Cabin Fever (17 page)

“Um, angel…”

“Do it.”

Aw, hell. His personality didn’t really lend itself to abdicating control. But now that he thought about it, he wanted no doubts to linger between them that he had coerced her or taken advantage of her.

He extended his arms above his head. “Fine. You’re in charge. Don’t get too used to it. And no funny business.”

Genevieve frowned. “It doesn’t hurt, right? Stretching your arms like that?”

Like a complete sap, he melted to goo. “It’s fine. Hasn’t hurt for a while now.”

She straddled his chest and tied his hands to the headboard with quick motions. He resisted the urge to strain against the bonds. Then she leaned in close, tracing a forefinger along his biceps. The muscles jumped in response to her touch.

“I think you’re missing out if you institute a no-funny-business clause. I’ve read that some of that funny business can be quite pleasurable.”

Alex shivered at her breath on his neck. “I want some guidelines. Number one, my ass is my own, angel.”

Her pert nose wrinkled and she sat back on his stomach. He could feel the curls on her sex getting progressively wetter, could smell her arousal, which had his cock rising in appreciation behind her. “Yeah, you can keep your ass. I never understood the attraction of that whole deal anyway.”

A violent possessiveness rose within his chest. He had never gone for anal sex much either, but instinct urged him to brand himself on every part of her body he could reach. “Let me tie you down later,” he rasped. “And we can explore it.”

She rolled her eyes. “Whatever.”

“Number two…”

“Bored now.” Before he could even guess as to her intent, she leaned down and bit gently at his right nipple, then laved it with her tongue. He subsided with a groan and relaxed against the fresh sheets. So he would give up a little bit of control. It wouldn’t kill him. Except maybe with pleasure. Her silken body slowly moved down his, her hair tickling his abdomen. He grunted when his cock brushed through the warm valley of her breasts. Her gaze darted up to him, violet sparks flashing in her exotic eyes. “You like that?” She deliberately rubbed her body against him again.

“Oh, Jesus, yes.”

She pleasured him for a minute before he gathered his energy to speak. “Use your hands. Wrap yourself around me.”

She moved away from him without warning, and he opened his eyes in shocked hunger. Her stubborn chin tilted up. “Maybe we do need a few more rules. For the next little while, I’m in charge. You don’t give any orders.”

He laughed before he realized she was completely serious. “Or what?”

“Or…” she leaned down and swiped her tongue over the head of his sensitive cock, “…I’m going to gag you. Do we need to do that right now?”

“I think I can manage,” he gasped. Alex would have agreed to anything, just to feel that tantalizing flesh all around him again.

“Good boy.” She teased him with those tiny licks. Only when his breath was uneven did she sit up slightly and use her hands to push her breasts closer together, creating the most wonderful, soft tunnel he had ever had the pleasure of burrowing into. He could feel her heartbeat gaining in speed as she stroked him. He strained to watch, turned on beyond belief at the view of her slumberous eyes, her moist parted lips. The pale globes of her breasts completely surrounded him, her pouty pink nipples almost meeting where his cock tunneled. He couldn’t keep his eyes off that study in contrasts, her feminine beauty sandwiching his cock, flushed an angry red. He itched to reach down and fondle her round breasts while she pleasured him. Oh, she was good. She was perfect.

She watched his cock, drops of pre-come leaking from the tip, moistening her flesh. He shouted when she suddenly tilted her head down and swiped at the head of his penis with her tongue and then sucked it into her mouth. The world reduced to the drag of her flesh on his sensitive body, the warm wet suction of her mouth on just the tip when he emerged. “Yes. Oh, God.” He started to thrust into her mouth, his balls tightened, his spine tingled, and then…nothing.

She sat up and freed him from the sensual prison, his crown releasing from her mouth with a pop. The back of her hand passed over lips wet from him. “So are you liking my fantasies now?”

It took him a moment to focus, his whole body geared up for an explosion. “Love them. Love them more if you’d let me finish. I’m begging you.”

“Where’s the fun in ending this quickly?” she purred. She straddled him, his neglected cock pointing up between her legs. Her hair tumbled down to her waist, the ends just brushing against his skin. She was flushed with arousal, her eyes hot with dazed hunger, her mouth silky smooth and wet. Her body glowed with health. She looked like a fertility goddess, and he was her welcome captive.

