How To Tame Beasts And Other Wild Things (19 page)

Balthazar

As a whole, I am both safe and secure.
Behead me, and I become a place of meeting.
Behead me again, and I am the partner of ready.
Restore me, and I become the domain of beasts.
What am I?
 

Stable

As Christmas nears we skate on the newly plowed ice rink we made this morning on the lake. I can’t help but try to read into the coming months, though I can’t imagine what’ll happen when Everit does pass. Oddly, he seems so damn healthy it surprises me that he’s sick. Healthy enough to spar with Matilda on a regular basis, and part of why I’m surprising her with a little weekend away. Matilda is strong in all sorts of beautiful ways, but I know this thing with her dad is chewing at her. Tears come easily to her these days, and the holidays are surely adding a layer of melancholy. I just want her to be happy, just want her to stay on the farm. I know I can’t pressure her with the stress she’s dealing with, but damn if I’m not going to do everything in my power to show her what she means to me.

“I can still skate backward, klutzy or not!” Matilda cheers as she spins, nearly falling onto the ice. She collects herself and continues skating away from me.

All I see is a sore ass in her future. She’s giggling as she shuffles awkwardly on the bumpy ice. I chuckle when her arms flail and her skirt flips up, revealing her patterned tights. Her leg warmers stop just over her knees, making me want to lay her down fireside to explore everything above them.

“You’re a gorgeous klutz, but, love…graceful you are not.” I laugh quietly as I skate past her, pecking her cheek with a kiss. “The stairs alone!”

“My nemesis. That damned staircase.” She growls as she spins. “Although I did receive a rather nice first kiss after one particularly nasty trip down.”

“Indeed you did.” I skate to her then throw my arm over her shoulder. “So, listen. Speaking of trips, I’d like to take you to Chicago this coming weekend.”

Her face lights up. “A weekend? Nice. To what do I owe this honor?”

“I just got word that one of my plays was sold to a theater in Chicago. I’m looking for some arm candy to celebrate it with. Plus a break from your dad for a weekend might be good for both of you. Hell and the best part, it’s an excuse to mess up some sheets with you.”

“Oh my gosh! That’s amazing!” She glides under the branches of a willow tree, grabbing an armful of them to hold on to. “Congratulations! That sounds like a fun weekend! Arm candy and collaborator of all things dirty and sexy? Hell yes! I can fit that bill.”

“You’re adorable.” I take hold of her waist. “It makes me want to flip that skirt of yours up and take care of you right now.” Our lips meet for a kiss. “Okay, then. Our first trip!” I say, pulling away.

“Oooh! That sounds so couple-y.” She giggles.

“I’ve already asked Alfie and Duke if they’d stay at the house this weekend to watch the cock-blockers and be here if your dad needs anything.”

“And you’re a planner? So no kids? Just us and a hotel room? Sounds dangerous.”

I nestle my face into her neck and receive a moan. “It will be, and when I ask you to spread your legs, there’s one answer I want in return.”

“How wide?” She laughs.

“Good girl. We’re going to have a no-kids, no-animals weekend. Except me. I’m going to be animal as hell. You’re gonna be calling me beastly brit for all new reasons. I need some uninterrupted time with you. Some breakfast-fuck, lunch-fuck, dinner-fuck time. I want to spoil you for a weekend, I feel like that’s what you do for us nonstop.” Wrapping my arms around her waist, I nuzzle my mouth against her neck then her earlobe. “You give and give.”

“Now, you want me to put out and put out?” She giggles. “For such a hulk of a guy, I might call you mushy, but I’m afraid that’d be going too far.”

“I’ll take romantic, and I’ll take care of all the details. All you need to do is pack a bag. Bring at least two sexy dresses—the type I can easily peel off.”

Matilda turns to me with a planet-sized smile plastered on her face. “I was thinking clothes would be optional.”

“They won’t be an option at all most of the time.”

“It’s jammed?” Matilda groans as I wiggle the zipper on her jeans.

Jeans.
She never wears jeans. I finally have her alone in a hotel room and she’s wearing impenetrable pants. She grabs my shoulders as I squat in front of her. “You gotta get my pants off me. I have no interest in dry-humping you when there isn’t a kid within miles. Don’t you have a jackknife or something like that? Wait… I think I have a nail clipper in my purse.”

“A nail clipper?” I chuckle while jiggling her zipper. “I don’t know, MacGyver. You happen to have anything remotely more powerful than a nail clipper? A piece of string? A feather?”

“Rip ’em off!” Her laugh rings out. “Let’s see some brute force!”

“It’ll ruin ’em. But I can do it.”

“I’m lookin’ for you to ruin me. Wasn’t that the point of this weekend? I’m so turned on right now I might come in my pants.” She runs her hands through my hair. “I’m commando if that’s any inspiration!”

I shoot her a grin. “These are coming off.” After standing, I back her up to the door. “Hold the knob. I’ll see if I can’t get some leverage.” I grab the opened button fly, each section barely enough to grip above the zipper. “I’m going for it. You might fly. Grip that knob, love, think of it like my cock.” I grunt. Then I shred them.

Matilda whirls around, and the door flies open as she’s flung to the ground.

While looking down at her partially bare bottom, I chuckle. “Now this is access!”

As luck would have it, the door across the hall opens, revealing a well-dressed, elderly couple. The woman shrieks and, “Holy Christ,” comes from the man. Matilda groans.

“Room service.” I grin as I close the door.

She rolls over, glaring up at me. “That’s all you could come up with?”

