Chapter 16
Part of me wanted to track Banner down immediately and demand answers. I wasn’t sure how to hold her accountable for dragging me and my unsuspecting guests into this disaster, but Risky assured me there was always a way to get retribution.
For the time being, I needed to focus on managing the guests who were still at the resort waiting for their ill companions. As for the others I’d basically kicked them out for their own good. Fortunately, Risky miraculously found a block of rooms in a hotel just outside of Blue River that was willing to take everyone in so their vacations weren’t completely ruined. When I asked him how he’d pulled that particular rabbit out of his hat, he just grinned at me and pointed out he hadn’t even begun to touch all the favors he was owed.
Apparently, the lawyer who had shown up when the sheriff was on the verge of arresting me was another favor he’d called in. And he was a BIG one. Since I’d left the hospital that night, all questions and inquiries were stopped at the door and punted to the lawyer. The guy was incredibly efficient and a tad ruthless. It was a relief to have a buffer between me and all the angry vacationers who rightfully wanted answers and compensation. It was a fight that was too complicated for me to battle on my own.
There was no way I was ever going to find a way to pay Risky back. I might bemoan my bad luck any chance I got, but some higher force must’ve been at work the day I stumbled across the handsome drifter. Risky was the first person who had managed to counteract my innate misfortune. He was my very own lucky charm. I had more faith in him making things right than I had in pretty much anything else at the moment. He made magic happen. Which made me understand why his previous employer hadn’t wanted to let him walk away when she took over the family business. I also understood her personal reluctance to part with him because of their sexual entanglement.
In the short time I’d known him, he’d become invaluable and irreplaceable.
I finally had a vague understanding of how Baker had felt about me and why he was so inconsolable and desperate when he figured out I was incapable of returning his feelings. I only experienced a fraction of those feelings toward Risky, and I already felt like my life before him had been colorless and lifeless. He made everything around him more vivid and electric.
And he never faced a problem he couldn’t solve. Even if the answer wasn’t right in front of him and he had no knowledge of the issue, he fucked around until he figured out a solution. His view that any problem he came across as workable was one of his best qualities. Things that would bring another person to a standstill, he merely stepped over and kept moving.
I longed to have a similar fortitude. For now, I was happy to borrow some of his.
When the lodge was finally empty, I returned to feeling like I wasn’t worthy of staying in the space I was supposed to preserve. This place was meant to be filled with eager voices, people making lifelong memories, and the crackle of a fire chasing away the chill of winter. Now, it was still and silent. Nothing more than an empty shell with the heart and soul ripped out.
Half of the staff decided to stay at the property and rent the space above the garage. It was a sweet deal since I’d paid them all a hefty severance package.
Instead of taking out a loan against the property, Risky floated me the funds, telling me it was an investment. I’d long ago guessed he wasn’t a flannel-and-jeans guy in the real world, but I’d never expected him to be an unlimited-cash-flow guy. Between the new truck, the lawyer, and the advance, he’d spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on me without batting an eye.
I’d never been so deeply indebted to anyone. On multiple levels.
It shifted the power dynamic between us. And even though he still called me boss lady, it was obvious he was now the captain of the ship I’d run aground.
The snow crunched under my feet as I walked toward the last cabin. It was the only one with the lights on. I hadn’t bothered to grab a coat since I knew it wouldn’t stay on for long. The cold wrapped around my body and chilled me to the bone. I took a swig from the open wine bottle in my hand and shivered. It was lightly snowing, the flakes catching on my eyelashes and settling in my hair.
Under different circumstances, I would’ve loved the mood and the setting, but all I could feel was frozen.
I didn’t need to knock on the cabin door. Risky opened it the second I stepped into the soft yellow light that illuminated the icy ground.
I gazed at him through blurry eyes, realizing I might be a touch tipsy when I couldn’t look away from the tight designer boxer briefs he was wearing. I was right all along. Under the faded denim was Versace. His hair was wet, and he smelled like he’d just stepped out of the shower. He was effortlessly seductive and overwhelmingly sexy.
Declan Risk was far out of my league. I was lucky; Risky wasn’t. I didn’t know what had brought him down to my lowly level, but I would be forever grateful he’d changed course in his life and ended up on my mountain.
I gave him what was hopefully an alluring smile and asked, “Do you want to tell me I’m a good girl again? This time, you can do it when I have your dick in my mouth.”
His eyebrows shot up as he reached for the wine bottle. “Are you drunk?”
I made a pinching gesture, leaving a tiny space between my thumb and index finger. “A bit.”
