19 ~ Steffi

It’s the winter solstice, and it’s damned cold outside. It’s also Noah’s and my first official overnight stay at Mount Isaiah. The open fire is small, but it warms the little house perfectly.

I look at him and want to pinch myself to make sure this isn’t a dream, he’s that perfect. The hut is now a home. Cozy, insulated, gaps closed to keep out the draughts, no apparent ghosts apart from whatever memories linger for Noah. His mood suggests they’re either buried deep or banished. Up here, on the side of this mountain, he is king, and this is his palace.

I intend to be a worthy princess.

We’re on the floor, lying on our backs, side by side in front of the fire, staring at the tin ceiling. It’s light on decorative elements compared with many Victorian ceilings. The men removed it carefully and a craftsman over in Clyde stripped it back, repaired the small amount of corrosion and returned it to us good as new.

“I’m glad you kept it,” I say.

“I’m glad you suggested it.”

The floorboards are the original wide kauri planks. The kitchen still has the original flagstones, slightly uneven, with a lip on one that trips me more often than not. In fact, much of the house remains as original and restored.

Outside, the wind picks up and whistles so suddenly and loud, it makes me jump. “So many new sounds to get used to,” I say.

“I’d forgotten how noisy the wind can be up here. I think we’ve got some rough and cold weather coming in the next few days.”

I roll on top of Noah. “Maybe snow?”

“Perhaps.”

“Imagine being stuck up here together in a snow storm. The world would simply have to carry on without us.”

“Like now. Next week they’re coming to install wifi. I would have loved this to be a tech-free zone, but unfortunately I always need to be contactable whether I stay on at the medical center or not.”

“Whether or not? What does that mean?”

“It means, I don’t think I have Cam’s support any more.”

I’m shocked. They’ve been friends almost twenty years. “Of course you have his support. And if you didn’t, you have money invested in the center. Don’t you get a vote?”

Noah bends his knees and leans me back against them so that I have a backrest. His hands are splayed over my hipbones and immediately my sex jumps to high alert.

“My money is part of a group of investors in the center. We’re not on the board, we’re shareholders. I don’t get any sort of vote, and money invested doesn’t guarantee me a position on the staff.”

“I don’t get it. Cam lures you back here with the job offer, and now he’s not supporting you.” I’m confused, and, yes, I’ll admit I’m scared that I’m about to lose the best thing that’s ever happened to me. If Noah doesn’t have a permanent position at the medical center, will he leave the country?

“Primarily, I came back here for Arch and Felicity. I’m at a stage in my career where I need to decide which direction I want to take. Three months as a locum in my old town gives me the opportunity to see if being in a family medical practice is what I want. The new medical center fits conveniently with my plans. It’s not the end of the world if I don’t get the position.”

“But it might be the end of mine,” I mutter.

“It won’t be. Listen. I was contacted by the district health board yesterday, asking me to apply for head of the emergency department at the hospital, The position is coming vacant in six months. I have a lot of opportunities. Perhaps I just want to start my own small family practice. So many directions I can take. But I’m staying, okay?”

I can’t hide my smile. “Thank you, I’m glad.”

“So, we have to work a few things out. I don’t want to continue sneaking around like a couple of naughty kids. I want that job at the medical center, even though I don’t need it. But we have to be straight with Cam and your parents. If you’re as serious about this relationship as I am, I think that when Arch and Felicity return, we tell them immediately. I can’t guess how your parents will feel, but Cam won’t be happy. He thinks you’re better off with a rich old fart like Kennedy, who, by the way, you’re meant to be dining with tonight. How did you get out of that?”

“I said there wasn’t enough money in the world to make me even consider having dinner with Kennedy and that I had plans. I also told Cam to stop trying to find me a partner and to concentrate on his own relationship deficits.”

Noah laughs. The wind whistles around the house and something left loose outside, some sort of container, bounces across the yard. We both look up as if expecting the roof to lift off. Then we glance at each other, wide eyed, and laugh. “Even without the renovations, this little place has withstood far worse weather than what’s out there,” Noah says.

“It’s strong, like you,” I say, tracing his jaw with my fingers. “Can I tell you something?” He smiles. “I like you a lot, Noah. I haven’t felt this way about anyone before. Does that scare you?”

“It doesn’t scare me, it fills me with relief. This all feels so fast, even though we’ve known each other such a long time. I’m eager for your parents to return so that we can move things along. I don’t want you staying in your apartment and me living out here.”

“We’d have to rely on phone sex. That was fun, but this is better.”

He takes my fingers into his mouth and sucks. The way his tongue weaves and folds around them makes my pussy ache. His erection nudges at my butt and I tilt my hips back to rub against it.

“This is certainly better.” As he speaks he unbuttons my blouse and pushes it off my shoulders. “You’re wearing too many clothes.” My bra follows my shirt to the floor.

“Speak for yourself,” I say, whipping his belt open and lowering his zipper. I lift my hips and his lift too, so that I can push his jeans down his thighs behind me. I crawl backwards, stopping when my head is above his hard cock. “Is this all for me?”

“Yes, it is. Take off your clothes.”

“What’s the rush?” I dip down and run my tongue along the length of his erection, making him say my name in the sexiest way. Then I take him deep into my mouth and make him groan.

