A short while later, the door opened, startling me out of my work-focus. As I stood up, the dogs shook themselves, showering me with a fine, cold spray. My surprised yelp turned into a laugh.
“Come on, girls.” Micah grabbed Bear and rubbed her down with a towel, but Brownie somehow escaped him, headed straight for me, and goosed me, her nose freezing against my thigh. I yelped and managed to grab ahold of her by the collar. My laughing attempts to drag her back to the front door were like back slapstick.
Together, we finally got them dried off. He followed them in and sat on his bench. I hesitated, hand suspended, then finally gave in to the urge to run my fingers through his hair. It was cold and wet.
“You need a rub down, too, Micah,” I told him, full to bursting with this unexpected affection. I went still when I saw the look in his eye, breath caught in my throat.
“How about that bath first?” he asked, the question more threat than invitation.
26
Micah
Growing up with four siblings pretty much ensured that someone was freaking out most days. It was sometimes good, sometimes bad, often big, and always emotional. I’d never have said that I missed it, after all this time away, and these years spent alone, but holding Christa, soaking up her explosion of feelings, it occurred to me that maybe I did miss it. Maybe living alone up here wasn’t all that satisfying.
It was easy, simple, quiet—all the things I’d needed after Afghanistan—but now it felt like I was excluding stuff. Stuff like this.
I turned the tap. The water was warm, but not yet hot. I filled the bath anyway, then went into the living room for the cast-iron kettle I left on the wood stove, emptied that into the bath, then set more water to boil there and in the kitchen. We’d get it hot in no time.
Christa huddled on the sofa, alternately staring at the fire, and giving me shy little smiles, and all I could think was,Yeah. I’ve missed out.
Jesus, save me from myself, I thought as I tromped back out into the snow to shut down the generator.
Christa greeted me at the door.
“Why aren’t you in the bath?”
She looked confused. “Oh. I thought you and I…”
“Figured you’d want to be alone.”
She started to shake her head, then compressed her lips, as if stopping herself from saying whatever was on her mind. And then, because she wasn’t the sort of person who’d stop herself from being honest, she said, “I want to be withyou.”
Her eyes met mine head-on, looking defiant or stubborn, and something expanded in my chest.
In two steps, I was in front of her, dropping the blanket from her shoulders, baring her naked curves and pulling her into my cold body.
She shivered so hard that I should have pushed her away. But I couldn’t. Kissing her wasn’t a desire, it was a need, as real as hunger.
Had to have those lips, that tongue, her body lined up with mine, her cheeks in my palms.
I needed her closer, breasts against my chest. I needed these clothes off and—
As if she’d read my mind, her hands were at my waist, tugging at the button and zipper, then pushing my pants down. Those hands—hot and capable—tightened on my cock, pressed it down between her legs and…
“Fuuuuuck.” A hot, slick slide against her didn’t feel like enough. “No…condoms.”
I should slow down. Stop this, since she was emotional and raw. I couldn’t believe how turned on she seemed, her body shifted forward and back, like fucking, right here by the front door.
“I’ve got an IUD,” she whispered.
“I don’t have any diseases and I haven’t had sex in…forever.”
“Put it in me, Micah. I want you in me.”
I wanted my shirt off so I could feel her nipples, wanted a bed so I could do this slowly, and patience so I wouldn’t lose it before this even started, but none of that was in the cards for right now.
Because more than anything, I wanted my cock in her pussy.
