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  “If you want it, you’ll have to take it,” Ian said.

  Of all the high-handed things. It wasn’t fair. She was taking the high road. She was giving him the cabin. She was going to win.

  “This isn’t fair,” she said.

  He just shrugged.

  Frustration winning out, Shelby grabbed a handful of snow and shoved it right in Ian’s face. She had three seconds of oh-shit-what-did-I-just-do making her pulse spike before he started laughing. He didn’t drop the shovel, though; he put it on the roof of his car and grinned down at her.

  “Oh, you want to have a snowball fight? It’s on,” he said as he cleared the snow from his face. “You’ve got a five-second head start.”

  Giddy adrenaline pumping through her veins, she took off looking for cover, bending over and scooping up a handful of snow as she went. She almost made it to the porch when a snowball landed with a thwat in the middle of her back. Turning, she let fly the half-formed one in her hand. Ian dodged it easily, but that attack gave her time to get up to the porch, which may have less snow than the yard but had better coverage.

  “You realize you’re trapped,” he hollered from behind his car.

  “I have the high ground and access to the house,” she shot back. “I could lock you out.”

  He shot off three quick snowballs. “You wouldn’t.”

  “Not for a long time, anyway.” Really, not at all, but it wasn’t like he didn’t know that already.

  He laughed and shot off another snowball, but it went wide, hitting the front door with a splat. And so it went, snowballs flying through the air as he circled the porch, dodging her limited-supply snowballs. The rest of it all didn’t matter. For the moment, there wasn’t a world beyond their little snowed-in patch of earth, and Shelby gave in to the absolute joy of that freedom.

  That anxious feeling always in the bottom of her gut, the one that had kept her from walking into the media room a few weeks ago, it shrank into nearly nothing. There was only here and now. Before, that had only happened in the moment between buzzed and drunk that she’d tried to ride for way too long. This was so much better. In the mix of everything, she’d forgotten how to let go and just have fun.

  By the time they were out of snowballs, Shelby had snow down her shirt, her socks were soaked to her toes, her fingers were half frozen, and her cheeks hurt from laughing so hard. After kicking off the snow stuck to their boots outside, they shucked them off just inside the door, leaving them on the thick weatherproof mat, and hurried to the fireplace to start to defrost.

  “I’ve got to get out of this,” she said. “Turn around. No peeking.”

  Ian grunted in agreement, his shirt already half off. Fighting the urge to freeze to death so she could watch him finish taking off his shirt, she turned and faced the staircase. Getting off wet jeans with icicle hands was second only to trying to take off a sweaty sports bra on her worst-clothes-to-remove list, but she managed. By the time she had on a pair of yoga pants, a long-sleeve T-shirt, and a pair of wooly socks, she’d started getting feeling back in her toes.

  “Is it safe to turn around?” she asked.

  “You’re clear,” he said.

  She turned and nearly ran into Ian, he was so close. He was mismatched in joggers and a fisherman’s sweater, the thick cream-colored kind that made her fingers itch to touch him—it! She wanted to touch the sweater, not him. Really. Sorta. Maybe. Oh God, not at all.

  He took her hands in his, cupping them and bringing them up to his mouth to blow on them. “You’re freezing.”

  “My gloves weren’t made for snowball fights.” The knit gloves had been soaked through by her third snowball. “I hadn’t been planning on going to war.”

  “I’d better warm you up, then.” He brought her hands to his mouth again, blowing on her knuckles.

  It wasn’t even a touch, but it sent a wave of scorching-hot desire slamming into her that made her forget all of the very good reasons why this was a very bad idea. “What are your plans for getting me warm?”

  Her hard nipples pressing against the thin material of her tank top were directly at eye level. She could blame it on the cold, but her body was hot, overheated, even—and it had nothing to do with the temperature.

  A mewling sigh sounded in her ears, soft and needy. It took her a second to realize the sound had come from her. Her hands still in his, he glanced up at her, his eyes dark with a possessive lust that made her core clench.

