Snow Bound (9 page)

The women he’d picked up since he moved to town knew the score. He chose a particular type, just so they wouldn’t get attach
ed or start expecting things
he wasn’t willing to give. He could barely tolerate them being there until morning, much less a whole week in bed. This was different.

And when he went upstairs and
made love to her, something
was going to change. He knew it without a doubt, the
same way instincts had warned him
how things were going to play out on
a
rmy
missions.

So in a way, planting his naked ass in front of this window was a sign. A warning to the shithead out there that Tori was his. And a signal to himself that he’d do anything to keep her safe, which was about a hell of a lot more than sex.

A minute more, then he swung away and strode through the rest of t
he downstairs, carefully double-
checking each door and window to make sure they were still locked and not tampered with.
All
secure. Shivering as gooseflesh spread across his bare skin, he stepped back into the warm living room and climbed the stairs to the waiting
, willing woman in the tousled
bed.

* * *

Her skin felt as soft as it had each time he’d touched her tonight, but the limbs lay slack against the mattress. She shifted as he crawled over her, her heat seeping
into
his chilled skin. He let his arms bend, bringing his body
down onto
hers.

“Oh shit!” Her eyes flashed wide. “You’re cold.”

He grinned down into her
startled gaze, the last vestiges of sleep drifting away
. “Well, we do have part of the house blocked off.”

Her lips pressed together in a mischievous twist. “I wasn’t talking about your temperature.”

They shared a grin before he pressed forward, sampling her lips once more. Her hands traced his arms up to his shoulders, where her nails lightly scratched along the surface. The pulse in his cock kicked up a notch.

His patience at an end, he knew he couldn’t hold out for long this time, no matter how much he m
ight want to tease
her the rest of the night. She would probably be
too sore for that anyway. First he would
revisit a few choice places.

He sucked with gentle pressure
at her neck, reawakening her
desire. The gentle curve was
sensitive, and she was particularly su
sceptible to wet, sucking kisses
there, especially at the base where it met her collarbone. Even now, exhausted, her hands tightened against his back and her spine a
rched
. God, he needed her more than his next breath
.

Each nipple hardened beneath his tongue. He squeezed the plump flesh together, sampling first one
,
then the other. Her legs split, bending to brace on each side of his hips. His cock eagerly met the flesh of her lower stomach, imprinting his length and breadth on her skin.

Those heavenly whimpers he’d come to love poured out of her throat with gathering speed—half begging, half reward.

His control snapped. Pulling back, he quickly sheathed himself in the condom he’d grabbed from his w
allet
. Then
,
spreading her wider, he anointed himself in the juices flowing between her thighs.

He
guided him
self to her entrance, and
watched in fascination as she stretched around his flesh. A particularly sharp whimper was the only thing that could have pulled his gaze from the erotic sight. Tori lay splayed before him, her thighs trembling,
breath panting as
her hands fist
ed
the sheets at her sides.
“Are you okay, sweetheart?” he asked, thoug
h his voice could barely rise above the strain waiting
.

Her throat
worked as she panted. “You’re
big.”

He glanced back do
wn to where her flesh wrapped
tightly around him,
only the blunt head
inside her. It felt so good. “Shit, Tori. I don’t think I can stop.”

He hadn’t even finished speaking before she shook her head. “Don’t stop. I don’t want you to stop.”

“I don’t want to hurt you.”

“You won’t.” The certainty ringing in her voice humbled him, and gave him the very ounce of control he needed to proceed with caution.

“I’ll be careful. I promise.”

She encouraged him with a swivel of her hips. When his eyes finally uncrossed, he thrust gent
ly back and forth into her, eas
ing in inch by torturous inch. She moved with him, her lifted hips granting him access, her clenching internal muscles driving him closer to the edge. Then her body seemed to resist him, slowing his progress to nil.

Instincts took over. No more room for thought. He loomed forward, covering her body with his ow
n. He pressed his thighs under
her ass,
lifting her to the right angle; then he forc
ed himself into her tight
passage without room for quarter, using
a
touch of power
to make
her feel h
im that much more.

Soon, soon. H
is hips met her thighs. In to the hilt, thank God.

Breathing deep, he opened eyes he hadn’t realized he
’d closed
, but one look at the
wonder on her face
sent him over the edge. Rearing back, he pounded into her. Within seconds her cries punctuated the walls of the room, accompanied by guttural growls he didn’t even recognize from his own throat. All he could focus on was the liqu
id heat of her body, her virgin-
tight
clasp, and the slap of his flesh
against her ass.

Knowing he had only seconds to spare, he shifted his hips, working himself against the front of her passage. It felt so good, so right. She screamed once more in orgasm, her
G
-spot releasing a gush of moisture in gratitude.

