Baby It's Cold Out There: Aspen (Love in the City Book 2)

by Victoria H. Smith

  I wasn’t alone now, a woman on me, as she tried to find the most comfortable position in her sleep.

  Staying still, I let her, smiling when she finally figured it out. She used her hands, guiding them around my bicep until she found that perfect spot for her head. She molded me to her, made me adjust for her.

  But I found myself not minding.

  Moving as little as possible, I worked my foot to the throw blanket by our feet. It had been on the back of the couch and Noni put it on the floor earlier as a surface for our plates, a little ball of resourcefulness I guess that woman.

  I had no idea when she came over here, fell asleep and no doubt eventually fell on me, but she was clearly here to stay. We both were.

  I got the woven throw in my fist when my foot brought it close enough, working the blanket around Noni. I gave myself a little, too, but she got the most of it. I didn’t tend to run cold when I slept. But even if I had I suppose I had her, her warmth.

  She made another small adjustment after I got the throw arranged, but when the bedding fell off her shoulder I had to use both hands to get it back.

  She made a major adjustment then, sliding under my arm and eventually… to my chest.

  Head right there, she slept, none the wiser, but me…

  A hard hit beat deep inside, my heart running like a piece of steel machinery. Lowering my arm, I felt I had nowhere else to go. I let my arm fall around her shoulders, her body so warm, and I found myself in an interesting place.

  Soft breaths hummed beneath me, feminine and lovely. I wanted to go back to sleep but…

  One of her curls managed to loop itself around my finger and I tugged slightly, an attempt to unlatch myself, but all that did was smooth her hair away from her face, her cheek.

  Catching on her brown lashes, I shimmied her hair a bit, the curl brushing her lips, her mouth so soft.

  Because I remembered. I remembered how they felt and…

  What are you doing?

  So pink, her lips were a subtle contrast to the nutmeg tone of her brown skin. My finger hovered over one, moving to brush over her cheek, and when I leaned in, I truly didn’t care what I was doing.

  I didn’t give a damn.

  My mouth on her cheek, I felt every ounce of heat within her skin. I lingered in it, consumed by it. It was only by deep, internal forces I gathered the strength to pull away.

  Closing my eyes, I did just that, but when I came away sugar brown irises stared up at me.

  Noni’s lips parted, as she stared at me, a lot more breathy than she had been only moments ago when she’d been sleeping. But she wasn’t sleeping anymore.

  She was awake now.

  My eyes shifted, studying every part of her that I’d been able to see. I’d held so many women in my thirty-two years and been with enough to sicken, but not once had I wanted to stare this long at one in my arms, capture the beauty because I knew I wouldn’t have it forever.

  Because I knew, in the end, it wasn’t mine to have.

  Reaching, I tug down her bottom lip, moving to do something foolish… but I couldn’t stop. I physically couldn’t make myself not want to kiss her. I remembered how it made me feel the first time, as well as what it kept away in the process, kept away from my heart and replaced it with something else. She replaced the hurt of Christine, the evidence of her…

  With herself.

  I couldn’t breathe with Asa’s hands on me, his mouth on me. He eased my lips apart with a single breath, tasting me with his tongue, and all reasonable thoughts fleeted from my mind.

  The floor creaked when I touched his chest, moving to get closer to him. I had to be closer and his heart literally slammed against my palm. The muscle hit with an undying force and that told me something. It told me I wasn’t just the only one feeling this, feeling something, whatever this was between us. He’d captured me since this first kiss at the lodge and lingered on in my mind, a recurring vision in my head from his lips to his body.

  Pure strength held me close, the swell of muscled arms encircling my waist. My breasts pressed hard to his chest and I ached for so much more. I ached for passion. I yearned for relief for my body, as well as my heart.

  They actually told me over dinner that night… my sister and my former boyfriend. I supposed the guilt had been too much, a burden for them both.

  “It just happened, Noni,” my sister Jayla had said to me that night.