She distracted him from his musings when she reached down and deliberately spread her pussy, revealing the swollen little clit. She grasped his cock and he watched with fascination as she rubbed the tip against the nubbin. At the first pass, her head fell back and her hair lashed his thighs.

He jerked. “Genevieve. I’ve had enough. Fuck me.”

She stopped moving against him, a satisfied smile playing over her lips. Genevieve leaned down close to whisper in his ear. “I can’t tell you how happy I am you just gave me an order. Now I get to gag you.”

He narrowed his eyes and his muscles tensed. “The hell you will.” Fun and games were one thing, but he wasn’t about to have a piece of cloth shoved into his mouth. He had never seen the appeal of silencing a partner when their screams of pleasure drove him higher.

“You’ll like the way I silence you, I think.” A careful tug of his earlobe made him shudder, and then she was sliding up his body in a graceful move until her breasts were even with his mouth. Never one to miss an opportunity, he drew her nipple within his mouth, loving the feel of her against his tongue. His hands curled, desperate to massage her breasts while he sucked her nipples, wanting nothing more than to give her as much pleasure as she gave him.

She pulled back from his mouth, panting for breath. “That’s not what I was talking about.” She moved further up his torso, before a flash of uncertainty darkened her gaze.

An inkling of what she wanted emerged in his brain and he almost whooped with glee while his cock hardened to a degree he had never experienced. Oh, yes, he was most definitely in love with a goddess. “Oh you sweet, sweet woman. Come on up here and sit on my face. And since that was an order, you have to silence me now.”

Her skin reddened but she wore a determined expression. She threw a leg over his head, straddling his face and bracing herself with a hand on the headboard behind him. He had a moment to appreciate her rounded thighs on either side of him before he inhaled the sexual musk of her body.

G
enevieve would never have thought
it would be possible to be in such a position with a man and not feel horribly self-conscious, but the pleasure and intimacy scrubbed any lingering shyness away.

Alex nipped at her thighs before moving his mouth toward her vagina, the light curls providing no barrier to his determined lips and tongue. He worried her clitoris, making her shout with pleasure, before diving his tongue into her channel and setting up a rhythm that had her clutching the headboard and gasping along with him.

He turned his head to the side. “Rub your clit for me while I tongue you.”

Genevieve ignored his rule-breaking and mindlessly obeyed, and he kept pace with the speed of her fingers with unerring accuracy. Her release burst upon her and she slumped over him. Every bone in her body felt like it had melted.

“Angel?” His voice was muffled, and she blushed, removing herself from his face so he could breathe, coming to rest in a kneel next to him.

She swallowed. “Yes?”

His body was strung so tight, he practically vibrated. “I know you like to rest after you come, but I really need some relief here. It’s been too long. So since you’re not a cruel goddess, can you please just climb on here and fuck me?”

Her body tingled anew at the sight of his penis, the ropy veins heavily engorged. His fingers were clenched so tight around the frame of the bed that his knuckles had turned white. She straddled his hips and fumbled for his erection, directing it inside her. He grunted in appreciation and relief when he was fully sheathed, and then shouted in increasing pleasure with her movements as she bucked on his body. She came quickly this time, in a fiery burst. Alex ground his hips upward into her contractions, lifting her off the bed in his enthusiasm. She slumped over him again, out of breath, this time with the satisfaction of knowing she had pleased him too.

“That was awesome.”

A lock of hair fell over his forehead and she brushed it back. “I’m glad you had fun,” she said, smiling back. “You know, I am really good at taking control. I think I might have a future as a dominatrix. I saw this magazine once, and it had the most interesting toys…”

Alex groaned. “Stop. You’ll kill me.”

A loud ripping noise filled the room. She only had time to let out a single yelp of surprise before Alex wrapped his big arms around her and rolled her over, pressing her body into the mattress with the heavy weight of his own.

She gave him a mock glower and blew a piece of hair out of her face. “No fair. You could have gotten free whenever you wanted to.”

“The fact that I didn’t shows how much I liked it.” He nuzzled her neck and stilled. Their hearts slowed together, beat together. “I love you, Genevieve.”

She threaded her fingers through his hair, closing her eyes at the emotion and the huge bubble of happiness in her chest. “I…love you too.” What a scary thing to tell someone. Hopefully, saying those three little words would get easier with practice, with security, with time.

