“I haven’t felt this way since Clarice.” Rudy dipped his head. “She broke my heart when she left me for Blitzen.”
“I’m sorry.”
“She preferred fame and attention over the real me. They deserve each other,” he stated. “But you—you are special.”
“Right. All the extra muchness.” I laughed, heading for the barn again, an awkward silence rubbing at the air. Needing to alter the course we were on, I asked, “When you were sick you kept saying you’re her.” He also said that to me when he came in my visions.
“Ah.” He nodded, strolling with me. “Bit of a hazy time for me.”
“What did you mean?”
“There’s been a rumor, whispers of a fable, most have brushed off as made up. No substantial details, but the gossip has been around for a long time.” He opened the door to the shed, letting me step in first. It was dark and barely the size of a garage, but I doubted we were out here really looking for Santa anyway.
Rudy stepped in after me, pulling on a cord, which lit up the storage barn in a shadowy light. One side had work benches cluttered with tools; otherwise it was stuffed with a broken-down sleigh and clutter.
No Santa.
“The tale has never deviated from the basic story of a girl, full of extra muchness and magic, being the savior of Winterland.”
“Savior.” I guffawed, nerves skipping over my body as he stepped up to me. “If anything, I’ve helped destroy it faster. I’m the reason Jessica got out and can obliterate this place for good.”
“A hero’s story is never a smooth one.” Rudolph cupped my face, his skin as soft as fur. His thumb brushed over my bottom lip.
“I’m no hero.” I gulped at his nearness, my heart fluttering nervously.
“We don’t need a hero. We need you,” he whispered, moving in closer, his mouth only inches from mine. “Tell me, Alice, are you ready to be her?”
Chapter 29
Frozen in place, my answer stuck in my throat as Rudy’s mouth hovered over mine.
“Alice.” He closed the gap, brushing his lips softly across mine.
“Is this what searching for Nick really means?” A deep voice vibrated from the doorway, jolting me back away from Rudy, my neck snapping to the entrance. Scrooge leaned on the frame, arms folded over the white shirt, his expression aloof, but his eyes brewed like a violent storm. Feral and raw. “Silly me, I never thought to look for him down Alice’s throat.”
“Of course. Perfect timing.” Rudy pinched his mouth together, his hand dropping away as he stepped back, irritation huffing through his nose. “I thought you were leaving, my friend? Don’t you need to get going on your journey?”
“You’d like that, huh?” Scrooge replied smoothly, but I could hear the tension, the threat under each syllable. “I can’t leave until we find Nick, or have you forgotten?”
“It’s more that you won’t.” Rudy twisted to face him, but still stayed close to me. “And I think we all know it has nothing to do with finding Nick.”
Scrooge’s gaze leveled on him.
“You had plenty of chances.” Rudy’s hand took mine, Scrooge’s focus dropping to our contact, a barely audible growl thundered from his chest. “But now that I am making my intent clear, now you step up?”
Rudy’s statement jarred me, a rage curling in my chest. Turning, slipping out of Rudy’s grip, I crossed my arms in a challenge. Yeah, what the hell was that about?
“You don’t want her, but no one else can either? Can’t have it both ways, old friend.” Rudy’s head went back, his horns skimming the top of my head. “She is far too remarkable to stay on a shelf. Lovers will come out of the woodwork for her. I plan to stake my claim before they do.”
“Stake your claim?” I frowned. Yes, he was from another time and realm, another species, but his statement still peeved me.
Scrooge’s lips twitched with a glimmer of amusement, but he hadn’t moved from his position at the door.
Rudy wagged his head, disappointment and annoyance rattling through his sigh. Then in a blink, he rounded to me, his hands clutching the sides of my head, his mouth coming down on mine. Claiming. A startled wheeze escaped my throat, parting my lips, letting him deepen the kiss.
I couldn’t deny the zing up my spine, his soft lips dancing over mine, my body responding to his tender kiss.
As fast as the kiss started, it ended. With a roar, Rudy’s frame ripped away from mine, smashing up against the wall. Scrooge strangled his throat, fury blistering off him. The savage man inside fully broke out.
