“But what could you possibly have to do? There’s a storm coming. You said so.” Emilia was all too aware that her voice had risen to an unnatural high, but the wind was picking up and the snow was falling heavily now.
Hunter stepped back and kissed her. All of her objections flew out of the window as his hands fisted in her hair and he deepened the kiss when she opened to him on a sigh. God, the man could kiss. By the time he finally released her they were both covered in snow, and Emilia giggled when he shook it off him. Flakes still clung to his stubble and his eyelashes, and he winked at her.
“Be a good girl and go inside. I won’t be long and I need to get that done, before this snow gets too thick and makes it impossible.”
“Makes what impossible?” Emilia knew she was pushing it. She ought to just do as she was told, but worry for him drove her on, and she hung onto his biceps in a desperate attempt to stop him.
“Trust me, kitten. Go inside. I won’t be long I promise.”
****
Hunter didn’t think she would follow his request, and he was running out of time. While his bear could deal with the storm perfectly well, he needed his hands for what he had in mind, and he didn’t want to have to venture too far out, because she would worry, and he didn’t like to think of her on her own. The cabin had its own generator, and he’d stocked up for several weeks’ worth of food, but that wasn’t the point.
After what seemed like an eternity she finally nodded.
“Okay, but I’d feel a damn sight better if you told me what was so important that you need to head out in this.”
A particularly vicious gust of wind whipped up the snow around them, and despite her layers and the huge hood of his parka he’d insisted she wear over her ski suit, Emilia shivered.
“I’m going to cut you a Christmas tree,” he said, and he rather enjoyed the way her mouth fell open in surprise.
“But you said—”
Hunter cut her off by turning her round by the shoulders, and shoving her inside the cabin.
“I know what I said, but you’re right. It’s time to let the past go. I won’t be long.” He shut the door on her astonished self and jumped off the porch. His bear huffed, itching to be let out and play in the snow, but now was not the time. He’d seen the perfect tree earlier, or rather Emilia had on their way up to their sledging hill, and he hadn’t missed the yearning in her eyes, when she had pointed it out to him.
His curt reply of, “I don’t celebrate Christmas,” had meant she had refused to take another step until he had explained himself. Hunter picked up the pace and ducked his head against the bitter wind. He should have just told her it wasn’t a subject he wanted to discuss, but like every other confession she’d wrangled out of him already, his mouth had opened and the words had tumbled out regardless. And another chunk of his emotional armor had lifted to never return, at least not in front of her. In truth it was freeing to share his past with her. To see her look at him not with condemnation but understanding when he told her things that should have repelled her, yet didn’t.
True to form, when he’d hesitantly told her his reason, her blue eyes had filled with tears and she’d stood on tiptoes to pull him down for a hug.
“I’m so sorry, Hunter. I can see why you wouldn’t celebrate Christmas. What a horrible reminder for you every year, not that you’d ever forget losing your brother like that.” She’d dropped a kiss on his nose, and they’d kept on walking.
“If you want me to get a—”
“No, I don’t want you do that just on my account. It will be odd without a tree at Christmas, but hells bells, Papa’s place has several, and that house is so devoid of the Christmas spirit, it’s beyond a joke really. It’s just not the same since Mama died.” She’d swiped at her eyes as though she’d been on the verge of crying, and he’d made up his mind there and then to get that damn tree for her. Clearly it meant a lot to her, and he wanted this weekend to be special.
Lost in his thoughts as he was, he almost went past it, and then had to retreat his steps. The snow was falling so hard that he could barely see his hand in front of his eyes, and he let his bear senses guide him. He’d been right to hurry her back to the cabin. He’d dread to think of her out here in this storm.
Hunter got the axe out of his back pack and swung it high. That tree was his.
****
What was taking him so long? Emilia worried her bottom lip with her teeth and she was sure her pacing in front of the windows would wear a groove in the oak flooring, but what else was she to do? She couldn’t see a thing out there but white, as the blizzard had taken hold in earnest, and worry churned a hole in her gut. It was all well and good to say his bear would be fine out there, but he couldn’t fell a tree in his bear form now, could he?
