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  Beast

  Avery’s shivering could be from the cold on the staircase, or it could be aftershocks. Even if it is the aftershocks, I’m internally kicking myself for letting us get lost in the moment right there.

  I sweep her up in my arms and head up the stairs to my bedroom.

  What if she develops bronchitis or something from this god awful change in climate? She just got this job and now, not only did she get snowed in on her first night of work, but she might end up ill because I was so excited to have her on the stairs, which are not the most comfortable place for a woman on her back, let’s face it.

  So when we roll onto the bed and snuggle together under the blankets to get warm, I’m not expecting anything.

  I’m not expecting Avery to tug at the waistband of my pajama pants, reach inside and grab me by the cock. But holy shit, I’m not going to discourage her. Her hand may be cold at first, but the mind-blowing pleasure of her skin against mine more than compensates.

  I love the way she touches me, encircling my dick with her hand expertly and brushing my cheeks, my hair, my neck with her other hand. Everywhere her lips travel for a kiss, her hand seems to follow. When she kisses my lips, her hand rests on my cheek. When she kisses my chest, her fingers tease my nipples with light pressure. If that’s all she was doing, it would make me crazy enough. Pumping my cock on top of all this? I’m ruined.

  “Av…Avery,” I stutter, arousal putting me on the verge of incoherency. My breath becomes more shallow the more she makes my heart race.

  “Yes, Rory.” Her whispers tickle the hairs of my chest, sending gooseflesh rippling across my skin. “Do you want me to slow down? To stop?”

  Her hand on my dick slows its pace. Despite my best efforts to be polite in this situation, I exhale a curse.

  Through gritted teeth I say, “Fuck no, don’t stop. Please don’t stop. I’m just…I’m gonna come and I don’t want to…”

  It’s as if me saying “please don’t stop” has made her body and her mind hit “refresh.” She begins anew with vigorous pumping, her kisses becoming far more assertive as she ardently massages my skin. Geez, what did I do to deserve this beautiful, erotic angel in my bed?

  Breaking one long, wet kiss, she tells me, “I don’t care. I don’t care if you squirt on me. Get it all over me. Cover me with it. You’ve had a long, hard day at work and now I’m gonna take care of your other long, hard thing. Stop being so polite and let me be dirty. Be dirty with me.”

  Some kind of primal grunt escapes me, and I grip Avery’s head with both my hands, losing my fingers in her long locks. My mouth quiets her filthy words as I jam my tongue down her throat. I want to last longer for her because I know as soon as I finish I’m probably going to fall asleep, and I still haven’t kissed every inch of her as I originally intended.

  This urge to keep pleasuring her fights with my enjoyment of her taking me over the edge. The battle itself is hot as fuck. I’ve never felt this much going on inside me just by getting jerked off.

  She takes my tongue so fucking deep in her mouth, I’m afraid she could choke. But she only moans, her nails digging into me. And she whimpers when I pull away to catch my breath.

  Her rhythmic strokes on my pulsating cock reach the pinnacle and I reach the point of no return.

  Avery feels it too and now braces my cock with both hands, slowing the pumping but increasing the pressure while she bites down on my bottom lip.

  “I’m coming. I’m coming… Fuck!” I yell out as I come, unable to think of a single other thing to say.

  “Fuck yes,” Avery whispers hoarsely. “Come for me, Rory.”

  I roar through my climax, possibly louder than I ever have before.

  “Fuck. Baby,” I moan, barely able to remember her name.

  Avery purrs and pushes her tongue into my mouth while I finish in her hands, my cum bathing her fingers, her abdomen.

  “Hmm, am I your baby girl? Are you gonna spank me for being naughty?”

  This sudden change to a sexy, pouty voice teases out one final, hot burst of cum from me. “Holy shit,” I say, wanting to know how she does that, wondering if she takes acting classes, but also overwhelmed by how fucking good I feel next to her, how unbelievably good it feels to have her hands wrapped around my length.

