I stare at the photo. Look into the cold dead eyes of a man I no longer knew.
Feeling more regret in that one moment than I have in the last ten years on the run, I shove the drawer closed and walk to the fire. One last look at the photo, I drop it into the flames and watch it slowly incinerate. My fingers curl into a fist. I hate my past more than ever because it is the one thing that will keep me from Lauren.
Tormented, I grit my teeth and my fist tightens.
I feel like a cornered bear.
The truth is catching up to us and it will destroy everything.
Us.
I need to come up with a plan.
But first, I need to know how Lauren feels. What does she want? How does she want this to play out?
And am I just a fool for believing something this fucking amazing can survive who I am, and what I have done.
Chapter Twenty-One
LAUREN
I’ve lost track of time.
Cocooned in our little world, everything else has ceased to exist.
I think it’s late. It’s dark, and the only light is the soft glow of the embers in the fireplace.
Outside, the sleet and wind are wild. But inside Axel’s cabin it’s warm and perfect. I watch him from the bed as he walks naked to the fireplace and throws another log into the flames. He stares at the fire for a moment longer, and I can see he’s contemplating something. He frowns, and in the light and shadow of the fire, he looks so beautiful it almost hurts.
I’m so fascinated by him. His body. The way he moves. His thick cock. Even when it’s not hard, it’s big, and I lick my lips as I admire it from afar.
As a lover, he is masterful. And in my delirium from lack of sleep, I start to imagine a life spent with him in this cabin, where we would make love all day, every day. Because I couldn’t think of one good reason why I would ever get tired of making love to him.
I know it’s not possible. I know there is a whole other life out there that belongs to me. But for now, while I have it, I’m going to treat this like a fragile gift, and enjoy it while it is still mine.
I don’t want to think about my other life. Or Vince. Or the wedding.
I want this.
Here with him.
“Hey,” he says, when he sees me sitting up in bed. And the sound of his voice is like a warm touch.
“Hey, yourself.”
I watch as he walks toward me, his beautiful, naked body gleaming like cut stone as he crosses the room. Everything about him turns me on. I’m already needy. I want him, in every way.
He takes the steps with athletic prowess and crawls across the bed to me. He kisses me. It’s gentle. Tender. Seductive. He’s already made me come so many times tonight I’ve lost count. But I want more.
I pull him down to me. I want to feel the bulk of him on me. I want to feel the weight of his powerful body blanketing me because it turns me on, but it also makes me feel safe and protected. Because somewhere in the back of my mind, I know this cannot last. Something is coming. Something that will burst our bubble.
It’s a feeling I can’t shake. It idles in the back of my mind. Taunting me. Telling me to make the most of what we have, here and now.
Axel kisses me deeply, and I run my hands down the smooth, muscular planes of his powerful back. My thighs part and my hips begin to move restlessly beneath him, searching for his cock. Wanting it. Needing it.
I feel his lips curve into a smile against my neck. “So greedy, princess.”
I writhe with frustration and need.
“Fuck me,” I demand.
With a growl, he plunges deep and hard into me, making me cry out, making my nails bite into his skin as they drag down his back.
He groans. “Harder.”
I do as he commands and I dig in deeper, carving my nails down his skin. He buries his face in my neck and growls. “Fuck yeah.” And rewards me with deep thrusts and heavenly grinds of his pubic bone against my clit. The friction detonates my orgasm, and I clench around his cock, arching my back as I come.
But he isn’t done.
He grabs my wrists and pins them above my head, his muscular body blanketing mine as he fucks me harder. Groaning. Panting. His face shimmering with the ecstasy he feels as he drives deep inside me.
“You look so fucking hot when you come,” he pants, his cock pumping into me. He lets go of my wrists to wrap his hands around my ankles. He pushes my legs higher, making my pussy tighten even more around his pounding cock.
“Oh God,” I moan. With my legs this high, he feels even bigger, thicker, longer. I’m going to come again. Holy hell! I’ve never followed one orgasm so closely after the other with a man before. This time it comes from somewhere deep inside me, and it’s nothing like the others. It’s a slow, building wave of pleasure and no amount of friction is going to make it crest because this is coming from deep within my soul.
Axel slows and switches tempo, using his cock like a sword and pushing it slowly into me, right to the hilt. I can feel every inch of him. Every thick, hard inch of him, and it makes me come like I’ve never come before.
I grab the pillow above me as I cry out, incapable of speech as a mind-blowing orgasm crashes through me.
Axel lets go. He thrusts harder, his big cock sliding in and out of me, his skin slick, his big arms caging me. With an urgent moan, he starts to come. He grips the headboard with his big hands and cries out my name. I can feel him filling me, he’s coming hard, his breathing is ragged, his eyes unfocused, and he shudders and pants my name desperately as he jets his cum deep into me.
When he stills above me, his face is lost to the ecstasy washing through him.
My pussy clenches around him.
Growling, he collapses against me. He grabs my face and kisses me, hard and raspy as he catches his breath.
“I can’t get enough of you,” he says, his lips lingering over mine.
“Good.”
He smiles and it’s nothing short of beautiful, but it fades as he reaches down and tucks a lock of hair behind my ear. His eyes hold mine.
“You and me… is this something?”
His eyes tell me he hopes it is.
“I don’t know what it is,” I whisper. “Because I’ve never known anything like it in my life.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
AXEL
I wake up to see it’s stopped snowing.
My chest tightens. Because it means the roads will reopen and Lauren will call her father. And even though I know she should call him, I know it will mean the end for us.
We’ve been living in a fantasy for the last couple of days. But now that the weather is clearing, it’s time to face the real world.
“What are you thinking?” Her smoky voice breaks into my dour thoughts.
We’re lying in bed, tangled in the sheets, our limbs entwined, our bodies warm and supple against one another.
I turn to look at her and know that without a doubt I am falling in love with her.
I kiss her.
Soft.
Gentle.
She moans softly and shifts even closer to me, tightening her legs around mine, her pussy brushing against my hip bone.
My feisty princess is aroused.
She breaks the kiss to look at me. She’s not naïve. Not a fool. She knows what’s on my mind. Her eyes are warm, her touch gentle as she cups my jaw in her little hand.