“Don’t fucking touch her,” Scrooge seethed, getting in his face, his grasp tightening. Rudy grappled for air, struggling against Scrooge’s hold.
“Scrooge. Stop.” I lurched to them, trying to pull his hand away, but he didn’t seem to even notice me, his regard fully on Rudy.
“Don’t ever touch her again.”
“You ready to challenge me?” Rudy lifted his chin.
“She is mine. Do you understand me?” He banged him back in the wall, his fingers curling deeper around his throat.
“There he is.” Rudy choked out a laugh, his eyes glistening with what looked like triumph. “I was wondering if he existed anymore. Good to see he’s not completely in the grave.”
“She’s mine?” I sputtered, indignation grinding my teeth, shoving at Scrooge’s arm with little effect. “Fuck you. I am not something to own. You have no say over what or who I do.”
His eyes snapped to me, his nostrils flaring, his irises set on mine with so much force, my lungs stumbled for oxygen.
“Get. Out.” Scrooge rammed Rudy again before dropping his hand away. “Now.”
Coughing, Rudy clutched his throat, sucking in deeply, a strange laugh clattering up from his chest. I could feel his stare landing on me, but anger clouded out everything except Scrooge, my fingers curling up in balls, rage straining my breath.
“GET. OUT,” Scrooge boomed at Rudy, his attention never leaving me, his chest puffing with ire.
I didn’t even notice Rudy exit but heard the door bang closed, leaving us alone, the room suddenly feeling far too small. Scrooge’s hypnotic force had always been too much for one world, blistering and tearing at the seams. Dominating the space.
Ruthlessly, his eyes drilled into me, his muscles vibrating with energy, cutting away the air in my lungs. Quiet and still, as if he were hunting his prey, he took a step forward. Fear and desire fluttered against my bones, not knowing if he wanted to end me or fuck me.
A slow smirk ensnared his lip, as if he could read every nuance. “Yeah. I would love nothing more than to take you out. Send you back to earth where you belong.” He gained another step. I didn’t move, not backing away from his looming figure. “Walk away.”
“Then do it.” I sneered, my neck crunching back as he loomed over me.
His jaw rolled.
“Do it!” I yelled, ramming my palms into his chest. “Do. Fuckin’. Something.” At his silence, I shoved him again, my fury building. “Walk away from me. Go.”
With one swift movement, he cuffed my wrists, shoving me back to the wall with a thud, pinning them beside my head, sparking shivers through my blood.
“I. Can’t,” he growled, his physique flattening against mine, his wrath hissing through his teeth. “I’m revolted. I hate myself… hate you.” His grip strangled my wrists, only stirring my own resentment.
“Good.” I spat at him. “Now get off me.”
“Don’t you want to know why?”
“Not especially.” I tried to wiggle out of his grasp, my knee darting up.
Dodging to the side, my knee clipped his thigh; he tilted his head in warning. “Stop.”
“Screw you.” I shoved against him, trying to get away. “Remember, you can’t tell me what to do. No one owns me but me.”
“Really?” He lowered his head, his words sizzling down my neck, pulsing need through me. “How about I fuck you right here? Stake. My. Claim.”
A
thunder of hate and desire cascaded down on me like a waterfall, abducting logical thought from my head, my body betraying me, curving into his.
“That’s what I thought.” He scraped his teeth up my neck, rumbling in my ear. “Rudy says it and you balk. Deny it all you want, but I can feel how much it turns you on when I do.”
“No.” I tried to refute him, telling him he was wrong.
“Keep lying.” He unclasped on arm, dragging his fingers down my chest, curving around my breast, before trailing down to the tiny shorts, his fingers dragging over me, my breath hitching. “But I can feel how wet you are.”
“You only want me because Rudy showed interest.” I glared at him; my free hand dropped to my side but didn’t stop him. “Don’t like when someone plays with your toy?”
“I have no doubt Rudy wants you, but he did that to provoke me. Wake me up,” Scrooge seethed, his fingers dipping inside the shorts, finding me bare. “Fuck.” He hissed, his fingers slipping deeper.
My mouth parted, my head spinning with his touch, my thighs opening for him. “Oh god.”
