I leaned back against a rocky ledge under the water and pulled her onto my lap. She wrapped her legs around me, keeping my cock inside her. I was spent, but still more than hard. I could feel a tiny, rhythmic pulse inside her, beating against me.
“Me too,” she admitted. “I sleep, I eat… I go through the motions.” She tucked her face into the crook of my neck and I cradled her as her breathing slowed. “I’ve been out at the cabin. Me and Rye.” She turned, without awareness, so her lips brushed my skin. I felt something inside me heat and liquefy…
“One word from you and I would have been back,” I said. “I waited. I fucking prayed. I only stayed away because you threatened castration if I didn’t.”
She laughed and it felt like music. I tightened my grip. “And I meant it,” she said, “at the time, anyway.”
“And I mean this, Em,” I replied, shifting her so she faced me squarely. The twisting movement on my cock had me ready all over again. “I’m not leaving this time. And I’m guessing you might prefer me wholly intact…”
“I don’t know how to do this,” she answered with a wry smile, struggle evident in her voice. She looked at me, and even in the darkness, her eyes shone. Her coppery hair was almost bronze, her sweet flesh delicately pale. The stars brightened the mist around us, illuminating her. For a second, it felt almost like I was dreaming…
“I know, babygirl,” I crooned, taking her face between my hands. They were too big, too rough for her small face. I brushed one oversized thumb over her bruised lips. “But I think you’re wrong.” I kissed her, taking the time… this time… to taste her completely. “You do know how to do this. So do I.” I picked her up and settled her again on my cock, so that her perfect little pearl hit my thick base. I rocked her with my hips, back and forth, both soothing and arousing her… willing her to understand. “We love each other, Em. We fill each other, complete each other…
If we can love through the fear, we can find our way back to the place that gives all of this some meaning,” I whispered. “We’ll find a way…
“we have to.”
7
Ember
And that was the moment that Reilly chose to come crashing down, splashing and thrashing into the pool along with us. He was a moment of clarity, somehow, breaking us apart and leaving us frustrated, but laughing. Maybe it was all for the best, anyway.
While Jason wrestled Reilly back under control, I slipped out of the water and back into my clothes. By the time I zipped my jacket and stuffed my undies into the pocket, my teeth were chattering. All the heat of the pool and Jason’s body hadn’t lasted long enough. He held the big, wet dog and watched me. I pulled my knit cap over my hair with shaking fingers.
“I should get home,” I mumbled, my eyes darting awkwardly as he climbed out of the water. “I didn’t think this out… I don’t have a blanket for Rye and he’s going to freeze if I don’t get him back to the truck…”
My gaze slid back without my permission and I watched, hypnotized, as Jason stepped out of the water. The mist allowed only teasing hints of muscled shoulders and long, lean hips. He stepped close, as if the cold couldn’t touch him. His cock was still huge, upright and giving off steam…
“I’m coming too,” he said, smiling in a way that threatened to unhinge me completely. His goddamned confidence irritated the hell out of me, but there were parts of my body that didn’t seem to care much. I felt a hot trickle of springwater and his seed flood the crotch of my jeans. Oh, fucking hell…
“I’ve got blankets in my rig,” he said easily, shaking his dripping head. “Stay there,” he ordered, pointing a finger at Rye. The dog whined lightly, but obeyed, a big, drippy smile on his face. Reilly would always do anything Jason asked of him… just like me. And he was so happy to have his daddy back home that he sat still, beating the water with his tail.
“And you,” he turned to me, “you can come help me with the blankets. We’ll dry him off best as we can, and I’ll drive you both home. It’s late, the road’ll be iced over by now.”
“I’m a damned good driver,” I shot back. But I followed him anyway. He reached back and took my hand and I felt warmer all over.
