Winter Heat

by Kennedy Fox

I didn’t even know Aaron, but apparently, they’d had a few classes together in high school. I rounded the car to open the door for her, trying to shackle my urge to kiss her.

  But then, she looked up at me. “Remind me why you’re so grumpy.”

  I answered her by leaning down, sliding my hand around the back of her neck, and fitting my mouth over hers. I didn’t know what the hell I was doing, but I was done trying to ignore the flames that licked through my body every time she was in my proximity. Hell, I’d fallen asleep last night thinking about her, and she was all the way upstairs.

  Sasha made a little sound at the back of her throat, and her mouth opened, her tongue darting out to slide sensually against mine. She sighed and arched into me.

  Next thing I knew, I had pressed her against my car and was kissing her roughly, pouring days of pent-up need into our kiss. A car door slammed somewhere in the vicinity, puncturing the haze of need clouding my thoughts. I forced myself to lift my head, but it was no easy feat.

  Her eyes were dark, and her lips puffy as she stared up at me. “What was that about?”

  Fuck me. Even the sound of her voice revved the need driving me.

  Chapter 7

  Sasha

  “A kiss,” Noah answered, his voice gruff and husked with an edge.

  A shiver raced over the surface of my skin, goose bumps following in its wake, and my nipples tightening to an ache. I was acutely aware of the slick need between my thighs. I shifted restlessly on my feet in a futile effort to relieve the pressure building there.

  “I thought that wasn’t smart,” I heard myself say, my voice coming out all breathy.

  I felt so foolish around Noah. Maybe I’d been a scandal in high school, but I was anything but since then. I knew he was far more experienced than me, most certainly with having casual fun.

  “Maybe I don’t care if it’s smart or not.”

  He was plastered against me, and I felt the hot, hard press of his arousal in the cradle of my hips and wished we were already home. It was enough that I’d already decided I wanted to act on my desire, but I didn’t feel crazy enough to do something about it right here. A gust of wind blew through the parking lot, and I shivered slightly.

  He stepped back, and I heard the click of the door latch when he reached around me. “Let’s get home.”

  A few minutes later, I learned that the small space in a car could feel incredibly crowded. The air felt heavy, almost like a charge about to go off.

  I was hot all over with my skin prickly. Need was racing through my body in a loop, and I needed a way to discharge the intense, unfamiliar feeling. I had vague memories of that old high school boyfriend, the one who got me pregnant. When you were young, sex was kind of hit or miss. It wasn’t great, but I did remember the excitement before, feeling like maybe something good would happen. The few sexual encounters I’d had since then—dating relationships that went nowhere—had left a lot to be desired.

  My endless to-do list was always hovering in the back of my thoughts. I just couldn’t relax enough to enjoy sex. Noah had this strange effect on me, leaving me more turned on than I’d ever been. And I knew him. I knew him well even though I hadn’t seen him in years. Maybe it was my younger self who thought he was so handsome and unattainable. Maybe it would turn out to be a disappointment, but I was going to grab this chance.

  Because this week would end, and I would go back to my life. The ticker of my to-do list would click on like a clock in the background of my life. Every minute counted.

  This didn’t have to be anything but a suspended week in my life. Even if it was only one night. I didn’t care. I wanted it too much to let anything else get in the way.

  “Just one night,” I whispered, my words landing like sparks on dry kindling.

  “One night won’t be enough,” Noah said flatly, pouring fuel on that kindling.

  “How do you know?” My eyes whipped to his as he rolled to a stop in the driveway in front of the house.

  He pressed a button, and the engine went quiet. “I just know.”

  Staring at him in the glimmer of light cast from the porch light, I felt my mouth go dry and my belly spin. As if I were falling from a great height and didn’t know how to slow my fall. Despite, or perhaps because of my internal turmoil, my need felt as if it were ramping up inside, suffusing me and spinning through my veins.

  “Oh,” was all I finally said.

  A moment later, Noah was walking beside me as we crested the top stair on the porch. I was reaching for the doorknob when Noah caught my free hand. Glancing over, I lifted my brows in question.

