Snowfall (7 page)

Jake wanted to check to see if he was dreaming. This so closely resembled a number of fantasies he’d had about her. Without taking his eyes off her enthralled expression or her delectable body, he wrapped a tight fist around his shaft and stroked.

She was an avid audience, watching every move he made. He could tell it was making her as crazy as he had gotten when he’d watched her. She was starting to sway her hips in time with his strokes and whenever a drop of pre-come would seep from the tip she’d give a little moan and lick her lips. It was making him insane.

Soon, it seemed it was too much for her to stand and the next drop of fluid that came forth she licked away with her tongue. He groaned, so turned on by her that he wasn’t going to last, but he wanted to. He wanted this to go on forever. She kept licking. Little whips with just the tip of her tongue on the ultrasensitive nerves just under the head, and broad flat sweeps across the entire mushroom-capped top with the whole of her tongue. Over and over, hard, soft, fast and slow she licked and lapped while he stroked. She even leaned closer and licked around his fingers on the shaft. Her tongue slid between the digits to dab at his straining flesh.

Her hands were fisted on her thighs and she was moaning as loud as he was, it was erotic as hell and he said, “I’m coming, Ash. God, baby, here it—argh.” She kept going and the sight of his seed pouring in hot white waves across her puffy pink lips and bright pink tongue made him shout and quake. The orgasm was like a series of lightning strikes that ripped through his cock.

After the last shudder left him, he reached out and grabbed a handful of her hair. “Close your eyes,” he ordered in a hoarse whisper as he tilted her head back into the spray. While water rained down her face, he used his other hand to wash away the evidence of his desire. His fingers traced over every delectable inch of her, from hairline to chin until he swore he’d be able to recognize her by feel alone.

“Open,” he said, voice still raw with passion. When she did, his fingers slid in to tickle and stroke the tongue that she’d used so well on him. “That was the single, hottest damn thing I have ever seen in my life, Ashley.”

Her lips closed on him and she smiled while she nipped his fingers. “Ditto, Doctor.” With a playful growl, he hauled her to her feet, then crowded her against the wall. The kiss she gave him was every bit of fire and need he was feeling, and he knew just what to do about that.

“Turn around,” he said as he turned her himself. “Bend over,
mmm
, that’s pretty,” he murmured as she followed his instructions and folded forward from the waist. He ran his hands in smooth strong strokes from the rounded moon of her ass cheeks to her shoulders and back. “More, that’s it. More. Put your hands on the floor. Keep your knees locked and legs straight.” He groaned at the picture she made. “God, that’s perfect. Don’t move.” He grabbed the showerhead from the wall and cranked up the heat.

So far the water had never gone cold on them and he hoped like hell it held for what he planned. He adjusted it to the soft pulsing multi-spray. Six soft jets of water lightly caressed her lower back as he slowly worked large ovals from her dimpled rear to her shoulders and back again. He knelt behind her and ran them over first one leg then the other. Ankles, calves, behind the knee where he knew she was ticklish, over her toned thighs and then on to the next. After that he let the pulsing jets caress her luscious upturned ass, but was very careful not to let even one jet hit the part of her that wept for attention.

He turned up the heat as well as the power of the massaging heads and did it all again. Covering every inch of her while she panted and moaned and stayed right where he wanted her. This time, when he was done with her legs, he let the water hit right where she needed it, for five torturous beats before he took it away. Ashley yelled and tried to stand straight. He stopped her with a hand on her ass and a quiet command to hold still. “I’m not finished,” he said. “Not nearly finished.” Then he turned it up again. Ashley groaned, but he wouldn’t be swayed form this.

Her legs were quivering, and her arousal was so strong he could smell her when he finally brought the water to her slit. He didn’t want her coming just yet though, so he switched it to the lightest setting and made sure it rained around her puffy lips but stayed clear of her clit. It was swollen and ready and he knew the lightest touch would send her over. She started cursing him.

He smiled grimly and cut the heat. As the water turned icy on her overheated and ultrasensitive flesh she yelped. She barreled up to her tiptoes and braced her hands on the wall in front of her.

