He reared back. Fuck, fuck, fuck. Have I learned nothing? “Sorry.”
Hollie stood panting in front of him, lips kiss-swollen, dark eyes wide. “What for?”
He clenched his fingers inside his gloves. “I was too rough. I should have asked. I—”
“Oh shut up.” She slung her arms around his neck and stared into his eyes. “I thought you’d stabbed me or something and I hadn’t noticed yet. Don’t spoil the best kiss I’ve ever had.”
Something thawed in his heart, an ice crystal melting as it had for the boy in the fairy story.
“Make the next one even better,” she whispered. “Or was it a one off, never to be repeated?” She let her arms fall, confusion written on her face. “God, sorry. You don’t have to do it again, obviously. You’ve probably got a special someone you save your kisses for. That one just snuck away from you before you could stop it.”
He should have silenced her with a kiss, but he was too busy staring at her lips, her cute face, that cold nose.
“No girlfriend, no wife, no one.”
“That’s….” She pressed her lips together.
“What?”
“Sad. And good, obviously.”
Nick laughed.
“I want….” She gulped. “To make snowmen.”
They both knew that wasn’t what she’d intended to say.
Hollie’s heart was so busy doing cartwheels in her chest it forgot to pump blood to her head. Giddy with lust, she still couldn’t make that final hop, skip and a jump into his arms. Flirting was fun, but she needed this flirting to go somewhere and not fizzle out like a damp squib. Did Nick want her to lead the way? She wasn’t sure she could.
She began to roll a ball of snow and imagined going to bed with him. After all, having sex with a stranger had been the plan for tonight, but she no longer cared about who might or might not be waiting at Mulbery Manor. Madame Eve had taken all her details and matched her with a guy, but Hollie had found her own and somehow that was so much better.
Hollie maneuvered her oversized roulade up close to Nick’s monstrous ball of snow and then went to roll another.
“Mine’s bigger than yours,” he called.
“Bigger’s not always best. It might collapse under its own weight.”
“Don’t tell me size doesn’t matter,” he shot back and she laughed.
She hadn’t had so much fun in ages. She was tired of her life being so predictable, tired of going to bed alone and waking up alone. She was Miss Organized and Boring, and she wanted to be Miss Spontaneous and Exciting. All her life Hollie had dreamed of being passionately, madly, deeply in love. Was that what she felt? Could Nick be—?
Idiot.
Nothing like zooming so far ahead of herself as to go into orbit. Why should this night with Nick be any different from the one-night stand she’d anticipated? The whole point of this trip had been to be daring, to risk this one flirt with danger that she hoped would lead to bed because she’d probably never see the guy again. No matter how much she might wish this was the start of something between her and Nick, the chances were it wouldn’t be. They’d have their night together and tomorrow, they’d go their own way. Well, after they’d reached the main road.
She heaved her second ball of snow on top of her first and packed around the base.
“Want me to give you a hand?” she asked when she saw the size of Nick’s second ball.
They lifted it into place together. His figure towered over hers.
“You’ll only be able to put a very small head on yours,” she said. “A pea-brained snowman. Mine will be a cerebral snowwoman.”
He rolled his eyes.
Finally they’d each piled up three balls of snow, her figure leaning toward his. She gave hers a snowy nose, a smiling mouth, and fashioned small breasts with nipples. When she saw his, she burst out laughing. He’d fashioned an enormous, sticking-out cock and balls.
“Hey, you can’t laugh at a guy’s tackle,” Nick said. “You’ll give him a complex.”
The long spike of snow fell off and she laughed harder. “You do realize you’ve something to prove now.”
He stepped up to her. “Going to let me?”
The lump in her throat grew like the snow ball she’d rolled. “Not if you’re that big or if you can’t last longer than two seconds.”
He wrapped his hand around hers and growled, “Want to find out?”
Ribbons of heat spiraled through her. She found herself nodding, Miss Reckless overruling Miss Sensible.