  Shattered and out of breath, I wrap Avery up in my arms and pull her on top of me as I shift onto my back.

  She yelps in surprise and then giggles.

  “That was fun,” she says.

  I laugh. “You’re amazing and…really fucking good at…”

  “Thank you,” she says, peppering my chest with more kisses. “You’re incredible and kind, and it’s a very nice penis. I enjoyed it.”

  Something about what she says, it’s so matter-of-fact, that I feel laughter building up. I don’t want her to think I’m laughing at her but I can barely control it, and it just blurts out. “I have a very nice penis,” I laugh.

  She laughs too, thank god. “Well, you do! Am I not allowed to say that?”

  I snicker. “I don’t think anyone has ever told you what you are and are not allowed to say. Baby, if you like it, you can talk about it all day long using whatever terms you want.”

  “Good,” she says, her voice vibrating against my chest in a way that sparks a certain sense of possession in me. I want to keep her like this, feel her against my chest. Every night. What am I thinking? We literally met a few hours ago and I’m already plotting how to get her into my bed indefinitely.

  I’m sure that’s not how relationships work for this lady.

  This is probably just a two-stranded-coworkers, one-bed, one-night stand for the supremely talented and outgoing Avery Jacobs. She probably has a lover at every one of the newspapers in her dynastic company. And I would not judge her if she did. In fact, her seeming self-possession makes her that much hotter and makes me want her for myself even more.

  “Because…,” she says hesitantly.

  “What?” I ask.

  “Because I also like it when you call me ‘baby.’” She emits a self-deprecating giggle. “I know, it’s silly. But it makes me feel special.”

  “It’s not silly,” I correct her.

  And here is where I make a decision. I could play it cool. But I’m not going to do that.

  “In fact, I didn’t just blurt it out. I like you. And you blew into my newsroom, my apartment, my bed, my mind, and ruined me.”

  A contented sigh escapes her. My hands brush aside her long hair so my fingers can lovingly trace lines all over her back.

  “Have I?” she asks, one of her legs hooking around mine, stroking my thigh with her heel.

  “Yep. So, I’m glad it makes you feel that. Because I do.”

  “You do what?”

  “Think you’re special. And…keep in mind I’m taking a huge risk at making this awkward because we’re literally stranded in a snowstorm with no escape if you don't like what I’m about to say. I’d like to…that is… Well, I don't know how to say it without sounding like a caveman, but…”

  Avery raises her chin to meet my eyes with hers. “Say it, Rory. There’s nothing you can say that will make this awkward right now. Unless you want to call me an Uber, because they aren’t coming out in this weather, I don't think.”

  I chuckle and kiss her forehead when she lays her head back down. “OK. Then I’ll say it. I know it’s really, really fast but … I feel like I want you in my bed every night. I want to go to work with you every day and then come home together and drink beer in my kitchen and talk about our childhoods and tell jokes, and then go to bed and fuck each other’s brains out. And I want to keep calling you ‘baby’ and I want you to call me whatever it is you call…well, whatever it is you would call your boyfriend.”

  She rises and pulls herself up to sitting and looks down at me, giving me an eyeful of the most angelic vision I’ve ever seen. Her hair is wild, her eyes are wide, and her full lips are parted. She’s looking down at me in wonder. The scatt
ered, changing light from the window creates an ethereal glow about her lovely breasts.

  A smile creeps across her face, her eyebrows angling to give her a look of mischief. “Are you asking me to move in with you? You just met me.”

  I blow out a breath. “I knew it was going to get awkward as soon as I said what I was feeling.”

  “It’s not awkward,” she says. “Just don’t be too confident that you’ll still like me in the next few weeks.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  Beast

  Any thought that I was going to fall quickly asleep is vanquished because this fine woman just said she was worried I might not like her for much longer.

  “Not possible.”

  “It is possible. People get tired of each other all the time. You don’t even know my terrible habits.”

  “Do you smoke?”

  “No. Do you?”

  “Sometimes I enjoy a cigar.”

  “Gross, but as long as it’s not indoors.”

