Chapter 4

CHAPTER 4

F lames licked Cassie’s skin, and scorching lava flowed through her veins. She wanted more. Needed more.

More skin-to-skin contact. More heat.

Sten trailed kisses down her throat and then licked her collarbone. When he pressed his cock against her heat, Cassie knew she’d explode if she didn’t get out of her clothes. She needed him inside her. Now.

She released her grip on Sten’s neck and pulled her T-shirt over her head. At the same time, she tried to slide off her socks, but she almost tripped when they wouldn’t cooperate.

Strong arms gripped her elbows and steadied her. “Slow down.” Sten chuckled against the skin of her collarbone. “I’ll help you,” he whispered before trailing his hot lips down her neck again. His breath teased her breasts, and her nipples tightened into hard buds.

Cassie groaned, pulling him closer.

“If we don’t get to a bedroom soon, I’ll take you on the kitchen floor,” he growled and picked her up. Sten carried her to the bedroom and laid her down on the bed.

Like a cold shower, the removal of his body heat pulled her out of her feverish trance of desire. She looked up at Sten. “We need to think about this,” she said. This was bonkers. She didn’t even know his full name.

“What’s your last name?” she blurted out.

He chuckled. “Agnarsson,” he said. “Yours?”

“Simon.”

He leaned over her, sliding his arms up to her shoulders, his palms caressing her biceps on their way. “Now that we’ve covered that important detail, may I continue?”

Her breath wouldn’t slow down. “I don’t know. I have to think about this.”

“You think too much.” A wry smile stretched his lips. “But I will not coerce you. This has to be your decision.”

His smile mesmerized her, and by the way, the dirty t-shirt clung to his muscular chest. She reached out and put her palm against his chest. One-night stands had never been her forte, mostly because the candidates in her small town were few, and because gossip spread faster than wildfire. But she wanted this man with a desperation she’d never felt before.

Sten’s abdomen contracted, and he hissed at her touch. He captured her hand under his palm. “You can’t touch me like that, Sweets. Not if you want me to resist you.”

Cassie stared at their hands pressed together against the shirt. The steady beating of his heart drummed under her fingers. He was so alive and such a perfect specimen of a man. He was kind and so very sexy. She shouldn’t indulge herself just because he had such a hot body. It was absolutely the wrong thing to do. She hissed in a breath between her teeth.

“Did I hurt you?” Sten asked, releasing her hand. “I’m sorry. That is the last thing I want to do.” He crouched before her, his eyes searching her face. “Do you want me to leave?”

“No,” Cassie whispered, lost in his smoky-gray eyes. They’d been warm and kind at the diner, but right now, they blazed with desire. That heat matched her own lust, which kept building despite her attempts to curb it. All these feelings were too overwhelming. She needed to do what she always did when her rational side wasn’t in control. She needed to close down her emotions.

She closed her eyes and tried to slow her breathing and tamp down the heat still blazing in her body. The warmth of Sten’s hand on her knee made her open her eyes again.

“Hey,” he said. “Are you okay?”

The concern she saw in his eyes nearly undid her. This man, this wonderful man, wanted her physically but was also emotionally tuned in to her.

“I’m not good with too many emotions too quickly.” The words blurted out before she could stop them.

He smiled. “You’re in good company. Neither am I.”

Her fingertips itched to touch him. She reached out and stroked one silky blond strand of his hair and then moved her hand to cup his cheek. “You’re so beautiful,” she murmured.

Sten grinned, but the heat in his eyes flared up. “I think that’s my line.”

She leaned forward to taste his lips but stopped just shy of making contact, enjoying his breath mingling with hers for a moment. She moved her hand down to the spot on his chest that she’d touched earlier. The fabric of the shirt felt deliciously coarse against her fingers, and she loved how his heartbeat pulsed against her skin.

His pupils widened and his nostrils flared. A growl rumbled deep inside his chest.

She paused and closed her eyes. In her mind, she recited all the reasons she shouldn’t continue to physically explore this wonderful man.

