Snowbound at the Manor

Rufus pulled up Lara’s social media feeds and swiped through some of the shots that Jess had highlighted for him earlier.

‘You know...’ he said, looking closely at the photos ‘...if I were playing spot the difference here...’ he pointed the phone in Jess’s direction ‘... Lara seems to have socks on bare legs. Whereas you’re layered up. If we were going for total @lara authenticity here, we need to match.’

‘Are you offering to strip off for the camera?’ Jess asked.

‘I was offering to help you out of those leggings,’ he said with a smirk. ‘Just for artistic purposes, of course.’

Jess laughed, a little nervously. ‘You’re an absolute scoundrel. We’re meant to be working.’

‘A scoundrel?’ Rufus’s crow’s feet crinkled as he smiled. ‘Has anyone been

a scoundrel in the last century? I’ve never been accused of being a bad ’un before.’

‘Maybe Upton Manor is getting to me,’ Jess said, leaning back on her elbows. She had no intention of sending Lara pictures of her wearing long socks with bare thighs. But that didn’t mean that they couldn’t have a little fun with the set-up they had here. It would be a shame to waste the opportunity to lose some clothes for a perfectly unimpeachable reason.

‘Okay,’ she said, letting just one corner of her mouth rise in a hint of a smile. ‘Chuck a couple more logs on the fire, though. It’s starting to feel cool in here.’

Rufus’s eyes widened in surprise before his face broke into a grin as he walked to the fire and built it up. Good, Jess thought. He was planning on settling in for a while. She had an enormous bed, the most picturesque, romantic setting she could imagine, a gorgeous man doing her bidding, and she had every intention of pretending that this was real life for as long as she could get away with it.

She moved the props off the bed, and then crawled back among the nest of blankets, leaning back on her elbows as Rufus tended the fire.

He turned to her with a wolfish grin, before climbing up onto the foot of the bed, and pulling her towards him by the ankle. She laughed as he crawled towards her with intent, until his hands were planted either side of her head, his knees astride her hips. She turned her head and nipped at his wrist, smiling at his gasp of surprise and then squeaking when he pressed a kiss to her lips. And just as she was about to pull him down and deepen the kiss, he was gone, sitting astride her hips and smiling down at her.

‘You bite,’ he said.

She propped herself back on her elbows, closing her eyes for a second in pleasure at the weight of him on top of her.

‘Sometimes. When I’m pinned...’

‘I should let you go, then,’ he said, but she grabbed the front of his sweater before he could move.

‘Don’t you dare.’ She pulled him down for another kiss, firm but still sweet. And didn’t object in the slightest when his hands smoothed down her thighs, across the sensitive spot behind her knees, towards the tops of her socks.

He pulled away, rolled on his side and propped his head on his hand, as he pulled her knee up. His fingers dipped into the top of her sock, teasing again at the back of her knee. Jess lifted herself up on her elbows again, watching. Her eyes locked on Rufus’s fingers as they continued their exploration, slowly easing down her sock, until the skin of her ankle was exposed. She gasped as his fingers brushed against bare flesh for the first time. He looked up and met her eyes, his face consumed by a smug, masculine smile. She rolled her eyes, leaned forward and kissed him, before nudging him with her knee. The other sock came off considerably more quickly, and then she was lying beside him, his face intimately close as his fingers trailed along the waistband of her leggings. She bit down on her bottom lip, and watched his expression as he looked up. ‘Okay?’ he asked, nudging her sweater up, and she nodded enthusiastically as he hooked a finger under the elastic and started to inch them slowly down.

‘Still okay?’ he asked, and she pulled lightly at his sweater again, until she could reach to plant another kiss on his lips.

‘Don’t you dare stop.’

She sank back on the bed as the fabric passed her hips, and she had a brief moment to thank her morning self that she’d pulled on lace this morning. Had she known? Thought? Hoped? That this was where the day was headed? Of course she had. This was everything that she’d wanted when she’d woken that morning.

‘So pretty under all these layers,’ Rufus breathed, pressing a kiss between her belly button and the top of the lace. The soft hair of his beard tickled her, and she squirmed with pleasure. But then his mouth was gone.

* * *

Rufus watched, entranced, as inch after inch of soft, creamy thigh was revealed. He was certain he hadn’t breathed in minutes. Maybe hours. And he couldn’t now. Not when he was so close to Jess and fighting to keep his self-control.

He let out his breath as he finally slipped the fabric over her feet, and then skimmed his hands up smooth shins, past the point he’d found behind her knees and up to her waist.

It was only when he was sure that he had a handle on his self-control that he kissed her. And he only allowed himself a second before he pulled away. Getting naked hadn’t been the plan here, and he had to remember that.

He reached for the socks, where they lay abandoned on the bed, and Jess looked up at him languorously as he knelt and pulled the sock over her toes, and then slid it up, letting his fingers lead the way, and drinking in Jess’s gasps, the way that she let her eyes fall closed as she caught her bottom lip between her teeth and bit down.

‘You’re putting clothes back on me?’ she asked between breaths as he reached for her other foot.

‘Of course,’ he said, letting his face break into a smile. ‘We need these photos, right? Otherwise we’d be downstairs drinking tea and watching a movie.’

‘Right,’ she said, her voice breathy and distant. ‘Tea. Movie.’