Jude nodded thoughtfully. “Unfortunately, word isn’t spreading quite quickly enough.”
“Not yet.” Her green eyes glinted, and she ate a fry. “It will, though. We just need to give it a little boost.”
“What will you be doing this afternoon?”
“Lining up someone to make the billboard sign, then talk to the people that own it. The sooner we can get that up, the sooner the folks will stop by.”
“As I’m your bodyguard,” Jude said with a grin, “I expect I will lie on the sofa in your office and watch you work.”
“I don’t think you need to worry while I’m here,” Natalie protested. “You should spend time doing touristy things.”
“Like what?”
“Take your bike and go to the lake,” she suggested. “Hike along the trail in the woods. It’s a very beautiful place to visit.”
“Sounds boring to me. I’ll perhaps take a nap.”
“Suit yourself. But I don’t think I need to be guarded in here. Not with all these people around.”
Chapter Five
The truck raced toward her, its engine screaming. No, she tried to shriek, panic freezing her in place. The truck hit her dead on; she felt herself flying through the air to crash—
Natalie woke covered in sweat, breathing in harsh ragged gasps. The nearly full moon rode high in the deep night sky, gleaming in through her windows with enough power to illuminate the place. Sitting up in bed, she swiped her damp hair from her face. Slinging it over her shoulder, she clutched her knees to her chest, shivering despite the warm night.
That was way too real. If not for Jude, I’d be dead right now. While maintaining a cheerful attitude through the rest of the day and into the evening with Jude, Natalie covered the sick feeling in her stomach at how closely she had felt death’s fingertips. She hid her internal fears and thoughts of death from the staff and guests as well as Jude, yet the shudders came when she recalled the savage grill heading straight for her.
Climbing out of bed, clad in an oversized shirt Jimmy had left behind, Natalie pulled on her jeans and sneakers. The clock read just after three in the morning, and all her guests slept comfortably. She thought of going to Jude’s room with a request for him to hold her for a while but feared he would misconstrue her intentions.
“Why should he have to suffer from my insomnia?” she asked herself as she opened the door that led from her private residence to the main lodge.
She and her parents had lived in the house attached to the rear of the lodge, a three-bedroom, two-bathroom, with a spacious kitchen and dining room as well as two sitting rooms. Now she lived there alone among the memories and the pictures of her family, all long dead. She hated to think of herself as the very last, but in truth, she was. Until she had children, Natalie was the last of her line and the final owner of the Buck’s Head.
The end to both nearly happened today.
Stopping by the bar, Natalie poured herself a glass of wine, then crossed the nearly dark dining room and let herself out onto the porch. The air, cool and moist, felt good on her sweaty skin. Insects chirped in the grass and bushes, and an owl hooted from a tree close by. Sitting at a table near the railing, Natalie leaned back in her chair to enjoy the profound quiet, the light of the moon playing across the sprawling lawns.
A fox trotted across the grass near the parking lot, not realizing she was there. Natalie smiled a little as she watched it sniffing for mice or voles, then move on a little further, pausing to scratch at the grass. Not daring to move, she watched it, enjoying the sight of it so close.
The fox looked up, then around, its ears perked in sudden suspicion. Wondering if it sensed her, Natalie barely breathed. In a flash, it ran not away from her, but toward her, and vanished into the bushes beside the porch. Disappointed it fled, she wondered what could have spooked it, for she saw and heard nothing. And if it scented her, why would it run toward her and not away?
Peering intently toward the bushes where it had gone, Natalie half saw something blot the moonlight out for a brief second. On her feet instantly, she leaned on the railing, gazing up into the sky. Again, she saw and heard something. “What was that?” she murmured, unable to stop looking for whatever it was.
It could not have been an owl or an eagle; they cross the moonlight, but they don’t blot it out. A plane she would have heard. What can be that big? Uneasiness took hold of her when she realized the insects had stopped their pleasant chirps. The moonlight flooded the entire lawn and parking lot, yet nothing at all moved.
