He tosses me on the bed hard enough I squeal out a laugh, shocked but also turned on. The man knows what he wants—and what he wants is me.
That’s a very heady feeling. Especially for someone who’s been alone for so long.
“That’s what the bribes are for. She’ll be on my side soon enough.”
Watching him step out of his pants, it takes a minute for my brain to catch up with his words. Ah, he means giving the rabbit organs to Skadi. Well, yeah, food is definitely one of her major weaknesses. And snow, of course. Which he has in spades.
And muscles. Evidently, that’s my weakness.
Gazing at him in all his glory I can only hope my eyes aren’t glazed over with drool dripping down my chin.
He’s just so… masculine. Rough and raw, big and hairy and brusque with a mean growl that sends my heartbeat pounding with alarm, even while my nipples could cut diamonds.
I’m so wet I can feel the dampness on my thighs.
My brain says it’s been years since I’ve had sex. No wonder I’m so turned on.
My body, on the other hand, argues I’ve never been this turned on before. Reckless, out of control. Having sex with a man I barely know. I don’t even know his last name.
I’m stranded. I can’t leave.
A soft, desperate sound escapes my throat, but I ache too much to care. I’m empty. A barren wasteland aching to be filled. Touched. Treasured.
By this big, grumpy lumberjack.
HENRIK
“I got you, babe,” I purr out as I join her on the bed.
She reaches for me, but I don’t slide up her body. Oh no. It’s far too early to send my puck sailing toward the goal. We need some angling first, the thrill of stealing each other’s shot, the back-and-forth race across the ice from one end of the rink to the other.
This is my first shot. I’m going to make it the best shot she’s ever had.
Settling between her thighs, I press my mouth over her panties so I can suck and probe with my tongue. Her legs are already trembling, but when I curl my fingers around the waistband, her breath catches and she squeezes her knees tighter together rather than welcoming me in.
“I feel I should warn you.”
Keeping my mouth pressed against her, I stroke my tongue down her slit as far as I can. “You’re going to come fast? Great. I’ll go for the second shot just as fast.”
She lets out a ragged laugh. “Probably but that’s not the warning. I didn’t plan to hook up on this trip, so the… landscape is a little… bushy.”
Scowling, I lift my head and rest my chin on her pubic bone. I make my tone as hard as my dick. “Look at me, Darby.”
A quiver rocks through her body, and she lifts her head from the mattress, meeting my gaze. She bites her bottom lip nervously and my dick throbs so hard I let a growl rumble free.
“First of all, I’m not a hookup. Second, does it look like I give a flying fuck about hair? Anywhere?”
Her blue eyes glitter against the pink of her cheeks. So fucking beautiful. “It’s different for women.”
“Not my woman. I want you exactly the way you are, hair and all.”
“Why?” Her voice quivers softly, a hint of insecurity and old hurts that stabs straight to my heart.
Me too, babe. “I tried my best to scare you away. Instead, you plopped your cute butt down and watched me butcher a rabbit.”
As I hoped, her lips quirk in a smile. “That’s all I had to do?”
“There’s more, of course, but I’d rather have my face buried in this jungle you threatened me with than drag up dirty laundry from the past.”
“Okay,” she whispers.
I drag her panties down her thighs, lift her legs up enough to slide them free, and then spread her wide.
Rather than dive right in, I take my time drinking in the sight of her pussy, dark curls wet and glistening with desire.
But I can’t resist poking the bear at least a little. “Fucking hell. Where’s my weedwhacker?”
“It’s not that bad.” She punches at my shoulder with a strangled laugh. “Is it?”
“I’ve got an axe that’ll split this jungle wide open. But first, I’m going to tap that sugar maple.”
“Huh?” She starts to say but it turns to a moan as I flatten my tongue over her plump outer lips, dragging deep. I fill my hands with her ass cheeks, kneading with my fingers, using my thumbs to open her up even more. I want to taste every inch of her.
She glides like hot silk against my face. I lap and swirl my tongue inside her until her hands find my head, her fingers tangled in my hair. She arches up against me, lifting and rolling her hips, begging for more. Which I am only too happy to oblige.
One finger. Two. Gently scissoring and stretching inside her to prepare the way.
Stoking her fire, her need, to a fevered pitch before I finally wrap my lips around her clit.
Her cunt clenches down on my fingers like a vise.
Sweat beads on my forehead, and I have to run through our old warmup routines in my head to keep from coming with her.
Her clit throbs on my tongue, and my dick damn near explodes.
It’s been too damned long since I had a woman come apart in my arms.
I wrap my other arm around her hip, flattening my palm low on her belly, keeping her pinned beneath my tongue as long as possible.
She twists and writhes beneath me, pulling on my hair, crying out the hottest fucking sounds, until I finally hear what I’ve been waiting for. “Henrik, please!”
My name, on her lush tempting lips. I rise up on my hands and knees and reach over toward the nightstand. I should have a box of condoms in there. Somewhere. Flashlight. Television remote. Extra batteries. Cough drops. Fucking hell.
“What are you looking for?”
Her cheeks are flushed and glowing with a light sheen. Her eyes burn and spark like sapphires. Her lovely breasts call my name, begging for attention. I can’t drag my gaze away, which makes the search even harder. “Condoms. They’re probably expired but I’m pretty sure I have some.”
Her eyes flare wide. “OH. Shit. Yeah. I didn’t even think about protection. I’m on birth control anyway.”
I lean out further so I can see into the drawer, but she reaches up and lightly tugs on my beard, dragging my attention back to her. “It’s okay.”
“Are you sure? I don’t mind. I’d rather—”
“I’m sure. I don’t think either of us are the type to sleep around.”
I let out a grudging grunt of acknowledgement. “Understatement of the century.”
Her lips quirk, her eyes simmering and sultry. “I believe somebody threatened something about an axe.”
I dip my head to suck on her nipples, deliberately rubbing my beard on her tender flesh.
Her knees lift higher, widening her thighs in an invitation I’d be a fool to ignore.
She blinks up at me in confusion as I sit back on my heels.
Grabbing her hips, I pull her closer, bringing her buttocks against my thighs.
Her eyes widen, locked on my dick. From her angle, I’m sure it must look intimidating.
I can’t completely suppress a hint of a smug grin on my lips. Lazily, I fist my cock and pump slowly, letting her anticipation build. Even though my balls throb with lust.
I need to make this first time last as long as possible, and if I simply fall on her and slide balls deep…
I’ll be finished in two seconds.