“This shouldn’t have happened, Jason,” I said firmly. My body was more than ready to argue with me, but I was just as prepared to dig my heels in. I stomped along beside him. “I’ve been working really hard to get on with my life…”
“And you couldn’t,” he said cockily, turning to face me when we reached the truck. He lifted my cold chin with his inexplicably, annoyingly warm hand. “Just like I never did, Ember.” He reached into the cab and pulled out a couple of thick folded blankets and thrust them into my arms. Then he kissed me again. Hard. By the time he finished, I was sweating in my clothes and he was smiling like a big cat sitting on a mouse and feeling it squirm. “Now let’s go get our dog before he comes looking for us and freezes to death. I’ll have you two home in no time, and get a good fire going to dry us all out.” He kissed me again, lingering long enough to tease my lower lip with his teeth. “The least you could do is cook a man some dinner for his trouble, babygirl.” He gave me a gentle slap on my ass and grinned a little wider. “I’m ravenous.”
He took one hand off the wheel to pull me closer. Reilly was more than happy to climb over my lap and look out the window at the lights going by. I curled into Jason’s side, but resisted leaning my head on his shoulder. A girl has to have some pride, after all, even if he did smell like warmth and safety, excitement and memories…
“I’m so sorry, Em.”
“Daddy’s been gone for more than a year already,” I replied, sounding more okay with it than I really was. “Mom couldn’t bear living at Cradle Creek anymore. She tried, god knows. But she’s older now… and it was getting too hard being out there alone after Dad was gone. She likes city life. So we traded. I gave her my condo in Aspen and she gave me the cabin. I thought it’d be a good place to finish the book,” I said, my head swimming. “It’s so isolated… fewer distractions…”
“And is the book done?” he asked, tucking his hand into the curve of my waistband.
“In progress,” I answered shortly. “Mom said she missed the old days too much. When the three of us were driving her crazy, and she could barely keep up with feeding all of us. You spent a lot of time at our place.”
“Three hungry men and a growing girl,” he said, and I could feel his eyes on me. “I’ve missed all of it. I haven’t talked to Randy since…” he broke off. “Well, since we stopped being us,” he finished. “It’s been a lot longer since I’ve seen Sarah.” He leaned his arm casually over the wheel. “She and Ray were more like family to me than my own; good, strong, down-to earth people.” He sighed. “I’ve missed that.”
He slowed and turned off at the dirt road. Rye had his paws on the dash and was eager for freedom and home. His fur was dry enough from the heater that I opened the door and let him out. A good run home would make sure he slept through the night. I glanced up at Jason and felt my heartbeat speed up. I’d woken up alone this morning, this day no different than all the rest. I’d thought the same thoughts, mulled the same memories. I hadn’t even bothered to wash my hair…
And now I was coming home with the only man in the world I’d ever loved. He was right beside me, and his hand was around my waist like he’d never been gone. Every instinct inside me that I’d fought so hard to push down had risen again, with one look… one touch… one word…
It was dark and bitterly cold, and the stars were shining like diamonds that had been thrown up into the sky. Jason would build a fire in the old cookstove and I would make his supper…
I leaned back and closed my eyes. Deep down, I was more afraid than I’d ever been in my whole life. Everything that had happened since I’d headed into town seemed impossible, unreal somehow. My heart was pounding away in my chest and panic was fluttering in the back of my throat…
But I couldn’t deny we were coming home. For better or for wo
rse, together again, after so many years, Jason and I were actually coming home.
8
Jason
It wasn’t until we were inside and the fire was roaring on the old stone hearth that I realized… her childhood freckles had faded. And her hair had deepened into a burnished copper, the color of slow, smoldering coals.
She was even more beautiful than I remembered. Not that it even mattered. She felt the same, in my arms and in my heart. And that’s the only kind of beauty that’s real, the only kind that lasts a lifetime. She was my stubborn, bit-between-her-teeth little firebrand. And she was, even now, keeping me at arm’s length.
“How’s that coming?” I asked, glancing at the skillet. I stirred the pot of beans and bacon and my stomach rumbled. At least it hadn’t been too hard to talk her into making her famous steak with coffee gravy. The recipe had been handed down in her family for more than a century, but no woman had ever made it better. She poured a cup of cold brew over the drippings in the iron pan and the steam that rose up made my mouth water.
