Bedding Down, A Collection of Winter Erotica (3 page)

Liz gave her a fierce hug. “You are the best sister in the world.

Thanks for being here.” There were tears in her eyes when she

pulled away. “I’m sorry your husband couldn’t make it.”

Your husband.
Liz had never met Thomas. Susannah hadn’t even told her sister she’d gotten married until after the fact.

They had married six months after her arrival in Seattle and

both times Liz had visited, he’d managed to be out of town. It

was a slight that she wasn’t sure Liz would ever get over—or

that Susannah would ever forgive herself for.

“Liz, I need to tell you—”

There was a rap at the study door and Brad popped his head

in. “Hi, honey, I’m home.”

Susannah felt like she was witnessing something intimate in

the look the two exchanged. She wanted to caution her sister not to hope for too much, but it made her heart hurt to see how in

love they were. Not because she begrudged her sister anything,

but because she wanted that feeling so desperately for herself.

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She had everything else—the education, the job, the friends—

why was true love
, passionate
love, so elusive?

“We’ll talk later,” Liz murmured against Susannah’s cheek as

she gave her another hug. “Love you.”

“Love you, too,” Susannah said as Liz left the room with her

fiancé.

After the study door closed, Susannah held her left hand up to

the light and stared at the rings that sat on her finger like a grim reminder of her failure. She had married Thomas impulsively

and it had been a decision she’d regretted almost as soon as they said their vows in the dingy little room at the courthouse. She was twenty-five years old at the time and tired of feeling alone in the world. Wearing Thomas’s ring and taking his last name

hadn’t made her feel less alone or more like she had a family of her own. She had dropped his last name, Schaeffer, almost immediately after they were married, citing awkward alliteration as her reason. But reverting to Greer had only made her feel lonelier. That last name represented the family she didn’t have—the father who had run out on them and the mother who had left

her to take care of her younger sister when what she needed was someone to take care of
her.

“Admiring your good fortune?”

For the second time that day, Derrick managed to surprise

her. She dropped her hand to her lap. “Shouldn’t you be some-

where else, doing something else?”

Instead of taking the hint, he came into the study and closed

the door. “Nope.”

She sighed. “Derrick, I really don’t think it’s a good idea for us to be alone together.”

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He smiled, and there was nothing but pure masculine pride

in his expression. “Can’t resist me, can you?”

She shook her head in exasperation. “Sometimes I don’t know

whether to smack you—”

“Or kiss me?” He sat next to her on the couch, which was

big enough to accommodate four people but suddenly felt very

cozy.

“I was going to say laugh at you.”

“I like kiss better,” he said, holding up a length of satin ribbon. “Is this some kind of kinky wedding night getup?”

Susannah snatched the ribbon from him. “Don’t be ridicu-

lous. It’s ribbon to make bows for the reception tables.”

“Easy, Susannah, I was only kidding,” he said softly. “I’ve

been to a few weddings.”

“Including your own,” she shot back.

He cocked his head. “True. But mine was over before it even

started.”

“Because of me,” she said, unable to look away from his steady, solemn gaze that was so unlike the Derrick she once knew—or

thought she knew. She stared into the light blue eyes that had

once mesmerized her and felt herself slipping into the past.

He covered her hands with his and it was a gesture of com-

fort, not seduction. “Because of
me,
” he said. “Because I wasn’t ready to get married and was looking for a convenient excuse to get out.”

Bitterness, cold and hard as the diamond on her finger, rose

up to choke her. “And I was convenient, wasn’t I? Some would

say I was practically
easy.
”

“You were . . . ,” he trailed off. Some emotion she couldn’t

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identify clouded his expression. “You were . . .” he started

again.

Not wanting to hear him say she had been nothing more than

a meaningless affair designed to convince his young new bride

of his philandering ways, she leaned forward and pressed a kiss to his lips. His lips were warm and soft and familiar. After a

moment, she deepened the kiss, urging him to open his mouth

and sighing when he did. Despite all the touching and fondling

in the dressing room that afternoon, they had not kissed. It

wasn’t until this very moment that she realized how much she

had missed it. She slipped her tongue into his mouth as his

arms wrapped around her. The only sound in the room was the

crackle of the fire as they shifted closer together.

Part of her mind—the tiny, rational part that was drowned

by her emotions—knew she was playing with fire of a different

kind. Knew it, and didn’t care. His hands spanned her waist as

he shifted her onto his lap, stroking her back slowly. She leaned over him and teased his mouth with the tip of her tongue. He

rewarded her with a moan when she licked his bottom lip. When

she bit down gently, he gripped her hips and thrust against her.

He was hard and wanting—wanting her. She felt a rush of

power that had been denied her that afternoon in the bridal

shop when he’d caught her by surprise and left her breathless

with desire.

He pulled away after a long moment and stared at her with

heavy-lidded eyes. “What are you up to, Susannah?”

She shifted on his lap and gasped at the pressure of his rigid

cock against her crotch. “I wanted to kiss you,” she said, her

voice breathy with emotion. “You talk too much.”

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He searched her face for something, as if unsure whether to

take her at face value. “That’s all?”

“What more do you want?”

“I want,” he said, cupping the back of her head and bringing

her down to meet him for another kiss, “all of you.”

Something shifted between them and their kissing became in-

tense and sexual. She rocked on his lap, stroking herself against the rigid length of his erection. Her yoga pants and panties were thin and it wasn’t long before they were soaked through from

her arousal. She didn’t care; she kept moving against him, lost in her desire.