Alex placed a loud, smacking kiss on her lips, breaking the seriousness of the moment. “My turn now. Assume position and get me some fresh scarves, woman.”

She laughed, a joyous sound. “Make me.”

G
enevieve tooted
the horn of her little used Honda as she rolled into the driveway of her and Alex’s home.

She couldn’t quite get enough of calling it their house. They’d bought the run-down two-story log home in the mid-sized Pennsylvania town almost seven months ago and worked hard to turn it into a cozy and comfortable retreat. She took a moment to admire it before climbing from the car. While she’d been busy with the home itself, Alex had turned the grounds into a showplace. Who knew, but she was living with quite the landscaper.

After popping the trunk of the car, she grabbed her backpack and used her key to enter. “Alex? I’m home.”

Footsteps walked above her in their bedroom. “I’ll be right down. How was class?”

“Good,” she yelled back. “Hey, Diego, how’s my little guy?” She rubbed the head of the big dog that had bounded up to greet her. Diego was still just a big ham of a puppy, who didn’t understand quite what to do with his size.

After a few licks and woofs of pleasure, he went to go investigate the pattern of sun coming in through the window. Genevieve picked up the mail sitting on the foyer table. She rolled her eyes to discover it bereft of bills. When she and Alex had started living together, she’d been adamant that she’d pull her own share of their living expenses. Genevieve didn’t want anyone to say she was mooching off him, and thanks to her frugal living for the past few years, she had a healthy bank balance. Unfortunately, if she didn’t get to the mail fast enough, bills had a magical way of disappearing into space. When she asked about them, Alex would turn an innocent expression her way and suggest the mail nymph ate them. Then he’d start kissing her, and touching her, and pretty soon…

Genevieve sighed in fond remembrance and dropped her heavy backpack on the ground.

She had brought up the idea of starting a pre-med track at the local college a couple of months ago, to channel her abilities and interests into a more legitimate profession, and much to her delight, Alex had wholeheartedly championed her. She only had another semester to go before she could start applying to medical schools.

And she had to say, they had a lot of fun with the pair of pompoms she had picked up at the campus store.

Living with Alex was bliss in a lot of other ways as well. Their home was isolated enough that she wasn’t overwhelmed by too many people. She had made enough good friends to keep her happy and busy. As for her old friends, Alex had a small barn built out back to keep Barney.

After quitting the police force in Harrison, he’d decided he wanted to try something different. An old friend told him about a start-up non-profit that helped teens who were recovering drug addicts. The job they’d offered seemed tailor-made for Alex’s personality. The hours were flexible, the pay was decent, and he could get back to doing what he loved: feeling as if he was tangibly helping people. Lately, he’d been making noises about taking some classes himself to become a certified counselor. Genevieve approved, completely.

Thudding footsteps on the stairs behind her heralded his arrival, and she turned with a smile. Looking yummy in only a pair of jeans, his hair and chest still damp, he walked over to give her a lingering kiss.

“You’re home early,” he murmured against her lips.

Her arms crept up to wind around his neck. “Thought you might want to try out that new Jacuzzi.”

“Mmmm, sounds good. The family’s coming in tonight, though.”

Genevieve smiled, loving the way he called his mother and brother “the family” or “their family” never just his family. What a family it was. Though Alex’s immediate family was small, he had a slew of relatives. She’d met a virtual dizzying array of aunts, uncles and cousins over Christmas. They’d asked insanely nosy questions about Alex’s and her relationship, where they’d met, and even when they could expect some kids. Genevieve had had the feeling she would have been lynched if she’d admitted she was on the pill. It had been awesome.

Alex’s mother was a short, round little thing with a breathy voice, a tendency to hug, and a will of iron—necessary, she had confided in Genevieve, when dealing with the Rivera men. She and Christina had clicked instantly when they met.

Alex’s brother, on the other hand…

Genevieve leaned back and eyed Alex suspiciously. “Is Linc going to ask me if I’m willing to sign a prenup again?”

Alex shrugged with a sheepish smile. “Maybe. But you can just offer to show him your bank statements again.”

“Yeah. Only your brother would have insisted I actually produce them.”

Alex chuckled and then held something out for her. “Here.”

