by Elle Boon
Felicity decided to give him a few moments alone in case he was using the facilities. Her cheeks pinkened when she imagined him naked in her bathroom. A rush of arousal washed over her. “Stop it you horny girl, geez,” she mumbled to herself shrugging into her robe.
Looking through her fridge, the best she could come up with to fix them was grilled ham and cheese sandwiches and canned tomato soup, unless he wanted to go out to eat, or planned to go home. Again, that shiver of doubt worked its way through her. She was not the ugly duckling anymore, and even if Hal decided to hit it and quit it, she would survive. He’d take a little piece of her with him, but she was stronger now than she’d been, she assured herself.
“Hey, why did you get up?” Hal’s deep rumbling voice broke into her musings.
“Oh…my stomach decided it needed sustenance.” She tried to laugh off her anxiety.
His arms wrapped around her. “What’s the matter, and don’t lie to me.”
“What’s the matter, my Felicity?”
She blinked back tears. “Are you regretting what we…did?”
His brows drew together in a deep frown. “Hell no, are you?” The arms around her contracted.
Shaking her head, Felicity stood on her tiptoes. “No, it’s just you took so long in the bathroom, and I worried you were trying to figure out a way to let me down gently.”
Hal smiled. “Didn’t you see me grab my phone?” When she shook her head he continued. “I got a text from Brax saying he assumed I was going to eat dinner with you and not to worry about him tonight. Honestly I’d completely forgotten about him. I shot him a quick text back, which he then responded. Needless to say, I had to turn my phone off, otherwise he and I would’ve been in a texting war.”
Her heart flipped over at the love and respect he clearly had for his captain and friend. Still, she decided she wouldn’t tell him how she felt about him, yet.
“Are you hungry? I have the fixings for grilled ham and cheese sandwiches and tomato soup. The soup is from a can, but I add stuff to it that makes it really tasty.”
“I’m famished.” He rubbed his stomach.
His words had a double meaning, and her girlie parts whole heartily agreed.
She pulled the shaved ham out of the meat drawer and the cheese out of the dairy container, laying it all out on the counter while Hal made himself comfortable at the kitchen island. He’d offered to help, but Felicity said she’d probably burn the building down if he did, to which he’d informed her he was trained to put out fires.
Fifteen minutes later she had four huge ham and cheese sandwiches cooked, one for her and three for Hal. They’d opted out of soup, and had opened a bottle of Merlot. She wondered if he planned to spend the night.
“Now what has put that pensive look on your face?” Hal asked, wiping his lips with the cloth napkin.
The mention of her face made her wince. Another thing she needed to talk to him about. Of course, if he left and never came back, then maybe she wouldn’t.
“Come here, ma petite.” He plucked her out of her seat into his lap. “Tell me what is going on in that mind of yours. Or should I tell you what my plans are and see what you think about them?”
Her hand came up to steady herself, but she shouldn’t have worried. Hal wouldn’t let anything happen to her. Of that she had no doubt.
“What are your plans?”
“First, I plan to carry you into your bathroom and run you a bath. While you’re soaking, I’m going to clean up your kitchen. After we are both done, I’m going to dry you off, then get naked again and climb into bed with you. Since I don’t have any more condoms, there won’t be any more hanky panky, but I plan to hold you all night long. How does that sound?”
Felicity felt her heart turn over, if that was possible. “You don’t have to clean the kitchen. I can do that really quickly.”
“You cooked, I’ll clean. Do you want me to stay the night with you?”
She barely restrained herself from saying stay forever, instead she nodded.
Hal stood in one fluid movement, carrying her to the bedroom where he drew her a warm bath. He made sure she was comfortable before he walked out wearing his slacks with the top button undone. Felicity swore there wasn’t a man on Earth sexier than her Viking.
By the time she’d finished soaking, her lady parts weren’t quite so tender, but she wouldn’t tell Hal they were sore at all. If he had a box of condoms, she would have willingly spread her thighs and welcomed him into her body each and every time.
