She waved goodbye to Poppy and held on as Beck navigated the powerful machine out of the clearing and onto the main trail that followed the lake down and then cut through the forest all the way to Crystal Lake. It was cold, that small window between dusk and nightfall, and she shivered and hunkered as close to Beck as she could.
But deep inside, there where her heart beat fast and hard, she was on fire. Her blood sang with molten lava, her skin flushed with heat, and between her legs, a pulse began to ache, an insistent throb that didn’t let up. By the time they got to the stone cottage, she was a mess. The feel of his broad shoulders and hard body pressed up against hers was almost too much. She needed to make a move now, or let this moment slip away forever.
The Ski-Doo slid to a stop, and for a second or two, all she heard was her heart thumping inside her head. Then Beck cut the engine and looked at her over his shoulder. He slid his helmet back and waited.
“Are you…” God, she couldn’t get the words out. “Do you want…” Her mouth was too dry, her nerves too shot.
“I brought you back here because I didn’t want to assume some things.” He watched her intently.
She licked her lips. “What would those things be?” Thank the Lord and all that’s holy, she could get a damn sentence out.
“The kind of things a guy is not supposed to assume.” He flashed a wicked grin. “The kind of things that guy has been thinking about since last night.”
“Would those things involve a guy and a girl?”
“Yeah. They would.”
“Would those things be physical?”
He nodded.
Her breath caught. She was enjoying this flirtation more than chocolate-and-peanut-butter ice cream, and everyone knew that chocolate and peanut butter together was bliss.
“Would they include getting naked?”
His nostrils flared. “Definitely.”
That ache between her legs intensified at the timbre of his voice, and it took everything she had not to groan or moan or make a complete idiot out of herself.
“So, let me get this straight. you brought me back here because you didn’t want to take me to your place, on account of the fact you didn’t want to assume I’d be up for some of those physical, naked things you want to do?”
“With you,” he added with a wink. “The things I have in mind are kind of hard to do on my own.”
“I see,” she replied.
“It’s a dilemma.”
“There’s only one way to fix it.”
“I’m open to suggestions.” Gone was the teasing tone to Beck’s voice. He looked at her in a way that was primal. Like he wanted to eat her. And just like that, the pulse and throb became too much, and she wiggled a bit until she got some relief.
“Take me back to your place.” She wrapped her arms around him again and snuggled in close. “We can start with the naked thing.”
Chapter Thirteen
The ride back from Hudson’s house was the longest ride he’d taken in months. Years, maybe. He and Sid had been dancing around this thing between them since the night before, and the thought of getting her into his bed was making the trip back painful.
He was hard as fuck and as horny as a teenager, and his erection didn’t lessen on the way home. Not with Sid pressed up against his back and her arms wrapped around his midsection like she was holding on for dear life. Which she very could well could have been, because he was traveling a lot faster than he should be.
But the erection and the electric thoughts inside his head reduced him to the Neanderthal he supposed all men were. At the most basic level, men wanted one thing most of the time. And he was taking a beautiful woman back to his place, and there would be nakedness involved, and sex. And hopefully lots of it.
Damn, he couldn’t remember the last time he’d been this worked up over a woman. Other than Cate.
The thought came to him real sneaky like, and he immediately pushed it away. Cate was different from everyone else, and no way was he going there tonight. This was just sex.
He pulled his sled right up to the front door and cut the engine. Kind of a lame move, but hell, it was a bit of a hike from the shop, and the situation between his legs didn’t make that possible. He was going to have a hard enough time getting into the house without alerting Sid to the fact that he had the mother of all erections going on inside his pants.
He waited for her to get off the Ski-Doo and then followed suit, giving her the lead to walk up to the door. Once inside, he was immediately attacked by Jingle, who meowed as if he’d left her for weeks instead of just the afternoon.