***
They reached the farmhouse still holding hands and Hollie wished it had been warm enough to lose the gloves because she wanted her fingers entwined with Nick’s. They’d chatted and laughed all the way back, but as they removed wet outer clothes, her nerves ate her words.
He followed her up the stairs and she wondered if he could hear her heart pounding. When she reached the bedroom door, her fingers trembled as she wrapped them around the handle. His hand settled on hers and her panties dampened. Damn, I’ve got it bad.
“Look at me,” he whispered.
She turned. He looked—oh God—hungry, excited, and a bit scared which more or less echoed how she felt.
Nick twisted a lock of her hair in his fingers. “We can step back from this. You don’t have to do anything that makes you feel uncomfortable.”
“Don’t ask me to put my legs around the back of my neck. I can do it, but it’s not comfortable.”
He tugged her hair and stared into her eyes. “Hollie.”
She took a deep breath. “I understand what we’re doing. A moment snatched, an opportunity taken. A new year starts tomorrow, but this day is ours. No regrets, no recriminations, no remorse.” Of course, I’ll have all three.
She twisted the handle and opened the door.
“Bloody hell.” She felt her jaw drop and clamped her lips together.
The room was magnificent. Not just a bedroom, but a sitting room with couches and a log fire, fat white candles burning on the mantelpiece. She glanced around but despite her bold words, couldn’t bring herself to look toward the white elephant in the room. In the fantasy she’d described for Madame Eve, Hollie had specified furious passion, a ripping of clothes, frantic coupling, but now the thought of it scared her witless. She headed for the picture window and stared out onto a monochromatic landscape, the light fading as snow fell again.
Nick came up behind her and she quivered as his breath hit her skin. When he licked her neck, a low moan escaped her throat. He played with her ear, nipping, laving, sucking, and then slid his hands beneath her sweater, under her T-shirt, and inside her bra. His hands settled around her breasts and her knees turned to jelly.
“I have a confession,” he whispered, his fingers teasing her nipples while the hard ridge of his cock prodded her backside.
That doesn’t sound good. She braced herself for a problem.
“I haven’t had sex in a year.”
Oh God. Don’t ask why. “Didn’t want to?” Damn, shut up.“Couldn’t? In prison? Abducted by aliens? Oh shit. Forget I asked.”
Nick laughed. “I wanted to warn you I might be—a little fast.”
Hollie didn’t miss that he hadn’t given her an answer.
His hand slid between her legs and through the material of her pants, he pressed hard against her sex as he rocked her against his cock. She stiffened and in a sudden shower of sensation, as a long groan issued from her lips, she broke like a cloudburst.
OhGodohGodohGodohGod. “Sorry.”
“Hollie.” He exhaled her name and she felt his chest shake against her back as he chuckled. “Sorry is not the right word.”
She leaned back and looked up at him. “Thank you?”
Nick smiled as he flicked open the button on her pants and slid the zipper down. “Christ, women are lucky. I wish I could come and come and come.”
She reached behind and danced her fingers onto his butt. “That was it. I’m done for the night.”
He laughed into her hair, but actually she was serious. Nick slid his fingers inside her panties and his breathing turned ragged.
“Shaved?” he whispered. “You sexy little thing.”
Four perfect words to revive her libido. Hollie didn’t remember when she’d last taken a breath. He touched her damp folds and jumpstarted her lungs and everything else. She sucked in a noisy gulp and trembled as sneaky tendrils of heat began to creep through her, her body winding up again. Oh wow.
“Are you going to come and come and come, sweetheart?”
Please. Please. Please.
Nick’s finger circled her clit and if he hadn’t been holding her with his other hand, she would have collapsed. She leaned into him and clutched his butt. The feel of his ragged breath against her ear made her wetter, hotter, more desperate. She chewed her lip as his finger played in her folds and then slipped inside her.
“Oh God,” he muttered.
His hips flexed into her backside, gently rocking into her, and he did some magic with his finger and thumb that forced weird little cries from Hollie’s throat, sounds she’d never heard herself make before. Heat pooled low in her belly and she came again, fizzing like shaken champagne.