Smack!

He slapped sharply on her ass. “Down, Ashley.” He almost thought she would turn and punch him, but she didn’t. With a sexy little whimper she got back into position. It was hot as fuck seeing a strong woman relinquish control like that and he had to take five deep breaths for control before he could get back to his task.

He placed the setting to a single fat stream this time. It was still soft, but it was pulsing and he kicked up the heat just as he placed it on the skin right under her tightly puckered back hole. She clenched everywhere, and her hands fisted on the floor. He let her suffer for ten soft pulses then, slowly, one pulse at a time, he brought the water down. Over the lips, her mons, and with his free hand he spread the delicate folds open so he could trace her opening. She was mindless, her clit so swollen it looked ready to burst. He smiled grimly and kicked up the power even more. Hot, hard and pounding, the showerhead at full force, he finally brought it to her clit and almost came himself at her scream. It was guttural, animal and endless as she came and came and came.

Jake wasn’t nearly finished. He stood up, keeping hold of the showerhead, and cursed the whole time it took to work the condom on. Then he rammed into her full force. She was still in the grip of her orgasm and the rhythmic compressions of her core sucking at him ripped a shout from his chest. He started to thrust into her, hard and deep. Over and over he plunged, hanging on to his control by the teeth.

Ashley was still yelling, hoarse and begging, mindless with the buildup and it made him feel like a beast. Trying to keep it together, to keep her pleasure rocketing, he brought the showerhead back up. Highest setting, one fat hard pounding river of hot water and he directed it right on her back passage. This time when she screamed and came, she took him with her. Her body fought and pushed into his in her climax with such force he felt like he was riding a tornado. It was the most unbelievable orgasm of his life.

Like the town drunks, they staggered to their bed. Both of them damp and neither of them cared. Ashley took one minute to kiss him and swear to make him the best breakfast of his life in the morning and then passed out like she was indeed drunk. Just before oblivion claimed him, he let himself bask in the glow of knowing that he’d just blown his lover’s mind. He even gave himself a light-fisted tap to his own shoulder then let sleep take him.

Chapter Twelve

Homemade blueberry pancakes. Thick-sliced bacon. Fluffy scrambled eggs. Fresh-from-scratch buttermilk biscuits and crispy fried potatoes. Ashley only wished she could make more. She’d slept like the dead all night and woke up with such a full-body glow she was surprised there weren’t little pink hearts and tweeting bluebirds circling her head.

All morning long she kept suffering mini heart attacks as flashbacks from the night before played in her mind. How his hand looked as he stroked and pulled on his shaft flashed and she had to stop and take a deep breath for control. She’d felt such an overwhelming sense of power when he’d shouted and come. The feel, the sounds, the taste as each hot ribbon landed across her lips and face. Ashley shuddered with an echo of pleasure. It had been indescribably sensual.

What had happened next went beyond anything that she’d ever imagined. Just as a quiet shimmer of reaction was fluttering through her body—just as she remembered the feel of that water pounding against her rear, Poncho walked in.

Ashley couldn’t help but blush when Poncho did nothing but stare at the table in open-mouthed awe. She knew they’d been loud. It was a solidly built house, but still, she was hoarse this morning from the screams Jake had wrung from her. If he said anything about it she didn’t know what she’d do. She was a grown woman, and wasn’t embarrassed about her sexuality, but really, she’d never in her life screamed like that before.

Poncho, God bless him, took pity on her, “This looks too good to be true. I must be dreaming.”

Then Jake came in and wrapped his arms around her from behind. “Nope. No dream.”

Poncho continued, “If it were a dream I’d be the one holding her, amigo.” He then shot a wink her way and added, “And she’d be a redhead. A chubby one.”

Jake’s chuckle warmed her cheek along with everything inside her. Ashley turned in his arms to wrap him in a hug.

“Morning,” she murmured into his shoulder.

“Morning, Slim,” he said and laid a gentle kiss on her temple. “This all looks amazing. You should have woken me up. I could’ve helped.”

