Oberon Boxed Set (Books 1-3) Welcome to Oberon

by P. G. Forte

  Who would have guessed? Wonderingly, he brushed the tips of his fingers across her quivering lips; mesmerized by the little smile that came and went there. He had known there were banked fires smoldering inside her. He’d suspected their existence after that first ridiculous conversation down at the Nature Center last week, had known it for certain the first time he’d kissed her. But he’d no idea that, once ignited, she’d burn so hot. A man had to be doubly careful with a woman like this, or he’d have no chance to avoid getting immolated. Trouble was, he wasn’t feeling especially careful at the moment. In fact, he wasn’t feeling careful at all. What he was feeling was completely reckless, and already as helplessly enthralled as a moth.

  She’s absolutely magnificent. He was unable to stop himself from reaching down to stroke the satiny skin of her inner thigh, dazedly remembering the force with which her body had gripped him earlier. She moved restlessly as he continued to stroke her. Though still asleep, her legs fell open a little wider, offering him a tantalizing glimpse of rosy folds of flesh. Memory quickly supplied the rest. He grew hard again, recalling how she had looked, glistening with moisture, in every shade of pink from peach to plum – just exactly like the sunset – and at the center of it all, the luscious pink pearl of her clitoris.

  Breathing was suddenly an effort, he felt his cock pulse. He had to have her again. He pressed a little more firmly along the length of her leg, slid his fingers a little further with every stroke, until at last they slipped into the moist heat at the apex of her thighs.

  Her eyes snapped open. She blinked, and then gazed up at him uncertainly, an embarrassed blush spreading over her cheeks, and for a moment he thought she would push his hand away.

  Oh, no. Don’t. Please, he begged her silently. He couldn’t bear the thought of ceding any of the ground he’d gained tonight. He’d worked too hard to overcome her shyness. Much as he’d enjoyed watching her go crazy for him as she eventually had, there had been times when he’d almost despaired of ever getting her there.

  He hauled her against him, and was relieved when she came into his arms with no hesitancy, and an eagerness that seemed to match his own. He tangled one of his hands in her hair and kissed her thoroughly, while his other hand slid down to her breast and gently tugged her nipple erect; deliberately stoking the fires within her, glorying when the sudden rush of heat threatened to burst through her skin. Within minutes she was whimpering with her need for him.

  He wasn’t in much better shape, either. His heart sounded loud as a jackhammer in his ears. It’d been years since he’d had to fight this hard for control. He rolled onto his back and pulled her up to sit astride him. She braced her hands against his chest as he grasped her hips; forcing her gently down as he contracted his own hips and slowly pressed into her. She gasped. Desire flared in her green eyes as she stared down at him, and the smile she gave him then, was easily the most erotic thing he’d ever seen.

  Still smiling, she began to move against him, surging rhythmically along his rigid shaft, driving him deeper with every stroke. Gradually, her smile faded, her eyes lost their focus, her breath soughed faster, louder. Her movements became increasingly jerky and less coordinated as all of her muscles began to tremble and seize. He clamped his hands harder on her hips and took over the rhythm, thrusting himself into her harder and faster as she shuddered and clung to him. He gritted his teeth as her climax propelled him into his own, and then came in seemingly endless pulsations as she convulsed all around him.

  Abruptly, the tension that held her erect deserted her, and she collapsed against him. He wrapped his arms around her, held her tight and reminded himself to breathe.

  “Oh, God,” she whispered hoarsely, in tones of awe. He smiled, realizing they were the first coherent words she had spoken aloud in hours. “Oh, God,” she repeated. “Oh, God.”

  Or maybe they weren’t quite so coherent, after all. He tucked his chin in, and looked down at her. “You okay?” he inquired.

  She tilted her head to look at him, and the expression in her eyes made it clear that she seriously questioned his sanity, that he should ask such a thing. “Okay?” she rasped. “I’m not sure okay even belongs in the same dictionary with... with whatever it is I’m feeling right now.”