  Then more words said across the table by someone else.

  “It didn’t mean anything.”

  I wouldn’t even think his name, the bastard I used to see my world combining with. My sun, my light, rose and set with that man and it had for so long I didn’t even see the betrayal coming. When it was all said and done I could rid myself of him, though. Toss him away… Move on…

  But family was harder.

  She’d held my hand, nearly shaking after she told me.

  “I’m sorry,” she’d said.

  Sorry…

  Sorry.

  She’d always been the more exciting one, the girl with the hips and the passion, the beauty for life. My younger sister, Jayla, had it all, even when we were kids. She wasn’t boring. She wasn’t logical. The reasonable one, the boys always flocked to her.

  They always chose her.

  I was pulled out of my thoughts, the hurt of my past, by Asa, his mouth hovering over mine.

  “Your lips,” he whispered, pausing to look at them. He kissed again, bracing my cheek. “So perfect.”

  Large hands moved themselves down my body, touching in exploration, searching in wonder and I wanted to forget all thoughts in my mind. Everything negative I longed to seep from my body, everything but this, Asa and his touch. He made me feel like the single most important thing, the only most important thing. Truth be told, I had no idea where his girls were tonight, the brunettes. I didn’t know if they’d be back, or when, but now, at the present, he was mine.

  The moment was mine and no one else’s.

  Easing onto his lap had been too easy, his body hard and the swell of his cock pulsating through his jeans.

  I rubbed myself against it, a slow burn moving through my lower lips, my leggings the only barrier. I pushed them down my hips, seeking relief, but Asa stopped me, his hands to mine.

  He didn’t even look down there; his green eyes fixated on mine and a flush raised on his cheeks and mouth.

  He touched mine, tugging my lower lip down slightly. Closing his eyes, he forced a harsh heat into my lips, and with one strong arm, he brought me to the floor.

  His weight pinned me to the fibers of a soft blanket, the one I’d used for our meal before. It had been around me when I woke up and Asa pushed me on top of it now.

  A wide heat, harsh and smelling of male and earth surrounded itself around me. I once compared him to cologne, but he had his own scent, his own taste.

  “Slow,” he said to me, his lips skimming along my jawline. He reached between my legs. “Go slow for me. Come slow for me.”

  His fingers pinched my pussy lips through my leggings, a harsh cry escaping my throat. Asa captured it with his mouth, moving strong hips against mine while he played teasingly with my hood.

  He watched me while he elicited an ache, eyes a periscope of search and wonder. He wanted to watch me. He wanted to see me come and I held out for as long as I could.

  My hips bucked against his hand, fluttering at a final pinch, and that’s when his lips crashed down on mine. He took me hard, escaped with me, and when it was all over, it wasn’t at all.

  His hand slid from between us and then it went to my jaw, his gaze a search again.

  It pinned me harder than his body, a weight so strong and equally powerful.

  “I can give you more,” he said, lips breathy when he said it. They were still so red from his kisses.

  His Adam’s apple jumped. “I’m just afraid to ask.”

  Probably because he knew he shouldn’t. Neither one of us should be in this place, on this floor
, but here we were.

  Here together.

  I touched blond hair; those strands a constant in front of his eyes. Kissing him, I closed my eyes, silently begging him to continue with my lips.

  But then I wasn’t so silent.

  “Then don’t ask,” I said. He asked too much. He thought worse than me.

  He kissed slow, slower than he had when he brought me down. He made me go at his pace and that must have been his way of going back. I could have easily ridden him before, stripped him down, and let him take me away, but he turned things around. He gave me a choice, one where we could have ended things right now without being complicated. He could make me come and that’s it, nothing else done.

  I pushed my leggings down my hips, forcing his hands to do it with me. I wanted him to fuck me. I wanted his love and whatever he could give.

  “This shouldn’t feel so right,” he said, his mouth releasing an appreciated sigh from his lips.

  He actually touched me now, his hand moving to push into my underwear. He breathed when I lifted my hips up and let him cup me.