She smiled and leaned in to whisper, “I promised you this, remember?” She felt the blush bloom across her face at his soft
hmm
and the blush went inferno when he hugged her tighter and she felt him stir against her belly.

“Hey?” Poncho called from the table, “You two gonna smooch all day or come eat before it gets cold?” They parted with a smile and went to the table.

“Okay,” Jake called out to Ashley and Poncho, “that’s it. All secure. Ponch? You got the bait ready?” Jake looked over to where Poncho was still finishing the meat. Ashley was loading the tools back onto the sled. He knew she was anxious about today, had been dreading it for these past weeks, but he also knew there was nothing he could say that was going to change that. It was trap day.

“I got it.” Poncho lugged over the chicken. “Here’s your bird, stuffed and ready to go.” They’d put a tracking device and a digestive device in the bird. The hope was that it would get swallowed whole and for at least thirty-six hours they’d be able to know not only where the cat was going but what it was eating as well. Ashley’s eye-rolling argument that they knew in too great a detail what the darn cat ate already notwithstanding, this was science, the more data the better.

Ashley walked up to him and leaned into his side. He was pleasantly surprised by how well she fit and how natural it was to wrap an arm around her hip to pull her just a little closer so her head could rest against his chest. “Are you sure this is going to work?”

“No,” he answered. “It is always a long shot. Even more so with cougars. They aren’t scavengers, bait rarely works with them.”

“So, why are we doing this then?” She asked the obvious question with a fair dose of disgruntlement in her voice. “Because,” he replied. “This is how we work. It may take a week or two, but eventually we’ll get her.” He didn’t add that if it didn’t they’d have to try far more drastic measures. There was no need to open that particular can of worms. “Thanks to your stubborn yet helpful contribution of taking us directly to the trails and dens we’re actually ahead of schedule. We can afford the time it will take for this. Science is all about patience.”

“Well, let’s finish this up and get gone,” Poncho said as he finished gathering up tools and supplies. “This cat has already proved she’s shy, let’s spray it down and go home to wait.” They each grabbed a can of the synthetic pheromone and started spraying the cage and the area around it. Knowing the cougar was female, the hope was that the male pheromones would draw her in and then she’d at least explore the bait. Even if she didn’t eat it, the cage would hopefully close while she explored and then they could tranq her.

The walk back to the cabin was long and cold. They had opted to leave the snowmobile behind, the noise and the gas fumes too much of a deterrent to the cat. They had even left the dogs tied off halfway there as well. Ashley was nervous about that part. But, the cougar had shown her fear of the dogs, and the men were sure that by no longer bringing them onto her hunting paths they would start to see her in the cameras.

“I still don’t get it,” Ashley said, trying to talk to keep her mind off the agony of her thighs. “The cats have shown no fear all summer. They were tearing through campsites and even stole one camper’s poodle, poor thing, but yet now they act shy?” She let her exasperation show and even flopped her hands at her side. “I just hated tying everybody up. They didn’t like it. And I didn’t like it worse.”

“They’ll live, Slim—” Jake reached out and held her hand, “—and so will you. I think it’s the dogs. Once she doesn’t smell them on her paths anymore she’ll be back.”

“Then what?”

“Then we tag her and get her bloodwork. She’s already shown aggression to man, so we can relocate her in the spring and you’ll have a safe and happy mountain again.”

“That’s the thing I don’t get about her,” Ashley said. “Why is she aggressive to man? I mean you said yourself she’s getting plenty to eat, right? All that poop proved she was eating moose. Moose, for crying out loud. Why the heck would she keep bugging people when she can eat a moose?”

“Oh, I know the answer to that one.” From about twenty-five feet in front of them, Poncho turned to face them with one hand raised, a smarty-pants smile on his handsome face. “It’s pred—” In slow motion, but too fast at the same time, the cougar took one bounding leap and flew through the air. Her massive front claws were all Ashley could see as they stretched out on either side of Poncho. They dug into his shoulders as she powered him to the ground and her immense jaws clamped onto the back of his neck with a hissing, growling snarl. Ashley knew that he was dead.