  “If you don’t want this, all you have to do is say so.”

  His gaze searched mine, and my heart kicked out a wild rhythm. “I do, though,” I finally said.

  A whining sounded from the other side of the door. My cheeks got hot. “First, I have to let Matilda out.”

  Noah’s chuckle sent heat racing through me.

  “Of course.” He opened the door, and Matilda dashed out, circling us excitedly in greeting before leaping off the stairs and running to the side of the snow-covered lawn she’d identified as her preferred bathroom area.

  Noah waited with me on the porch, and we watched together as she ran through the snow, yipping and snapping at the snow that flew up around her. A few minutes later, I watched as Noah tucked crumpled paper under the logs he’d just placed in the fireplace before tossing the match in. In another moment, the flames were crackling to life.

  After we came in, Matilda had happily taken the chew toy Noah tossed her way and was currently settled in on her bed in the corner of the living room, completely focused on the task at hand. Meanwhile, I was a bundle of nerves. Anxiety was tangling up inside my desire, and I didn’t like the feeling. I felt a little rusty when it came to sex. My bold proclamation earlier was now feeling ridiculous.

  I lifted my wine glass off the coffee table and took a big gulp. The single margarita I’d had at the bar hadn’t done anything to soothe my rattled nerves. But then, I didn’t want any of my senses muddled. Perhaps I was nervous, but I wasn’t about to back down.

  Noah turned toward me. His eyes landed on mine immediately. It felt as if sparks were lighting the air between us, snapping and crackling from the taut tension.

  I wanted to look away, but I didn’t. I stared right back, lifting my chin slightly. “How come I never noticed you before?” he mused, almost as if to himself.

  “Because you were four years ahead of me in school. Way out of my league,” I said with a little laugh. “There’s also the fact we haven’t seen each other in years.”

  “Is that it then?” he murmured as he crossed the room.

  My pulse kicked up a notch. “I don’t know,” I whispered. “Maybe.”

  He took another stride and then sat on the couch beside me. “This couch wasn’t here before,” I said incongruously.

  It was a large U-shaped sectional, a perfect size for the expansive room and situated facing the fireplace. With plenty of cushions, it was very comfortable. I didn’t even feel bad about Noah sleeping down here.

  “No, we didn’t have this before. We just got it last year.” His arm stretched across my shoulders, and we fell quiet. Desire curled around us like wisps of smoke. While almost nothing was happening, my breath felt short and my pulse skittered out of control.

  Noah’s fingers began tracing along my collarbone, where his hand rested on the edge of my shoulder. All of my awareness narrowed to that strip of skin under his fingertips. Who knew my collarbone was an erogenous zone? I certainly didn’t.

  Heat radiated like licks of fire from that one point, and I almost moaned when his thumb dragged in a lazy stroke along the base of my throat. This was seduction by increments, and I didn’t know if I could take it.

  Restless, I turned to him. “Kiss me,” I whispered in a raspy command.

  “As you wish.” He held my gaze when his lips brushed over mine, and it felt as if lightning sizzled through
me, every nerve set alight.

  And then, we tumbled into kiss upon kiss upon kiss. It was all sensation—bold strokes of his tongue, lazy nibbles on my bottom lip, hot kisses dropped at the corners of my mouth, and then his lips sliding over mine again and his tongue claiming my mouth.

  I was lost, spinning in a riptide of need and fierce desire. I distantly heard little sounds coming from my throat, a broken moan, a ragged whimper. Somehow, I found myself straddling him on the couch. I felt the hard press of his arousal just under my core, and I wanted him inside me. Now.

  “Noah,” I gasped, “I need—”

  I was lost in another devouring kiss as he cupped my breasts with his palms, his thumbs brushing back and forth across the tight peaks of my nipples. I tried again. “I need—”

  He dipped his head, his mouth closing on my nipple through my shirt. With a gasp, my fingers speared his hair. My hips were rocking restlessly, and I felt as if I were already standing on the precipice of a cataclysmic release, one that I knew would shake me to my very core.