He focused on
the pounding of his body into hers
as
his world went supernova. His last thoughts as his body pulsed in ecstasy were of her, and how
incredible she
was.

* * *

A live, naked body was a much more enjoyable way of staying warm than
extra blankets and a kerosene heater.
Damon curved himself
around Tori’s back. The pleasant zing of sensation reminde
d him just how they’d spent the last few hours
.

She shifted,
a bit restless
even after the extent of their activities.
Sleepiness had been driven away by his insistent attention. Maybe small talk would help her drift back to sleep
.

“So tell me more about Ivan the Terrible
,” he said.

“Who?”

“The guy who
wa
s trying so hard to ruin our night.”

“Maybe…” H
e felt her swallow hard before she continued.
Th
is probably hadn’t been his brightest
idea.
“Maybe he’s gone. Why stick around whe
n he knows I’m not alone
?”

“Maybe he didn’t.
Maybe that wasn’t even him at all.
” Her muscles r
elaxed against his chest
, but he just couldn’t keep his mouth shut. He believed in being prepared, after all
. “Then again, maybe he’s even more pissed because now he knows you’ve moved on with your life while he’s been stuck in prison.”

“Thanks,” she drawled, letting the
word spread like melting butter
. “That makes me feel so much better.”

If
he’d
had any energy whatsoever, he’d have smacked the delectable fanny resting against his hip. “Just being practical. That’s all.”

She groaned
instead of continuing the argument
. “How did my routine, predictable life turn into a soap opera?”

“Hey, at least you got lucky.”

L
aughter shook her entire body. “They are constantly jumping into bed in those shows, or
so I’m told. And you are movie-
star quality…”

That left him
sputtering. “Gee, thanks.”

Her amusement
didn’t last for long. “I
thought I’d left all this behind. I should have known that was too good to be true.”

“What do you mean?”

“The drama. Being scared. Being exposed. I just wanted it all to end.”

Damon extended his
arms along hers, tilting her back so her head rested against his shoulder. Even though his instincts screamed at him to stop, he found himself asking, “How did it all start, anyway?”

“It seems like forever ago
,” s
he said, tucking a strand of
hair behind her ear,
out of her way. “I was a junior. He was a senior. H
e was a star player
on the football team, with
several
major SEC colleges
courting him to play.
”
Her voice drifted for a moment
before she mused,
“He was the town’s dream b
oy,
on the verge of making
his mark on the world, so you can imagine what a shock it
was to discover that privately
he
was
a very different person
.”

Oh, he could imagine. Far more than she knew.
“He hit you?”

“Not at first. It was more about telling me what
to do, where to go,
stuff I’ve
since
learned is typical controlling behavior. By the time my parents realized something was wrong, I’d let him take over my entire existence.
When I told him it was over,
he became violent.
”

Images filled his brain of his parents fighting, sc
reaming threats at each other. His father, t
he one with the fists and willingness to use them
,
had always won in their house.

“M
y father took one look at
the bruises on my arms
and marched himself over to
Bobby Joe
’s family home. His parents were well
-known
and well-liked in town, but they wouldn’t have been for
long if the news got
around
that their son was an abuser. So they agreed to keep him away from me until he left for college six months later, in exch
ange for us staying
quiet.”

A grunt slipped out. Relief that she’d had
someone there to protect her, s
omeone strong enough to smother Bobby Joe’s power with his own.

“So it all worked out?” he asked.

“Until the trial.”

Like most places in the S
outh,
a small town in Tennessee
would
n’t look favorably on anyone going after the town’s local football hero.
He imagine
d
the community tried to crucify her when the news broke.

H
e shif
ted, getting another feel of bare skin
. The chuckle that vibrated in her chest broke the serious mood. Damon
lifted onto his elbow to grin down
at her. “What’s so funny, Princess?”

She gestured toward their bodies, now covered only by her microfiber blanket. “I can’t believe I’m having this conversation with you. Naked.”

“What better way to have a conversation?”

Her lashes dipped down, hiding her expression from him.

“You are not at
all what I imagined, Princess,” he said.

She snorted
. “I’m not surprised.”

“What do you mean?”

“Everyone around here has their idea of who I am, who I should be.
First I was the bubb
ly cheerleader, then the spotlight-starved
bitch, and somehow I’m still the helpless little woman life has beaten to a pulp.
”

He was starting to see
how much that must frustrate her. “Yeah, I figured you were the type to date a guy once and rush out to buy the china you’ve had picked out since you were eight
years old
.”

Her voice was small as she asked, “And now?”

“I’m very glad to find out you are completely different than what I imagined.” His hand curved down to cup her rounded ass cheek. “Very glad.”