Hard Line

by Pamela Clare

  12

  Samantha looked into Thor’s eyes, his words, and the intensity of his gaze, making her heart thrum. She didn’t know how to answer his question. But that didn’t matter, because, in the next instant, he kissed her, his mouth hot and hungry against hers.

  Oh. My. God.

  No man had ever kissed her the way he did, a wild combination of fierce and gentle, his lips, teeth, and tongue assailing her senses. The thrill of it threw her off balance, left her breathless, turned her body to liquid. She forgot the nightmare of the past week, her world shrinking until it held only him—the clean scent of his skin, the heat of his body against hers, the minty taste of his tongue.

  Thor pressed her back onto her bed and stretched himself out above her, supporting his weight with muscular arms, his lips never leaving hers, his erection brushing her bare belly as he settled between her thighs. She slid her hands up his body, turned on by the feel of him—soft skin, shifting muscles, the rasp of his chest hair.

  He dragged his mouth from hers, sat back on his heels, his brow furrowing as his gaze slid over her, his cock jutting upward, his chest rising and falling as if he were as out of breath as she was. He cupped a breast, caressed her nipple. “God, you’re beautiful.”

  She might have objected out of habit, but something about the way he said it, something on his face, convinced her that he meant it.

  He caught her wrists with his hands, pinned them above her head, his fingers threading with hers. Then he lowered his lips to the nipple he’d just caressed, moaning as he sucked it into the heat of his mouth.

  “Oh!” The sensation shot straight to her belly.

  But he was just getting started.

  He moved from one nipple to the other, licking, nipping, teasing, until Samantha wriggled and writhed beneath him, aching and wet.

  “Thor.”

  He raised his head, leaving her breasts bereft, his gaze meeting hers, his lips curving in a smile as if her sexual anguish amused him. “Beautiful and sensitive.”

  Then he pressed a kiss to her breastbone and released her wrists, one hand moving to cup her breasts, while the other explored between her thighs, his mouth trailing fire across her throat, her shoulder, her ribcage, her navel. “You’re so wet.”

  She was so turned on that it took her a moment to realize what he had in mind. She slid her fingers into his hair to stop him. “No, no. I’ve never really liked that.”

  He looked up at her, arched an eyebrow. “Seriously?”

  She’d always felt too self-conscious. “Seriously.”

  “Will you give me a chance?” He scooted down the bed, kissed and nipped her inner thighs, soothing the sharp, little bites with his tongue. “Just give me one minute to taste you. Count to sixty. If you’re not into it, I’ll stop.”

  He truly wanted to taste her? That was a first.

  The thought sent a shiver through her. “Okay.”

  “Don’t start counting yet.” He pressed a line of kisses across her lower belly, to the ticklish spot just above her hip bone, making her abdominal muscles tense.

  Samantha wasn’t used to this kind of attention. She wasn’t used to having a man so focused on her pleasure. Sure, she had enjoyed sex before, but not like this. Every nerve in her body seemed alive, hypersensitive to his touch, his every caress, even the warmth of his breath as he exhaled against her skin.

  “Ready?” He parted her with his fingers, made a sound that was halfway between an exhale and a moan. “Start counting.”

  “One…”

  He licked her, making her breath catch.

  “Two…”

  He did it again, a little more firmly this time.

  “Threeee…”

  He began to torment her in earnest, teasing her clit with slick strokes of his tongue, flicking her, skimming circles over her.

  “Oh…” Stunned by the sensation, she forgot to count.

  It felt so good, pleasure shuddering through her, igniting a fire inside her, a burning need for release. The part of her mind that could still think rejected her previous hypothesis that oral sex was no big deal, because, oh, hell, yes, it was.

  With Thor, it was.

  Then he drew her clit into the heat of his mouth, suckling her just as he’d done with her nipples.

  She cried out from the sweet shock of it, arching off the bed, her hands fisting in his thick hair. He threw a strong arm across her hips to hold her still, leaving her no escape, no chance to catch her breath, no choice but to ride it out.

