Chapter 19
Amanda swiped the last of the makeup off her face and frowned into the mirror, trying to convince herself that it wasn’t the worst end to the holiday season. She and Lars would get to see each other again. Someday.
She leaned over and turned on the shower, letting the water warm up as she stripped off her clothes and tossed them into the hamper. No matter the promises between them, Amanda was already lonely. Lars hadn’t officially left the country yet, but she missed him.
Had she made the right decision?
The backs of her eyes burned. Amanda had held back plenty of tears. She’d let them go soon.
A heavy pounding sounded on the front door just as she was about to step into the shower. Startled, Amanda jumped back and grabbed her robe from the bathroom door. She flung it around her shoulders and wrapped it tight, tying the belt as she hurried through the house. “What the hell is that?”
A quick glance through the peephole gave her another start. She unlocked the bolt and flung the door open. “Lars! What’s the matter?”
Her mind had gone to car trouble or perhaps some new issue with the ley lines that they hadn’t anticipated, but Lars was grinning. “I’ve changed my mind. I don’t want you to visit me in Norway,” he blurted out.
“What?” The December breeze was quickly making its way through the door and creeping under her robe. “Come in here.”
He took a breath as she shut the door behind him.
Lars was still grinning, and he had the breathless and exhilarated look of an athlete that’d just won a race.
“I mean that I don’t want you to come and visit because I want the two of us to visit together.
I’ve just spoken to Erik, and he’s taking over as Alpha. All my duties will be his now.”
She gaped at him, her breath rasping as she tried to understand. It took her a moment to process such news. “You’re giving it all up?”
“For you.” He put his hands on her waist. They were warm, despite the fact that he’d just been outside. “If you’ll have me.”
She looked into those icy blue eyes of his as though that might help her discern the truth of the situation. Amanda felt as though she’d fallen asleep and was just dreaming this wish into reality. Excitement warred with her conscience. “Are you sure? I’d never ask you to do such a thing.”
“I’m offering, and that’s much different,” he asserted, his thumbs now rubbing slow and lazy circles along the fronts of her hips. “I didn’t want to leave Svalbard because I didn’t want to let anyone down. That’s all changed now.”
The beginning of a smile worked her lips. “I want to get excited, but I feel bad. That’s a lot to sacrifice.”
“It’s worth it.” He pushed a hank of hair out of her face, tucking it behind her ear. “Svalbard is beautiful, but it’s lonely. Just like you. I can leave an island, but I can’t imagine leaving you, Amanda. You’re everything to me.”
“Oh, Lars!” She kissed him, and the tears that had threatened earlier now poured down her cheeks. “Really? Is this really happening?”
He brushed her tears away with his thumbs, cradling her jaw in his palms. “As long as this is what you want, too. You can think about it and tell me when you’re ready.”
She laughed through her tears. “I don’t need to.
The Amanda of a week or even a few days ago might’ve needed to, but not now.
It hurt so much when you drove away, and I was about to go spend the next hour or so crying in the shower.
That tells me everything I need to know.
I’m crazy about you, Lars, and if you’ve found a way to make this work, I’m not turning it down. ”
“Does that mean you’re ready for another Viking feast?” He slipped his fingers between the edges of her robe just below the belt, wrapping his hands around her naked buttocks and lifting her from the floor.
She squealed in surprise as he hoisted her up to his hips, and then she wrapped her arms around his neck.
“I am quite hungry.” Amanda pressed her lips to his.
When his mouth opened, she slowly coaxed his tongue out with her own, a promise of everything she suddenly felt like doing now that she knew they would be together.
“How very convenient that I came back when I did,” Lars said when they broke apart. His warm fingers squeezed her backside. “You seem to be naked under here.”
“You can find out for sure, if you’d like,” she teased.
He slid her body slowly down his until her feet touched the floor. Lars untied the robe’s belt and pushed it back, his eyes devouring her curves. “Amanda Quinn, you are absolutely worth moving half a world away for.”
She’d felt awkward when he’d first seen her in her underwear, uncertain if he’d want her forty-year-old body.
He’d already proven that he did, and seeing that primal hunger in his eyes now proved it all over again.
It gave her every bit of confidence she needed to grab the hem of his sweater and begin lifting it over his head.
“You kept talking last time about keeping things even. I think you’re right. ”
Amanda tossed the sweater onto the armchair and then unfastened his button and fly.
He was already hard for her, bulging against his jeans.
Her nipples pebbled, and a pulse of electricity flashed through her body at knowing he wanted her.
She pushed off his jeans and then his boxers, and now it was her turn to admire him naked.