She needed something to do, and fast. Trying to get something together for dinner would seem the obvious choice, but where did he keep his food? And come to think of it, if he didn’t celebrate Christmas what were they going to do about Christmas dinner?
Emilia busied herself by setting the coffee to brew, but a search of the cupboards came up empty. The small fridge in the kitchen galley just held essentials. Frowning she spun round and then she noticed the door at the opposite door of the galley. It blended in so perfectly with its surroundings, it was no wonder she missed it up to now. The light came on automatically, and a cold blast of air hit her in the face when she pushed the door open to find some sort of combined larder, utility room.
Emilia whistled through her teeth at the wall to ceiling shelves of stacked food items. Cans, dried fruit, milk powder, root vegetables, smoked fish, you name it he had it. A washer and dryer sat in one corner, a huge chest freezer in another, and Emilia shook her head. She should have known he wouldn’t leave anything to chance. A man his size would make sure there was enough food around.
Rummaging through the shelves, and then the freezer, she found the perfect ingredients for her mama’s stew, and half an hour later, she shut the oven door. Now what?
Decorations. He might not have any, but she was sure there were things she could use to make them. With a determined grin, Emilia went on the hunt.
Chapter Eight
This whole thing was taking too fucking long. Hunter stopped to wipe the sweat and snow out of his eyes, and his bear grumbled at the delay. The animal didn’t like being away from Emilia for this long. Not that they’d had much of a choice.
Damn fucking foolhardy idea it had been to cut down a Christmas tree in a blizzard. And for what? All to see Emilia’s face light up when he dragged the thing inside the cabin? After all the time it had taken him, she was more likely to throw something at him, and dragging the blasted tree through the snow meant it looked far from perfect.
His bear huffed his annoyance, and sniffing the air to orient himself, Hunter set off again. He couldn’t shake the feeling that he was going round in circles. It shouldn’t take this damn long to get back to the cabin, and windy as it was, he was fairly certain that it wouldn’t have been whisked away Wizard of Oz Style.
As ridiculous as that notion was, cold sweat ran down between his shoulder blades at the mere thought of anything happening to Emilia, and he upped his pace. After what seemed like another eternity, he finally cleared the trees to find the country road that led up his cabin. He fucking well had veered off course. God only knew how long he’d been away. Hours if his rumbling stomach was anything to go by, and when at long last the welcoming lights of the cabin came into view he breathed a sigh of relief. Every window was ablaze with light, and hot puffs of smoke escaped the chimney. Hunter grinned, and some of the tension left his aching muscles. Stomping up the stairs to get rid of some of the god-awful snow sticking to him, he was half expecting the door to open. He was making enough noise for a herd of elephants after all. Instead the delicious smells of cooking assaulted his nostrils, and his bear grumbled in appreciation. She’d cooked for him? He frowned as an annoying sound registered. Jingles of all things. The
little minx must have found a radio station on his entertainment station. He sure as fuck didn’t have any Christmas CDs in his collection. Hunter rolled his eyes, opened the door with one hand, and heaved the bedraggled, snow covered, fern into the cabin. A blast of hot air greeted him, and his stomach rumbled loudly at the enticing smells filling his cabin. He leant the tree against the wall, shrugged out of his coat, unlaced his boots, and then had a second’s warning before an Emilia shaped missile launched herself at him. Wearing nothing but a flannel nightshirt, which she must have brought with her from home, because he sure as fuck didn’t recall buying that, and a pair of his long walking socks which she’d pulled up to just above her knee, she was a delicious morsel of soft, warm, curves. Hunter grabbed hold of her ass automatically as she jumped into his arms, and the soft skin he found under his fingers sent his beast wild.
Fuck, she wasn’t wearing any underwear, and with her long legs wrapped around him, the heat of her bare pussy on his groin meant that all his blood shot south.
