Snowfall (5 page)

Poncho wrapped an arm around his shoulder and said, “Amigo, I knew you were gonna marry her the first day we got here and she pulled that shotgun on you.” He chuckled ruefully. “See, even now you’re smiling when you think about it. Anybody else would still be pissed.” Poncho pulled away and headed for the mudroom. Jake headed for Ashley.

When the log she worked on split with a crack, he bent down and collected the halves. He threw them in the sled where she had quite a stack built up. “Need a hand with that?”

She shrugged and used a sleeve to swipe at the hair escaping from her knit cap.

“I’d love one.” She smiled at him, huffing and flushed from her exertions. “I’m always paranoid that I haven’t split enough. I know that I have, but still I keep coming out here and doing this, just in case.”

Jake took the axe, lined up a log and split it in one swing. He wasn’t above showing off or taking a deep sense of pride when she was properly impressed. As she collected the pieces and tossed them to the pile, he lined up another and did it again. “Wow, Chief, that’s a pretty hefty swing you have there.”

He sent her a cocky smile. “Chief? Is that a racial slur, white girl?”

She laughed and shrugged. “No. I Googled you. You are a real—” she held up a hand like a salute and grinned mischievously, “—honest to Injun’ Chief. Impressive. A Ph.D., an animal activist and a real modern day Indian warrior brave. It’s enough to make any girl weak in the knees.”

He stopped to study her, not sure how much was teasing.

“The Chief stuff is not all that glamorous. Just the three P’s. powwows, politics and paperwork.” He smiled and added, “It has some nice side benefits though.” He braced against the axe handle and leveled a look at her. Then he spoke in the native language of his people. He watched the playfulness melt from her expression, replaced by desire. “Wha…,” she cleared her throat, “What did you say?” He didn’t move, didn’t break eye contact and said it again.

Ashley felt like she was on fire. On the inside. She marveled that she didn’t burst into flames on the spot. His black snow gear should have made him look bulky but instead it only emphasized his form and condition. His flawless features were highlighted in a beam of brilliant sunshine as though God Himself was showing him off. And he was staring at her like she was the only thing in the world while those lyrical words hung in the air like magic.

Without even realizing she did it, she walked to him. Before she thought better of it, she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him. She expected his lips to be cold, but they weren’t. His mouth was hot and moist, and she explored it with fierce abandon. With a sound much like a growl, he took over the kiss.

His arms banded around her back to pull her close. His tongue thrust into her mouth and all reason fled. It was exhilarating. It was frustrating. There were too many layers. She could feel the pressure of him against her, but not enough, not nearly enough. She whimpered as he hooked one hand behind her thigh and urged that leg up around his hip. The position was blatantly sexual and intimate. He adjusted his stance so the part of him that was hard and hot for her was now in exactly the right spot. They both groaned at the feel of it. It was an unashamed and invigorating tease.

She pulled her head back and looked into eyes that had gone obsidian. “What did you say to me?”

He smiled and told her. “I said, come to me and let me kiss you.”

She couldn’t have been more charmed. She tugged off one glove and trailed her fingers along his features—tracing the brow, the high sharp cheek bones, the blade of his nose. When her fingers got to his lips, he opened and caught the tips in his strong white teeth.

She felt her eyes cross as he used his tongue on the sensitive digits. Still, she had enough brain cells left to ask the question that had been burning inside her for two weeks. “Why did you stop?” Her gaze lifted from his mouth and what he was doing to her to meet his stare. “Why? I was naked and willing and ready. Why did you leave?”

He let her fingers slip out with a final sweep of his tongue then answered in a voice gone raspy with desire.

“I didn’t want you thinking after it was over that you’d just gotten carried away. Swept up in a moment of passion because I caught you by surprise. Then turning around and telling yourself it was a fluke.” He let her leg slide down and lifted his hands to her face, not allowing her to look away from him for what he had to say next. “When we make love, you are going to come to me with your eyes open and no excuses. You are going to come to me ready for all that I have to offer, and offer me all that you have to give.”

