Comes Now the Wicked Woodsman (15 page)

Her beautiful body disappeared below the waterline, only her head popping up because she had to swim where I had only needed to walk.

Shortcake.

Remembering my nickname for her, I licked my lips. Her pussy had reminded me of sucking on dewy strawberries, wet and juicy and plump.

As she started up the steps, I moved further into the crevice. Her arms came through the curtain of water first, feeling hesitantly around. I reached out and gently touched her hand. She curled her fingers around mine, her grip tightening as she took that last step up and entered the passage.

"Here." I handed her the activated chem light and snapped another one.

"I don't think I'm going to get through there."

The warble in her voice checked my forward progress. I turned, the act demonstrating that it was wide enough for me to fit with my broad shoulders.

"I'm bigger than you, baby," I reminded her. "You'll fit fine."

"It's an enclosed chamber?"

Was she feeling claustrophobic or looking for an excuse to not be in such close quarters with me.

"Yes," I agreed. "But it's perfectly safe and, if it's too small, you can turn right around and we'll leave. I promise."

The chem light bounced in her hand and I was ready to relent, but then she took a small step forward, her expression turning from one of fear to trust.

Facing forward again, I covered the last few feet of the passage, water rushing around my ankles as the path sloped downward.

"Give me a minute to get inside," I warned, crouching to sit on the floor then sliding into the next chamber, the water level a few inches above my navel.

I dropped the activated chem light and snapped the remaining ones, releasing them into the pool. Their concentration in the small chamber made the walls softly glow.

Turning back to where Paisley waited, I extended my hands toward her.

"Let me help."

Her grip on the chem light she held tightened. I was positive for a second that she was going to turn around and leave, but then her hand relaxed and she tossed the light over my shoulder to join the rest of them at the bottom of the pool.

"It's best if you sit," I advised as she took my hands. "The limestone is completely smooth at this part."

"Could you maybe close your eyes?"

Chuckling, I acquiesced to her request even though I didn't understand the difference between my seeing her lush frame wet and naked but standing versus her getting into a sitting position in front of me.

Either scenario made my cock rock hard, something I could no longer control now that she was bare skinned and had her hands in mine.

"Okay," she said once her bottom was planted on the ground.

I opened my eyes, the light just enough for me to distinguish the bright spots on her cheeks and how her lips were just as flushed as when she'd been mashing at them with indecision a few minutes before.

"Now slide forward." I tugged as I gave her the instruction.

The slippery ground and rush of water pushed her forward faster than she could anticipate, forcing her against me as her feet touched the bottom of the pool. I wrapped my arms around her, lied to myself that it was only to keep her from falling under if she lost her footing.

I heard her swallow. She dipped her head, hiding her gaze from mine.

"Did you enjoy your date?"

The question slipped out of me before my brain could turn it over. She didn't answer immediately, her lips rolling against one another as they had earlier.

"He put a lot of effort into it," she answered at last. "At least I don't see either of the Crockers moving one of the cabin beds out or hauling his dining room table and chairs and making beef stew for their guests."

I grunted, a small part of me relieved that the cabin had been transformed but a larger part annoyed at how well Rooster had played his hand.

"I guess that deserved a kiss," I said.

Disagreeing, the most primal part of my brain ordered me to cinch Paisley closer. I did, my arms moving so that one hand braced between her shoulder blades while the other curled against one fully rounded ass cheek.

She shook her head. I expected her to pull back or at least complain, but she pressed her forehead against my chest.

"He asked me if I was in love with you."

The air inside my lungs froze despite the warm water around us. I hugged her a little tighter, as if I were trying to squeeze from her the answer she had given him.

"I kissed him as I was leaving," she said, the omission of her response to Rooster's question clawing at my gut. "I kissed him because he deserves better than me and I told him so."

"No." Reaching up, I knitted my fingers into her wet hair and forced her to look up. I didn't know how well she could see me, but I could see her, anguish sharpening her features but doing nothing to diminish her beauty.

"That's not true," I rasped. "You deserve better than any man in Night Falls."

She shook her head, tried to pull away, but I wouldn't let her.

"He deserves a mate who can love him and that's not me." Tears formed at the rim of her eyes and I suddenly wished she would bury her face against my chest again.

"And I deserve to marry a man who loves me, who desires me..."

My desire was pressing hard against her stomach, had been since the moment she slid into the chamber and our bodies came into contact.

"I don't deserve someone who's saddling himself with me to keep me alive, to keep his sister safe and happy."

The pain in her voice tore at my heart, each rip bittersweet because I knew I'd put the doubt inside her.

"I told you I wasn't doing this for Clover."

She shrugged, her mouth trembling as she tried to push up the corners into a carefree smile.

"I know what it feels like when I'm being fucked, Braeden. You can say whatever you want, but I'll know each time you touch me that it's nothing more than a marriage of inconvenience for you...that you're giving up someone to protect me."

Her voice caught at the end and she tried again to break free from me. I took a big step back, bringing both of us into the deepest part of the pool, the water up to my collarbone. The move forced her to wrap her arms around my neck to stay above water.

"I want to go back," she begged, her cheek pressing against mine so she wouldn't have to look at me or be seen by me.

"No." I took another step back and then another, my intended destination the opposite side of the chamber from where we had entered. The floor sloped up there. She tried to wriggle free as the water level dropped, but the ground was slippery and she soon had to cling to me again.