“I’ve always wanted to fuck you. That’s not the problem.” He rubbed faster, his teeth clenching like he was angry at me for that. “I told you I loved my wife. And that was true…” He let go of my other arm, using his free hand to rip the shorts down my legs. “What I left out was what I feel for you. It’s not even in the same universe as her.”
Fire flamed up my legs, my back arching, moving against his fierce rhythm, my nerves sparking and tightening, my chest heaving with need.
“I abandoned her, Alice. I loved her but was still able to walk away.” Animosity was thick in his voice. “Didn’t even fight when she needed me the most.” He snarled, feral and wild, flames burning in his pupils. “Then you come along… and I almost ripped apart the world to get to you when Jessica took you. Nothing… I mean nothing… would have stopped me from finding you. Even the chance at a life with my son. So yeah…” He curled his fingers inside me, blistering dots behind my lids.
“Scrooge.” I say his name in a plea, my orgasm just hinting on the horizon.
He pulled his hand away, my body groaning with the need to feel him again, for him to never stop. His eyes on me, he grumbled with possessiveness, heating every fiber in my being. “I want to hate you. Hate myself. She was my wife… but the thought of anything happening to you? If Blitzen had taken you instead?” He gripped my hair into his fist, yanking my head back, his mouth inches from mine. “I would obliterate everything.”
Seizing my hips, he tossed me on top the front of the sleigh, his hands ripping my shorts the rest of the way off, along with my boots. Spreading my legs, he stepped between them, my thighs clasping his hips as his lips crashed down on mine with a savage hunger.
Anger. Desire. Hate. Need. They all whipped together in a squall, crackling the air and tunneling our passion with frantic need. Biting. Tugging. Nipping. His mouth possessive, consuming me as much as I was him. Fiercely we demanded more as we kissed, needing to be closer.
We had created the perfect storm, thundering passion in the air like electricity, zapping the ground, burning everything in our path.
Pulling away, I ripped his shirt over his head, his torso flexing as he sucked in air before his mouth claimed mine in a bruising force.
My hands tugged at the drawstring, the red pants falling to the floor. Oh, Christmas Tree… this man should be naked all the time. I didn’t hesitate, my fingers curling around him, moving up and down his shaft. Silky and hot, it pulsed in my grip.
“Alice.” Moaning against my mouth, his teeth sank into my bottom lip, his hips jerking forward, his breath growing heavier. Leaning over, my mouth ran down his abs, licking the tip of him. “Shit.” His knuckles raked through my hair. A groan shook the barn when my mouth wrapped around his dick. Loving the feel, the control I wielded, I took more.
Normally this wasn’t my favorite thing to do at all with men, but with him, I didn’t feel cheap or degraded. I felt powerful and strong with the way his body reacted, his breath strained, the moans vibrating through him.
“Alice.” His fingers tugging on my hair, trailing beautiful pain down my body. “Stop.” He pulled me back, his scorching blue eyes met mine, his chest puffing up. Roughly he yanked my tank over my head, unclasping my bra, both dropping to the ground. His hands glided up from my stomach to my breasts, his thumb flicking over a pert nipple. I leaned back on my elbows, my back arching as his tongue wrapped around my breast, nipping and sucking.
My body felt like it was alive with electricity, snapping and sizzling.
“Scrooge.” I lifted my hips, brushing against his erection, the feel of him trembling my muscles. We had been this close before and were stopped. Nothing in the world would stop me now. Not even if Jessica walked in.
The bitch could watch.
“Scrooge.” My voice was hoarse with need. “I want you deep inside me. Fucking me completely senseless,” I twisted words he had once used on me as a taunt.
He leaned back, his eyes savage and brutal. “Be careful what you ask for, Ms. Liddell.”
“I didn’t ask.” I pushed at his torso. “I demanded.”
His chest stilled. For a beat the air held its breath. Growling, he pushed my spine back on the sleigh, pinning my arms to the red sled. Fiercely he rolled his hips, dragging himself through me, blistering my flesh, and flaming my nerves. My head dug into the metal, my back curving and lifting for more of him.
“Scrooge!”
