Blurb:
Christine Vanliev convinces cabby Jake Bartlet to drive her into the Catskills to see her parents for New Year’s Eve, but bad weather causes the cab to slide into a deep ditch. With no cell service and having passed nothing but trees for the past hour, they decide to wait the few hours until dawn to try to walk for help. Christine lets her inhibitions slide for a night of hot lovemaking, but Jake experiences a psychic connection with her that he never expected and definitely doesn’t need. According to the lore of his people, she is his mate.
On her way home from her parents’, Christine spends another night with Jake and learns about his BDSM fetish. Jake can’t believe how giving she is in trying out his fantasies. He’s never been so turned on and connected in his life. But Christine lives in Florida and Jake has a son in New York. It would be best for all concerned if he forgot about her--if only he could break this mate bond.
Unedited excerpt:
“Unfortunately,
I think we’re going to have to huddle under this blanket until morning.” Jake
tossed the blanket across her legs then wiggled toward the front again, messing
with the radio. He got static for his troubles, but Christine got a nice view
of his ass in the obscenely worn dungarees. As he repositioned himself on the
backseat, he said, “The car’s jammed deep into the drift with the front wheels
in the ditch. There’s no visibility out there and I’m damned sure we’d freeze
to death wandering around before we’d find help. If the snow stops by morning,
we can try then.” He took off his hat then finally settled enough to meet her
eyes.
Christine
looked away, wondering if she had good reason to argue with his plan, and
tugged her carry-on bag from the floor to her lap. She had a sweater, spare
underwear and deodorant, and a bag of M&Ms inside. She draped the sweater
over her lap and opened the M&Ms, wishing she’d packed a bottle of wine
instead. “Like some?”
Jake
slid next to her on the vinyl seat. The car’s interior temperature was dropping
rapidly, so it was nice to catch a bit of radiant heat from his nearness. He
popped a couple of the candies in his mouth. “Thanks, but I do think we’re
going to have to share body heat.” He shrugged out of his dark leather jacket.
“Let’s put the coats behind us and the blanket over us.” He obviously wasn’t
one to waste words.
“Um.”
Was there a way to avoid this heat-sharing thing? He was a total stranger after
all, though he did have a nice scent, some sort of masculine cologne.
He
grinned. “I’ll be a gentleman, I promise. This is an unusual situation for me,
too, you know.”
He
had warned her about the weatherman’s predictions when she’d told him how far
she needed to go. He’d also warned her about the fare. She’d said she’d pay it,
no problem, so this was definitely her fault. She needed to be reasonable about
the situation, though she wanted to run screaming from the car. “Okay, sounds
like a plan.” It was the least she could do, since he probably would’ve been
off-shift by now and home in his warm bed, if not for her.
The
back seat was fairly spacious, but it was hard to find a comfortable position
for the two of them together. She wound up snugged between his legs with her
back to his chest and his arms wrapped around her. He’d packed the two jackets
behind him to insulate the door then swung the blanket over top of their legs.
Christine added her sweater and pulled the layers up over their arms. She
didn’t like watching her breath crystallize in front of her face, but she liked
it even less when the ceiling light snuffed out leaving them in pitch darkness.
“Not
the best battery in this old thing,” Jake said, his voice rumbling through his
chest and his breath tickling her ear. “Will probably need a jump in the
morning.”
Great,
so there was no hope of driving out of here.
After
a few moments of silence where Christine listened to Jake’s breath near her ear
and counted the thumps of his heart, Jake said, “So where are you from?” He’d
picked her up in front of Newark airport.
“From
here originally, but I’ve been going to grad school in Florida.
Communications.”
“Better
weather.”
“Oh
yeah.” She smiled, but she’d missed the turning leaves in the fall and the snow
for Christmas. “Funny how I forget the slush, salt, and rusted cars when I’m
down south. I just idealize snow, like a Currier and Ives painting.”
“Absence
makes the heart grow fonder.”
“I
guess, but this—“ she gestured in the darkness—“should bring back those
repressed memories.”
A
short snort came from Jake. A laugh perhaps? She was feeling downright toasty
now in the little cocoon of body heat, except for her bared ears and nose. Only
problem was something stiff pressed against her backside and she was pretty
sure she knew what it was. Should she say something, ignore it, snuggle closer?
She’d been so engrossed in her studies for so long that she’d barely let off
steam at a party or hanging out with friends, forget about dating. Last time
she’d had sex she’d been an undergrad. How sad was that?
Her
body sought to remind her of how sad it was, because she started to feel the
little tingle low in her belly and along her nipples. She tensed. He had to
know he had a hard-on, right? Maybe he thought she couldn’t tell?
“You feel good,” he said. “’S
been a while since I’ve had a lady in my arms.”
You can probably guess that things heat up from here :)
~Shara
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