  He chuckled. “Glad to hear it. At least, I think I am. Do you think you can grab that blanket, though? It’s gonna get a little chilly in here in a while, and we should—”

  “Blanket,” she repeated, as though the word was unfamiliar. “Blanket? Oh! Sure... hang on,” She twisted around and managed to grab a handful of the billowy down comforter that had gotten bunched at the foot of the bed. He was still lodged inside her, and the motion caused him to stir within her. She stilled as a tremor passed through her. “Oh, God,” she breathed again, and started to lift herself away from him.

  “Whoa! Just where do you think you’re going?” he asked, reaching up quickly, and pulling her down against him again. She blinked at him, uncomprehending. “Come back here, angel. I want to stay right where I am.”

  He gently tugged the comforter from her clenched hand, and pulled it up around her. She was still watching him, peering deeply into his eyes, almost as if she saw something there that puzzled her. Or didn’t see something that she’d expected. But she said nothing, just sighed softly, and laid her head back down against his shoulder.

  There,” he said, feeling unaccountably pleased with himself. “That’s much better. Now, let me see if I can reach that light. You probably want it off now, huh?”

  For some reason, she seemed to find that funny, and within moments, had giggled herself right back to sleep.

  He drifted comfortably on the edge for several minutes, contentedly staring into the darkness. And managing, for those same few minutes, to feel good about absolutely everything.

  Until his wandering thoughts collided with the long list of problems for which he had yet to find answers. Suddenly, the weight of her head against his chest seemed intolerably heavy. Tonight had not solved anything, no matter how good it had left him feeling.

  He could hardly imagine a more pleasant way to wile away the time, while he waited to see whether he’d be arrested for stock fraud… or murder. Or perhaps be murdered himself. But there was no denying that taking Marsha to bed had only added to his problems. He might not have seduced her into sleeping with him, but he’d surely seduced her into trusting him. And he suspected the former would have been easier to forgive.

  The night seemed to close in around him, dark and cold, and unbearably lonely. He held her close, clinging to the warmth she gave, wondering how long that warmth would last once she learned the truth. And most of all, wondering what magic he could use to save himself now. What spells or tricks or offering could ever make things turn out right between them?

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  Chapter Twenty Four

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  There was a small herd of deer in the clearing outside the cabin. Marsha leaned against the edge of the old kitchen sink savoring the crisp, fresh taste of jasmine tea, watching through the window as they grazed. The sky was a light, powder blue, fading to turquoise at the horizon, spotted with the palest of cotton candy clouds. It was a perfect morning. Absolutely perfect. And she couldn’t even remember the last time she’d felt this good. She wanted to commit every detail to memory, so she could enjoy it again and again.

  But first, she had to get out of here. And away from Sam. As soon as possible.

  Too bad her body wasn’t cooperating. She was having a real problem getting her muscles to move at any pace past languid today. Even despite the panic that had flushed her out of bed, only moments after waking up to find herself pressed so closely against him that their lungs had been forced to adopt alternating rhythms. She had been clinging to him, almost! Something she could not recall ever having done with anyone before – not while she was sleeping, that is. In fact, the very best part of Alex’s leaving, as she’d often said, had been the opportunity
to reclaim the whole bed for herself.

  And yet, it had felt so... pleasant... to wake up like that this morning. For all of about five seconds before she’d figured out what was wrong. Her body had sure picked a hell of a time to start enjoying sharing sleep like that.

  Damn it, why now? Why now, while she was in bed with a man she’d probably never share a bed with again.

  It was time to be realistic. She’d had her fun last night. And oh, it had been more than fun, much more. But it wasn’t like Sam was suddenly going to discover he was in love with her. And while she didn’t really want to examine her own feelings too closely, she was pretty sure that what she felt for him wasn’t love either.

  It couldn’t be. It had better not be. She really, really hoped it wasn’t.