“You ready to get out?” Hal stood beside the tub with an oversized bath sheet. He looked as if he’d showered.
“I grabbed a quick shower in the other bathroom. I hope you don’t mind.”
“Not at all. You could’ve taken a bath with me.” She blinked up at him.
“Saucy little wench. If I’d have climbed in there the only thing that would have happened, would’ve been me and you fucking so hard, there wouldn’t have been any water left in the tub, and I don’t think you’re up for another round just yet.”
“How did you…” she shut her mouth.
“I watched you move around. You can’t hide anything from me when it comes to your body, luv.”
She looked at his body and thought the same could be said for him. His long hard cock was peeking out of the top of the slacks.
Hal patted his crotch. “Ignore him, he’ll get the message. I’m the one in charge with the big brain right now.”
Felicity laughed, as she knew he’d meant her to do.
Without a single thought of modesty, she stood and let him help her out of the tub. He used firm, but loving strokes to dry her from her shoulders to her toes. There wasn’t an inch of her he didn’t make sure had been thoroughly dried and caressed. By the time he wrapped a dry towel around her, she was a horny mess, and he knew it.
Hal picked her up, making her squeak, and carried her into the bedroom. He’d straightened the bedding. The man was perfect. She wondered how he’d react when she told him she used to be an ugly duckling.
“Stop worrying.”
“How do you know I’m worrying?”
He placed her in the middle, and climbed in behind her. “You tense up, and these little frown lines appear in your forehead.”
“Oh, no. Not the dreaded frown lines. I’ll have to call the doctor and get the Botox started, stat.”
Hal pulled her closer. “Want to tell me what had you upset?”
“Not tonight. Will you hold me?” She took the coward’s way out, wriggling her ass against him.
Hal swatted her on the ass. “None of that, woman. As for holding you? There’s nothing else I’d rather do. Now settle down, or I’ll have to really spank your ass.” He rubbed the spot he’d just swatted.
Felicity enjoyed their easy banter, and felt herself relaxing into his arms. She hoped her dreams were filled with him and her, and that she slept the night through.
Chapter Six
Hal woke with a feeling of utter rightness. A scary notion for a man who was in bed with a woman who lived in another state, not to mention was so far out of his league it was laughable. He looked down at the sleeping Felicity. Her hair had been lightened, no longer the mousy brown when he’d first seen her cleaned up in the hospital bed. She’d had blonde highlights added, but it wasn’t her appearance that called to him. Her soul had reached out to him and his inner being.
He’d always referred to his heritage as a beast, but with Felicity, his berserker was calm, more in control. They’d become like one, whose sole purpose was to protect her from any harm. He pulled her in closer to his body, loving the feel of her tiny form next to his. She’d lost a lot of weight in the last few months. Hal usually preferred his women with more meat on their bones. The smaller ones tended to be scared of his larger frame, and his tendency to be rough in bed. He found himself being ever so gentle when it came to all things related to Felicity Evans.
“What are you thinking about so deeply th
is early in the morning?” Felicity’s sleepy voice interrupted his musings.
The thought of lying to her never crossed his mind. “I was thinking you were the most gorgeous thing in the world, but you were too thin.”
Her fingers trailed down his chest, swirling around his navel. “Since the attack it was hard to eat with your jaws wired shut, then I just didn’t have much of an appetite. Do you not like my body?”
He could hear the uncertainty in her voice. “Baby, I love every inch of you, from your head to your toes. I just know for a fact, this isn’t what you looked like before. Your lush form was perfect. This body is perfect, too. If you are happy, I’m happy. I just don’t want you to think you need to starve yourself to be anything other than you. I watched your appreciation of the food today, but I also saw your hesitation. Why?”
“Do you know that the perfect size isn’t a size ten? I’ve always struggled to be the same as my mother, but could never be her.”