Having been raised in these woods, her grandfather taught her about predators and prey and explained that there was little that would harm her. Keep your senses about you, and know what can and can’t hurt you. Cougars used to prowl the woods, but none had been sighted for years. Bears were common enough, but as Natalie practiced safe disposal of garbage, there wasn’t much to attract a bear to the lodge.
At least until the branches in the forest behind the building broke and snapped under a terrible weight. Natalie’s blood ran cold. Surely that’s just a bear walking through the woods. The door to the lodge was a few feet behind her. She could nip behind it the instant a bear showed its face in the moonlight.
Frozen, listening, watching, trying to scent the night as the wild things do, Natalie waited for the presence to show itself. The sound of the twigs and branches breaking continued for several minutes, as though something huge moved within it. A wild thought of the old Native American superstition raced through her head—the Wendigo was said to walk through these woods.
I don’t believe in the Wendigo. But whatever is back there is huge. Silence returned to the night save for the occasional car driving past on the highway, its headlights stabbing the dark. The insects didn’t resume their chirps, nor did the fox come back. Still frozen in place, Natalie gave a tiny scream when the shadow walked around the corner.
She bolted for the door, thinking of the guns hidden in the safe in her office. As the shadow was of a man-shape, she had thoughts of Lloyd Peterson coming to kill her. She had barely gotten through it when a voice asked, “Natalie?”
Jude.
Panting in her terror, Natalie stopped, turning back just as he reached the porch. Keeping her voice down, she screamed at him in a near whisper. “What the fuck are you doing? You scared the shit out of me.”
“Sorry.”
Jude climbed the steps, chuckling under his breath. “It was such a beautiful night; I had to get out for a while.”
Trying to slow her breathing, her rapid pulse, she grabbed a hold of his arm. “Was there a bear back that way?” she hissed. “You need to be careful in the forest; bears can attack if you piss them off.”
“Why do you think there’s a bear?” he asked, and in the moonlight, she saw his smile fade.
“I heard noises. I’m sure it was a bear, a big one by the sound.”
“If there was, it was gone before I got here.”
Sitting back down in her chair, Natalie took a long drink of her wine. Jude joined her, his eyes still on her face. “That thing in the woods scared you?” he asked.
“I’m pretty used to the wildlife,” she said, feeling her racing heart quiet. Yet the insects remained eerily silent. “But bears don’t usually make that much noise, and by the sound, it made me think of the Wendigo.”
“The Wendigo?”
She laughed. “An old monster that is supposed to walk these woods. A legend.”
“Well, I assure you I saw no bear and no monster out there tonight.” Jude added his quiet laughter to hers. He gestured toward the wine. “Is there more where that came from?”
Natalie waved her hand. “Go in and pour for yourself. In fact, bring me another.”
She watched his big shadow enter the lodge and took another long drink from her glass, draining it. By the time he returned with glasses and a bottle, her shakes were nearly gone. “Thanks,” she told him as he poured wine for the two of them.
“You’ll have to tell me the stor
y of this Wendigo,” Jude commented, stretching out and putting his boots up on the railing.
“I don’t know much,” she replied, once again enjoying the night’s quiet. “Just that it’s an old Native American legend my grandfather told me about once.”
“I should think old legends would be fascinating.”
“I agree. I just don’t have the time to look into them. But there are plenty of old farts around this area that can fill your ears with stories.”
“Old farts?”
Natalie laughed at his quaint ignorance. “Old people.”
“Oh. Right.”
“Just ask and they’ll burn your ears for hours.”
A comfortable silence fell between them; Natalie sipped her wine while staring up at the moon. She pondered asking him what might have crossed it to blot it out, what could possibly be that big, then decided not to. She didn’t want to break the quiet with absurd questions.
Knowing the hour crept toward four in the morning, and that she needed to be up early, Natalie decided she should go back to bed. Standing, she set her empty glass on the table and opened her mouth to wish him a good night.
