The Erotic Expeditions - Complete Collection (12 page)

He’d been right. She was as good as any of those girls on that one web site. What was it?

His pants swelled and he knew he was running out of time.

She was trying to sit up again. He pushed her back down but not so hard this time. Even so, she grunted as her back thudded into the ground. He didn’t really want her unconscious for this part. That was always less fun.
 

“Hold on, sweet thing!” he yelled, as he dug his fingers deep into her pants. “I’m gonna show you what–”

Suddenly, he became aware of a sound in the back of his mind. No wait. The sound was here. He looked up, just as a weight like a freight train hit him from the side.

• • • • •

Austin howled with an animal sound that came from deep in his belly. He tackled his father in a flying leap. The ATV he’d ridden hurtled toward the promontory.

Karlin took the blow without a sound and the two of them crashed into the ground and rolled. Austin got to his feet first but Karlin came up swinging, like the bar fighter he was. He landed a jab on Austin’s jaw that rocked him back.

“Where’s your screwdriver,
boy
?” Karlin yelled.

As Karlin faked with his left, Austin raised his fists. Karlin’s right hand flashed in from nowhere and landed in his midsection, squarely on the massive bruise.
 

Austin couldn’t help but cry out as he buckled and leaned sideways.

Then Karlin kicked him in the crotch.

A deep ‘Unh’ flew from his mouth as he staggered, stars flying around his head.

“Look at you,
boy
,” he heard Karlin yell. “Still no match for the old man!”

Karlin grabbed the front of his shirt and jerked him forward but it also helped to keep him upright.

“You see that over there,” Karlin said pointing at Emily’s prostrate form on the ground. “That’s for men only.”
 

He was gloating now and it was giving Austin a second to recover. The fist on his chest was trying to shake him and he covered it with his own.

“And while you’re here sleepin’, boy, I’m gonna be right over there gettin’ me some.”

As the fist on his chest pushed him away, Austin knew what was coming next. Karlin was drawing back for the finishing blow.

But Karlin wasn’t going to get that chance.

Austin immediately squeezed the hand on his shirt and pried a single finger loose. Without hesitation, he quickly bent it back and snapped it.
 

Karlin howled in pain and Austin ducked. He knew very well where the next punch was aimed and Karlin’s arm sailed right over him. Austin whirled to follow Karlin’s movement. Before Karlin could turn around, Austin jammed his foot on the back of Karlin’s knee and stomped. It bent with a sickening pop. Karlin went down hard but Austin wasn’t through.

He grabbed the shirt at Karlin’s shoulder to keep him from falling over and spun him on his broken knee. Then he rammed his fist into the middle of Karlin’s face. The small bones there crumpled with an almost moist thud and blood immediately spurted from his nose. Karlin was unconscious.

Austin held him there, his fist pulled back again, and then he let him go. He breathed heavily as he looked down at the unconscious form.
 

“Have a good sleep,” he said.
 

In moments, he was kneeling at Emily’s side. Dazed, she was futilely trying to pull her pants up. He could already see the swelling at her lip and the red nose. A tiny trickle of blood ran from it.

“Oh Emily,” he said as he snatched her up and cradled her in his arms.

“Austin?” she said, weakly.

Her hands stopped fumbling with the pants.

“Austin?”

“Yes,” he said softly into her hair, as he choked back his emotions. “I’m here now.”

He had nearly been too late and now his father had hurt her. Rage still boiled inside him and deep pain that she’d been one of Karlin’s victims. He should have come back sooner. He should have never left. He–

“Where is Karlin?”

“Over there,” he said, his jaw tight. “Unconscious. Don’t worry about him.”

He felt her relax and she tried to sit up.

“I remembered,” she said.

“Hush now,” Austin said.

She might have more injuries than the ones he could see. He needed to get her to medical help.

“Austin,” she said, her voice stronger. “I remembered what my father did.”

What
her
father did? Had she hit her head?

Slowly, he let her go and helped her to sit up.