  “Never. Do you hog the blankets?”

  “Yes, do you have a problem with that?”

  “No.”

  “OK, Rory. Do you mind if I call you Rory out in public? Because I really, really do not like the idea of calling you Beast. It’s demeaning.”

  “You are only allowed to call me Rory at home.”

  She chews the inside of her cheek for a second then acquiesces. “Fine. Can I call you Coach in public then?”

  I think for a minute. It’s kinda hot. “Yes,” I say.

  “Or how about Mr. Chapman?”

  “Too sexy.”

  She laughs and slaps my arm. “How is that sexy?”

  I reach out and smooth my hand down her front to cup one of her breasts, which evokes a moan from her beautiful lips.

  “Hmm. Don’t do that unless you’re ready for me to sit on your face, handsome.”

  “Geez, I love that dirty mouth.”

  “Good, because in addition to that, I cuss a lot. Is that a problem?”

  “Obviously not. Except at work. You’ll get me all hot and bothered.”

  She leans over and cups my spent ball sack. When I suck in my breath through my teeth and grip the sheets, she giggles. “What if I like the idea of getting you hot and bothered at work?”

  Through clenched teeth I say, “Then it’s a good thing our apartment is right upstairs.”

  “I talk in my sleep. A lot. It’s loud. It will wake you up. I’m also a mess. I don’t cook, and I don’t like to clean up after myself. I mean, I’ll try, but your apartment won’t even be as clean as it is now. The second I move in, this place is going to be chaos.”

  I give both her breasts a light squeeze and then slide a hand up to grip her jawline as my eyes study her delicious mouth. “I’d rather have a messy apartment with you in it than a tidy one without you.”

  Avery bites her lip. “Are you serious?”

  “Do I seem serious?”

  She studies my face. “Yes. All the time, actually.”

  “I say exactly what I mean. You can count on that. You can count on me.”

  Avery lets her eyes flutter closed and she smiles, like she’s absorbing what I’ve said. I’m so relieved that none of this is freaking her out. That my need to be with her, to be emotionally intimate with her as well as physically close is not scaring her away. I don’t think I could take it if it did. I’ve never felt this for anyone before.

  “And there’s more,” I say. “I don’t like the way this newspaper chews up reporters and spits people out. And I know you came here to poach me, so the sooner you do it, the better. I don’t want you working for Reese or Perry for a second longer than you have to.”

  She laughs. “Oh, don’t worry about me. I have a plan for that.”

  “Oh do you? Are you going to share that plan with your boyfriend?”

  She smiles and looks down before meeting my gaze again. “I like that. I have a boyfriend,” she says with even more confidence in her voice than I thought possible from a woman who already exudes confidence. It feels good to know I did that.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Avery

  “Wait, where are you going?” Beast’s voice creaks in a sexy, not-quite-awake kind of way.

  His hands roam around my middle while I scoot to the edge of the bed.

  “To work. We both have to go to work, right? It is Monday.” I barely get the words out before Beast’s hot mouth is all over my back.

  I turn to look back at him. I shouldn’t have done that. His short, soft curls are flattened on one side from the pillow, and his eyes squint like he’s not quite ready to open them. His arms reach for me blindly, endearingly. Sexiest of all is he still has a red mark on his chest from where my head was lying for the last few hours.

  In fact, that’s pretty much where I’ve been resting my head all weekend—all day Saturday and Sunday as the storm raged outside—that is, when we weren’t fooling around.

  Feeling a little embarrassed, I move my eyes away from that spot, blushing as I realize how hard I passed out on him. The thought forces me to remember how hard and thoroughly we’ve exhausted each other.

  But why mince words? We may not have achieved penetration due to lack of a condom and the three-day blizzard outside. But he fucked me. We fucked each other. With our hands, our minds, our words. Is it backwards to learn how sexually compatible you are with someone before you figure out how to be together in the harsh light of day? Maybe. But with this guy around—this good, decent, caring and attentive guy—I don’t think it’s going to be all that harsh.

