Kase seizes the jacket and pulls it off. I'm helpless to resist. I don'twantto resist. It’s heavy and cumbersome, and holds onto cold with stubborn claw-like fingers. He flings it down to the floor with a wet plop and then reaches for my jeans, popping the button and dragging my fly down. It takes him a little while to shimmy the wet denim down my legs and strip me of socks and tennis shoes. I feel even worse without layers to buffer me from the cold.
Kase is muttering curses, pacing away from me for just a few seconds to fling open the closet door. He finds a blanket in the interior and then crosses over to me, draping it over my body. It's something, at least. Then he begins shrugging out of his jacket and strips his shirt over his head in one rolling motion. If I was warmer, I'd appreciate the show more. As it was, I was fighting a losing battle with my eyelids which longed to slam shut and stay that way.
"What are you doing?" I slurred.
"Stripping."
"Not really up for sex right now," I mumbled.
He barks out a bleak laugh, though he doesn't seem to find it funny. "I'm going to warm you up, Brook. Scoot over and let me on the bed."
I can't move at first, but after a few moments of struggle I manage an ungainly roll that leaves me pressed up against the wall. Kase squeezes in beside me with difficulty, his broad frame swallowing up most of the space. He pulls me close, molding his chest to my back. The hands that brace my waist are a little clammy, but his torso is gloriously warm. I press closer, getting as much of my bare skin as I can in contact with his. He tucks the blanket around us, wrapping us like a burrito, with me the cold, unappetizing center.
I can feel his cock pressed hard against my ass. If I were well, I'd have wriggled against him until he finally gave in with a growl, tugging my panties down until he could slide into my pussy from behind, spooning me until I came writhing against him. Then he'd get down to the serious fucking. I want it. Have wanted it since he kissed me in the dark hallway of the community center. He's like a drug. I was forced to quit him cold turkey years ago. Now I'm relapsing hard, and I think I might end up getting myself killed while I do it.
I eventually lose the battle against my eyelids, slipping easily into unconsciousness while the comforting heat of Kase radiates through me, reawakening my numb flesh in warm and slightly uncomfortable prickles.
When I wake, he's still holding me, lips lightly brushing my throat. I feel warm and a little groggy, but otherwise normal. He's still hard against me. Have I been out minutes or hours? Surely he must be hurting by now. I'm finally able to fully appreciate the contours of the body that cradles mine. It would be so easy to give in and let him take me.
Instead, I roll to face him. His gaze smolders when it meets mine, and his desire is palpable. For a moment, I'm sure we're going to give into the inexorable pull and fuck right then and there. Then Kase's eyes shift away and the spell is broken.
"How are you feeling?"
"Better. How long was I out?"
"About an hour. You had me worried there."
I free my arms and stretch, easing the stiffness from my muscles. "How long do we plan to hide out here?"
The cabin barely looks habitable. I don’t think we can bunker down here for any length of time. Sooner or later we'll have to venture back into civilization to get supplies.
"As long as it takes for your father to take care of the culprits. Once he realizes you're missing, he's going to raise hell."
Unease slithers through me at the thought. Kase is probably right. When my father realizes I’m not there, that I’m notanywhere,he'll tear the city apart looking for me. Will he be audacious enough to cross into Spade territory? Maybe. Will he think to look for trouble among our own ranks? Doubtful. My father runs his half of the city with an iron fist–or so he thinks. If he crosses the line he'll zero in on the one man among the Spades who has a prayer of stealing me away.
Kase Cruz.
I sling my arms around his neck drawing him flush to my body, as though having him near will protect him from my father's wrath. Kase's breathing picks up by a fraction and his gaze flicks down to my chest, where my breasts are mounded against him, full and flushed lightly pink. He wants to taste me. I can see that in his eyes. If he puts his mouth on me, he won't stop. He'll use those wicked lips on every part of me that makes me scream.
Then Kase tears himself from my grasp, rolling out of the bed and landing on his feet. All I can see is his bare ass and his back, clenched tight with stress. The rejection is like a punch in the chest. It leaves me breathless and with the insistent urge to cry. I swallow the thick lump of tears down so hard it hurts and force myself to breathe. I won't give him the satisfaction of knowing he actually hurt me.
He stalks, bare-assed and glorious, to the closet I noted when we arrived. He pulls it open, and I get a really good look at him silhouetted in the misty gray haze beyond the broken door. Whatever he says to the contrary, I can tell Kase still wants me. Or at the very least, his body does. Just eying the thick, swollen shaft of him makes me swallow convulsively, as I recall all the times he guided it between my lips. I rub my thighs together, trying to quell the ache that is building between my legs. Kase probably has the right idea. I'm going to be in so much shit as it is, I don't need to add unintended pregnancy to the list. If I somehow survive and make it back to my father, he'll drag me to a clinic to have it taken care of, just on the basis of who its father is.
Kase rummages for a few minutes before producing a wad of fabric. He tosses it to me and I stare down at the thing in my lap uncomprehendingly.
"What is this, a mumu?"
"It's one of my aunt's sundresses," Kase sniffs, though he doesn't seem terribly offended by my faux pas. "It'll be big on you. She wasn't exactly petite. But it's better than strutting around in nothing, right? And it’ll be easier to talk when you’re dressed.”
He doesn't seem entirely convinced of his own words. His gaze skims from my bare toes, up the tangle of my legs in the sheets, and finally to my torso. I've hidden myself beneath the majority of the blanket, keeping myself from view. If he doesn't want to touch, he doesn't get to look either, damn it.
"Sure," I agree easily and stretch. The blanket slips an inch and I let him get one good look at sideboob before I clutch the blanket to my chest again.
Kase mutters a curse and turns his back to me, glaring out the cabin window, teeth half-bared in a frustrated snarl. He's either trying to protect my modesty or trying to figure out just why he'd gotten involved with his crazy ex again in the first place. My situation is precarious enough, so I probably shouldn't bait him.
I remove my underwear and bra, flinging them to the floor, where they impact wetly. Then I shimmy into the overlarge dress. It smells strongly of musk, even after all these years stuffed into a broom closet. The woman must have reeked on any given day. Well that was one way to kill any sexual tension. I now smelled just like his aunt.
Kase dares a peek over his shoulder a minute later and finds me perched on the side of the bed, hands folded primly in my lap. I'm trying to keep my face neutral but he reads my intense displeasure regardless. He chuckles.