He slid his hands down her back and over her bottom, cup-

ping her ass as he guided her against him. She was on top, but

he took control, rocking her back and forth on his crotch as his mouth devoured her hungrily. The dull ache between her thighs

becoming an insistent, throbbing need. Her pussy was swollen

and sensitive, as wet as he was hard. The thought of him sliding inside her, filling her, made her whimper and rub against him

harder. She no longer cared about the past or what he thought of her; she only cared about satisfying that long-denied need.

He fisted his hands in her hair, pulling her away from his

mouth and trailing hot kisses down the arch of her neck. She

gasped as he licked the hollow of her throat, the sensation so intense and erotic she could feel it between her legs. He was driving her out of her mind with lust and she writhed and whimpered

on his lap like a wild thing.

“You’re so hot,” he murmured against her throat. “What do

you want, Susannah?”

She couldn’t form a coherent sentence. Breathing hard, she

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gripped his shoulders and ground her pelvis against his erec-

tion, needing the feeling of his hardness against her. Needing to satisfy the unrelenting ache he’d started that afternoon in the dressing room.

“C’mon, baby,” he coaxed. “Let go. Come for me.”

She had been so ready, so needy, that all it took was his few

words of encouragement and she felt everything inside her turn

to liquid heat. She bit down on his shoulder to keep from cry-

ing out as she came, her body rigid against him as he thrust

against her, pushing her higher. They rode out her orgasm to-

gether until the powerful sensations subsided and he cradled her to his chest.

“Damn, woman, you could raise the dead.”

She laughed softly against his chest, feeling his pulse begin to slow. “Thanks, I think.”

He reached for her hand, which was still gripping his shoul-

der. “Do me a favor next time?”

“Mmm?”
she murmured, her eyes fluttering closed.

“Take the ring off. I think I’ve got a two-carat-sized crater in my shoulder.”

She jerked upright, pulling her hand from his grasp. The ring

had twisted on her finger and snagged the fabric of his shirt.

“Sorry,” she whispered. “It won’t happen again.”

His slow, feral grin reminded her that his lust hadn’t been

satisfied from their little couch romp. “No problem,” he said,

misunderstanding her apology. “Just take it off, along with the rest of your clothes.”

“I can’t do that,” she said, climbing off his lap. Her yoga

pants clung to her, the fabric a damp reminder of how out of

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control she’d been with him. “It won’t happen again, Derrick.”

He didn’t look surprised or angry, but she couldn’t really be

sure because everything was a blur as she fled the room. She heard Liz call to her from the kitchen, but she ignored her and ran up the stairs to the room they were sharing. She’d only wanted to

prove to herself that she was something more than an excuse,

more than an affair. What she’d proven was that Derrick hadn’t

changed a bit—and she was no better than him.

Chapter 3

“I hate to ask, but could you go out to the inn and be there when the florist arrives?” Liz asked her the next morning. “I would go, but the roads are supposed to get treacherous and I’m afraid I

won’t make it back tonight.”

Susannah knew what Liz was thinking. “So, if I go and the

weather gets worse, I’ll have to spend the night—and stay away

from Derrick.”

“That’s not the entire reason—” Liz said, and blushed. “Who

would have thought it would snow like this in November?”

Susannah let her change the subject and poured them both

another cup of coffee from the carafe on the kitchen table. What she didn’t say was that she was relieved by the opportunity to get away from Derrick. “It’ll be fine, Lizzie. I’ll go to the inn, get the place decked out for tomorrow, and spend the night there,

hidden away like the batty old aunt.”

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“Susannah! That is not what I’m trying to do and you know

it.”

She did know it, but Derrick was making her crazy. She

needed to get away from him and if he didn’t see the wisdom

in that, she did. She had stayed in bed as long as she could that morning, listening as everyone filed out of the house on the way to various activities. When she came downstairs and found Liz

still slaving over the bows she was supposed to have finished, she felt like the worst sister in the world.

“Sorry. I’m just cranky.”

Liz smiled. “I bet I know why. I bet it has something to do

with what was going on in the study last night.”

“Don’t go there,” Susannah warned. “Nothing went on in

the study.”

Nothing except the most intense orgasm she’d experienced in . . .
She couldn’t even remember the last time she’d come like that. She

kept telling herself it hadn’t been sex, but the way they’d kissed and rubbed against each other couldn’t be described as anything but pure, raw sex. The horrifying reality was she wanted more.

She wanted naked skin and the feel of Derrick sliding into her

wet—

“Daydreaming?”

Susannah shook her head. “No. Absolutely not. I can’t even

believe you’d joke about it, under the circumstances.”

Liz’s smile faded. “You mean, because you’re married?”

Susannah felt a twinge of guilt. “Yeah.”

“Well, dear sister, let me tell you what I know—”

The back door opened and Brad’s mother came in with bags

of groceries. “Good morning, girls,” Mrs. Montgomery said.

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“I’m surprised you’re still here. That storm is getting worse.”

Liz worried her bottom lip between her teeth. “That’s what

I’m afraid of. We have people arriving all day and I don’t know if they’re all going to make it in this weather.”

“They’ll make it,” Susannah said. “It’s Virginia. How much

could it snow in November?”

“Right,” Liz said. “So, you’ll go to the inn and work on the

flowers and get people settled. I’ll go pick up my dress and yours and finish these stupid bows.”

“I have an idea,” Susannah said. “Why don’t you come to the

inn after you take care of everything? We’ll have a girls’ night and you can keep your batty old aunt company.”

Liz laughed and Mrs. Montgomery looked confused. “Ex-