  Fucking is not new to me, and—whoa—definitely not new to him. He knows his way around a woman’s body. Just entertaining that thought gets my lady bits riled up again.

  “I know it’s Monday, but…”

  His warm hand trails up and down my bare back as I inch closer to the end of the bed, and I have no intention of asking him to stop. “I don’t want the weekend to end. The storm has barely stopped. Nobody expects us to go in yet.”

  I laugh and shiver when his finger slowly memorizes each vertebra on the way down to my tailbone.

  Beast’s small sigh contains a tiny moan of someone who really wants to stay in bed all day and snuggle. Among other things. Other things that I am not opposed to. Things he could easily talk me into, despite my work ethic. “Stay here and keep me warm, pretty lady.”

  His chosen term of endearment pulls a small groan of frustration out of me. I try to stop it but it’s too late. I’ve shown my hand. One of his eyes opens and his expression is full of hope and mischief. He knows he’s getting closer to talking me into staying put.

  “Rory. We need to be making calls, scooping up all the amazing rescue stories, just think of all the potential human interest pieces out there.”

  “This isn’t The Weather Channel, and I’m not letting you go out there alone either way.”

  I twist my torso around more to face him as best I can as a wicked smile creeps across my lips. “Oh. You’re not going to ‘let’ me? Are you sure about that?”

  Both of his eyes are open wide now, one eyebrow arched. He senses a challenge, and he’s right to.

  “Yeah, I’m fucking sure.”

  His voice isn’t sleepy anymore, but sexy in a new way—a low, alpha sort of way—that makes my nipples tighten instantly.

  I keep my eyes on him and lean down, snatching my undies off the floor.

  When I sit back up, his hand goes to my wrist and clamps down around it tightly.

  Heat spreads through my middle. I shoot him a saucy look, but his hooded eyes melt my resolve and I drop my undies.

  As soon as I do, he pulls me back into the bed and wraps me up in a spooning position, his hard dick nestled between my ass cheeks.

  I exhale dreamily. “Careful, big guy. No condoms, remember?”

  And then he does something so unexpected, so extraordinary, that the shock of it will stick in my memory for the rest of my life, and thinking of it will push me cl
ose to orgasm without ever having to be touched. My lover reaches between my legs, coats his hand with my wetness and coats himself with my juices. “It’s not your pussy I’m gonna fuck.”

  My breath hitches. “You know you still need protection to put it in my ass, genius.”

  “That’s not what I’m doing either, exactly. Is it OK if I just, like, let it get cozy between your cheeks while I hump you from behind?”

  For the first time in my life during sex, I’m utterly speechless. All I can do is nod and bite down hard on my lip, trying not to come too quickly from the sheer surprise and novelty of what he’s doing. He’s got me wrapped up in his arms, his big chest pressed against my back, and his cock simply sandwiched between my ass cheeks but not penetrating. Sure, it might be risky, but it feels to me like my body is giving me no choice but to weather the remains of the storm in Beast’s bed.

  Because as it turns out, my body really enjoys a nice snuggle fuck.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Beast

  We eventually make our way down the stairs, which are now buried in snow. It’s like climbing down the side of a mountain, and Avery and I have to take sideways steps down and out the door so we don’t fall on our asses.

  I look around once we’re outside, and breathe out a grudging sigh. “I suppose we’d better go look for that door.”

  When I get no answer from Avery, I turn and see that her mouth is ajar, her eyes wide and shining, and her hands cover her ears. She looks like a giddy, pretty version of Edvard Munch’s The Scream.

  I smile at her. I’ve seen this look before.

  It’s a trip seeing all of this through her eyes. Hell, it’s a wild ride seeing anything through Avery’s eyes.

  “It was beautiful yesterday and the day before, but now? During the day? The sun shining? The sky blue? Oh my god, if I didn’t know any better I would say I’m in heaven!”

  A brownish rectangular shape glints in the sunlight down the block. “There it is,” I say, and trudge off to pull the door out of the snow.