  His eyes closed tight. “It never feels this good.”

  I didn’t understand what he meant, but this time, he didn’t go slow and gentle. He pushed his fingers inside me and going to the hilt, he allowed me to feel him deep within.

  This shouldn’t feel so good. Just his fingers, but they did. They hummed inside me, so warm and knowing just what to do. They hooked and went rough, pulling something out of me, tugging something deep and carnal.

  Evident welts left in his biceps by my fingers caused him to call out, to hook his fingers harsher and go deeper. I played with his t-shirt and he finally unpinned me enough to let me remove it.

  His fingers escaping my body left me empty, but I found much fulfillment at the sight before me, a man half naked and golden on top of me. I could only dream of the possibilities, his abs constructed in six perfect sections and a chiseled v-line at his hips where his jeans sat low. He took care of himself, his body, and he was allowing me to enjoy the prospects of his labor.

  Shoulder muscles stretched and pierced the skin, as he shifted and undid his pants. The flaps of his jeans fell open and his belt buckle hung low after he removed his hands and that wasn’t the only thing.

  The outline of the base of his cock revealed at lowered briefs, the steel velvet surrounded by light hair and clearly ready, as it pierced the dark fabric of his underwear.

  He came to me, on his knees. Without reprieve, he stuck his hand into his briefs pulling out that steel and letting it hang. A quick tug erected it full and my mouth watered for some reason.

  I normally didn’t do that. It just hadn’t been my thing, but…

  Asa’s dick was truly gorgeous; it was perfect.

  I pushed my hand down his abs, wanting to go lower, but he took my mouth via my hair, redirecting my attention to the sweet taste of him. He got my sweater off after that, working the warm material off me, and soon enough our bodies touched, his fingers moving to snap off my bra.

  He fisted my breasts, a tight kneed under his strong hands, then laved the top of a dark nipple.

  He wasn’t easily satisfied, his tongue doing rapid flicks before going to the other. He pretty much inhaled me after that, mouth wide and I could only lie back, squirming underneath him.

  I reached for his cock, needing to know the feel. The moment I cupped him, his hips rolled into my hand.

  I massaged his balls, squeezing before giving a sharp tug to his dick. My breasts received the benefits of my labor, as Asa’s mouth latched on, sucking hard before soothing with a warm tongue.

  I truly couldn’t see straight. Nothing, I mean, absolutely nothing in my entire life had felt this good physically, emotionally. He touched my body, not as if it was the first time, but only one of many.

  This man a stranger to me merely hours ago.

  But he was so acquainted with me now, my body. He kissed so many parts, and saw even more, and when he kicked his jeans off, taking a moment to remove a condom from his wallet, I knew he was about to reacquaint himself even more.

  The opaque plastic sheathed a pulsating dick, ready and arching up toward his abs.

  Asa lay on top of me, holding himself between my thighs.

  “I want to ask,” he said, blond lashes blinking once before he dampened his lips. “I want permission.”

  He had it, my body bowing up to receive him.

  And how full he went.

  Thick, hard, we both cried out at that first fill, Asa sliding deep and my body accommodating him.

  He expanded me, my thighs dropping to the floor to take him, spread wide for him. Grabbing my ass, he brought me from the floor and I took this as deep as I could go, my arms moving around his neck.

  My vision blurred at his warmth, his scent. I shouldn’t have such a connection with this man. This should just be sex, nothing more. But this did feel like more, no matter how naive the thought.

  And I did feel naive, foolish for feeling more, wanting more. After this night, after the snow ceased, this would all be over. He’d return to his life and I would mine.

  But for now, I let him make me come, and I enjoyed him and let him enjoy me. I rode it out as long as I could, and then milked him at the first signs of the high.

  I came hard and fast, my limbs shaking it all felt so good, and he wasn’t far behind. A body of heat, sweat and steel, Asa held my hips, slamming them up with intense thrusts.

