It was her.
Hagen brushed his lips over hers as he gently pushed into her, fighting for control, torn between the desire to be buried deep inside and wanting to feel every bit as her body closed around him.
Finally he had both.
Rhea rocked against him as he began to move, letting her set the pace, trying to give her everything he had. To show her this was right. This was what was meant to be.
She should be his.
She would be his.
The beast growled in satisfaction as Hagen gave in. Finally accepting his fate.
Her arms locked around him and her fingers tangled in his hair, pulling him closer. “Hagen, I...”
She sucked in a breath as he pushed deep inside her. Her thighs jerked as he pulled back, then thrust deeper. Over and over until she clenched around him and a throaty moan slipped from her lips.
It wasn’t enough.
“Again.” He barely moved inside her, letting his body rub against hers.
“I can’t.” Her words were breathy and short.
“You can.” His thumb found her clit and settled on it, letting the wide pad rub over it rhythmically in time with the short thrust of his body as it impaled hers. “Again.”
“I can’t.” She writhed under him, her thighs trembling where they rested against his sides. “Oh my God.” Rhea’s breath came in short pants as she tightened around him once again. “Oh, Hagen—”
The sound of his name on her lips as she came around him was more than he could handle. His hips jerked as he found his own release, pouring out as her body clenched around his, milking his cock. He sagged against her, drained from everything that happened in the past twelve hours.
Rhea cradled him against her as her fingers slowly moved over his skin easing him down from the intensity of what just happened. She was his. Totally and completely. And he was hers, whether she knew it or not.
“Does it hurt?”
Hagen leaned his head up. “Does what hurt?”
She furrowed her brow as if she couldn’t understand why he didn’t know what she was talking about. “The beast. Does it hurt when it happens?”
“Oh.” His beast wasn’t normal post coital conversation. It wasn’t normal any time conversation. It wasn’t something he liked to talk about. Or acknowledge.
Or be.
But he would talk about it with her if that’s what she wanted, probably even needed. “It burns.”
She ran her hand gently down his arm, her eyes following her touch. “How often does it happen?”
“It depends.”
She looked at him. “On what?”
“On who.” He carefully pulled his body free from hers and eased onto the bed beside her. “Jerrik and my uncle like what we are and they use it.”
Her hand stopped. “But you don’t?”
“No.”
“Why?”
Hagen reached up and pushed a twisted strand of hair off her face. “I thought it stole something from me.”
“Did it?”
He brushed his fingers across her smooth cheek and tucked them into her hair, letting his thumb rest on her face.
“I hope not.”
14
“Thank you for bringing this over.” Rhea fished through the bag Stewart brought from her room at the bed and breakfast and pulled out a loose t-shirt, holding it up. “I am ready to put on some real clothes.
Stewart snorted as he peeked into the front living room. “Like you’ve been wearing anything since you got here.”
Rhea dropped her hands and the shirt they held and gave Stewart a dirty look.
“What.” He motioned to her head. “Your hair gave you away. It looks like you’ve been rolled across a mattress a few times.”
Rhea automatically raised one hand to smooth across her unruly mane. “It always looks like this.”
Stewart laughed. “You must be getting more ass than I gave you credit for then.”
Rhea snatched the shirt and a pair of shorts from her bag. “I do not get a lot of ass.” It was one of the big downsides to being the way she was. She had two choices. Emotionally safe sex with a man she wasn’t that into or potentially crippling sex with a man she was very into.
One usually resulted in a lackluster bounce, the other...
Time would tell.
Stewart followed her through the house and up the stairs to the bedroom. Rhea laid her clothes on the bed and went to switch on the shower. When she came back Stewart was perched on the edge of Hagen’s king-sized bed, elbows on his knees, chin in hands.
“Listen Re-Re. I know you think I came here because you’re my best friend and I love you, which is true.” Stewart widened his eyes and looked off to one side. “But.” He looked back at her. “I’m gonna need some details.” He tipped his head to the side, nodding at the bed under him. “Juicy ones.”
“No.” Rhea pulled her shirt over her head and wiggled out of her pants.
Stewart sat up straight. “But I said I loved you.”
“That makes it a firm no.” She picked at the fresh bit of tape Hagen insisted on adding this morning before he left to go to the store for a few hours. “Why do you want to hear about it anyway?”
Stewart eyed her hip as she worked. “I don’t want to hear about it, I want to hear about him.” Stewart shook his head from side to side. “That man is all kinds of fine.”
Rhea couldn’t help but smile. Hopefully the mass of hair falling in her face hid it so Stewart wouldn’t get any crazy ideas and inflate her already troublesome expectations.
“Just rip that thing off already.” Stewart huffed and jumped off the bed. “If I don’t get to hear about Big and Scary’s Big and Scary then I at least want to see a bear injury.”
“Are you enjoying my pain?” Rhea batted at Stewart’s hands as he tried to get in on the bandage removal process. “Go away. I made it far enough through medical school that I can at least take off my own dressing.”
“You went to medical school?”
They both looked up at the bedroom door at once. Hagen stood, taking up most of the space. His hair was pulled back out of his face and a plastic bag dangled from one hand.