  She wanted to straddle him, ride him, feel his cock rub up against every sensitive spot at the apex of her legs. She wanted to take him inside her, press her palms against the hard ridges of his abs, and ride him slow and sure. She wanted to be under him on the bed, pressed up against him with the wall at her back, and on her hands and knees as he pounded into her like she craved each time her fingers slid between her slick folds.

  “Shelby…” He made her name sound like a naughty promise and a desperate plea as he stripped off his sweater. He let her hands go, obviously giving her the space to make the call. “How hot do you want to get?”

  Tempting. So damn tempting. Her fingertips were tracing the line of his jaw, the coarse hair scraping her tender flesh before she even realized what she was doing. He didn’t touch her in return. He waited—patient, enticing, confident—letting her take the lead, as if he already knew what she’d say next. It wasn’t triumph in his dark eyes but pure focused need—all of it directed at her. It was incendiary to be at the center of it, and she was going up in flames.

  She traced the line of his throat and across his corded shoulders, the whole time feeling like a woman who’d made this decision a million years ago and was only now admitting it. “No one could know, and it would have to be a different-zip-code-only thing.”

  “There’s no one here I’d ever tell,” he said, his voice strained with need.

  The springy hairs dusting his pecs tickled her fingers as she continued her explorations. “It can’t be anything more than just sex, and only this one time. You hockey players are off-limits for corporate.”

  Okay, that was more for herself than Ian. It wasn’t like someone like him had ever had problems separating orgasms from something more.

  “We might be snowed in for days,” he said, his eyes fluttering shut for a second as she traced her way downward, following his narrow happy trail. “And nobody’s on the clock here.”

  She hesitated at the waistband of his joggers, her nipples so hard, they hurt. “Ian…”

  “God, I love the way you say my name.”

  Just the rumble of his words was enough to make her clit quiver with anticipation, but he still didn’t make a single move to touch her. She knew why. He wanted her to make the first move, to have control, to show him just how much she wanted him. The moment was as empowering as it was sexually frustrating.

  “Ian, please.” She hooked her fingers in the waistband of his joggers. “I wanna get really hot.”

  Cupping the back of her head, he dipped his head lower, his mouth centimeters from hers, hovering there above her so close, she could feel him even without actually touching him. Another opportunity to back out? To run? It didn’t matter, because she wasn’t going anywhere right now. It only took the slightest move to press her lips to his in a kiss, and she let herself fall back into the delicious pleasure of it all.

  Chapter Six

  Kissing Shelby hadn’t been part of Ian’s plan after their impromptu snowball fight. He was supposed to get dressed, give her space, and wait for the roads to clear so he could be the one to drive away from the cabin hideaway. He’d gotten a look at the tires on her car when he’d walked outside with the shovel. They were as bald as his first juniors coach, who’d gotten cans of car wax every Christmas as a gag gift from the team.

  Dammit, Ian had been trying to be a gentleman, to make up for being such an asshole to her before. And yeah, he’d
been on a mission to save himself from doing just this because there was no way it was a good idea. But she tasted so sweet, and when she made that soft moan and parted her lips, he was fucking gone. Hands skimming the slightly round curve of her ass, he cupped it and pulled her tight against him, taking her down to the rug in front of the fireplace, settling her so she straddled his lap. The teasing heat of her through the thin, stretchy material of her yoga pants pressing against his hard cock under his joggers wasn’t nearly enough. He needed more. He needed all of her.

  She broke the kiss, her lips swollen and her eyes hazy as she tugged up her shirt, yanking it off and letting it fall to the floor. He let out a harsh hiss of breath. She was bare underneath, the tips of her firm tits hardened to pink points.

  Skimming her fingertips across his chest so lightly it almost felt like a dream, she wet her lips with the tip of her pink tongue. His cock twitched in anticipation of what she was going to do next. Hell, just watching that mouth of hers might kill him.