His grip on her hand pulled her down into his lap. “Hey,” she began in protest, but he pulled her to his chest with a strength she couldn’t deny, and kissed her. All rational thought fled under the sweetness, the passion, the pure erotic sensations of his mouth on hers. His tongue pushed past her lips, teased her, aroused her as Jimmy’s kisses never had.
I shouldn’t let him do this. That random thought vanished as his hand on her breast felt so right, so perfect, Natalie sighed into his mouth and leaned into him. His other hand slid under her hair to her neck, adjusting the slant of his mouth on hers. Delicious heat spread from between her legs and settled in her lower belly.
Jude let her mouth go long enough to murmur, “Do you want this?”
Taking her hand, he pushed it under her body to his crotch. The thing beneath his zipper felt enormous under her fingers, and moisture flooded her panties. She tried to find a flippant quip as an answer to that, but then she merely whispered, “Yes.”
“Your place or mine?” His low chuckle almost sounded like the deep-throated purr of a big cat.
“Mine.”
Natalie slid off of him to feet that felt numb as Jude stood up. His arm around her waist steadied her as they walked through the door. She paused to lock it, thinking of the things outside in the woods, then took his hand. Leading him through the darkness to her house, she knew her way in almost pitch darkness.
As she hadn’t turned on any lights when she went outside, there were none to flick off. In the silence and dark, Natalie guided him to her bed and sat down on the edge. In the golden glow of the moon, Jude undressed slowly, pulling off his shirt to throw aside and unzipping his jeans to push down his muscular thighs.
Freeing his manhood, Jude stood naked and magnificent in front of her, his shaft sticking straight out from his loins. Gaping at its size, Natalie ran her fingers up and down its long thick length, wondering if she could take all that within her.
Jimmy was puny by most standards, and it has been a long time for me. As she caressed him, Natalie felt her mound throb with that ancient need, the erotic desire to be possessed by a man. Lying back on the bed, she let Jude undress her. Within moments, his strong hands stripped her naked, and she up gazed at the muscular form looming over her.
In the faint light of the moon, she saw his bulging muscles, his chest with his massive pectorals, and biceps. His flat belly rippled with taut muscle, and she wondered how often, how much, he worked out to maintain all that manly perfection.
“Oh, my,” she whispered. “Are you a god?”
Jude chuckled. “Not quite.”
He lifted her so that she lay lengthwise on the bed, then lay down beside her. He propped his head on his arm, gazing down at her as his hand slowly caressed up and down her body. “You are so beautiful,” she said, running her fingers up and down those mighty pecs.
“That word is reserved for you.”
His skin was so warm, like it held its own heat, and as smooth as a baby’s bottom. He had no chest hair, and very little pubic hair, and nothing in between. She liked his sweet gentleness, his quirky smile as he gazed at her. Jimmy seldom waited until she was aroused before shoving between her legs.
He was a wham, bam, thank ya, ma’am lover. He would mount her with hardly a thought to her comfort, much less her pleasure, and she hoped, with Jude’s huge member, he would be slow and gentle with her. A small trickle of fear ran through her as she thought of Jude shoving that into her without a care.
She almost backed out, told him no. But then he leaned over to kiss her, and all thoughts of backing out fled. His touch, his lips on hers, his tongue aroused her more than she thought she could ever be. His hand swept down her stomach to the curve of her hip before tenderly crossing her loins to her mound.
When his finger dipped between her moist labia to play with her nib, she almost jumped from the shock. Not a cruel shock, one of pain, but one of such intense pleasure that she moaned against his mouth and arched her back into his hand. Natalie spread her legs wide, hoping he would venture further in.
Jude did. While his fingers blew her mind, he rolled half on top of her, his weight pinning her firmly to the mattress. That he dominated her with his sheer sexual masculinity didn’t bother her a bit. In fact, it added to her excitement and spoke to a deep inner need she never knew she had.
“Take me,” she moaned into his mouth.
“Not yet.”
Her hands restless in his thick hair, Natalie pulled him in closer, feeling his heat bring sweat to her pores. She wanted him so badly, wanted him to mount her, to plunge that thick shaft deep into her. Instead, he drove her crazy with need, playing her body as another man might play the guitar.