“Uhhhhhhhhh.” Stewart’s mouth hung open as he stared, panic rising around him. She knew what he was thinking. Explaining why she left medical school meant explaining why being around people who were suffering was not something she could handle. Physically.
Rhea patted him on the shoulder. “He knows about the thing.”
She felt Stewart relax. “Oh good.” He looked at Hagen and thumbed over his shoulder at Rhea. “It doesn’t stop being weird that she knows what you’re feeling.”
Hagen’s eyes twinkled and his lip quirked. “Good to know.”
Stewart’s eyes widened and he looked at Rhea. “Did you see that? Big and Scary smiled at me.”
“I did see that.” She pulled the rest of her bandage off and looked at her scratch.
Stewart leaned in. “That’s it?”
“That’s it.” She picked a piece of lint from the scabby line.
Stewart peered at it for a second then straightened. “I have to tell you I’m a little let down.”
“I’m sorry I wasn’t injured to your standards.” Rhea turned to walk to the bathroom, where the shower was still running. “I’m going to jump in the shower real quick. I’ll be right back.”
Standing around in her underwear was starting to get cold and awkward. Not that it was anything either of the men in her company hadn’t seen before. Stewart probably saw her half-naked more than he saw her in clothes and Hagen...
The problem was both of them together. One looking at her like she was his sister. The other looking at her like she was his breakfast.
“Chauncey just got back. He’s got some guy with him.” Hagen’s eyes didn’t leave her.
“Already?” Stewart pushed past Hagen through the doorway. His head popped back in. “Sorry Re-Re. I gotta go.”
Hage
n didn’t move until the front door slammed shut. Then he tossed the bag onto the bed and peeled his shirt over his head.
“What are you doing?” Rhea watched as he unbuttoned his jeans and pushed them over his hips, revealing the deep cut of a v that disappeared into a snug pair of black boxer briefs.
The boxers hit the ground.
“Uhhhhhhhhhh.” Technically she’d seen all this before. Sort of. Usually in the heat of passion and usually while he was doing a damned good job of distracting her.
Hagen motioned at her remaining garments. “I thought we were taking a shower.”
“Well.” Rhea stepped back, inching her way to the bathroom while her eyes worked at getting their fill of a very naked Hagen. “Could I have maybe a five minute head start?”
Hagen stepped out of his pants, kicking them to one side. “Why is that?”
How could she explain the need to have a few minutes alone, just a girl and her razor? And maybe the massive amount of hair that needed eradicated from her body. “There are just some things I need to take care of first.”
He raised one eyebrow. “Thirty seconds.”
“But I can’t—”
He pointed to the apex of her thighs, making a small circle. “Leave that.”
She looked down at her lady bits. “But—”
One side of his mouth twisted into a sly grin. “I already started counting.”
“Shit.” She turned and slammed the door shut, ripping off her bra and panties and jumping under the stream of water. Pitts first. Then bikini line.
Rhea looked at the scrappy bit of bright red growth covering her mound. Was he serious?
Hagen bumped open the bathroom door and eyed her through the fogged glass of the shower walls, stroking his growing length. “Don’t you dare.”
“That wasn’t thirty seconds.” She struggled to pull her eyes from his fist as it moved up and down his hard shaft.
“I got impatient.”
“I see that.”
A slow smile tugged onto his lips. “You like that Red? You like to watch me?”
“Yes.” The word jumped through her lips on a breathy exhale before her filter had a chance to change it to ‘No, of course not. But you could probably keep doing it anyway.’
He used his free hand to pull open the shower door and stepped inside. The water streamed over his skin making it glisten, easing the way as he continued to pull at himself.
She reached for him.
He grabbed her wrist. “I thought you wanted to watch.” He urged her against the back wall of the large shower releasing her wrist and filling his hand with her uninjured hip, kneading the flesh as his eyes stayed fixed on her.
She couldn’t look away. It was ridiculously arousing to watch such a private moment.
As Hagen’s hips pushed the rigid line of his cock through the tightness of his fist she imagined the way it felt pushing inside of her. Her breath came is short bursts as she focused on his movements, watching everything he did. The way he held his fingers, tight as he pushed in, then loosening as he pulled back, dragging free.
Her pussy ached, swelling with need, almost to the point of pain. Slowly she moved her hand over the slick skin of her belly, letting it slide down her abdomen and over the new bits of hair dusting her usually clean shaven labia.
Hagen released her hip and braced against the shower wall, staring at her hand as she slipped her fingers between her folds. “Fuck.”
She gasped at the first touch across her clit, fighting the tiny bit of embarrassment making her consider stopping.
“You’re so fucking sexy Red.” Hagen stepped closer. “Show me how you touch yourself.”
His eyes darkened as she made slow circles with the tips of her fingers, rubbing her clit as he fucked his hand beside her, groaning as she moved faster, the need for release building quickly.
Hagen tipped his head down to suck one breast deep in his mouth and she came, gasping, grabbing his arm to steady herself. He growled around her breast and pushed into his hand one last time, the heat of his cum spread over her belly and ran down her legs disappearing with the water.