Turning, I lifted her onto the ledge that curved around the back third of the chamber, her bottom even with my chest. Falling back, I dove under the water and scooped up the chem lights. When I resurfaced, I placed them next to her on the ledge then grabbed her hips.

A dozen excuses piled up at the end of my tongue for what had transpired between us in Rooster's barn. The hurt visible on her face told me I'd only be digging a deeper grave for myself if I tried to explain why it had been a mistake taking her out there, how I had been near crazy after watching the video of her getting shot, of realizing how close I'd been to losing her and then coming back to have her clothes covered with the stink of sitting where the brothers sat, their smell on her, Rooster's most of all.

"Paisley..." Faltering, I stroked lightly at the bend of each thigh. I wanted this woman, loved her, had loved her for a long time, first with the same fierce sense of family Clover offered her and then as a man.

Damned if I knew how to tell her.

"Please, love," I rasped, fingers pressing into her generous flesh as I fought to constrain my emotions -- to not take her as I had before.

"Let me show you what I've got."

********************

Paisley

I sealed my fate for that night and all the nights that would ever follow with a faint nod and a blink. Braeden spread out the glow sticks then rested his left arm on the ledge.

"Rest your head here," he coaxed, his muscular bicep only slightly more giving than the limestone beneath it.

On my side, I looked up at him, nervous for what came next. Everything had happened so suddenly in the barn. Now his every move was deliberate, thought out. His thumb brushed corner to corner against my lips, his index finger stroking rhythmically at my jaw until the muscles of my face relaxed. My mouth opened, just a small oval at the center. His thumb changed directions, stroking downward, teasing my bottom lip and jaw lower.

His nail played against the horizontal line of my teeth, his eyes locked on mine. Thumb touched tongue and I groaned.

He kissed me then, my head cradled between his arm and the curl of his fingers around my opposite cheek, his tongue taking slow strokes in and out of my mouth. My flesh began to heat, the water around me suddenly feeling cool as need burned through me.

When I started to shake, he shushed me.

Sliding his arm out, he cushioned my head with just his left hand, his lips and other hand trailing down my body. Fingers plucked at my nipples, his tongue and hand alternating which hard nub they would tease. When both stood at an aching attention, his mouth fastened on my upper breast and his palm smoothed over the curve of my stomach to find the pouting, swollen flesh of my mound.

I groaned again, hips squirming, back undulating as every part of me vied for his attention.

Fingers slid between my labia and began to stroke as his mouth sought mine again. Firm pinches against my clit echoed the gentle gnawing of my bottom lip. Below, fingers slicked their way into me, their tentative exploration at odds with the impassioned thrusting of his tongue.

I leaned toward Braeden, my senses drowning. Lifting my top leg, I rested my foot flat against the ledge, my pussy fully exposed to his teasing hand. He added a third finger to his thrusts and my hips began to rock.

Braeden pushed me onto my back then kissed his way down my arm and across my hip. He tugged one of my legs over the ledge, let it dangle as he maneuvered his shoulders and face between my thighs to continue the gnawing and thrusting.

Nibbling at my labia, he made them surge and swell with fresh blood. His teeth grazed a line down my clit, his fingers twisting inside me, and then his tongue began to roughly boss the small kernel tucked under the hood.

My pleas bounced off the limestone walls as my ass danced a small circle against the rock shelf. His fingers fucked in and out, in and out, as he throttled my clit.

I cried, delirious with the ache he created.

And then he stopped.

"Braeden?" Lifting my head to look at him, I tensed.

It was happening all over again, wasn't it?

Cupping my face with both hands, he kissed me softly on the lips then stared deeply into my eyes. "I didn't want you coming without knowing I love you. That I realized I loved you as a man and not just a friend the day I carried you back to Holly's cabin."

I blinked, most of my blood circling my hips, leaving my brain little to work with. But I remembered. I had been sixteen and the trip up to the cabin in his arms had started with wet rock, too.

"You were a little slow to the party," I teased. I had decided when I was fourteen that I was going to be Mrs. Braeden Hughes.

"And you were still two years too young," he lightly growled.

Smiling, I moved to slide off the rock. He put a hand on my hip, momentarily blocking me.

"I want my arms around you when I come," I said, wiggling past any potential objection. "I want to be looking in your eyes."

Entering the water, I draped my arms around his shoulders and wrapped my legs around his lean hips. His cock nestled between us, its hard strength denting my flesh.

Arching my back, I slid up then open.

"Slow," he warned as the fat head butted against the muscle rimming my pussy. "Patience."

I laughed. Patience felt impossible -- was impossible. Only his strong arms were keeping me from impaling my tender, unstretched flesh on the crown and thick shaft.

Braeden backed me up against a wall, the water above the top curve of my breasts. With my body braced, he worked a hand between us. His fingers worked my pussy, two entering me then corkscrewing in a V, working the muscles until they heated and relaxed.

Teasing a third finger in, he kissed me, fingers splayed and rocking. He had me on the threshold of a climax. I began to shake, pussy and arms clutching at him.

"Look at me, love."

My eyes were wild, wanting to roll up while the lids tried to squeeze shut, but I couldn't disobey his soft command.

"This baby," he said, the punishing tip crowding out his fingers to push into me.

"Yes," I groaned, sucking his cock deeper into me.

His lips fastened on my neck as he began to take hard strokes, the fat head battering around inside me, butting high up to knock against the mouth of my cervix, then tugging the muscles at my gate that constricted to hold him inside.