  Then he lifted his head, his lips stringing kisses along my sensitive collarbone before he nipped lightly at my ear. I shivered all over, restless and needy in his lap. “Noah, I need—”

  Apparently, I was a broken record.

  He lifted his head, and I felt his palm slide up to cup my cheek. “Look at me, Sasha.”

  His gravelly command had my eyes dragging open with an effort. His gaze was hot and deliciously commanding. “We’re not rushing. I’m in charge.”

  My mouth dropped open. “What if I want to be in charge?” I retorted.

  “Next time. Maybe.”

  I was about to argue the point, but that was kind of difficult when he planted another one of his masterful kisses on me. I was wondering if it was possible to climax just from a kiss. Well, a kiss and the pressure of his arousal against my clit.

  I was feeling greedy and needy, and I wanted more. I broke free from our kiss, panting before I gasped, “Take your shirt off.”

  His eyes held mine in the flickering firelight. He looked way too in control. “We’ll get to that.”

  I let out an annoyed sigh, rocking restlessly over his arousal again and protesting, “You know you want to.”

  “Oh, I do. Just as I didn’t fuck you against my car in the parking lot, I’m not going to rush this. We can rush another time.”

  Then he distracted me utterly and completely when he dragged his tongue in a slow lick along the side of my neck, sliding his palms under my shirt and deftly undoing my bra. The feel of his palms, warm on my bare skin, elicited a ragged moan.

  Restless though I was, Noah kept me entirely occupied. He teased my nipples, peeled off my blouse, and somewhere along the way, I tossed off my camisole and bra. He blessedly took off his shirt when I asked again. Begging was a better description of what I did.

  He felt decadent, strong and muscled, just as I’d imagined but even better. He had a dusting of hair on his chest that narrowed down over his abdomen. My palms followed the trail, and when I started to unbutton his fly, he took charge yet again. Spinning us around, he stretched me out on the sofa.

  I wasn’t sure how, but with a little assist from him, I got my boots off, and he peeled my jeans down. When I moved to hook my thumbs over the elastic band of my panties, he stilled my hands. “Not yet.”

  “You still have your jeans on,” I protested.

  Once again, any argument with his methods was lost in a storm of sensation. His palms slid up my calves, pressing my knees apart as he dusted kisses over my belly. His touch was firm but light. He dropped kisses on the insanely sensitive skin on the inside of my thighs, and I was rolling my hips restlessly, desperate for release. I was wet, drenched with my own arousal. I could feel the dampness between my thighs when he dragged his fingers over the silk, teasing just over my swollen clit.

  I thought I might die from need before he finally, finally, dragged my panties off and teased his fingers through my swollen sex. He sank one finger and then another in my channel, and I was convulsing instantly, coming in a noisy rush.

  “Oh my,” he said.

  I lifted my head. “You were taking too long,” I explained with a sheepish shrug.

  “I’d say I was taking it at exactly the right pace,” he murmured. His fingers were still in me, and he drew them out, sinking them in again, the stroke sending pleasure in scattered aftershocks throughout my body.

  Before I could think, his mouth was on me. It was all a blur as he teased me expertly to another climax. The light suction on my clit sent me to a shuddering clench that I could hardly stand, but the pressure broke and I came in ragged breaths.

  I was barely aware of him moving away, until I felt the cushions give under my knees and I dragged my eyes open. He’d finally taken his jeans off, and I swallowed when I saw his arousal. His cock was long and thick, curving up against his belly. He already had a condom on, and I didn’t even know when that happened.

  “Are you sure about this?” he asked

  “Don’t you dare stop now,” I ordered.

  I savored the feel of his weight coming over me. Everywhere his body touched mine was pure pleasure. He was all hardness to my soft curves. He rested his weight on his elbows on either side of my shoulders. His gaze locked to mine. I could feel the press of his thick crown at my entrance and arched toward him. Because I was that needy. I already wanted more.

  Once again, he asked, “Are you sure?”

