Wicked in Winter

Lost Harbor, Alaska ~ Book 4

EXCERPT (Rated R)

How was it that Zander made everything so romantic without even trying? It was the way he looked at her as he carried her across the threshold—as if she was a dream literally coming true in his arms. As if she was the most magical being he’d ever laid eyes on. 

She felt the flex of his muscles as he kicked the door shut behind him, then strode across the living room. “I really hope you’re not hungry or thirsty or have anything else on your mind other than getting into bed,” he growled. “I’m done waiting. I’m not leaving this fucking house until I’ve made you come at least twenty times.” 

“What if the Northern Lights come back?” she teased. Her heart raced in response to his hot words. 

“I don’t care if there’s a meteor about to hit this house. If it does, I want to be fucking you when it happens.” 

Wow, the F-word from Zander. He usually avoided that in front of the boys. He must be really letting loose. 

She was all for it, one hundred percent. 

At the same time, this suddenly seemed like a big step. They’d been dancing around this for quite some time. What if it was an anticlimax? Not what you wanted in a climax. 

When they reached his bedroom door, he couldn’t quite manage the doorknob, so he had to angle her into the right position to open it. It took her a few tries. 

“Sweaty palms,” she murmured. 

“Nerves?” 

“A little. What if we don’t have any chemistry? What if we don’t…fit?” 

“Fit? Of course we fit. Everyone fits. Besides, penetration is only one part of sex, and—” 

“I don’t mean like that!” she cried. She’d read a few sex scenes in old romance novels in which the virgin heroine was afraid the hero’s enormous penis wouldn’t fit inside her petite body. She’d always found that ridiculous. “I mean sexually. What if we don’t vibe with each other?” 

“Then we get a vibrator,” he said seriously, before a grin split his face. “I’m not opposed to sex toys.” 

“Oh really? This is so fascinating. What’s your favorite sex toy?” 

Nerves forgotten, she finally managed to turn the knob and he carried her into the room. He set her down on the bed, more gently than she would have expected. 

“My favorite sex toy is anything that makes you feel good,” he murmured as he unzipped her parka. She’d almost forgotten that she still wore all her snow gear. He unwound the scarf from around her neck. “This scarf, for instance, could be my favorite if I used it to tie you to my bed while I lick your entire body.” 

She squirmed as a tendril of heat curled through her body. 

“I wouldn’t use that scarf,” she warned. “It’s my first knitting project and it might unravel at any moment.” 

Laughing, he folded it carefully and set it on top of her parka. “Hands off the scarf. Got it.” 

He came back to the edge of the bed and she decided it was her turn to make a move. She took hold of the waistband of his jeans and tugged him closer. The outline of his erection was already clear. Through the denim, she traced it with her finger, making a complete tour of that ever-growing bulge. 

He stared down at her, eyes dark with desire. A muscle ticked in his jaw and the tendons along his neck went tight. He looked as if he wanted to pounce on her. 

She rose up on her knees at the same moment that he reached for her. It could have been a disaster, but it worked out perfectly, putting her at the exact height for him to tug her sweater over her head. She was wearing another of her favorites, extravagant peonies  mingled with stripes. Underneath—well, underneath she wore a simple thermally beneficial long-sleeved shirt. And underneath that, a t-shirt. But underneath that—she’d put on her very sexiest corset bra, with laces up the front. 

He laughed as he peeled each layer off her—until he got to the final one. Then he gave a wolf whistle. “Wow.” 

Worth every penny she’d charged on the credit card she no longer had. 

He traced the edge of it, where brocade met bare skin. Shivers traveled from the pad of his finger across her nerve endings, all the way down to the liquid core of her belly. 

Slowly, his heated gaze warming her skin, he untied the bow at the top of the bra. The two edges separated and she hauled in a suddenly free breath. He kept going down the row, loosening each lace, until the bra opened enough to expose her nipples. 

He let out a sound that was either appreciation or agony—or some combination. “God, you’re gorgeous.” She looked down, all her focus on his large, warm hands as they delicately explored her breasts. How could he manage to touch her with so much sensitivity, when he normally used those hands for power tools and axes and snow shovels? 

But then she remembered that he was basically an artist who happened to work with wood. Of course he was sensitive. He worked magic with antique toboggans and moose antlers. Why should nipples be any more challenging? 

If they were, he was definitely up for that challenge. She sighed and shifted back and forth as his teasing caresses stoked the fire that he’d already sparked inside her. When the bra was completely loosened, it fell to her waist. Now she was entirely exposed to his touch and his gaze and never before had she felt quite so desirable.  

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