“Just a few more minutes so it can thicken,” she said. “Here in the kitchen?”
I shook my head. “On the floor by the fire,” I answered. And I knew she was remembering the same thing I was; all the nights we’d never made it upstairs. Nights that her brother had been out on a call and Sarah and Ray had made excuses to head into town, so we could be alone. Even though Randy had taken his time accepting us, Ember’s parents had welcomed our engagement with open arms.
I watched her fill a plate, and let my hands linger on hers when I took it. The room was heating up fast, and she was still wearing her jacket.
“Come on,” I said, turning her in my arms. I reached around her to unzip her jacket, my chest against her back. I took my time… and peeled it off, tossing it onto the sofa where Reilly was spread out and snoring softly. “I want you to keep me company down here while I eat,” I said. I sat down on the hearth rug, crossing my legs and balancing my plate on my thigh. She sat too, as uncomfortable as I’d ever seen her. The wind outside was starting to howl.
“I can go, if you want me to,” I offered, halfway through the best meal of my life. “I didn’t plan on this any more than you did. I can come back for you in the morning and we’ll go pick up your truck…” I licked my fingers and sighed. Memory didn’t do this place justice, I thought. It was quiet, peaceful… intimate. It all still felt like I’d never been gone…
“Don’t be stupid,” she replied. “The road won’t be safe. And it’s not like we’ve never been alone before. You can take the guest room if you want… or the sofa, if you can get Rye to share.” She looked up at me, finally, and smiled, changing the subject, “How are your folks? Did they ever come around to seeing things from your point of view?”
“I’m surprised you didn’t hear about it on the news,” I answered, my throat suddenly dry. “They opened another resort about six months ago, in the smack fucking middle of land they knew I wanted to include in the reserve.” I put my empty plate on the coffee table and Reilly’s nose twitched in his sleep. “If I didn’t know for a fact that their only motivation was profit, I’d have suspected it was simply spite. But there’s not enough snow this winter for it to matter much, anyway.” I stretched my long legs out, turning on my hip to face her, and leaned my head on my hand. The firelight made her hair gleam, her dark eyes glisten. “They’re flying out tomorrow and will be gone for months. I think it’s just as well.”
“And are you and Randy ever going to make it right again?” she asked. Her voice was lower, more intense. “You two were like brothers before… well, before you and I were…”
I leaned forward and caught her hand, bringing it to my lips. I held it there, against my skin, breathing her in. “It wasn’t easy for him, when you grew up, Em. By the time he’d adjusted to the idea of us together, we weren’t us anymore.” I kissed her flesh and felt the tiny bones and muscles move under my lips. The movement was almost imperceptible, but it set off something inside I wasn’t sure I could control.
“Randy loves you,” I said. “I had a foundation to build, and he’s got a family of his own now. Things had to change eventually. We had our own paths to follow. We all did.”
I leaned closer and pulled her beside me. “There isn’t any blame in it, Ember. I know you couldn’t live the life your mother did. No more than I could live my parents’ lifestyle.” I stroked my hand down her back, using every ounce of self-control I had in me not to reach under to bare, warm skin. “I hated how things ended, Em. But I get it, just the same.” I took a deep breath. “But what happened between us tonight wasn’t a mistake… It could never be a mistake for us…”
We sat for a long time in silence. I stroked her back, let my fingers slid through the silk of her hair. The fire burned lower and crackled, shifting like a living thing. I’d fought more than fifty fires just like it on a much larger scale. Here on the hearth, it was contained… tame. It was warmth and comfort, domesticated by man’s will. But out there, in the wilderness, it became wild. It grew and it breathed and it took back its will. It could go from ember to inferno within minutes. I’d seen it turn on a dime and jump through treetops to envelop and destroy men who, only minutes before, had thought themselves safe. Every time I stared into its blinding light, I had the sensation of being watched in return. It was part of what had inspired me to volunteer with Randy. When I went out on a call, I wasn’t just facing a wildfire. I was facing an opponent; an intelligent one… And it felt like the elephant in the room. Ember and I had never talked about it directly, not even now. We always talked our way around it…
“I love you, Jason,” she said softly. She turned so the firelight was behind her and her hair was a brilliant halo of color. “But we shouldn’t… I shouldn’t have let it go so far tonight.” She swallowed and I waited. “I’m still not over you… and tonight isn’t going to make that any easier.