I unfasten my zipper and pull my erection out. “It was that or this.”

“Well, thank god they didn’t see that!” She smiles with satisfaction.

“You might’ve scarred her, but let me tell you. That gentleman hasn’t seen a gorgeous, plump ass like yours in eons. He will now die a happy man. He might even wank one out later.”

Matilda reaches up while wiggling her fingers. “Get down here with me. I want to give your gorgeous cock a hug. Time for you to ruin me.”

“Turn over. I’m taking what I want. That beautiful ass is mine.” She flips as I kneel. Then I sink my teeth into her fleshy cheeks as she yelps. “You want me to leave marks?” I whisper between bites.

              She hisses, “Yes, mark me.”

“I have one question for you, love.” I hoist her up and lick a line from her wet pussy to the top of her spine to receive an excited howl when I bite her shoulder. Then I whisper beside her ear, “Would you like to molest my face with your pussy?”

“I want your cock.” The need in her voice deliberate.

I lick my way down the arch of her back. “I’m going to take you from the backside then toss you over and fuck rug burns into your back.” After ripping the remains of her torn jeans, her shoes, and her socks off, I make my way up her legs as I spread her open. She swears under her breath and I drag my tongue through her wet folds and grip handfuls of her soft, fleshy bottom. “I don’t give a shit if the entire hotel hears you yelling out my name.”

She reaches for my wrist then grips it. “Balthazar, shut up and fuck me already!”

I ride her hard with deep thrusts from behind, loving the way her arms come around to my thighs. The view of my cock sliding in and out of her combined with her moans has me thrusting with need.

“Fuck, Matilda. Still for a sec. Don’t move.” I suck a sharp breath through my teeth as I pin her hips against the floor. I’m not fucking coming yet. I hold her there for as long as I can, but she grunts in frustration.

“Move in me. Move, Balthazar.”

Shoving her shirt up, I unclasp her bra, kissing the line of her spine, licking her sweat, and inhaling her light, floral scent. Bracing myself up on one arm, I slide a hand under her chest to stroke her ample breasts and tight nipples that rub against my rough palm. A pleasure-filled moan escapes her throat as she rises onto her elbows, giving me room to explore. My tongue rides her neck in pursuit of her ear.

This is my weekend to convince her to stay, to let her know she’s mine and I’m hers. That my family is hers. France needs to be a distant memory, something she had but doesn’t need again.

“Fuck, Matilda. I’ve never had this…felt like this.” Sliding my forearm under her belly, I flip her onto her back. “What do you say when I tell you to spread your legs?”

She licks her lips as the color of lust fills her cheeks and her thighs open. “How wide?”

I fist my cock to enter her, my tip dragging through her soaked slit. I’m half tempted to take my erection to that soft-pink pout of a mouth, knowing what she delivers with it. Later.

Her eyes dip from my face, landing on my hand as I stroke myself.

“Yeah, and you know how wide that is, don’t you, pretty eyes?”

Her legs open farther. “Yeah.”

“Show me more. Take your knees up.”

She drags her hands over her tits, teasing me as she toys with her nipples. Her tongue circles her mouth.

“You like that?” Her eyes flash to my mouth then my eye.

“Fuck, Matilda, that’s… Christ.” I groan, going to my knees. Then I grip the back of hers, shoving them to the sides of her torso, and spreading her.

“Balthazar!” she cries as I thrust inside while I brace myself up with one arm.

“Don’t stop touching yourself. Fuck, that’s good.”

She slides one hand behind her leg then the other to her mouth, wetting her fingers until she takes it to her pussy. I thought her tit-fondling was hot.

“You have no idea, do you?” I grunt through heavy breaths, as her slippery fingers stroke her clit. My cock hardens as my arousal grows. “No idea what you do to me.”

Then she tells me that she’s there, coming apart. Not that she needs to say a thing. I can always tell. The noises she makes, the way her hips move, her tiny breaths that escalate into pleads and drawn-out moans. She tightens around my cock as her neck and her back stretch and arch to me. And when it all comes together, I fall apart with her. She rips me open at the seams. Every bit of her crashes into me, climbs inside, and clings to parts no one else has ever had access to.

Post sex shower, standing in the doorway of the bathroom, I gaze at my girl as she studies herself in the mirror, adding brooches to the strap of her emerald dress. “When I said, ‘Bring a sexy dress…’ Bloody hell, Matilda.”

My eyes follow a slit that rides her leg, beginning at her python heel and ending at the top of her thigh. My hands ache to slide under the silky fabric and over the wonderland that lies beneath it.

“You’re gonna take it off me, aren’t you?” She glances to me and twists her mouth. “Is this why you said bring two dresses?” Shaking her head, she asks, “Why did I put this on in the first place? We may never leave this room.”

After sauntering toward her, I settle behind her. “You put it on so I could peel it off. Fuck, you make me nuts,” I whisper alongside her nape. Then I close my eyes and inhale her. “Nuts.”

My laugh chases hers as she winks at me while sliding her arms behind my neck.

“Yeah?” She beams.

Matilda has one of those smiles that could catch a spy off guard. It’s crooked and toothy, which makes it charming. Her lips are the shape artists want to trace and the color they want to match when painting ripened fruits. And when she does smile, which is often, it always moves me. Some people happen to have been blessed with more magic than others. Matilda is one of them.

“Shit, you’re adorable. You and your handmade stuff. And that glitter you put on your cheeks sometimes. Where did you come from?” I kiss her neck, knowing her laughter will follow. “Matild
a…
I love the shit out of you. Do you understand what that means?”