He curved over me, his arms on either side of my head, crushing himself harder into me. His tongue wrapped around mine as he inhaled me, the tip of him entering me, my knees digging into his sides. Then he thrust into me, my nails clawing at the chipped paint as he filled me.
I gasped loudly. Holy bleeping nutcracker.
He hissed, brutally clutching my hips as he pulled out and slammed back in, wrenching a moan from my lips. “Fuck!” he bellowed, plunging into me again, forcing a loud cry from my lungs. I didn’t seem to have any control over the sounds originating from me. A current ran up my legs, exploding inside me, dotting my vision. “Holy shit. You feel so good.” He grunted, pulling my leg up, sinking in deeper.
No words made it out of my mouth. I could only feel. Gasping and clawing, I bucked against him, meeting his intensity with my own, feeling him throbbing inside me, my heart pounding in my ears, losing my breath as he pushed in deeper.
Our frantic rhythm crashed against the wall, ricocheting off the metal, my skin rubbing against the sleigh, sounding even louder.
Nothing I had ever known came close to the feel of him inside me. The utter bliss plucked all lucidity from me, his size feeling like it could split me into a thousand elated pieces, and I only wanted more.
“Harder!” I matched his ferociousness, challenging the violence of his thrusts. “Fuck me.”
He snarled moving deeper, picking up speed, creating another cry from me. My body was overloaded with sensations, blistering with heat. I could feel the orgasm coming, my body clenching, wanting everything from him. To reach the crest.
But I never wanted this to end.
As if he could feel it coming too, he pulled out.
“Nooo.” I barely got out before he yanked me up, spinning me around, his hand on my spine, flattening me over the workbench, my breasts pressing into the woodchips, only arousing my sensitive nipples.
“I’m not done with you,” he rumbled in my ear, seizing my hips. He slammed back inside me, a brash moan hitched in my throat, tears collecting at the corner of my eyes from the pure pleasure.
“Don’t stop!” I cried, my fingers wrapping around hooks on the tool wall.
“Liked being fucked where children’s toys have been made?” He pressed me down harder, creating more pain and friction across my breasts, my body trembling with the high to feel ever more. “Say it, Alice. You are as dark and twisted as me. Enjoy being on the naughty list, don’t you?”
“Yes.” I pushe
d back into him.
“I told you there were a lot of dirty things I wanted to do to you. And this doesn’t even skim the surface.” One hand moved around to my front around my neck, the other finding my core.
“Ahhh…” I croaked, my back bowing, the orgasm running along the rim, my body greedy and pulsing.
Scrooge hissed, unleashing on me. Punishing. Vicious. Ferocious.
I lost my grip, my muscles freezing as my body took a running dive over the ledge, a cry bursting from my throat.
Like a million twinkle lights busting behind my lids, a volt electrocuted every cell in my body. My body splintered, clamping him like a vise. Waves and pulses bowled through me, trampling me under the bliss. I felt as if I burst into confetti, sprinkling out over the universe.
A deafening roar came from behind me, he drove so deep, my body quaked, flooding me with more ecstasy as he pulsed inside me. Hot and claiming.
His chest sagged into my back, our skin sticky with sweat, both of us gulping for air. Neither of us moved as we came down to the ground.
“That-that was…” I swallowed, my throat dry and raw. “…cranberry sauce.”
“My sentiments exactly.” His mouth brushed my temple before he pushed off me, sliding out. The instant he was gone, I wanted him back, though I could still feel him, his claim on every bit of my skin.
And I didn’t care.
Gripping onto the table, I turned around, my legs wobbly. “Santa’s sleigh…”
“Yeah, we fucked on there too.” He snorted, stepping back up to me. Clasping my face, he kissed me so deeply I lost all sense of time and space.
“Jesus, if I’d known you would feel like that.” His mouth skated over mine, heating my veins again. “Actually, it might have been better if I still didn’t know.”
“What?” I jerked my head back.
A slow bad-boy grin slid over his mouth. “Because I’m going to be utterly useless… this might become a problem.”
“Why?”
He backed me against the table, his frame pressing into mine. “The fact there is a war nipping at our heels, and all I want for Christmas is to be inside you. Incessantly.”
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