Hal tipped her face up with one finger under her chin. “What the hell are you talking about? You look just like her. I mean other than the fact she’s older than you, you both could be twins.”
Felicity laughed. “That’s due to some great plastic surgery, Hal. I forgot you haven’t seen my before photos. What you see now isn’t how I looked.” She tried to pull away. “You think you love every inch of this body, but you don’t know the real me. I was not always this pretty. As a matter of fact, what you see now, and what I looked like are polar opposites. I was the ugly duckling. My parents didn’t even allow me to attend the charity events with them. I wasn’t photographed with them for magazine shoots and all that jazz because I was not pretty enough. Oh, they never said so, but come on. I may have been ugly, but I was far from stupid.”
A tear slipped down her cheek, breaking his heart. Hal wasn’t sure what she was talking about, he needed to reassure her he wasn’t some fickle fuck who only looked at the outside.
“I fell for you before I knew what you looked like. Your soul called to me. Tell me you don’t have the same feelings for me, ma petite.”
“You don’t have to say that. I have a picture of myself, pre-surgery. There aren’t a lot of them, but we did take family photos. My parents never let on that they didn’t love me, no matter what I looked like. They never mentioned plastic surgery, even though we lived in a world, a town, where it was the norm. Heck, my mom has a standing botox appointment with a doctor who has his own television show. Never once did she suggest I get my chin, or nose, fixed.”
“You listen to me very closely. I don’t care what you looked like then. You are beautiful to me.”
She scrambled up before he could stop her. The ass he imagined worshipping for the rest of his life hurrying across the bedroom floor Hal tried to tell his dick to stay down, but the image of her heart shaped ass had him imagining sinking into that tight-back-hole. She grabbed his shirt and put it on before she turned with a small square in her hand. As she turned, the front was left unbuttoned, exposing her beautiful body to his gaze. Her next words brought him out of his reverie.
“See if you still feel the same after you look at this.” Felicity stood by the far side of the bed, holding her hand out.
Hal didn’t like the distance she’d created, hated that she’d covered herself. Instead of leaning over and taking the picture, he got up and walked around, uncaring of his own nudity. When he reached her side, he sat, settling her on his lap. The image of the unsmiling woman in the small photo resembled Felicity. “First of all, you are far from ugly.” He tapped the photo. “Second, I saw your driver’s license photo that night. Third, I’m sure your parents had their reasons for not wanting you photographed, and it had nothing to do with how you looked. They are very wealthy, clearly. Have you ever asked them?”
Felicity stiffened in his arms, but he could tell she was thinking.
“I was far from pretty, Hal.”
His mind was running through scenarios. The really rich did things that others couldn’t fathom. Things like shielding their children, young and old. The Evans may have not wanted their only child to be criticized, and did what they’d thought was best. He thought about the many pictures he’d seen of not so pretty stars and their children. Their reasons didn’t matter to him, but to the woman who was coming to mean more to him than his next breath, he needed to understand the whys.
“You think beauty is only skin deep?” Hal gripped her hips, making her straddle his thighs. He ignored the feel of her naked flesh cradling his hardness. “When you were lying in that hospital bed, I couldn’t see your face. All I knew was that you had to live. That this world would not be the same if you died. My world wouldn’t be the same if you died. There is a connection that goes deeper than skin.” He focused on her emerald green eyes, wanting her to see the truth.
“I thought you were a dream.” Her chin wobbled.
“The outer package is beautiful, but what’s inside you, is the person who I love.”
“How can you say you love me? You just met me.”
“That is where you are wrong, luv. Give us a chance, that’s all I ask. For you, we just met, but for me…it’s hard to explain.”
“I think you’re doing a fine job.”
Felicity wiggled on his lap, her wet heat kissed his cock. Hal closed his eyes and counted to ten. He held her a little more firmly, his fingers biting into her slim hips.
“You need to stop now. We don’t have any more condoms, and I’m almost out of control.” Hal grunted.