At last, he rolled onto her fully, spreading her legs wider with his knees. Natalie bucked her hips upward at the first push of his shaft into her tunnel. She gasped at the whirling sensations as he slowly worked that massive organ deeper and deeper into her. Unbelieving, she felt him all the way inside her, her nest walls spread to the max, and it never hurt at all.
Jude slid his hands beneath her ass to lift her as he started to thrust in and out. Natalie cried out at the sheer wash of pleasure that he wrung from her, and she felt the shiver as she struck a climax almost right away. Her mouth wide as she sucked in air; her mound quaked and undulated under the force of her orgasm.
It didn’t end there. Jude bucked his hips, driving himself deeper and deeper, his gasps harsh in her ear. Under his onslaught, her ecstasy rose again, wrenching her to new heights of erotic sensations. “I’m there,” she half choked. “I’m there; oh, God.”
This time, as her inner walls shuddered under the force of her climax, she felt Jude stiffen on top of her, his thrusts slowing, his hot semen blasting into her body. He jerked once, twice, then gave a long groan into her ear as he slowly relaxed on top of her.
Lying under him, Natalie languished in the throes of sweet, after-great-sex languor, hoping he wouldn’t move. But he did, rolling off of her, his deflated rod pulling from her. His strong arm pulled her in close to him, snuggling against her back as she settled into the curve of his body.
She was asleep within minutes.
Chapter Six
When Jude woke, the bright sunlight streamed in through the windows, all but blinding him as he lifted his head, squinting, and discovered he was alone in Natalie’s bed. Closing his eyes against the morning’s brightness, he relished the memory of her body under his, her tight tunnel that almost had him exploding the instant he filled her, and the memory of the pleasure they brought each other.
“What a lusty wench,” he sighed with a chuckle. “I could do that all day long with her and never get tired.”
Suspecting she had risen not long before, as the shower steam had yet to fully disperse, Jude rolled, yawning, out of the bed. His instincts told him sh
e had left the house, probably even now wandered from table to table to make sure her guests were happy. Under a jaw-cracking yawn, Jude wandered, naked, into the big bathroom and started the shower.
Before the mirror steamed over, he turned to peer at his back. In less than twenty-four hours, his wounds were already half-healed. He felt hardly any pain at all as he stepped into the hot blast of water and soaped himself with Natalie’s body wash.
Washed and dressed, his hair still damp and with hunger gnawing at his belly, he entered the dining room. Natalie made her usual rounds among the tables, yet raised a smile when she caught sight of him. Jude sat down at the table he had begun to think of as theirs just as a waitress set down water before him.
Natalie joined him to sit. “The usual, Jane, thanks,” she said to the waitress. “For both of us.”
Jude admired her oval face, the jade eyes, and the thick red braid that hung over her shoulder and concealed a breast. “Just what is the usual?” he asked, smiling into her eyes.
“Bacon, hash browns, toast, juice, and coffee,” she replied, her slow smile making his crotch feel tight.
“Sounds good to me.”
Oddly, Natalie suddenly blushed a bright and endearing pink, and he had no doubt she thought about their lovemaking only a few hours before. “I hardly know you,” she murmured, staring down at the napkins and utensils.
“And this means what?” he asked. “You regret it?”
“No.” She glanced back up at him. “I just don’t want you to think that I—you know—with every stag that comes along.”
Reaching across the table, Jude took her hand. “I don’t. I could tell it had been a while for you. I do not think the less of you for making love to me.”
“Jimmy was my first and only,” she confessed, unable to meet his eyes. “He wasn’t a good lover. He broke my heart.”
“Hey, Natalie.” Jude had no idea what to say to that and gazed at her stricken expression, her attempt to smile. “If he broke your heart, then he’s an idiot. He should have counted himself the luckiest man alive, and cherished you as the treasure you are.”
Dragon Fever: Limited Edition Holiday Romance Boxset Page 4