He pulled me inside the cabin and turned to set the bottle down. I appreciated that he hadn’t asked why I had come to him instead of waiting for him in my apartment in the lodge. I also enjoyed that he didn’t fight me when I reached out to pull him around so I could put a hand on the center of his broad chest and push him in the direction of the bed. I understood he wasn’t a man who was easily moved by others. The fact that he went where I wanted him to with no resistance made my heart do somersaults in my chest.
I dropped my head to kiss him, wrapping an arm loosely around his neck. His facial hair was damp and cool against my skin. He tasted fresh and clean, a far cry from my boozy breath. I felt like I might corrupt him with my sadness and vices, but his hands went to my waist and pulled me closer. Since the only thing he was wearing was his underwear, the evidence of his arousal was clear as day.
I thought I was leading and he was going to follow, but his tongue didn’t remain passive for longer than a second. It slid against mine as he pulled me onto the bed, my knees resting on the outside of his muscular thighs. His hands moved to my ass and grabbed a handful as our breath mingled, and his teeth clung to my lower lip. There was a bite and an edge to all of his movements, and I loved it. The sting made my body come alive and forced me to face my mounting desires.
There would never be a chance to pretend we had fallen into bed together. Risky always made it known he was the one holding and touching me. He was the one with my taste on his tongue. I couldn’t slip into the illusion that he was merely my current option for sexual relief. No. The way he handled me let it be known he was my only option , period.
Risky used his hold to change our positions. I lay on my back, looking up at his heated eyes. He brushed my hair out of my face and used the tip of his finger to trace over my prominent eyebrows.
“I think we need to wait until you’re sober for me to call you a good girl while my dick is in your mouth. Nothing kills the mood faster than the idea of you throwing up all over my cock.”
I wrinkled my nose. “I’m not that drunk.”
I wasn’t. The wine just made my melancholy mood more evident.
He kissed my forehead. The point of my nose. The curve of my chin. And then he flicked his tongue along the line of my jaw until he reached my ear. “Still, I think you need someone to take care of you right now.”
Who was I to argue with that?
If I lacked anything in my life, aside from luck, it was the care of another person with zero expectations in return.
He didn’t even suggest I return the favor at a later date. He simply kissed me until I couldn’t breathe, then stripped my still-chilly clothing off and dropped to his knees between my bare legs that were hanging over the edge of the bed. I closed my eyes when he put the bend of my knee over his shoulder, and I felt the scrape of his beard against the sensitive skin on the inside of my thigh. The sensation had my toes curling in anticipation.
Risky didn’t keep me waiting. I felt his warm breath drift over my center. My body clenched, and my tummy fluttered. He used the tip of his tongue to trace the heated slit and across my clit. His thumb pressed against my opening, dipping inside the entrance and stroking along the slick folds. My heels dug into his back, and my hands curled around my breasts. My fingers reflexively stroked over my aching, pebbled nipples. I tossed my head to the side while biting down on my lower lip as his mouth worked my pussy until everything felt hot and wet.
I’d never heard the sounds I was making come out of my mouth before, but each gasp had Risky nipping at my clit and pushing his tongue deeper inside of me. I sounded hungry. Fortunately, Risky ate me like he was starving.
It wasn’t the first time I’d had his mouth all over me since we’d started hooking up. But it was the only time I felt like he was trying to do what he’d told me earlier—he was taking care of me. He let my body ask for what it wanted, and he happily obliged. If I quivered when he scraped his teeth over my clit, he did it until I begged him to stop. If I quaked when he fucked me with his tongue, like a sensual promise of what was still to come, he drove me to the edge of an orgasm over and over again. If I screamed his name when he backed off right before I was about to come, he tormented me repeatedly with a smile on his face. I used the leverage I had on his back to urge him closer. With the way my back arched and my hips moved, he probably felt like I was trying to suffocate him with my pleasure.
Eventually, I couldn’t take the teasing and taunting any longer. I grabbed a handful of his hair and tugged until he moved back and our eyes locked.
“Make me come.” I didn’t care if he used his cock or his mouth, but one way or another, I needed him to shove me over the edge he’d kept me clinging to.
Risky chuckled and turned his head so he could bite the inside of my thigh. He used enough force that I knew there was gonna be a mark that lingered for a few days.
Once my legs dropped, he climbed to his feet. The designer underwear hit the floor, and he wrapped his fist around his cock and stroked it while I watched with greedy eyes. I reached to pull him on top of me, but he evaded because he needed to make a pit stop to grab protection. I couldn’t take my eyes off the motion of him rolling the latex along the thick and long length. The way it pointed at his navel as his abs contracted was a seduction in itself.