She smiled a sirens smile, bent her head and took his lips in a kiss meant for seduction. Lips traced his. Teeth nibbled on his bottom lip, making him open up for her. God he loved it when a woman took charge. Her hips began to gyrate against him, every now and then their lower bodies would touch no matter how hard he tried to control her.
Hal gave up, pulling her flush to him, grinding her pelvis against his. She was so wet, her juices soaked his balls. “You drive me to distraction.” He bit out against her lips, lifting her up and then sliding her down on top of his cock. She welcomed him into her body with ease.
He’d never taken a woman without a condom. Ever.
“Oh, god. You feel fucking amazing. Am I hurting you?” He asked.
Shaking her head, she leaned forward and kissed him again. Hal took control this time. His hands gentled on her, guiding her up and down slowly. The world narrowed down to making sure she was taken care of before he found his pleasure.
He sucked on her top lip, then the bottom. He made love to her mouth while he mimicked the same act with their bodies, licking inside with his tongue, leaving not an inch of her unexplored.
She moaned, making his cock jerk inside her. He felt the tingling in the base of his spine signaling his impending orgasm. All he needed was to hear her, see her, and he was ready to go off like a rocket.
Hal released her mouth.
“Hal,” she moaned his name. Her eyes glazed with passion looked down where they were connected, then came back up to his.
“I could make love to you for hours.” He loved her body, hated that he couldn’t see her fully.
“Even though this isn’t what I really look like?” She asked uncertainly. Her voice shook a little.
“Oh, baby, I wanted to crawl into your hospital bed when you had bandages covering your face.” He punctuated each word with a thrust of his hips. He wanted to erase all doubts from her mind. He needed her to believe it, and wasn’t sure words would do it. Only time would tell. “God, Felicity, do you doubt that I want you? That I wanted you then?” He punctuated each word with a slam of his hips up into her.
She wriggled against him. “No. I guess old habits die hard.”
With ease he stood, keeping his dick buried inside. “Well, let’s see if we can work on banishing them, hmm.” He laid her out on the bed, happy it was the perfect height for him to stand between her thighs and still pound into her. He spread her legs wide, holding them open and watched his dick disappear i
nside.
Thinking of all the places he wanted to bury himself, he pulled out and let her feel his dick slide along the seam of her ass. “One day I want to fuck you here. Not today, but one day after I prepare you properly. After your mouth is ready, I’ll let you take me the way you wanted last night. I’ll fuck your mouth and come down your throat. Would you like that?” He shoved his dick back into her pussy.
“Holy shit, you’re going to make me come with dirty talk.” Her voice was breathless and her pussy twitched around him.
His mouth covered hers, playing with her lips, inviting her tongue to come out and play. He could inhale her. Hal swore he didn’t need to breathe when he kissed Felicity, he could survive on her kisses alone.
He dragged his hands up and down her front, worshipping her breasts. Felicity whimpered as he fondled her clit, tightening around him, making his balls draw up. He bent down and drew the tip of one breast into his mouth, sucking on the engorged bit of flesh. Her moan sparked heat through his entire body.
“I’m so close, baby.” Hal licked at her other breast.
She smiled up at him, making him feel ten feet tall.
Hal pumped into her with firm strokes, rubbing her clit faster. When he knew she was ready to go over, he increased his speed, wanting to join her as she found satisfaction.
“Faster, I need faster.” Felicity whimpered.
Hal adjusted her legs, pulling them onto his shoulders and set up a faster rhythm, one that was sure to make them both go off. He felt her walls begin to constrict and then watched her go over the edge, taking him with her, sending arcs of pure bliss from his head to his toes. Felicity’s entire body shook as she cried out and her orgasm flooded her.
He barely kept himself from collapsing on top of her, remembering at the last moment he hadn’t worn a condom. He’d made a conscious decision, but the reality hit him square in the brain at the consequences it could bring. Joy flooding him at the image of a tiny baby they might have created.