Page 75 of Whiskey Shivers

“Mmm,” I groaned. “That’s so tempting.”

“But?” he asked.

“But it’s getting late, and getting my hair wet is gonna be a no-go.”

“Ahhh, I’ll be right back,” he declared, and he went on in further toward the front of the house, ducking into our bedroom.

I chuckled and hung up my new leather jacket on its peg by the back door and started working my way out of the chaps which were still like learning a new language or something to me. Like I could see how it went and had the basic grasp on the whole concept but left to my own devices I would probably do something embarrassingly wrong.

Like some well-meaning sod trying to tell a pregnant Spanish speaking woman to push when really all that was coming out of his mouth was calling her a whore. You know, that whole overplayed trope in just about every medical drama ever on television that was cringe but still… Lord and Lady, you couldn’t help but laugh at it because as problematic as it could be with its whole stereotyping and everything it was still so very funny.

Hex came back around the corner marching up to me with purpose and produced… the ugliest damn shower cap I have ever seen out from around his back, still in the package. I burst out laughing and he grinned at me.

“Huh? Ahh, yeah?” He held it out to me and said, “Sometimes you just gotta be smarter than the problem, am I right?”

“Sometimes I think you will literally do just about anything to see me naked,” I declared, still giggling and taking the thing from him to look at it.

Okay, so when I flipped the package over, the shower cap inside wasn’t nearly as bad as the picture on the package which was some kind of snake print. This cap was actually just a uniform pale pink… which on second thought wasalmostas bad.

“Come take a shower with me,” he said softly, a gentle cajoling to his tone. I looked up and as much as I wanted to just crawl into my pajamas and up into my book nook overlooking the living room.

I smiled up at him and said, “You drive a hard bargain, Mr. Johnson.”

“Well, you know the best way to get rid of temptation, Miss Legare…” he murmured, stepping closer, hands to my hips, half drawing me in even as he was half drawn to me, like a moth to flame. That was the thing about Hex… he treated me like I was the light of his life and the sentiment shone in his deep brown eyes like flecks of whiskey gold, sending shivers down my spine every time I glimpsed it.

“See,” he murmured seductively. “You’re cold.”

I felt my breath still in my lungs as he took that last tiny step to put our bodies close, a scant half inch from touching completely, the warmth radiating from him so very inviting.

“You know that shiver had absolutely nothing to do with temperature,” I whispered.

“Trying to teach me science?” he joked faintly.

“Law,” I whispered. “The rules of attraction.”

He smiled but didn’t quite laugh as he lowered his mouth to mine and there could be no illusion of my being cold left. Not with how my blood heated and rushed through my veins.

His lips moved against mine so darkly sweet. The touch of them soft, but the way he loomed over me something so threatening, so menacing, but not to me. Never to me. For myself, I could feel the danger and menace radiate from him, but it was as though I were safely cocooned within its bubble. If he were a dragon, I was his precious thing, his horde, and I loved that feeling. I loved feeling his aura around me. The sensation of his energy a very real and almost palpable thing.

For the first time in a long time… hell, maybe if ever, I not only felt seen by the man cradling me in his arms, but I genuinely felt as though I was the absolute center of his world, of his very universe, and that was a heady and intoxicating thing. One that I wanted to swear by all things that were holy, that I wouldnevertake for granted.

It was too precious a thing for me to disrespect like that. To squander by taking it for granted.

I broke the kiss reluctantly, and asked, my voice trembling, “I thought you were going to take me to bed.”

“Shower?” he asked playfully.

“Bed,” I murmured, and he chuckled. “Shower in the morning,” I added, and he outright laughed.

“Whatever my lady wishes,” he said and walked back, taking me with him to the night-darkened bedroom.

The dark I had been so sad to see just a little while before became a tantalizing and wonderful thing as we groped and kissed and explored by touch. Disrobing each other one piece at a time without the benefit of our sight was a uniquely wondrous experience filled with whispering gentle touching punctuated with awkward giggling from time to time.

Our mouths clashed, tongues lashing against one another, his warm hard body pressing to my softer one and I swear, I lived for the sensation of his body against mine. I reveled in his warmth. It was better than any fire and warmed more than just my skin, deeper than muscle or bone. This man warmed my very soul and took me places in thought and sensation I never knew existed and I honestly hoped against hope that I did something similar if not the very same for him.

“Oh, fuck,” he moaned as I wrapped my fingers around him, pressing the shaft of his cock into my palm, before stroking him root to tip.

“Fuck, I love that you get so hard for me,” I whispered, and he chuckled so very deep and darkly from the darkness that the hair rose on the back of my neck and something primal in me stood like a meerkat, stalk still and waiting for what was next. Even still, my hand never stopped its stroking, his precum sticky and lubricating the path it took, even as I stood there right before him, pressing my thighs together andknowingwithout feeling just how wet I was becoming.

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