  Oh, Lord. She couldn’t really be that stupid, could she? To fall in love with a man who’d made it clear from the start he wasn’t interested in anything more than a casual affair? A man who wouldn’t even be around in another few weeks? A man who, after turning her world upside down, would just walk out of her life?

  Well, okay, so maybe she was that stupid. There was still no point in letting it go any farther – that was a clear no-brainer. What she needed to do now was figure out how to get over him. Because that’s what she was going to have to do, and sooner rather than later.

  Probably she shouldn’t sleep with him again. It would have to be easier, wouldn’t it, if she could just go back to thinking of him as a friend? She had lots of friends, after all. And when one of them left town, she usually wasn’t devastated by it.

  And what made her think he’d even want to sleep with her again? She’d never had a long-term sexual relationship with anyone other than Alex. Why should this be any different?

  Except that it is, that same mutinous little voice she recognized from last night insisted on suggesting. It has to be.

  But forget about that. First things first. She had to get out of here. Now.

  Not so fast, the little voice insisted, you really should leave him a note, or something, shouldn’t you? She sighed. She should, of course. Because, while she didn’t want to wake him, she did want to let him know how very grateful she was for last night.

  She cringed at that. Perhaps grateful was not the word to use. It made her sound a little more needy than she wanted to appear. Almost as if she were begging him to take her to bed again. Which she wasn’t. Not at all. Unless... well, maybe if he really wanted to. But she would certainly understand if he didn’t.

  At least... no, actually, she wasn’t sure she understood anything this morning. Not her own thoughts and emotions, and certainly not his. And that wasn’t something she felt like admitting to him either.

  “There you are,” he said. She jumped when she heard his voice so close behind her. She had been so caught up in her thoughts, she hadn’t even heard his approach. “I wondered where you’d gone.”

  “Oh, uh, um, good morning, Sam,” she stammered as she turned her head to look at him. And froze. Oh, my God. He was naked, except for those heavy silver bracelets at his wrists, and he was gorgeous. His hair was hung loose on his shoulders, his eyes were bright with heat, and his smile—

  Quickly, she averted her eyes again, and took a large gulp of tea. She wasn’t up to handling his smile just yet. And maybe not ever, if they had to go back to being friends. As for the rest of him; all those lovely taut muscles that had been driving her crazy all week, all those firm, hard planes, gilt with fine silver hair that, even now, she was itching to feel again beneath her hands, to press and rub herself against—

  She swallowed hard, her mouth dry despite the tea. Maybe she should re-think the whole ‘easier to be friends’ idea. It seemed there might be a serious flaw in that plan.

  He was fully aroused, too, a fact she couldn’t have missed noticing, especially not when he came up behind her and planted his hands on the edge of the sink at either side of her hips, and pressed himself against her as he bent his head to nuzzle her neck. She knew enough about male physiology not to take his early morning erection personally. Still, it was damned hard to remember that, or any of her other good intentions, when she could feel it, hard, hot and tempting, teasing her butt through the thin velvet of her robe. She breathed in the scent of him and felt her heart pick up speed.

  He kissed his way down the side of her throat, and her eyes slid shut as involuntary thrills of pleasure coursed through her. She twisted her head to the side, giving him greater access, and bit her lip as his mouth slid back up her neck again, all the way to her ear. “Come back to bed now,” he urged, “Let’s make it a really good morning.”

  She sighed regretfully. “I can’t. I have to go to work.”

  “What, now?” he groaned, taking his hands off the sink and wrapping them tightly around her waist. “You can’t be serious. You’d leave me in this condition?”

  She giggled as his lips began to tickle the sensitive area behind her ear. “I have to. We open in an hour and I have to stop at home first.”

  “Why’s that?” he growled.

  She could feel the edge of his teeth just grazing her skin and she put her teacup down in the sink before it had the chance to slip from her increasingly nerveless fingers. “I have to dress, for one thing. I don’t really think I can show up for work like this.”