  Curling my legs around his hips, I whispered, “Yes.”

  He nudged into me, easing in at first. It was a slow glide, and then he surged inside me, seating himself deeply as he let out a low moan.

  Chapter 8

  Noah

  My forehead fell to Sasha’s, and I couldn’t hold back the rough groan that escaped. Her channel pulsed around me with her satiny, clenching heat. She was snug. It felt so good to be buried inside her that my voice was slurred when I spoke.

  “Oh God, you feel so good.”

  Her hips nudged against mine. “Noah, I need—”

  I’d been trying to keep the grip on my control, but it was slipping. With her soft body pressed against me and her legs embracing me, I could hardly think.

  “Hang on, sweetheart.”

  Drawing back, I closed my eyes as I filled her again. Her hips bucked against me, like spurs on the flanks of my need. My need was already a racehorse wildly out of control, and I couldn’t hold back any longer. I pumped into her in long, deep strokes, savoring every sound she made, the feel of her damp dewy skin pressed against mine, and determined to make sure she came once more before I did. I wanted to see her fly apart on my cock.

  “Sasha,” I murmured, “look at me, sweetheart.”

  Her eyes opened in the dim light from the fire, her hips rising to meet my next thrust. I could feel her pussy already clenching and tightening around me. Reaching between us, I pressed my fingers over her slippery wet clit. Her eyes went wide, and then she bit her lip before she trembled all over and clamped tightly around me.

  Then and only then did I let go. With two more strokes, my balls tightened and it felt as if lightning shot from the base of my spine through the top of my head as I pumped my release into her. It was all over but the shouting. She was still rippling around me when I collapsed against her, rolling swiftly so my weight didn’t crush her.

  Chapter 9

  Sasha

  Noah’s hand was warm around mine, and I couldn’t help but giggle, almost startled at the sound. But then, everything about tonight had been beyond startling.

  Noah seemed to nudge me out of all my usual patterns, including the one where I didn’t giggle very much. Being a young single mom didn’t allow for much frivolity.

  “What’s so funny?” he asked, his voice low in the hallway.

  I looked down at our bare feet against the worn hardwood floorboards. After I’d been sated beyond all measure downstairs on the couch, we’d mostly gotten dressed, but not entirely. I
’d been too keyed up to relax just yet, so we watched a few shows, including the latest episodes of my favorite reality show. Although I knew reality shows were anything but reality these days, they were still a good escape, a confection almost.

  Matilda’s claws clicked on the floor in front of us with her tail swaying in the air as she turned into the bedroom.

  “I don’t know,” I finally replied. “This is all just…” I lifted my hand as we followed Matilda. “I don’t know. Not what I expected, I suppose.”

  Uncertainty slithered through me as I looked up at him. “Are you sleeping downstairs? Or just escorting me up here?”

  “I’m definitely not sleeping downstairs,” he said bluntly.

  A few hours later, I woke in the darkness at the insistence of my bladder. Noah’s arm was curled around my shoulders, and my knee was hooked over one of his thighs. I didn’t want to get up, but I wasn’t going to sleep comfortably through the night until I did.

  Reluctantly slipping away from him, I tiptoed across the dark room to the bathroom adjacent to the bedroom. Closing the door behind me, I took care of business and then flicked on the light above the sink to look in the mirror. My hair was a tousled mess, and my cheeks were still flushed. I looked like a woman who had been thoroughly satisfied.

  My belly did a little tumble as I stood there alone in the bathroom with only my reflection for company. I didn’t know what to think about any of this. No matter what, I had absolutely no regrets. I didn’t even know if anything would happen the rest of this week, and I told myself it didn’t matter. For the first time in years, I felt like someone other than a harried mother. Not that I wanted to cast off that part of myself. It was genuinely impossible. Yet there was a freedom in stepping out of that role, even if only for a few hours.

  I turned off the light and made my way back into bed. Noah reached for me the moment I slid under the covers, murmuring something unintelligible and then letting out a sigh before curling up behind me and spooning me in his embrace.