  Then she undulated her hips, rolling them so her core rubbed against his length and electricity shot straight to his dick. He grabbed her by the hips, holding her to him as she rocked, the friction almost enough but not even close at the same time. Her fingers bit into his shoulders as she leaned down, kissing him, demanding everything, and he was more than willing to give it. Taking his opportunity, he grabbed her hips and flipped her so she was under him.

  All he could feel was the softness of Shelby’s lips on his, the sweet curve of her waist where it flared out to meet his and—even with the barrier of his joggers and her yoga pants between them—the slick heat of her pressed against his dick. How their clothing didn’t go up in flames the moment he sank between her thighs and ground against her, he had no clue. Especially not when she moaned into his mouth, her teeth grazing his bottom lip. Oh, somebody liked that. He did it again, this time changing the angle just enough that if he was lucky, he’d stroke the head of his cock against her clit. She arched against him, letting her head fall back into the pillow, and let out a lusty groan that made his balls tingle. Oh yeah, that was the kind of sound he loved hearing from her.

  “I could probably come just from hearing you moan like that,” he said, kissing his way down the column of her throat to the sensitive spot at the base.

  She rotated her hips, rubbing herself against him. “I need a little more than that.”

  “Don’t worry. You’ll be getting it.”

  He cupped her breast and dragged his thumb across the stiff peak. Shelby groaned, and he repeated the move again and again until her skin was flush with desire. Then he leaned down and sucked her nipple into his mouth, drawing on it. Her hands were in his hair, digging into his scalp at the back of his head and holding him in place as he teased and tugged on her sensitive flesh.

  “Ian, please,” she pleaded.

  “Do you want more or less?” he asked, praying that it wasn’t less, because he already knew he wouldn’t be able to get enough of her tonight.

  “All of it,” she said, her heady voice strained with desire. “Right now.”

  “Not yet. I want to get my fill of you, tasting every inch of your skin, sinking my tongue between your thighs, and making your come all over my lips before I even sink my dick inside your tight pussy.” All of that. That’s what he wanted.

  There was something delicious seeing Shelby undone like this, moaning beneath him on the rug and rubbing herself against him as he rolled and pulled her nipples with just the right amount of tension to elicit little moans of pleasure from her. Her fingernails dug into his ass and she hooked her legs around the back of his thighs, holding him hard against her—as if there was any other place he wanted to be.

  Swirling his tongue around her extended nipple, he pressed against her damp center. Fuck. This was going to kill him. He’d come in his joggers if he didn’t give his aching cock a time-out. While coming with Shelby would be good, coming inside her and feeling her tighten around him would be so much better. So he untangled himself from her legs and slid lower down her body, sliding her yoga pants over her hips as he went lower. Then he sat back on his heels and looked at the woman spread out before him.

  “God, you’re beautiful. I could look at you all night.”

  She glided her hand over her body, over her tits, down her flat stomach, and through the tight ebony curls between her thighs. The house could explode around them and he wouldn’t have been able to look away from her at this moment—something her knowing chuckle acknowledged. It took some effort, but he tore his gaze away from her pussy and back to her face.

  “Yes, I’m definitely getting warmer, but I’m pretty sure I can get even hotter.”

  “Is that a challenge from that snarky mouth of yours?” And his was dry at the moment. There was only so much a man could take, watching this little performance of hers.

  She reached out to him, her fingers finding the elastic waistband of his pants. “You could always give me something else to taste.”

  “Soon, but you’re too pretty not to taste,” he said, barely recognizing his own voice in the words of a man skating the edge of desperation.

  Following his fingers, he dipped his head between her legs and traced his tongue down her center, relishing her responsive moan. It wasn’t enough, though. He wanted to feel her come. He spread her wide open with his fingers and devoted every bit of his fractured concentration to making her break apart. Licking, sucking, teasing, sliding one and then two fingers deep inside her, he drove her higher and higher until her thighs were quaking.