“Steffi. I’m not going to last long if you keep doing that.”

I let his dick pop out of my mouth, stroking his balls and that intensely sensitive spot right behind them. “Control, Noah. You tell me when you’re close to coming, and I’ll stop and let you calm down.”

“I don’t think so,” he growls.

“Come on, play fair. That’s what you like making me do.”

“Yeah, but you needed the practice. Fuck!”

The cursing is because I’m licking the length of him and the tip of my tongue found the magic spot beneath the head of his dick that he should never have told me about. His hand grabs my head and lifts me off. I’m laughing. I love the power of taking away his self-control.

“Pants off, now,” he orders.

I stand and do a slow strip for him. Jeans sliding down my legs, a twirl, a twerk that earns a pleasantly stinging slap to my ass cheek, before I finally inch my panties to my ankles.

Noah’s got his hand around his cock, stroking slowly. He’s kicked off his jeans and is still on his back on the floor, watching me.

“What’s your stripper name?” he asks.

“Candy,” I purr, and giggle.

“Well, Candy, any chance of a lap dance?”

“Sorry, I only do pole dancing.”

“Even better. I’ve got this hard pole...”

He doesn’t finish before we’re both cracking up laughing, but we don’t laugh long.

“Come here,” he says, and the way his eyes rake over my body all but makes me melt. I straddle him again, my pussy covering his dick. It throbs. I can feel the beat of him against my swollen flesh.

He presses the head of his cock against my entrance and slips his other hand around my throat, easing my body low towards his. “You and me, Steffi. No matter what happens, nobody will fuck with us. Slide down on my cock.”

I circle my hips, keeping his cock right at my entrance where every nerve ending is jagged and ready. Noah takes hold of my hips with a determined grip, pushing me down.

“Aaahhh, that’s it. Your cunt is wet and perfect. Are you like this all day?”

“Only when I’m around you. Or when I’m thinking of you. Or when I imagine your voice in my ear, saying dirty things, telling me how you’re going to fuck me.”

“Fuck. Can you feel what you do to me?”

He raises me and pushes me down on him again, further this time, right down to the root. Every broad inch of his cock stretching me, making me his.

“Ride me, Steff.” His hand snakes between my legs, playing with my clit. I ride him hard, my hands braced on his shoulders, exactly the way we both like it. The wind howls louder, rain pelts the windows like thrown pebbles, and I think the panes will shatter. I feel as though I might shatter, too.

“Come to me,” he says, taking my hands over his shoulders and claiming my mouth.

We says words to each other as we kiss. Wet mouths, slick tongues, the slap of our flesh urging us on.

“This never ends,” he says. “Say it.”

“This never ends,” I say.

He kisses me harder.

“I love you,” I say, quietly against the fierce bite of his teeth.

“Don’t think I didn’t hear that. I love you, too.” His voice rumbles through me leaving behind it a rockfall of sensation and emotions. Little pieces crumbling and falling. Exposed.

“I’m going to come, please may I come?”

“Of course. Do you like this?”

He pinches my clit, squeezing, drawing every sensation to the surface. One more thrust and we cry out together. I shatter, my pussy spasming over Noah’s pulsing cock. Every time is better than the last. I collapse on top of him as he plies me with kisses filled with words of love over my face and neck.

He never fails to stun me, and a crazy surge of fear hits me as I realize I don’t know how I could be in this world without him.

***

“This bathroom is amazing.” We’ve just had shower sex and Noah is drying every inch of my body. He washed every inch, too. From the shower you can look up Mount Isaiah and pretend you own the world.

“Kata’s a craftswoman. We need to get her married off to someone in town so that she stays in Queenstown and we can hire her for future building. The detailing and finish are superb.”

“Maybe we can marry her off to Cam,” I tease. “She can pull his head out of his ass with her common sense, or lever it out with one of those special tiling tools she uses.”

“I think Cam wants to find an heiress.”

“Cam doesn’t know what’s good for him. I wonder if he needs any work done on his house. Or, maybe we can have everyone who worked on this place up for a Sunday lunch soon, and we’ll invite Cam along, too.”

We have a late breakfast then, sadly, we have to leave Isaiah and head back into town. Noah is quiet on the drive, but it’s not a comfortable silence.

“Is something on your mind?” I ask.

“No, I’m good. I have a few things to sort out this afternoon.”

That’s not the sort of answer I wanted. He’s tense. Of course I start running through everything that’s happened in the past twenty-four hours. Maybe he’s regretting his declaration of love last night. I shut down that line of thought immediately. Noah doesn’t seem like the sort of person to casually throw words of love around.

Perhaps it’s Cam. Or the contract. Or nothing more than the work he has to do this afternoon.

He carries my bag into the apartment for me, gives me a kiss and tells me he’ll see me in a couple of hours. I shouldn’t be concerned, but the change in his mood is setting off alarm bells. I don’t want to be the girl who second guesses, and if he says he’s good, then I’ll have to accept it.

I can hear him moving about upstairs. Then it’s quiet.

I consider logging on to O-Zone and giving Doctor O and the ’gasm-girls an update, but I signed off weeks ago and promised myself I wouldn’t go back. Maybe I’ll tell Noah about O-Zone when he comes back to the apartment. It’ll probably give him a good laugh.