She wasn’t a coward. She also was through with self-delusion. She knew what she felt for him was stronger than what she’d ever felt before. Maybe that’s what had her so scared. She wasn’t the type of girl who dreamed of happily ever after and being curled up with a man every night by the fire. It was probably because she’d been raised by a trucker. Whatever the reason, marriage and family had never been high on her to do list. She’d always thought that it might happen, eventually. She just had no idea what to do about it now that it apparently had.

She nodded at him, pulled away and started picking up the pieces of wood chips that were scattered around. He was being honest and up front with her. She needed to process this before she could decide what she was going to do about it. He deserved that much.

Chapter Nine

When they got into the cabin, Poncho had dinner on the table and the dogs cleaned and fed. There was a surprising addition. “Apollo, boy? What are you doing up and about?” Ashley went to her knees and checked him over in a flash. The mastiff sat still and took her prodding with long-suffering dignity.

“He’s fine, Slim,” Poncho said, “I removed the stitches and everything looks great. He’s probably a little tender, but he’s good to go. He still needs to stay behind when we go out. He can come out here with the others, and we don’t have to worry that they’ll hurt his wounds. In another week he should be good to go out on the trails again.” At her skeptical look, he said, “It was deep, but it was only tissue damage. Nothing major got hurt. It’s been two weeks, and he’s healed up nicely. He’ll be good to go.”

She couldn’t deny it’d been harder and harder to keep the big guy down. He hated being left behind every day and the enforced restriction on his movements had been making him sad and listless. She gave his scruff an affectionate tug. “You ready for that, Apollo?

You ready to be my bodyguard again?” She tried to peek under the bandages to see for herself. “Last night it still looked pretty raw. Are you sure, Poncho?”

“Yeah, Slim,” Poncho replied as he ladled chili into bowls, “I’m sure. Now come eat. I hope you like it spicy ’cuz my chili’s got some kick to it.” Ashley went to wash up at the sink and told him to bring it on.

There was a shift between them during that meal. Ashley felt Jake’s gaze on her as a tangible force. He watched as her lips wrapped around her spoon like he wished she were wrapping them around something else entirely. She looked up and caught him staring as she licked a crumb of cornbread from the corner of her mouth. She froze at the look of raw hunger on his face.

His features looked as if they were carved from granite while his eyes blazed like fired amber. Ashley felt every part of her body sit up and beg. He looked like he’d like to eat her alive, one greedy bite at a time. The rest of the room faded to black, everything came down to just the two of them. So much so, that both of them barely noticed when Poncho discreetly left the table.

“Ashley,” Jake’s voice wrapped around her and, like warm whiskey, went straight to her head. “How long are you going to keep me waiting?”

She put her spoon down, wiped her suddenly damp palms on her thighs and met his stare. She wasn’t a flirt. She wasn’t coy like most women. For the first time in her life she wished she had at least some of those flirty skills that other women seemed to be born with. But, since she didn’t, she would just go with her strengths. Straightforward and to the point.

With a steadying breath and without breaking eye contact, Ashley started unbuttoning her shirt. She hadn’t gotten three undone before he was out of his seat and around to her side. With a violence that aroused her as much as it shocked her, Jake shoved her solid oak table aside and stood in front of her. Ashley gasped as he gripped the back of her chair and tipped her until she was balanced on the two back legs. Her feet dangled in the air, and her breath turned to shallow puffs. For one frozen moment their gazes locked then, with a growl from him and a whimper from her, he sealed his mouth to hers.

The kiss exploded through her system like dynamite, obliterating all thoughts, leaving only feeling behind. Ashley clutched at his hair while he devastated her with his kiss. His tongue plunged and plundered while he kept changing the angle of his head, trying to get deeper, more, everything.

He spoke against her lips, “Keep going. Take off the shirt.” Then he took her plump bottom lip between his teeth and bit. Ashley groaned at the pleasure/pain and with shaking hands resumed unbuttoning her top. Meanwhile, Jake continued to nip and nibble on her lips. Whenever she stopped, the pleasure robbing her of all ability to move, he would bite. Hard. She’d never known kissing could be like this.