“Where … have … you … been?” Emilia dropped kisses all over his face in between murmuring the words, and Hunter swung round until he had her propped against the wall. Held up by his body as she was, her nipples were hard little nubs digging into his chest, and she gasped when he rocked his still covered erection into her cunt. Hunter grinned down at her, and brought one hand slowly up her side underneath her night dress. Pulling his upper body back slightly, he cupped one of her breasts and squeezed, while the hand on her ass cheek yanked her lower body further into his cock. A shudder went through Emilia at the contact, and they groaned in unison.
“I was worried about you. You were gone so long.”
Hunter laughed and kissed her. It was meant to be a mere brush of his lips on hers to reassure her, but his bratty little sub bit his lips, and Hunter’s bear took over. He deepened the kiss, branding her with his teeth and tongue, and fangs fully released, he ran them up and down her neck line with enough force to leave red marks. The dominant in him roared at seeing the marks of his possession on her skin, and his bear prowled to be let free, to cement their bond with the mating bond.
“Hunter, Sir … please.”
Emilia’s needy little whisper made his balls draw tight, and Hunter pulled back and groaned.
“Fuck, I need to be in you now. Hold on.”
Breathless and wide eyed Emilia complied by tightening her hold on him with his arms and legs, while he somehow managed to yank down his jeans enough to free his cock. Another hasty adjustment meant he slid deep into her tight sheath, and he caught her gasp of pain in his mouth. Moving his hands to her ass cheeks, he pulled out slightly and then drove back inside her.
“Fucking hell, you’re tight like this. Let me in, kitten. I don’t want to hurt you, and fuck, I can’t go slow.”
Already his orgasm built, and when Emilia clenched and released her internal muscles around his cock, he lost any restraints. Pistoning in and out of her he slammed her into the wall with every thrust into her body, and Emilia’s head fell back. Mouth open, her needy breaths skimmed over his neck and her fingernails dug into his biceps, as she tightened her thighs around him and ground herself against him. Her breasts bounced with each thrust, and her breaths grew more and more erratic as he drove himself deeper into her body. Emilia’s orgasm wrenched from her, and her internal ripples sent him over the edge, too. He pumped faster, as he emptied jet after jet of his seed into his mate. His claws ran out piercing her skin, and his bear growled in triumph at having marked his mate. Yet it wasn’t enough. Her shoulder called him, to bite her, and make her his. Her scent in his nostrils, Hunter bent his head, and something fell on his head, bringing him back to his senses.
His bear snarled, and Emilia giggled, making his balls tighten anew as her muscles pulled him in deeper, and he glared at the paper chain that had now wrapped itself around his neck.
“What the fuck?”
“I thought we just did that, Sir?”
Still shaking inside from how close he had come from doing something they might both regret later, he quirked his eyebrows at her and tried to shake the damn thing off. All he achieved was to over balance, and he went down heavily with Emilia landing on top of him.
She gasped as the fall meant she was now utterly impaled on his still hard cock, and then the little minx lifted off slowly, only to drop back down again.
He should stop her, he knew that, but despite having just come that felt way too good, so instead he sat up slightly, yanked that god-awful flannel shirt off her, and grasping her hair for anchorage thrust up as she came down.
“Oh, God, yes. Just there … oh.”
Emilia rocked faster, utterly lost to her body’s demands, and he grit his teeth against the exquisite agony. He needed to go faster to satisfy the primal urge sweeping him away on a tidal wave of sensation, and to keep his volatile bear under control. Watching her come undone, however, was worth the ache in his balls. Emilia grasped his shoulders, and rocked herself back and forth, and Hunter looked down. Seeing his slick cock stretch her lips, as she rubbed her clit against it on every upstroke was so fucking erotic, that despite the slow pace his dick pulsed, and he grunted his release.
It triggered Emilia’s orgasm, and she shuddered and tightened and collapsed on top of him. How long they lay there, in a sweaty, crumpled heap, waiting for their breathing to return to normal, Hunter couldn’t have said. Despite the wet pine needles digging into his ass, and the jeans cutting off the circulation to his legs, he was perfectly content to lie there, and hold Emilia, until she wriggled and sighed.