  She couldn’t keep her head above water, pleasure engulfing her, overwhelming her, dragging her under. Her breath came in ragged pants now, every exhale a moan, her trembling thighs spread far apart, her knees bent back, her inhibitions utterly gone. Then he pushed two fingers inside her, thrusting into her, stroking that deep ache.

  Orgasm washed through her in a savage rush, a tidal wave of bliss, the shock of it tearing a cry from her throat, drowning her in pleasure and leaving her to drift as he finished her with gentle laps of his tongue.

  Out of breath, her brain blank, she felt him shift and opened her eyes to find him reaching for a condom. He drew back his foreskin, rolled the condom down his length.

  Her pulse skipped to think that his cock would soon be inside her.

  He settled himself between her thighs, his gaze meeting hers. “Are you sure?”

  God, was she ever. “Yes.”

  But how sweet of him to ask.

  He nudged himself into her, filling her with a single, slow thrust, his eyes drifting shut, breath leaving his lungs in a rush. “You’re so tight.”

  It felt good to Samantha, too, her body still hypersensitive.

  He opened his eyes, pressed a kiss to one breast, held himself still inside her. “I don’t know how long I’m going to last.”

  She ran her palms over his chest. “That’s okay. I already came.”

  And it had blown her mind.

  “You think that’s it?” He chuckled, his smile sexy enough to melt winter. “Such low expectations.”

  He withdrew from her with excruciating slowness then inched himself into her again, his gaze locked with hers, that smile still on his lips.

  “Oh.”

  Over and over again, he withdrew slowly, only to enter her once more. And each time, it got better, the slippery friction hitting sensitive places inside her, arousing her, making her ache for the next thrust.

  Little by little, he picked up the rhythm, his eyes drifting shut, his jaw tensing, muscles shifting beneath her palms. “You feel … so good.”

  How did he do that? How did he make her feel desired and beautiful with just a few words, a look, a kiss?

  “Thor.” She moaned his name, her nails digging into his shoulders.

  Faster. Harder.

  She was losing herself again, losing herself in him, in the feel of him moving inside her—the hot glide, the sweet stretch, the deep, piercing fullness.

  In her mind, she saw his cock pounding into her. The thought drew her gaze downward to where their bodies joined, those amazing abs contracting as he drove himself into her. A jolt of white-hot lust shot through her, the sight primal, erotic, hot.

  He shifted, changing the angle of his hips so that his cock grazed her clit on the next thrust.

  The sensation made her gasp—and moan. “Oh!”

  The hint of a smile played on his lips as he watched her, his blue eyes dark. Sweat beaded on his chest, his hips keeping a relentless rhythm, each thrust driving her higher, pleasure winding tighter inside her. And then she was there, hovering on the iridescent edge of another climax.

  Sexual need stripped her of control, left her moaning and whispering words that made no sense. “Ooh. Thor! I want … Oh! Yes. I need…”

  “Come for me, skat.”

  As if she had a choice.

  Samantha shattered, orgasm burning through her like molten honey, scorching and sweet. Thor caught her cry with his mouth, driving her climax home with deep,
hard thrusts. When her peak had passed, he shifted his hips again and let himself go, moaning against her throat as he, at last, joined her in paradise.

  Breathing hard, Thor sank against Samantha, his heart hammering, his mind empty, his body floating somewhere between heaven and earth. For a time, he lay there, still inside her, orgasm fading into languid stillness. Bit by bit, his awareness returned.

  Soft skin against skin. The silk of her hair. Her scent. The thrum of her heartbeat against his chest. The taste of her on his tongue.

  He had the presence of mind to pull out before the condom slipped off. He tossed it, wiped off with a tissue.

  “The beds here are tiny.” Her voice was husky, sleepy.

  “Come here.” He shifted onto his side so that her head was pillowed on his bicep, her legs tucked between his. “Is that better?”

  “Mmm.” She snuggled against him. “What does skat mean in Danish?”