Genevieve accepted the envelope. “A-ha! I knew you got to the mail ahead of me. What’s this?” It wasn’t a bill, she realized, but a letter. The postmark read Puerto Rico.

“You remember my cousin?”

“Which one? After the first hundred, I started to lose track.”

He smiled, but his gaze was watchful. “Maria. The one I told you about.”

Ah. The midwife from Puerto Rico, the one who the others in the family regarded with awe. Yes, they’d met during the holiday festivities, and Genevieve had realized that Alex hadn’t been lying. She hadn’t needed to read the other young woman’s aura to know she possessed power, probably on par with or more than Genevieve did.

The pretty woman had looked a bit stunned when she’d shaken Genevieve’s hand, so she knew the surprise hadn’t been on her side alone. “Why is it addressed to me?”

“’Cause I took her aside after she met you. I wanted to see if she could read your aura.”

Genevieve blinked. “Could she?”

“Yup.” He nodded at the envelope. “I asked her not to tell me, but to write down what she saw. You’ll see I didn’t read it. It’s still sealed.”

Sure enough, the back of the envelope was stuck tight, Maria’s signature scrawled across the seal. “Why did you do that?”

“Because sometimes I see you thinking, and I know you’re feeling like you still haven’t done enough to make up for your supposed sins. I need you to forgive yourself completely, to believe that you’re as good inside as you tell me I am. Otherwise, I don’t know if we can take this next step.”

She stared at him, feeling a bit like she’d stepped off a cliff. “What next step?”

He took her hand. “Come outside for a minute. I want to show you something.”

“What did you do?”

Alex’s eyes widened in innocence. “Nothing.” He led her through the downstairs to the back door and paused before sliding it open. “Close your eyes.”

Genevieve complied, though the envelope was burning in her hand. He grasped her and led her outside a couple of steps. “Okay. Open.”

She opened her eyes and promptly gasped, her hand covering her mouth.

The backyard had been transformed. Where before there had been only lawn, rosebushes had been planted everywhere. The more mature plants had already started to bloom, splashes of color releasing a heady fragrance. “I have the plans drawn up to put out a covered patio here. You can take a look at them and tell me what you think. That way we can sit out here and enjoy the flowers when they bloom.”

She couldn’t speak.

“Genevieve? You like them? I’ve read up on taking care of them, and I got seven of the hardiest varieties, and they seem like they should be impossible to kill. Seven’s supposed to be a good number, right? I remember you saying something about it.”

She managed to nod.

“Genevieve?” His voice was anxious now.

He staggered back only a step when she threw herself at him, and his arms came up in an automatic embrace. He chuckled. “I guess you like them.”

She nodded against his chest.

“There’s one more surprise.” His voice sounded more cautious now, not his usual confident self. He disengaged from her arms, turned her around and nodded to the closest bush. Genevieve approached slowly, confused by the flash of white.

There, on a little picnic blanket, sat her old doll, gowned in a haphazardly made white silk dress. Alex cleared his throat behind her. “I framed the scrap of silk from your mom’s dress in a shadow box, but this is supposed to be symbolic. I have a lot of respect for my mom’s sewing now, I’ll tell you that much. She dumbed down the instructions for me, but even then it wasn’t easy.”

Genevieve traced the painstaking, uneven stitches. Tears threatened to fall from her eyes and she blinked rapidly.

He cleared his throat again. “I put the terrycloth dress in plastic. I figured you might want to hand them down someday. But now Betty Lou has a change of clothes.”

And the battle with the tears was lost. They coursed down her cheeks.

“There’s something else next to her.” His voice was low.

She brushed aside a fold of silk to reveal a small black box. With shaking hands, she opened the lid to behold a simple diamond solitaire ring with two winking amethysts flanking either side.

“Genevieve? You haven’t said anything since we came out here.”

She pulled the ring out and placed it on her ring finger before she turned to look at him. She straightened to her full height and gripped the envelope in two hands, not even hesitating before she ripped it apart. “I don’t need anyone to confirm that I’m pure enough for you. When I’m with you, I feel beautiful inside and out. That’s good enough for me.” Honestly, whether she was good enough for him or not, they were meant to be together.

He relaxed and nodded to her hand. “And the other?”

A smile beamed through her tears. “Yes.”