“Hollie, Hollie.” He pressed his face into her hair.
That was a relief. For a moment, she hadn’t been able to remember her name.
Chapter Four
Despite the haze of lust swamping his brain, Nick managed to pull himself back from the humiliation of coming in his pants. But it had been a close thing. He needed a minute—or ten—while he charged back outside and lay face down in the snow. Except that might not work.
Hollie stepped forward, kicked off the slippers, then shucked off her pants and T-shirt. He swallowed his drool. Even in the low light he could see she had a gorgeous figure, rounded in the right places, a cute butt, and legs that went on and on. When she turned to look at him, he had to grab his balls and squeeze hard. He’d held her breasts, but he hadn’t seen them and he couldn’t remember why he’d ever thought he liked them big. Hers were beautiful. Smooth, round, topped with dark nipples, and a perfect fit for his hands.
He pretended the clutch at his groin was an attempt to unzip, stepped out of his pants and then peeled off his shirt to stand in tented boxers.
As Hollie reached for him, he snagged her wrist. “Careful. Remember the snowman?”
She laughed. “Let’s see if you melt in the shower.”
They headed for the bathroom and stumbled to a halt.
“Wow,” she gasped.
Glittering tea lights littered every flat surface. The bath was a huge roll-top that would easily take two. On the other side of a wall of glass, hurricane lamps were set in the snow leading to a hot tub, water vapor billowing into the sky. Tempting. Nick preferred to stay inside yet knew he’d follow her anywhere.
She pushed the door open, sucked in a breath at the blast of icy air, and walked onto the deck. Each step in the snow was accompanied by yelps of “Cold. Cold. Cold,” until she clambered into the tub and squealed, “Hot, hot, hot.” He chuckled as he slid in after her.
“Bliss.” She leaned back, only her head out of the water, her face tilted to the falling snow.
Flakes caught on her hair and eyelashes and he was struck with such an intense burst of longing, his chest ached. He was also caught up in an internal debate over whether to tell her the truth about why he’d been celibate for a year. So much for putting it behind him.
This wasn’t the moment, but then when was?
Hollie slithered round on the underwater ledge to sit next to him and took hold of his hand. “I can’t think of a better way to spend New Year’s Eve, but I’m sorry if I spoiled your plans by plowing into your expensive car.”
“You’ve spoiled nothing.” But maybe he was about to. He kissed a melting snowflake from her cheek. “I should tell you why I haven’t had sex for twelve months then you can decide whether you want this to go any further.” He took a deep breath. “This time last year I was at a work party in a London club. I had sex in a cloakroom with a woman I’d only just met. I used a condom, and went home alone. A few hours later, I was dragged out of bed by the police and charged with rape.”
When he felt Hollie’s hand tighten around his, his throat closed up.
“I won’t bore you with the details of what followed, but I didn’t rape her. Eventually, the charge was dropped. By then I’d lost my job and several of my friends, and I’d turned my parents’ lives upside down. The woman was married, though she’d told me she was single. Someone saw us coming out of the cloakroom and informed her husband. She noticed the guy, knew he’d rat her out, and so she slapped herself around. She shoved something inside her to make it look as though I’d…forced her. It was months before she admitted the truth.”
Hollie clutched his fingers harder. “Oh my God.”
“Even then I kept thinking—did I force her? Was I so drunk I missed hearing no? I’ve never hit a woman in my life, but did I push her too hard into saying yes?”
Hollie climbed onto his lap, perched with her knees on either side of his thighs, and cupped his face. “Let it go.”
A muscle twitched in his cheek. “Like my friends let it go?”
“They weren’t friends you lost, not if they didn’t believe you.”
He clenched his jaw. “The bitch ruined my fucking life.”
“No.” She put her finger on his lips. “Damaged, not ruined. That must have been awful. For a woman you’d only just met to do that? She was evil. You’re not a bad guy.”