“I’d like to forget everything and take you upstairs with me. But I’d only pay for it later on.” I gripped her hand as she gripped mine. “We both would, and it’s already been hard enough. There’s just still too much standing between us,” she went on. “I’m going upstairs now… and I think it’s better if you sleep down here.” She smiled in a lopsided way. “Rye’s not bad as company,” she said. “He’ll hog the blanket if you let him, but he’ll keep you warm.”
“You’re the only warmth I need, Em…”
“Goodnight,” she replied, already halfway up the stairs.
9
Ember
“Seven… eight… nine… ten…”
I took another long breath in and counted it back out slowly. I had climbed into bed fully dressed. I wasn’t sure I trusted myself to take my clothes off.
I pulled the covers up and tried again to slow my racing heartbeat. I was up here… and he was right the hell downstairs on my couch…
“...have your fucking head examined,” I whispered crossly. “Like I really needed to go kicking up what little dust had finally started to settle…” I rolled over and pounded my pillow. It would have been better all-around if I’d gone out, gotten drunk and gotten laid by a damned stranger. At least that would have been done and over with. I could have forgotten all about a nobody. But after three long years of living like a nun, I had to go falling right back into the arms of a man I love beyond reason; the only man who could loosen my grip on the life I was trying so damned hard to rebuild…
I turned over again, tossing the covers back. Suddenly way too hot, I peeled off my sweater and jeans and tossed them over a chair. The cold air was like a balm on my skin and I paced the wooden floor, staring out the casement window. Bare trees and dry evergreens, mixed in varying heights, all leaning with the wind. Something about the sound it made rushing through the treetops and the old eaves of the house had always made me restless. And tonight was no different, except that it was stirring something even deeper. Any kind of storm, a windstorm… or a powerful thunderstorm, had always
whipped up a yearning inside me. Some of the most passion-filled nights Jason and I had spent together had been fanned by Mother Nature’s temper. I ran my hands down over my breasts and my belly and heard a soft moan escape from my own lips. My nipples were tender as hell, and my pussy… I reached down and touched my clit with a fingertip. The result was like lightning and I bent forward, catching the windowsill just to stay on my feet.
“Once was never enough for us, Jason,” I said under my breath. “Once we had a taste…” I stroked myself again and bit down on my lip. I explored deeper, finding heat and Jason’s slippery seed inside… God, it had been so incredibly reckless…
“And I still want more…” I whispered, pushing my fingers in, desperate to fill the emptiness and soothe the ache that was building. I sat down on the bed and leaned back, pulling my knees up and burying my hands between my own legs. My arms pushed my breasts together, mounding them on my chest as I rubbed. The movement made them quiver and sent a sweet tingling sensation straight from nipples to core. Nothing I did was gentle or ladylike. I was a woman on a mission. Not even this had worked for me on my own for all these years, but one touch from him and I was back.
Goddamn it, was I back.
Even three of my fingers didn’t begin to fill me the way Jason could. But I thrust with them anyway, using my other hand to rub my clit in hard, frantic circles. I hiked my knees higher and spread them farther apart. Nothing I could do would really be enough. Only Jason could give me what I really craved. But I was too far gone to care, and the memory of how he’d felt as he fucked me moved my hands even faster. His muscles had been even harder than the last time… his hips had driven even deeper than I ever remembered… His cock had swelled impossibly inside me, until my flesh had been tightened to its limits and my clit had been fully exposed to the slick friction of his shaft.…
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