He had broad shoulders and strong arms. His chest was wide, the kind you could lie your head on all night.
There was just the slightest bit of softness over the solid muscles of his abs.
Lars had long, athletic legs that made her think of the way he looked in his polar bear form.
In short, he was damn hot. The pulsing hardness between his legs drove her wild.
She pushed him back until he was on the couch, and she got on her knees.
Realization sparked in his blue eyes as she leaned up to give him one more kiss on the lips before trailing them down his neck, his chest, and lower. She let her breasts brush against him on the way down, gliding over his package.
He grunted with pleasure as her lips played over the length of his shaft and then traced the tip of her tongue across the smooth skin.
She elicited a deeper grunt from him when she took him into her mouth.
He gathered her hair into his fist and held it out of the way, and his other hand cupping her breast. “Good god,” he murmured as she continued to play.
She thought about their first night together, when he’d shown her in the mirror just how deep his desire for her was.
Amanda wanted him to feel the same way, to know how much she truly wanted him.
She teased and tugged, licked and sucked until she had Lars writhing in perfect agony.
She lifted her head and, gliding her body along his until she was almost off the floor, she climbed onto his lap.
Amanda braced her legs on either side of his as she lowered herself onto him.
She sucked in a surprised breath through her nose as he entered her, clear evidence that she’d pleased him just as much as she’d hoped to.
Slowly, wanting to savor every moment of it, Amanda slid down onto him until they were as close as they could get.
Lars put his hands on her hips and thrust forward slowly, seating her even more deeply. The muscles in his arms trembled as he kept control over himself. “Amanda,” he murmured as he brought his hands up along her back. “You’re unbelievable.”
She rolled her head back and closed her eyes as she rocked back and forth, her movements slow and deliberate.
They’d been through so much, and now they could finally be together again.
Lars was right. It was unbelievable that it could all work out, that they could have each other like this, with his hands tangling in her hair and pulling gently.
He knew just how to touch her in all the right places. Amanda’s body was flooded with heat and electricity. Her human and bear intermingled in her mind, both sides of her rising as tension wound like a coil between her legs.
Lars bent his head forward and sucked her left nipple into his mouth.
Goosebumps of sheer delight broke out over her body.
He held her easily in his arms as he bent forward on the couch.
Amanda had to lean back, and she clutched her arms around his neck.
Her stomach muscles tightened as she pulsed against him, feeling his cock inside her and the rest of his body all around her.
His firm legs under her backside, his arms supporting her, his mouth exploring her.
The desire she felt from him and for him overwhelmed her, and she surrendered.
Amanda gasped as ripples of light moved through her body, pulsing, throbbing, aching, needing.
Lars pressed himself harder into her, and the gentle stream of pleasure turned into a raging river.
She held him tightly as she shuddered and convulsed, her legs and hips moving without any conscious command from her to seek as much pleasure as possible from her mate.
He gave it gladly, and soon she could feel his fingertips digging into her skin. He gripped her hard, burying his face in her shoulder as he thrust, their bodies entwined in an intoxicating cantilever. Lars roared as his pleasure consumed him.
Amanda snuggled into the warm embrace of her mate. She was deliciously warm everywhere that her body touched his, but the room was starting to get chilly. “Do you know what’s great about making love in the living room?” she said into the crook of his neck.
“A lot of things.” His voice rumbled in his chest, a sound that she felt was directly wired into her soul now. “We don’t have to stick with just the couch, either. There’s other furniture in here we could try.”
She laughed as she disentangled herself and rose from the sofa. She was completely naked as she moved across the room, comfortable in her body in a way she hadn’t imagined she could ever be. “Maybe in a bit.”
“Then what?” She could hear him shifting on the couch, and when she looked over her shoulder, he had propped himself up on his elbow. His eyes raked over her body appreciatively. “Is the rug particularly soft? We could try there, too.”
Laughing, Amanda retrieved one of the long matches from the container on the mantle.
She then opened the fireplace screen and squatted down in front of it.
“I never did get a chance to burn my Yule log. I think right now would be the perfect time.” She lit the small pile of kindling that had already been placed under the log and closed the screen before turning back to the couch.
The flickering light of the new fire played across Lars’s incredible body. He was so strong and masculine, but she knew there was an infinite amount of kindness and generosity in him as well. That balance had her thinking that maybe they did need to explore the other parts of the room.
For now, she lay in front of him on the couch, snuggling up against his chest. He pulled a throw blanket down from the back of the sofa and arranged it over them before putting his arms around her and holding her tight.
They lay there together, watching the fire burn as they planned out the rest of their lives together.