  Had he called her skat? That ought to worry him, but strangely it didn’t. “It means something like ‘honey’ or ‘sweetheart.’”

  “I like that.” She laughed. “In English, scat is a term for animal poop.”

  “That’s definitely not what I meant.” He kissed her, trailed his fingers up the silky skin of her back, and found himself smiling.

  One… two… threeee.

  Yeah, she’d lost count pretty quickly.

  “What is it? Why are you smiling?”

  “For someone who doesn’t care for oral sex, you seemed to enjoy it.”

  “That’s only because you’re so good.”

  “Yeah?” He wouldn’t lie. That didn’t hurt his ego at all.

  “I’ve never come that way before. I’ve never come twice, either.”

  Thor found that hard to comprehend. She was as responsive as any woman he’d known—more responsive than some. “I think you need to stop sleeping with jerks.”

  She arched her head, looked up at him, and laughed, the sound putting a hitch in his chest. “I gave up men a few years ago.”

  “You gave up men? Last time I looked, I was a man.”

  “Yes, you are.” She ran her palm over his bicep. “I mean, I quit dating. I gave up trying to meet someone.”

  Something told Thor this was about more than mediocre sex. It wasn’t like him to want to hear about the previous lovers of the women in his bed, but this time he was curious. “What happened?”

  “My first boyfriend was a guy named Scott. We met in chem lab my freshman year and started going out. He was the first guy I slept with.”

  Thor hated him already.

  “One night afterward, he sat up in my bed and said he’d never really found me attractive. He said he liked curvy women who did feminine things. Then he got dressed and left, and that was it. I cried for a week.”

  Now Thor really hated him. “What an asshole.”

  “He wasn’t the first person to say something like that. I heard it all the time in high school from boys and girls. ‘Sam is flat-chested. She’s a nerd. She thinks she’s so smart. We hate her.’ One football player grabbed my breast in the hallway and said he was just trying to decide if I was truly a girl.”

  “What a shitting bastard. Please tell me someone kicked his ass.”

  “I never reported it.”

  “You’re not flat-chested.” It hurt Thor to imagine a teenage Samantha enduring assault and taunts. He understood now why she had so little confidence. “They bullied you. Wasn’t your mother a teacher? Didn’t she try to stop it?”

  Samantha shook her head. “I didn’t tell her. Are you kidding? It would have been so much worse if I had.”

  Thor couldn’t imagine that. “That’s just wrong. In Denmark, children are taught not to bully as soon as they start school. They’re also taught to intervene if they see another child being bullied. We believe that everyone has a right to be a part of things. No one should be left out.”

  “That’s wonderful.”

  “If people can’t learn at an early age how to be kind and get along with one another, how can you have a functioning society?” It seemed obvious to Thor.

  She tilted her head back, looked up at him. “I like that.”

  “So, Scott was a bastard. Who else?”

  “Nathan and I met in grad school. My parents thought we’d get married, but everything was a competition with him. If I got a better grade than he did, it made him angry. He would yell and tell me the professors were going easy on me because I was a woman. When I got the post-doc at the University of Chicago, he said it was only because of my sex. Then he packed and left. I was … crushed.”

  The hurt in her voice made Thor want to punch the fucker. “What a fragile ego. He believed he had to compete with you. You’re better off without him.”

  “After that, I stopped dating.”

  She’d been with two men—only two—and both times they’d hurt her badly and put her down. Thor couldn’t undo the damage they’d done to her spirit, but, for the short time he was here, he could show her that not all men were like that.

  He drew her close, stroked her hair. “Want to know what I see when I look at you? I see one of the most brilliant people I’ve ever met, man or woman. I see a woman with a sweet body, delicate breasts, a pretty face, and beautiful blue eyes. I see a loyal friend and a hard worker. I don’t know what was up with the kids at your high school or those two men, but there’s nothing wrong with you.”

  For a moment, she was silent. “You’re not just saying that?”

  “I never say things I don’t mean.” Thor kissed her forehead. “I also like that you’re real.”

