When his nose nuzzles against her clit, her hips jerk, and he takes the hint, moving up to wrap his lips around it. He has to anchor her hip to the desk with a firm grip as she begins to spasm, risking a broken nose by following her movements, but he eagerly does anyway because few things have felt better than those sparks against his tongue as she falls apart.
Her hold on his hand nearly cuts off circulation. He wishes he had a third one so he could push a finger or two inside and feel her orgasm from within. He’s already leaking by the time she relaxes, and he shoves his boxers down to avoid ruining them, wiping his face with a satisfied grin when he stands to look at her, his scruff soaked.
Nora is wrecked below him, spread out like a butterfly, face flushed and every inch of her tinted rose. She takes the hand he’s still holding and presses his palm to the furthest part of her lower belly where aftershocks tickle his touch. “That’s what you do to me.”
That one sentence reaches into his chest like an overdue hug. Her voice isn’t playful this time, not teasing, or even sultry. It’s a clear statement that she’s offering him something no one else has ever truly been allowed to touch. His throat burns with the effort of swallowing his words, because if he speaks now, he might say things he isn’t ready to voice.
She is perched carefully at the edge of the desk, her knees bent and open while his shaft strains in her direction. He wantsher so badly that it aches, and when she carefully guides the tip of him to her entrance, pressing there with a nod of her head as permission, he needs no further coaxing to push in.
He goes slow, knowing that she’s sore, even as she shifts her hips to encourage him. Her muscles are relaxed, though, and he glides in deep on the first gradual thrust, watching the entire length disappear between her thighs. Their rhythm is easy and natural from the first time he pulls out to the tip and nudges back in, choosing to stay buried after that, merely shifting inside her, rocking their hips together. He wants to feel her along every inch and is reluctant to leave. Then she hooks her heels into the round of his ass cheeks, and he jerks, instinct pushing his body over hers and speeding up his hips.
The only reason he hasn’t come yet is because this is round two and a half, or her hand circling him would have done him in already. Just as his release builds toward the point of no return, he prolongs it by going still, resting motionless inside her, watching her face with hooded eyes.
It’s such an unexpected urge to want to drown in her stare. Her parted lips, the faint sheen of sweat across her forehead, the way her eyes hold his like she’s terrified of losing this connection as much as he is. It all makes him feel like he’s worth something, like his past doesn’t make him too broken to love. That look is what undoes him, more than the tight heat around his cock or the friction of her body.
She wants to move, he can tell, but she doesn’t. Her eyes shimmer with affection, small hands cupping his face so sweetly that his heart burns with the need to tell her exactly how he feels. He has never felt closer to anyone than he does with her, never let anyone see every bit of his tired, ruined soul, and trusted they wouldn’t stomp it even further into the ground. Never needed someone so badly that it shook the foundation of everything he thought he knew about himself.
That’s when he realizes he’s in love with Nora. Hopelessly, tragically in love with her.
Maybe it’s written all over his face, this sudden revelation, because her gaze widens and her lips part as if she might say those very same three words. It’s all too much, too overwhelming, too close. Without another thrust, his orgasm sneaks down his spine and into his hips, caressing his shaft where it twitches and spasms. He breaks their stare to tuck his face into her shoulder, pushing his hips into hers almost painfully as if he could get deeper when there’s nowhere else to go.
“I’ve got you,” she says, her voice shaking. “You don’t have to protect yourself from me either.”
That’s exactly what he did in those final few seconds. He looked away to protect his heart rather than lay it open even further, and he wonders if such an ingrained habit will ever truly vanish.
“You don’t scare me,” he replies softly. “I scare myself. I don’t wanna fuck this up now that I’ve finally found you.”
“You can’t if I fuck it up first.”
“Impossible.”
“I guess we’ll have to keep trusting each other then.” She wiggles her hips to draw attention to the fact that they’re having this conversation while joined together. “Wanna go again…or?”
Her amused expression has him dropping his head with a chuckle. “Actually, neither of us needs to worry about messing this up because you’ll wear me out before we get a chance.”
“You like it.”
He gives her a sharp thrust, shoving his half-hardened cock into her one last time. “I fucking love it.”
Then he pulls free, watching her clamp her legs closed with a shiver and sit up to grab his shirt.
“I haven’t heard the heat kick on in a while.” His brows crease as he helps her button the shirt faster.
“Do you think it ran out of fuel?”
“I hope not. Come on, let’s grab all the blankets from the other cells just in case. Might have a long night ahead of us.”
They drag another mattress into the main cell to make a larger bed and form a nest there with every blanket not nailed down. Outside, the wind whistles past the windows, blowing swirls of snow against the glass and warning of worse conditions to come. He only hopes it’ll clear at sunrise and allow them to make the journey to the research center before an even thicker whiteout moves in.
Chapter 19
The snow clears just before dawn when they begin the journey to the wildlife center. They follow the beacon, still visible even though the wind, as strong gusts fight to push them back.
Nora’s lungs ache with every breath, the air sharp like glass. Each inhale carves her throat raw, and the exhale fogs out in wisps, even through her thin scarf covering her face. She focuses on the stubborn light cutting through the storm, the one thread holding her determination together. Without it, she isn’t sure she’d have the strength to keep moving.
The hope of finding Gwen and Oliver alive and waiting blossoms with every step through the calf-deep powder. Right now, they are stuck in Schrodinger’s Wildlife Center. Both alive and not. A part of Nora doesn’t want to find out for sure if it means avoiding the worst outcome. Maybe blissful denial is the kindest way forward.
Five miles may as well be twenty with the frigid temperatures plummeting in ways they haven’t felt yet. Last night had been the worst of it, cuddled up in that cell, shivering with no heat. It had been too damn cold to start generating their own with other more x-rated activities. She wants to climb Theo like a tree twenty-four-seven, so to feel those desires muted and frosted over was more than a little concerning.
