Chapter 14
He didn’t take her back to her father’s cabin. He took her to his home. He carried her into his basement den and set her on the massive bed. And when she told him she was able to walk all on her own, he made it his mission to make sure she couldn’t.
They did, indeed, work on fantasies, and she was as saucy as she’d never been.
And as shy as she feared she might. It didn’t matter.
He met her wherever she was, coaxed her or demanded of her until she spent an incredible amount of time screaming around his pounding cock.
And if it wasn’t the moment for screaming Os, they cuddled together and murmured confessions while sharing slow kisses.
She didn’t know it was possible to spend a night like this. She hadn’t thought a man would ever want to linger over every second whether in a blissful doze or casual laughter. The whole night was magical, and the day never penetrated his bedroom cave.
He fed her when they got hungry. They showered when things got sticky.
And if it weren’t for the persistent buzz of her phone, she would have remained in this idyll forever.
But her phone did buzz and her father was in the hospital, so she had to answer even if it was the last thing she wanted to do.
“Hello?” she rasped.
Mark murmured his protest against the small of her back. He was spooned against her, but had fallen lower along her spine when she reached for her phone.
“Did I wake you?” her sister’s voice was disruptive to her bliss. But that was a sacrifice she had to make for family. Sometimes.
“This better be important,” she growled to her sister. “Otherwise I’m hanging up.”
“Dad’s getting discharged. I’ve got to go back to the lab, but Mom’s going to drive him to the cabin. Should arrive around four.”
Julie came fully awake with painful intensity. “Today?”
“At four.”
She looked at the clock. It was almost noon. “Okay,” she said, pretending that panic wasn’t clawing at her throat. “No problem.”
“So get your hot, slutty self out of bed, kiss that man hard, then go clean up the evidence before Dad gets there. Don’t want him having another heart attack, right?”
Julie straightened up, accidentally dislodging Mark. “I was not…” Except she had been. “I am not…” Well, she was and she’d liked it. “Oh, shut up!”
She hung up on her sister’s peal of laughter. So Dad was coming home. He was better enough to be nursed night and day by her. This was good news, right? She’d wanted her father strong and healthy.
“Your father’s been discharged,” Mark said as he rubbed sleep out of his eyes. He looked rumpled and sexy and…Hmmmm. He was very hard. And she was very wet.
“You’ve turned me into a sex addict.”
His eyes darkened, and his lips curved. She didn’t see him move, but she felt his hand caress her. It had been on her thigh, but now curved between her legs. The movement was slow but absolutely undeniable.
“How long do we have?” he asked.
“Until four. But I need to clean up the place. Get groceries and stuff.”
“Hmmm. That’ll take about an hour.”
“Plus a shower and…and…” He pushed her onto her back, spreading her knees as he kissed a trail down her stomach. “And I think there’s plenty of time.”
She felt him smile against her belly. “That’s what I think, too.”
And that was the last thinking she did for a good long, fabulous time.
But even great sex has to end sometime. They showered at his place, then headed to the grocery store.
She said nothing about all the elaborate tricks he had in his house to make sure the man was in charge and not the grizzly.
Why further ruin the moment? Especially when she didn’t need a big yellow sign to tell her that their time was running out.
So they shopped in quiet accord and headed back to her father’s home.
Mark was carrying the bags and she was unlocking the cabin door when it happened. Simple and quick.
She heard some pops. Almost simultaneous, but not quite. A sharp pain hit her back. Mark might have grunted. Maybe. It was hard to tell what with her legs going out and the porch coming up to slap her in the face.