He pressed against her, his body holding hers up. His hands fisted in her hair as his mouth covered hers. He tasted like mint and chocolate. She pulled back.
“Did you have candy?”
He grinned down at her. “I brought you some but you just had to take a shower.”
“And you hijacked it.” She moved her body against his, liking the way the soft hair covering his chest tickled her skin.
He leaned down to nibble her neck, running his hands down her back to cup her ass, his fingers slipping between her thighs. “That’s not what you normally do in the shower?”
Rhea gasped as his finger slid further, easing inside her.
He pulled it free and cupped her with his palm, rubbing gently over her still sensitive clit before pushing back inside her neglected channel. “How about you finish up in here and we go out and do the thing we normally do in the bed?”
Rhea struggled to follow the conversation as he continued the slow, methodical stroke of his finger.
“Unless you’re already finished.” Hagen’s tongue flicked against her earlobe before he caught it between his teeth.
It was tempting. Very. Then one leg bumped against the other and the sharp prickle of growth scratched at her skin. She pushed at his chest, forcing him toward the shower door.
“Give me thirty seconds.”
She could shave her legs in thirty seconds right?
****
Hagen tucked his hands behind his head and watched through the open bathroom door as Rhea worked her hair into a long braid, weaving the sections together before wrapping a band around the bottom.
Snap.
Rhea jumped as the elastic broke. “Shit.”
Hagen hefted his body off the bed. “That happen a lot?” He stood behind her, letting his body press against hers as he opened the top drawer of the bathroom vanity.
She leaned back, letting her head fall against his shoulder. “My hair is murder on those things.”
Hagen pulled one of the bands he used on his hair when he worked at the store from the drawer and laced it over his fingers. “I can order them in bulk.” He pulled the tail of Rhea’s braid from her fingers and wrapped it with the elastic.
She smiled at his reflection in the mirror, but her eyes were hesitant. “Okay.”
He understood her careful nature, even appreciated it sometimes. But not now. Not when it was directed at him. He’d have to figure out a way to do something about that. “Hungry?”
Her smile widened and her eyes cleared. “Starving.” She turned to face him and laid her hands on his chest, slowly running them across his skin. “But you should put some clothes on first.”
He nuzzled into her neck, nipping at the soft skin. His beast let out a low satisfied growl as he breathed in her scent.
She stiffened just a little in his arms. “And maybe we can discuss that a little more.”
It was a conversation he never intended to have. He never expected to show a woman all of himself. But he did. And he wanted her to stay. Be his. Hagen leaned back. “I will tell you whatever you want to know.”
But he wouldn’t. Not yet. He had to make her understand why he did what he did. Show her it was the only choice he could make.
And maybe he would be enough for her.
Rhea relaxed a little. “Okay.”
Her questions started before he had both legs in his jeans.
“You were bigger.” She eyed him, her eyes moving up his body. “Do your muscles actually grow?”
He zipped his fly. “Yes.”
She nodded. “And you grow hair?”
Hagen pulled on his shirt then used on hand to free his hair from the crew neck. “Yes.”
“Why?”
She wasn’t wasting any time getting to the nitty gritty. Not that he expected less from her. She probably had a mental list of everythi
ng she wanted to know that started the instant he jumped on the bear.
“You want the long version or the sh—”
Rhea didn’t wait for him to finish. “Long version.”
Of course she did. He grabbed her and threw her over his shoulder, careful to make sure her injured hip didn’t bump against him. “My ancestors were Vikings.”
She laughed, dangling upside down as he carried her down the steps. “That makes sense.” She smacked him on the ass, hard. “You know the women ran things in Viking society right?”
He set her down in the living room. “Have you met my mother?”
Rhea laughed. “But you said it was from father to son.” She raised her brows at him. “That means your mother isn’t a Viking.”
“Don’t tell her that.” He opened the fridge. The eggs he used to make her breakfast before he left this morning stared back at him along with a carton of milk and some leftovers from way too long ago. He opened the pantry door.
“So.” Rhea leaned against the wall beside him and crossed her arms. “I said long version.”
“Life was hard then. Only the fittest survived.” He pulled out a box of pasta and handed it to her. “I don’t know if it was by design or by accident, but as time went on the fittest and strongest joined with the fittest and strongest and made fitter and stronger.” He pulled out a jar of sauce.
Rhea raised a brow at him. “You’re saying what happens to you is the result of extreme natural selection?”
He tipped his head from side to side. “I would say it was more likely artificial selection.”
“You believe they did it on purpose?”
“I do.” He pulled out two pots from a lower cabinet. “The things that changed in their bodies made them bigger, stronger, and protected them from the elements.” He set the pots on the stove and turned to Rhea. “They were better fighters, better hunters, better protectors and the cold didn’t affect them like everyone else.”
Rhea studied him. “But you’re not like that all the time. What brings it on?”
“My emotions.”
The sound of a car door slamming in his driveway stopped his explanation. Hagen opened the door just as his mother reached the top step.
Hagen Page 16