  My breasts bouncing, I let my head fall back, the moon revealing itself through streaking clouds. It seemed the curtains fell open just enough to see it.

  As well as revealed the snowfall had finally stopped.

  “I swear, I’m thirty-two.”

  “And I’ll continue to not believe you.”

  Laughter rumbled in my chest, the sound different for me. I hadn’t laughed like this in what felt like so long.

  I brought my arms tighter around Noni, the pair of us lying in front of the fire. A blanket around us, our only talk in so long had been an age exchange. She didn’t believe I was thirty-two and, as she’d told me she was twenty-four, I could say the wonder was definitely exchanged. I never would have guessed that. She seemed worldly, more mature, to me.

  Burying my face in hair, her intense peach scent, I let the conversation fall away for many moments. Those moments eventually transformed into minutes, and minutes could have easily been hours between us we stayed silent so long. I didn’t mind the quiet, though. I let time fall away and I didn’t think about it.

  I just held her, enjoying the passing time with her. The fire crackling around us, the snow had long since stopped its slam against the cabin windows. It was just us now, the daytime in the horizon.

  Too close in the horizon.

  My thoughts lingered there from time to time and when it had, I brushed big curls away from brown skin.

  I kissed whatever I saw: her shoulder, her cheek, her lips. I had to just remind myself. I couldn’t forget. I refused.

  “My boyfriend cheated on me,” came into the world, the room lit with nothing but firelight. She’d surprised me. She hadn’t spoken in a long time, neither of us after the age conversation.

  I hadn’t minded it that way; the two of us could be in our own little world. We let everything outside happen around us. We remained ignorant, together in space and time.

  But what she said, what she admitted, I opened my ears for more. I remained alert, my hold on her even greater than before. I became a listening ear and wanted to be desperately.

  “And he told me shortly before I came here,” she said, staring into the fire ahead. “He and my sister.”

  The last part of her confession had me guiding her chin up, looking at her. What she said should make her very sad, and though I heard that in her voice, I didn’t see it in her eyes.

  Beautiful brown irises stared warmly at me, sweet and so shy.

  “My friend made me come to Aspen,” she said, my finger moving along her ful
l lips. She closed her eyes. “She told me it would make things better, to forget for just a little while.”

  And in her search, she got me for some reason, the universe allowing her to. What were the odds that she’d find me in all that, after all that and what she went through?

  And that I’d find her in return.

  I kissed her hand, even the small taste igniting me. She had a flavor that did something to me, made me think, made me… feel.

  I wasn’t sure if I even had that with Christine and if I had, not in the same way.

  Going silent, Noni brushed her forehead against my chest. My heart thrashed against her skin, intense and deep, but she wanted nothing from me. She told me something, private and personal about her past but expected nothing in return.

  I squeezed her shoulder. “My brother used to be sick.”

  Her head popped up, showing me eyes deep like midnight. She touched my jaw and I moved my head, kissing her fingers.

  “He’s my twin,” I continued. “We used to be close.”

  But life had separated us, his life from mine. I remained a constant but he grew. He thrived beyond me.

  “We still keep up with each other, but it’s different,” I said. “It became different. He got married and his life changed for the better. He is better, stronger than me in so many ways.”

  And I knew that, chillingly so. He’d always been the gladiator between us, myself weak and easily swayed by life and its obstacles.

  “I don’t know what I’d do if I got cancer like he did,” I told Noni, rubbing her arm before looking down at her. I squeezed her. “And when he got better he found someone. He found someone good, someone perfect for him, and had a family. He took back his life. He took what he deserved.”

  Noni’s expression was a mashup, like she didn’t know what to display, what to feel with what I was telling her. My emotions were conflicted, too. I was happy for my brother, but in a way, selfishly mourned for myself.

  I stared into the roaring fire. “I think that’s why I got into a relationship so soon. After he did find that life, that happiness. I don’t know if I was trying to fill a void or mirror what he found or what, but I did. I met someone and I fell in love.”