This brave, caring, sexy man.

This delicious mountain of hot muscle that she might never get the chance to climb again.

Finally deciding, she opened her eyes. “Kiss me,” she whispered. For once in her life, she would let her emotions take over and just follow them wherever they led.

He hesitated, obviously not prepared for her words. She pulled on the fabric of his shirt and smiled when he hissed at her again. “Kiss me,” she repeated more firmly.

“Yes, ma’am.” He leaned forward and captured her mouth with his.

She set the pace of their kiss and pulled him down with her as she reclined on the bed. She moaned as she felt his body against hers.

Sten let go of her lips just long enough to turn off the lights in the room and shed his shirt.

In the moonlight filtering through the window, she saw how his eyes crinkled when he returned to the bed and smiled at her.

She felt a pang somewhere deep in her chest.

“I’m so glad I got a flat and that the sewing ladies are in town.” He leaned in to kiss her again. His clever hands made quick work of pulling off her leggings and socks.

The coolness of the air against her skin contrasted exquisitely with the fervent kisses he trailed along her neck and down to her chest. He nuzzled her nipples, and her hips bucked off the bed.

Sten pushed her back down with a chuckle and threw a leg over hers, anchoring her in place. She whimpered when his mouth returned to pleasure her breasts.

He unbuttoned his jeans and lingered on the zipper for an excruciating amount of time. “I’ve waited a long time for this.” He finally pulled down the metal clasp and then leaned back to pull off the jeans. He kneeled next to her on the bed, his fiery gaze traveling over her body.

She was inordinately happy she’d worn lavender satin underwear that day instead of the practical cotton one she normally preferred. She needed to do laundry, but for once, procrastination had worked out for her.

As he continued to look at her, Cassie wriggled on the bed. She knew her body carried more padding than what society deemed beautiful. His scrutiny made her nervous.

Reaching out her hand to him, she implored him without words to get closer and stop looking at her.

He stayed sitting on his knees, staring at her. “You’re so beautiful,” he said. His chest heaved as he took a deep breath. “This is better than I had imagined.”

The heat in his gaze made her feel powerful and desirable. She forgot all about her body insecurities. “You’ve imagined us together?” she asked.

“You have no idea how often I’ve thought about this after you first served me raspberry pie.” Pinkness tinted his cheeks as if he’d said more than he meant to.

Emboldened by his words and the hot blaze she saw in his eyes, she leaned up on her elbows, aware of how the position pushed her chest out. “Thought about what exactly?” she challenged, nudging his leg with her foot.

“Cassie.” He leaned back and caught her foot in his hand. His nostrils flared again, and that growl rumbled again from his chest. “I want to go slow, but I don’t know if I can.” Another blaze of desire glittered in his eyes.

Something wild inside her responded to that heat. “I don’t want you to go slow,” Cassie said in a hoarse voice.

Sten’s eyebrows shot up. “I feel all wild inside in a way I never have before. What if I hurt you?”

She sat up, cupped the back of his neck, and claimed his lips in a deep kiss. She stroked the inside of his mouth with her tongue before she captured his lower lip between her teeth and lightly bit down. They were both panting, and she could feel his neck muscles tense under the strain. She leaned her forehead against his.

“You’ll stop if I ask you to,” she whispered, absolutely certain of her words. She didn’t know how she could be so confident about her safety with him. But she was.

This man would never force her to do something she didn’t want to.

Never do anything to her that she didn’t want him to.

He leaned back. His gaze searched her face as if convincing himself of the truth. “If you’re sure--”

She interrupted him. “I’m sure. The fact that we’re having this conversation convinces me you would never hurt a lover.” She could never explain to someone else why she was so certain of this, but deep in her soul, she knew this.

He must have believed her, because he nodded slowly.

“Now, can we please continue?” She allowed some of the wild heat she felt inside to dance in her eyes.

Something wild peeked through Sten’s eyes and focused on her with an intensity that thrilled her. Still, the foolish man hesitated. “You don’t understand. I don’t know if I can hold my berse—wildness back.”