He moved to the end of the bed and lowered his head to kiss me in a mirror image of the move I’d pulled on him earlier. He switched our positions, and once again, I found myself straddling his lap. Our faces were close together, and his cock was pressed right against my entrance. My pussy fluttered with excitement, and my nipples tightened even more when our chests dragged together. Everywhere we touched was an erogenous zone, and I was already so far gone that all it took was the tip of his cock gliding through my sensitive folds to make my insides clench.
Risky’s golden eyes glowed, and a knowing smirk flashed across his face. “Make yourself come, Lucky.”
I felt burned alive by the heat in his gaze and the warmth radiating off his body.
“Regardless of whatever is happening, I want you to know that with me, you’re always in control. You’re the boss.”
It was an inopportune time to cry.
I had a big dick between my legs and tears in my eyes, and I couldn’t decide which one to focus on. Risky always knew what I needed to hear and what I needed from him.
Right now, my life seemed to be out of control. I was helpless. Weak. Attacked. The thing I longed for the most was the power to decide things for myself. I was sick and tired of standing still while situations happened to me. It was woefully unfair.
We were here together like this because of me.
I was the one he wanted.
It was me who made him excited and turned his touch impatient.
My name clung to his lips.
The touch of my hands as I lowered myself and situated his rigid erection inside of me, making him shudder and sigh.
Having such power over a dominant man went to my head quicker than the cheap wine, and it chased away the last bit of cold that encased my tattered heart.
I let my weight pull me down onto his cock and moaned at the feeling of being stretched and filled. I curled my arms around his neck and rested my cheek against his slightly sweaty temple as I started to move. The glide up and down pulled more sounds of passion out of my mouth. And the drag of hard against soft sent my head spinning. It was like I became untethered from Earth. There was nothing tying me to all the difficult things trying to hold me down and disrupt my dreams. I was above all of that, somewhere only Risky and the satisfaction he gave me could reach.
I was untouchable. Invincible. Unbreakable.
I was also more turned on than I’d ever been.
Fuck being frigid. I was an inferno.
My body enveloped Risky’s with its heat and then pulsed happily around his girth. I started moving faster since he’d already put in the work to make me pliant. It wasn’t going to take much for me to come apart.
I dug my fingernails into his back and used my teeth to bite his ear. It wasn’t a soft nip. I tugged hard and felt his hands dig into my ass as his hips shifted underneath mine. The friction was enough to make me gasp and moan. However, I wasn’t undone enough for Risky’s liking. The fingers of one of his hands slipped between our grinding bodies, and he pressed the pad of his thumb on my eager clit.
The heady sensation of both his hand and cock bringing me to completion was addictive. It was very easy to envision myself needing more of this man and the way he made me feel, the more time we spent together. Exquisite sex wasn’t enough to make me surrender my heart, but tossed in with all the other ways Risky had shown up for me and supported me, how could I resist giving him the only thing of value I had left—my heart?
Our pace quickened as Risky followed my lead. He held me tighter and turned his head so he could skate his tongue along the side of my neck. His cock throbbed inside me, and his skin burned against mine. Everything became an incoherent kaleidoscope of thoughts and feelings that were brand new to me. Risky panted my name and clutched me close when I came and bowed backward so far that I nearly fell off of his lap. In the blissful spiral of my orgasm, he flipped me below him and trapped me with his weight as he planted a hand next to my head.
His thrusts were fast and frenzied. Apparently, all that foreplay and teasing had taken a toll on him as well. He hammered into me, chasing his orgasm like it might slip away from him if he wasn’t quick enough to catch it.
When he came, he said my name in a deep, serious voice. I got the sense that he was making certain I knew that he knew exactly who it was who made him anxious enough to lose control and let some of that precious care slip.
After we were both limp with satisfaction, I let him carry me to the shower—where one thing led to another, and I nearly drowned with his cock halfway down my throat. By the time he bundled me up in his bed, I was bleary-eyed and too tired to think straight. I fell asleep in seconds and didn’t sense Risky climbing in next to me.
I was dreaming of s’mores and campfires. Happy memories mixed with those from the stormy night my nightmares had started. I felt trapped in place, no part of me free from the lodge. When it thrived, so did I, and when it went up in flames …
I woke up with a start when Risky jumped out of bed, his eyes wide and his entire body tense. I struggled to get my bearings and realized in a rush that the smell of the campfire in my dream had been so strong and potent because something was burning.
The lodge was on fire.