Then it all came tumbling out of her. Everything.

Like a roller coaster of emotion, she cried herself through sections of it and gripped his hand in others. His chest ached for her pain and he sometimes found his hands balling into fists. At the end, both of them sat on the ground, exhausted. He leaned his forehead against hers.

“I need to get you to the clinic,” he whispered.

She shook her head.

“No, I’m alright.”

Austin drew back and looked at her lip and nose. Emily quickly wiped the blood away though she winced a little.

“Just a bloody nose,” she said, sniffing.

Austin shook his head and clenched his jaw. If Emily weren’t here, he’d go back to Karlin and beat him into a bloody pulp.

“Really, Austin. I’m okay. I just want to go home.”

Slowly, he stood and she reached up her hand for help.

“No,” he said, as he quickly bent and scooped her up from behind.

He carried her to the car and let her stand as he opened the door. When he turned to help her in she was gazing back out to the promontory. Austin followed her gaze.

“Should we take him to the clinic?” Emily asked.

“No,” Austin said flatly. “We’re done with him. The police can handle it from here.”

“It’s strange,” she said, still looking out toward the point. “How one cruel man undid the work of another.”

Austin looked back to her and saw the faraway look in her eyes.

“Let’s go home,” he said.

• • • • •

Emily watched as Austin carried the last of the duffle bugs into her room. Then she closed and locked the door.

After they’d gone to the police, they’d stopped at Austin’s house so he could ‘get a few things.’ Whatever he was doing, he had kept it a secret and as she’d waited in the car, he made three trips into the shed and the house gathering up ‘things.’

Now he began to unpack them.

First came the little camping pot he’d used in the igloo.

“A pot?” she said. “You want to take the pot to Greenland?”

“No, I need the pot now,” he said, as though it were obvious.

Then he produced two foil packets of instant pasta Bolognese and held them up for her, looking proud of himself.

“Because I know it’s your favorite,” he said, smiling.
 

She giggled.

“Okay, because it’s my favorite.”

He set them down.

Then he brought out a
kudlik
and a skin bag full of blubber. He put the
kudlik
on a small dresser at the end of the room and began to fill it. She came over behind him and wrapped her arms around his waist. She peeked at the
kudlik
around his shoulder.

“Are you sure we should be lighting that in here?”

“The owners said it was okay as long as I opened a window and didn’t set the place on fire. Besides, I already wrecked their ATV today.” He capped the bag and set it down. Then he picked up the Arctic moss and began placing it at the lip. “But I’m giving them two in return, so I think it’ll be okay.” He took the lighter from his shirt pocket and lit the wicks. “After I fetch one of them from the beach tomorrow, that is.”

Emily laid her head against his broad back and smiled.

Karlin was in the hospital and the police said he was going to jail. Battery and attempted rape plus animal cruelty and parole violation would mean it’d be a long time. She and Austin had already given their statements.

“Just a couple more things,” he said and started toward the duffle bags but Emily didn’t let go.
 

He raised one arm and turned in place. She ducked, as it passed over her head, and then slid up his chest.

“I can’t live without you,” she said, looking into his eyes. “You know that, right?”

“I do,” he said, gently tucking a few stray strands of hair behind her ear.
 

She stiffened as she felt her hair drawn back ever so slightly. But the moment quickly passed and his hand was at the nape of her neck. His thumb moved along her jaw line and then he scowled as his thumb brushed her lip.

“Does it still hurt?” he asked.

“No,” she lied.

“Uh huh,” he said and eyed her.
 

But he slowly lowered his face to hers. He paused just before his lips touched hers. Then, almost imperceptibly, he kissed her. She closed her eyes as his lips brushed hers ever so lightly. Their silky smoothness seemed to glide first one way and then the other. Only their moistness made them cling to hers at all. Then he was drawing back and his mouth moved next to her ear.
 

“Just a couple more things,” he whispered.

Her eyes fluttered open and, as he stepped away, she reluctantly let him go.