Hunter kissed the top of her head, looked up and swore.
“What the fuck is all this?”
****
Oh, he sounded truly annoyed now. His bear’s growl was clearly evident, and despite the tender way he was holding her, Emilia could feel the tension in his muscles as they coiled underneath her. She couldn’t hide her wince when he lifted her off of him, and Hunter swore again and scrambled to his feet, and out of his sodden jeans.
Emilia couldn’t help it. Seeing him hop about on one foot, trying to get his jeans off, his legs covered in pine needles and with bits of the paper chain she had made still in his hair, she had to laugh. It was that or cry.
That had certainly not gone like she had envisaged it, but he’d been gone so long, that she’d had plenty of time to hang a myriad of home-made decorations around his cabin. The Christmas themed biscuits she had found had been a godsend. Teddy bears, reindeers, and ginger bread men hung off string around the place, interspersed with simple paper chains made from the stack of newspapers and magazines she had found.
“Kitten, so help me, if you don’t want me to spank your ass raw, you’ll stop laughing right now.” Hunter braced one hand on the wall to get his other leg out of his jeans, and growled at the audible rip when the fabric gave way. He glanced her way, when she slapped her hand on her mouth desperately trying to hold in her giggles, and his lips quirked.
He looked down at the floor, and then picked the bit of paper chain that fell in his eyes out of his hair, and snorted.
“Mind you, I guess this whole scenario is rather ridiculous.”
“You think?” Emilia rolled her eyes, and Hunter threw his head back and laughed, and the tension curling in her belly evaporated.
“Come here, you … you bad excuse for an elf you.” Hunter opened his arms, and she scooted into his embrace with a sigh, while his large hands roamed down her back. She winced when he reached her ass, and he froze.
“Did I hurt you? I’m sorry I didn’t mean to be so rough, and—”
Emilia raised herself on tip toes and kissed him. Hunter opened his lips on a groan and immediately took charge of the kiss. By the time he released her she was all but ready to jump him again, which was freaking insane, really.
“No, you didn’t. Well, maybe a little, but I don’t mind. I rather like you losing control, Sir.” She winked at him, and Hunter grew serious and shook his hea
d.
“No, you wouldn’t, and I came so fucking close to…”
He ran a hand through his hair and scowled as more paper fell to the floor.
“Where in all that is holy did you get all this stuff?” he asked, and Emilia shrugged her shoulders.
“I found your pile of what I presumed to be recycling, so I used it. Mama and I always used to make paper chains. I’d forgotten how much fun it was, and besides, you got the tree, so we need some decorations.”
Hunter kicked the mass of wet needles on the floor and laughed.
“Yeah, some tree. It looked far better than that when I started, I promise.”
Emilia, too, looked down and then over at him and giggled.
“Well, we could always decorate you. You’ve got almost as much foliage on you as that tree has.”
The timer dinged on the oven reminding her that the stew was ready, and she grinned up at him.
“Might I suggest you get yourself cleaned up, and we can eat our dinner, and then decide what to do about the tree, Sir?”
“What did you make, kitten?” he asked. “Whatever it is, it smells delicious.”
****
Emilia’s face lit up, and Hunter’s chest tightened to the point of pain. This was what life should be like, with Emilia there to welcome him home, at the end of a long day. Hunter shook his head against that far too appealing vision.
“Stew. Mama’s recipe. I had a snoop in your larder. Mind you, I didn’t find any turkey. What will we eat for Christmas dinner?”
His bear growled, and Emilia’s smile slipped at whatever she read in his expression, and before he could reassure her she rushed into an explanation.
“I’m sorry about the decorations. We can take them all down, if you don’t like them. It’s just, you went through all that trouble to get that tree, and I wanted to surprise you, and—”
Hunter shut her up by kissing her, and after a moment’s hesitation Emilia sagged against him and kissed him back. Hunter pulled back with some difficulty, his cock once again hard and ready for action, and he groaned when Emily slipped to her knees and without warning wrapped her hands around the base of his shaft while taking him in as deep as she could.
Bought for Christmas Page 7