“Apart from the homicidal mania and cannibalism.”
She smiled. “Oh yeah, I forgot about those.” She snuggled closer. “I was looking forward to being eaten. My last selfless act.”
He swallowed hard. “So you’re okay with my shady past?”
She flicked his head three times with her finger and thumb. “Stop beating yourself up.”
“Ouch. Stop beating me up.”
She tipped her head back and laughed which gave him the perfect opportunity to home in on her breast. A tug on the bra and he latched onto her nipple. The next thing he knew they were underwater, Hollie yanking at his boxers while he tried to suck her breast. It was a hard decision—keep sucking or drown. They flailed and surfaced time after time, laughing and coughing as they lost their underwear, each piece tossed out into the night sky. Then the little minx managed to get her mouth around his cock and Nick froze in a tub of hot water.
I am not going to come.
I am not going to come.
As his toes curled and his fists clenched, Hollie surfaced for air and beamed at him. “I won.”
He laughed. “What was the game?”
“First to stop the other moving.”
“You could have told me.”
She frowned. “Didn’t I? Maybe I was just thinking it.”
“Let’s go inside.”
“You first.”
Idiotically, he thought she was shy—until the snowball splattered on his butt. But instead of throwing one back at her, he slipped through the glass doors and shut her out. Hollie jumped through the snow and pressed her lips to the glass, then her breasts. When she turned to moon him, he laughed, opened the door, and yanked her inside.
He eased his hands around her throat, stroked her jawbone with his thumbs and as he bent to kiss her, she released a handful of melting snow onto his back.
“Arrghh. You little—”
She caught his hand, licked up the arch of his thumb, and he forgot what he’d been going to say. She sucked one finger then two into her mouth and let them slide in and out. Almost instantly, his balls felt ready to burst. He didn’t realize she’d maneuvered him to the bed until he collided with it and landed on his back. When she knelt between his legs, he stopped breathing.
Hollie put his hand on his cock. “Stop yourself coming.”
Right. Nick leaned up on his elbows and stared at the offending organ. “
You heard what the nice lady said. Don’t let me down.”
She sniggered, and then ran her tongue over her upper lip. Shit. Everything she did turned him on. Even breathing. He wrapped his hand around the base of his dick and squeezed.
He closed his eyes. If he looked at her, he’d come even sooner. Count backwards in sevens from two hundred. One hundred and…oh shit. Nick breathed deep as she trailed her tongue down the sensitive underside of his cock and back to the top to run it around and around the crest. She peeled his fingers away and replaced them with hers in a gentle hold that increased the likelihood of him erupting any second.
“Tighter.” The only word that might save him.
She strengthened her grip and he risked a glance to find her staring up at him and then couldn’t tear his gaze from her. She let him out of her mouth, smiled, and then licked the trickle of precum sliding down his shaft. The next drop slid farther before she captured it, and he shuddered. The need to come gathered strength and speed as it raced through his body, igniting every cell.
“Hollie,” he whispered.
He sat up and threaded his fingers in her wet hair. When she pumped his shaft and sucked harder at the tip, he could almost hear his cock scream with pleasure. Keep doing that. But she never stayed with anything for long. Yet every touch, every lick, every suck wound him tighter and dragged him closer and closer to the edge.
When she pressed down at the base of his cock and took him deeper into her mouth, the sight snatched the air from his lungs. He’d had blowjobs before, half-hearted ones where he’d almost asked the woman to stop, over-enthusiastic ones where he’d worried he’d lose the skin off his dick, but this—this was perfect because Nick had the feeling she had no idea what she was doing and somehow that made every touch magical.
He tried to keep his hips on the bed, but it was hard not to thrust as her silky tongue slid along his cock. He dropped his hands to her throat, and groaned at the sensation of feeling his cock move. Too much. Sight, scent, and feel united in a ball of fire in his belly.
“Hol—” The warning died on his lips as his hips bucked, and he exploded with a bone-quaking shudder.
On The Right Track Page 3