Once the last button was freed she didn’t know what to do with her hands. “Finish,” he said, not letting up, “take it all off.” With her breath backing up in her lungs, Ashley managed to tug the sleeves down her arms and get the shirt off. She had a brief flash of annoyance with her no-nonsense bra with its rear clasp, but then changed her mind about that. When she arched her back and reached behind her for the clasp, it pushed her breasts into Jake’s chest. They both groaned at the contact and Ashley saw his arms quiver as he continued to keep her balanced. Their gazes locked and his urgent command, “Hurry” galvanized her back into action. The clasp gave, and she flung it off and away even as she reared up and wrapped her arms like a vine around his neck.

So fast she couldn’t trace the movement, he snaked one arm around her back, clutched her to his chest and flung the chair out from under her so she was left clinging to him. As he marauded her mouth in another soul-stealing kiss, he brought them to the floor while Ashley locked her legs around his hips.

As soon as her back touched down and his weight settled on her Ashley let out a grateful moan. She tore her mouth from his to gasp, “Yes, please. More. Oh, yes. Like that.” She panted as he took large suckling bites along the curve of her neck, his tongue awakening nerves she never knew she had. “God, that’s good.” She heard his rumbling agreement a second before he reached her breasts. He didn’t tease her with light kisses or tickling swipes with his tongue. Instead he gathered her breasts up in his wide dark palms, mounded the plump flesh tight to each other and latched his mouth on both straining nipples at once. Sucking hard and deep, he squeezed with just the right amount of force and bit with just the right amount of teeth and Ashley came. Each pull on the tightened buds felt directly linked to her throbbing slit. Her nails racked like claws down his back as she bucked and moaned out her pleasure. Quivering and flexing with the clench and release of the climax.

Jake reared back on his knees, pulled her upper body off the floor with one hand fisted in her hair and shoved his other between her legs, “Again,” he demanded, voice almost unrecognizable. He rubbed the seam of denim over her clit. “Again.” At any other time, that might have hurt. Now though, on the heels of that first shocking orgasm and with her tissues swollen and wet for him, it was glorious. Ashley arched hard in his arms and cried out as another climax took her under.

With what could only be described as a snarl, Jake shoved her back to the floor, and with barely contained violence, wrenched the jeans and underwear down her legs. He didn’t take the time to get them completely free. While one foot was still tangled he scooped her hips in his arms and buried his face in her core.

Just like with her breasts, he didn’t take time to tease and play. This was about hunger, a primal raging hunger that compelled him beyond finesse. He groaned at the taste of her and Ashley felt the vibrations of it ricochet through her entire being. His mouth did things to her flesh that she couldn’t name. He seemed to have a dozen tongues, and they were licking and lapping everywhere at once. With his arms banded around her thighs, he tightened his grip and pulled her butt off the floor. Then he used his fingers to open the lips of her sex, exposing the nerve-rich bundle of her clitoris. He lifted his head a fraction to look at her there, exposed, enriched, dripping and at his mercy. When Ashley whimpered, he raised his eyes to meet her gaze.

It was a moment that Ashley was going to remember for the rest of her life. Her pale thighs were draped over his strong flannel-covered arms. His hands, so much darker and larger than hers, were holding the lips of her sex open inches from his mouth—a mouth that was already wet with the juices of her body. While his eyes blazed with passion, he spoke in that sex-roughened voice, “Again.” Without breaking eye contact, he lowered those scant inches, opened those perfect lips and took her clit into the heat of his mouth. And sucked. The orgasm damn near killed her.

He was up and pulling his pants down while the aftershocks still raged through her, arching her hips with each strong pulse. He watched her all the while and the second his jeans were low enough to be out of the way, he fished a condom out of his pocket and quickly rolled it on, and then he was on her. He gripped one thigh and pulled until her knee was draped in the crook of his arm and his hips were in position.