  “I’m real?”

  “You don’t wear makeup or talk about clothes or waste time on things that don’t matter. You’re not super… superfiscal.” That was the word, right?

  “I think you mean superficial.” There was a hint of laughter in her voice.

  He repeated it. “Superficial.”

  “Thank you. For some reason, I’ve never had an interest in any of that. I thought most men like women who do all the girly stuff.”

  “I don’t believe that. But who knows? My last girlfriend broke up with me because I didn’t notice her new shoes.”

  “Are you serious?”

  “She cried and told me I was cold and uncaring.”

  Samantha sat up. “But you’re not any of those things.”

  Her distress on his behalf made him smile. “Thanks, but it wasn’t a great loss.”

  Lying here beside Samantha, the end of that relationship seemed like nothing.

  Thor drank in the sight of her—rosy nipples peeking out between strands of blond hair, the curve of her shoulder, guileless eyes. And the sexual thirst that had just been slaked flared to life again, blood filling his cock. He brushed her hair over her shoulder, exposing her breast to his touch. “See? I want you again already.”

  Her eyes drifted shut, her nipples drawing tight as he caressed her.

  “Come here.” He drew her onto him, helped her straddle his hips. “Now I can touch you anywhere I want.”

  She sucked in a little breath, her hands splayed against his chest for balance. “You have the most amazing body. I just want to play with it.”

  “Don’t let me stop you.” He let her explore him with her hands, her caresses striking sparks from his skin. It turned him on just to see how much touching him turned her on, lust in her eyes, hunger on her face.

  But he was hungry, too.

  He stopped her when she started to go down on him and drew her up the length of his body to kiss her. “Save that for another time.”

  Then he went to work on her, teasing her clit with one hand, caressing her breasts with the other, until his fingers were drenched and her breasts were swollen.

  He reached for the condom and tore the packet with his teeth, then sheathed himself and guided his cock into her tight body. “Hold kæft.”

  Jesus.

  Her head fell back on a moan, her hair tickling his thighs. “Th
or.”

  He let her set the pace, but it was pretty clear that she was used to doing this for the benefit of the bastards she’d dated and not for her own pleasure.

  He gripped her hips, stopped her. “This isn’t a rodeo. Do what feels good to you. Use my cock for your fun.”

  She looked surprised for a moment, then she began to experiment, rolling her hips, rubbing her pubic bone against his, canting her hips so that his cock stroked her inside where it felt best. He knew she’d figured it out when her eyes went wide and her nails bit into his chest.

  “Oooh!”

  He indulged himself, toying with her breasts and her clit, willing himself to relax, to hold still while she took what she needed from him. “God, you’re hot.”

  She came fast and hard, Thor closing his hand over her mouth to still her cry.

  When her peak had passed, he flipped her onto her back and drove himself into her, orgasm already uncoiling at the base of his spine. Climax hit him like a blast wave, pleasure shaking him apart, leaving him panting in her arms.

  13

  Thor was so deeply asleep that it took him a moment to realize that strange sound was his phone’s alarm ringing. He opened his eyes to find Samantha still asleep in his arms, her face nuzzled against his chest. Warmth spread behind his sternum at the sight of her, a wave of tenderness welling up inside him.

  Then he remembered.

  For helvede. Damn it.

  He reached over and turned off the alarm on his phone, trying not to wake Samantha. He’d set it to make sure he was ready for his early meeting with Tower and Shields. If he didn’t haul ass, he’d be late.

  “Thor?” She opened her eyes. “Is it time to get up already?”

  “Go back to sleep. I’ve got a five A.M. meeting.” He kissed her, climbed out of bed, and dressed. “One of us will walk you to the lab after breakfast. Don’t go anywhere alone with Vasily. He’s former KGB. Don’t forget to arm your security camera and take your radio with you, okay?”

  She sat up, her hair tousled, surprise on her face. “He’s KGB?”

  “He was. I have to go.”

  “Thank you for last night. Thanks for everything.”