He turned off all the lights so that the gentle flickering of the
kudlik
flames was clearly visible. Its subdued light reflected in the room’s windows until Austin closed the curtains on one and then opened the other a crack. Then, he pulled something large from the first canvas bag. It was a caribou skin. He pushed the coffee table and a desk chair to the far wall and spread the skin out.
 

As Emily watched, an unstoppable grin began to spread on her face. He was making it like the igloo. Two more caribou skins came out of the second duffle bag and finally the white polar bear furs from the third. Striding around their periphery, he quickly arranged them on the floor.

Emily unlaced her boots and kicked them off. Then she pulled off her socks. As Austin untied his leggings and boots, she pushed her toes into the luxuriant white fur and watched them sink in. She hadn’t remembered how incredibly soft and downy it felt.

Now, she didn’t have to remember.
 

She skated slowly to the center of the ‘bed’ and waited.

• • • • •

She smiled so much now.

Austin couldn’t take his eyes away from her lips. Somehow he had thought that, with the bearskin and the
kudlik
light, it’d be like the igloo but he realized it wasn’t. It was better. And as he watched the playful curve of her lips, he knew why–it was Emily. She was different.

And she was waiting for him.

Without knowing quite how he’d gotten there, he was standing on the white fur and tossing his shirt and tank top into a small pile at the door. As he watched, her sweater came off over her head and she tossed them to the same place. The bra was just like the pink one she’d worn yesterday but this one was black. Even in the muted light of the
kudlik
, it stood out against her radiant skin.

He’d been taking his pants and underwear off but paused, balanced on one foot. Only when he started to teeter did he remember what he was doing. He looked down and quickly stripped them off and when he looked back up, the bra was gone and she had undone her jeans. She made that little wriggling move with her hips and then her clothes joined his at the door.
 

Then his hands were on those hips and he was looking down at her. Slowly, she laid her hands flat on his chest. He couldn’t help but stare at her smile. But she wasn’t looking at him. She was watching her hands.
 

Her fingers patiently traced the outlines of each muscle she discovered, her soft hands occasionally caressing them. He saw her lips part as she ran her hands along his rib cage and to his sides. And, as she came a little closer, his hands slid around her hips to her lower back. With only a little bit of searching, he found her dimples.

He dipped into their curved recesses simultaneously and, to his surprise, she giggled and gripped his waist.

They were ticklish?

He repeated the exact same motions and she did her best to stand still but she couldn’t help but move a little closer to him as she bit her lower lip.

In that instant, her nipples brushed against him and the tip of his arousal brushed against her and the feeling was electric. As though a jolt had shot through him, his hands covered her buttocks and he pulled her close.

As her hands went to the back of his neck, his arms wrapped around her back. He surrounded her, completely enveloped her, as his hands tried to cover every square inch of her skin.

As his face slid past her soft hair and down to the curve of her neck, he inhaled deeply.

“My Emily,” he breathed into her ear.

She curved her back and pressed upward into him.

He bent forward with her but, instead of laying her down, his lips went to her neck. As her head tilted back, he kissed the front of her throat. Her lips parted and he felt her diaphragm flexing away from his stomach as her breathing became heavy. She had completely relaxed her back now, unable to fight gravity, trusting him to hold her. She could no longer reach his neck and her arms slowly fell behind her. His arms circled lower on her back as he kissed each breast, then the hollow of her abdomen. Then he stopped.

At her waist there were vertical red marks. He frowned as his fingers drifted over them and, as the fingers lined up with the marks, he realized what they were–gouge marks. He remembered Emily trying to pull on her pants after his father had attacked her. His fingernails had scratched and bruised her.

“No,” he whispered against them, then lightly kissed them. “Never again.”

He laid his cheek against her stomach and slowly lowered her to the white fur.

He would never let anyone hurt her
ever
again.

Though his arousal ached below him, it wasn’t just with the need to climax. As he gazed down at her body and then looked into her eyes, an overwhelming need to possess her took over. Even though she was already his, he suddenly needed to lay claim to her.