She wanted to scream out her impatience. “Hold nothing back.” She nibbled his collarbone and then kissed it to take the sting out of her bite. “I want all of you. All of your wild self.”

He claimed her so fast she barely had time to catch a breath before he pushed her back and kissed her. Planting one hand by her head, the other snaked behind her back. His lips sucked one nipple while the fingers of his other hand massaged the other. His teeth nipped the sensitive bud, and she almost came undone.

Cassie moaned loudly as heat shot from the tips of her breasts to her core. Liquid warmth filled her center. She twisted slightly so she could get a hand on his boxer briefs. Massaging his cock through the cotton, she purred when she felt how rigid and wide it was.

He grabbed her wrist and held her hand still. “I won’t last long if you continue that.”

“I told you, I don’t want to go slow.”

Sten gave her a heated look before reaching across her to the nightstand. He had to lean over to reach the foil package, which she hadn’t noticed him depositing earlier. She bit his nipple that hovered over her mouth. He pulled back and kissed her lightly. “Careful with those teeth.”

“Please tell me that is a condom,” she said.

“As you wish.” He held up the foil package and smiled.

“Good.” She reached down and pulled off his boxer briefs. As his cock sprang free, she smiled. Finally.

She closed her fingers around its delicious hardness.

Sten groaned, his head falling back.

Cassie leaned into him, licking his neck. She used her free hand to push and twist to get him flat on his back on the bed. When she leaned over and put the tip of his cock in her mouth, he bucked and then lightly grabbed her hair, holding her still. “If you do that, this will get really wild, but for a brief time.”

She laughed, surprised at how much joy there was in that sound. She tilted her head, looking up at his face. “Do you have any alternate suggestion?”

His eyes turned dark and predatory. “Get rid of those panties.”

She wriggled out of her now damp undergarment while he made quick work of covering himself with the condom.

He rolled her over, bracing himself above her. Staring down at her, he smiled slowly before leaning down to kiss her.

She gripped his shoulders, trying to pull him closer, but the infuriating man resisted her. She was about to show him who was really in charge when he whispered, “You’re mine,” against her lips and entered her in one swift motion. Delicious friction enhanced the sensation of him filling her to the fullest.

When he pulled out and repeated the motion, the heat that built between them overpowered all her senses. She whimpered in the back of her throat.

Waves of pleasure radiated out from her core through her body. The intensity increased as she bucked her hips, meeting Sten thrust for thrust.

He leaned down and sucked a nipple into his mouth.

She opened her legs wider, grabbed his ass, and pushed him deeper inside her.

When he captured the other nipple with his lips, she forgot how to breathe.

The waves of pleasure flooding her body intensified even more, and she focused on one thing only. Her entire world became this man, here and now in this room, on this bed.

Sten tilted to the side and pulled her leg over his hip.

As he thrust into her, hitting exactly the right spot, a surge of ecstasy swept through her body. She screamed out her release as the power of the intense pleasure overcame her.

She felt Sten’s chest rumble as a low growl answered her shout, and then he cried out as he climaxed.

A second swell of pleasure flowed through Cassie, and for one glorious moment all her senses intensified and focused on the man who collapsed beside her on the bed.

Mine , she heard inside her mind.

She pushed her hair back, took a deep breath, and then exhaled. Turning her head, she found Sten watching her, his eyes filled with an emotion that scared her with its intensity.

He blinked, and whatever he’d felt was gone. “You okay?” he asked.

“Very.” She smiled at him.

“I have to dispose of…” He gestured toward his crotch.

“Sure, thank you.” She yawned, suddenly exhausted.

He laughed out loud. “No, Sweets. Thank you.” He caressed her cheek and then left the bed.

The air felt chilly against Cassie’s skin, so she crawled under the covers. The sheets smelled fresh.

She’d just rest for a moment, and then she’d go back to her own bedroom. Or maybe she’d just stay a while, just in case they would go for another round.

Her lips stretched in a lazy smile, and she was asleep before Sten returned from the bathroom.