  “Ian,” she moaned. “Don’t stop.”

  He wasn’t planning on it, not when he had her so close that all she could do was lose herself in the feeling of it all. The angle of their position didn’t allow him the luxury of watching her face as she moved higher and higher; instead, he had to judge her reaction by the pitch of her moans and the shiver of her thighs. When her core muscles gripped his fingers in a rhythmic pulse that built with every stroke in and out, her core squeezed his fingers tight as she came, her entire body arching against him. Her moan of pleasure reverberated against his cock, making his balls tug up close to his body. It was exquisite torture, beating any imaginings he’d had.

  “Oh my God,” she said, rolling onto her back, her breathing erratic. “That was just what I needed.”

  …

  Shelby was going to die a happy woman from all of this pleasure. But if she lived? Damn she’d be one lucky woman.

  “Glad I could be of service,” he said between long, leisurely kisses.

  “Oh, you’re not done.” Her fingertips skated down his body.

  “I’m not?”

  Her hand wrapped around his hard length. “I have condoms.”

  “Hope you have enough of them.” Ian rolled her hard nipple to a stiff peak. “I can’t wait to feel you come all over my cock again and again.”

  Keeping her mouth busy exploring the line of his jaw as they lay side by side facing each other, Shelby deliberately stroked her hand up and down his hot length. It turned his words into a desperate groan that had her doing it again—only even slower. What could she say, there was just something about being in control of giving that kind of pleasure that turned her on. Leaning forward, she trailed kisses across his broad chest, dipping down from the top of his pecs to his flat nipples. The temptation to continue her way south made her mouth dry, but that’s not what she wanted. Not right now.

  “Get on your back.”

  A wry chuckle rumbled from his chest beneath her lips, but he complied. “You’re demanding.”

  “And you better stay like that until I get back.” She got up and made a quick trip to the bathroom for a condom from her toiletry bag. When she got back, he was still lounging lazily stroking his cock. “You’re very good at following directions.”

  “And what if I want to lead?” he asked, his hooded gaze
traveling across her naked body as solid as a touch.

  “You have to wait your turn.” Giving him a saucy look, she ripped the foil packet and took out the latex condom.

  “Are you always this much of a hard-ass?” The question came out sure and cocky right up until the last two words, which just happened to be when she rolled the condom over his prick with deliberate care.

  She didn’t bother to hide her grin. “When I know what I want, yes.”

  A vein in his jaw twitched, but he didn’t make a move. “And what is it that you want?”

  “This.” Tilting her hips a few degrees, she slid all the way down his length, letting her head fall back as she relished the feeling of oh-my-God-yes-that-is-amazing making her bite down on her bottom lip. It had officially been too long, because there was no way Ian should feel that good inside her, as if this was how sex was always supposed to feel.

  His hands were on her hips a heartbeat later, tugging her forward, making her clit rub against him on each downward stroke. “Touch your tits.”

  “Now who’s being demanding?” she asked, but her hands were cupping her breasts before the words were even out of his mouth.

  The second she started rolling her nipples between her fingers, he inhaled a sharp breath and his fingers bit into her hips. Oh, he liked that, did he? Never taking her eyes off his face as she rocked herself up and down his thick cock, the move making her thighs ache at the same time it sent shivers of pleasure through her body, she pinched her nipples and tugged hard on them.

  His brown eyes darkened with lust so primal, it sent a thrill right to her clit. “I’m claiming my turn.”

  Without losing their connection, he shifted underneath her, tilting her until her back was on the rug and he was on his knees, with her feet planted on the floor on either side of his thighs. Oh hell yes. She arched her body, bringing her hips higher and in line with his. His hands cupped her ass, each finger digging into her flesh with just the right amount of pleasure as he pistoned his hips, plunging into her, filling her so completely that it stole her breath.