  His laughter was warm against her neck. “Hmm. I guess maybe you do have a point there, after all. Okay,” he said straightening up and releasing her. “Hold on a minute, I’ll go get dressed and ride into town with you.”

  “What?” She whirled around to face him. “But why?”

  He shrugged. “Why not? I’ve got some things I need to do there, and I figured you could maybe give me breakfast at your store again, before I got started.”

  “But don’t you want to take your bike?”

  “Well... sure. I guess we could, if you want to,” he said on a yawn, “But I thought it made you uncomfortable, plus it’s a little hard to hold a conversation that way.”

  “No, that’s not what I meant.” She paused. Damn it. It was really hard to form coherent sentences and watch him as he stretched like that, but apparently, it was even harder to stop watching. “It’s just that I—” She stopped again, struck dumb this time by the look on his face as he froze in mid-stretch and glared at her.

  “You’re not going to tell me you already have plans for this evening, are you?” he demanded. “Because I was really hoping I could take you out to dinner tonight.”

  “No, that is, thank you. That’s very nice, but... if we take the van, we’re going to end up with the same problem we had last night.”

  “Yeah?” His eyes narrowed. “Just what ‘problem’ are we talking about?”

  “You know, about my getting back home, and all.”

  “Oh. That.” He shrugged dismissively, “And is there any reason we can’t solve this ‘problem’ the same way we did last night?”

  His voice grew gentle as he added, “Unless you’re trying to say you don’t want to spend another night with me?”

  “No! I mean, yes. Yes, I do. Want to. It’s just... oh, I don’t know, Sam.” She looked away, as she forced herself to admit the truth. “You confuse me. I don’t know what you want.”

  “Don’t you?” he asked, lifting her chin and gazing deep into her eyes. His smile was slow and sensuous and she felt her breath catch in her throat again.

  “No. I don’t. And I—”

  “You should,” he interrupted, brushing his lips very softly against hers. “By now, you should know exactly what I want.” Again his lips brushed hers. “Because it’s what you want, too.”

  “I, ah... no, I don’t think I—” she stammered as the soft touches of his lips against hers threw her senses into chaos. She clutched at the rim of the sink behind her, to keep her hands from grabbing onto him instead.

  “Then don’t,” he murmured as his kisses deepened. She felt his hands undo the clasp at her throat. “If that’s what’s confusing you, j
ust don’t think at all.”

  She really had to keep things cool, the part of her that still seemed capable of rational thought kept insisting. She ought to be protecting herself, for reasons which were fast losing their importance as she felt the zipper of her robe slide open and found herself thinking instead about how close she was to feeling his hands, hot on her skin, again. Oh, God, yes. Please!

  She thought there had been something about not getting swept up in the moment, wasn’t there? Something about not falling in love, not getting involved in something she wouldn’t want to walk away from—

  Oops! Too late. The little voice of rational thought whispered one last time before spinning away into darkness.

  Sam pushed the robe off her shoulders and gently skimmed his hands over her breasts, down around her waist and, cupping her buttocks, pulled her against him. His fingers felt so strong and warm as they caressed her, and his erection pressed hard against her stomach, and when she felt it throb there, it triggered an answering throb deep inside her.

  “Oh, God. Oh, Sam,” she breathed, as her hands lost their grip on the sink and the robe fell to the floor. She slid her hands across his ribs, and up the warm, contoured surface of his back. She felt her breasts flattening against his chest as she crowded closer. “You feel so good. So... good.”

  “So do you,” he muttered hoisting her up to sit on the edge of the sink. “Very, very good.”

  She shivered at the feel of the cold porcelain beneath her thighs, but then his lips slid down her throat to her left breast, and “Ohhh, yes. There. Right there,” she moaned, arching against him.

  “That’s it, angel,” he murmured, brushing his lips across the tip of her nipple. “Tell me what you want.”

  “You,” she answered promptly. “I want you, Sam.”

  “Now?” he asked, trailing kisses across the inner swells of her breasts.