454: that was the tally of gallons at 3 a.m. when the fire in the arch died down for the night. Another 50 gallons’ worth of sap sits in the concentrate tank, so “The Gift Run” did truly yield 500 gallons.
—Colton Abbott’s sugaring journal, April 6
The swirl of his tongue on her nipple made Lucy gasp.
She fisted a handful of his hair and held on tight while he licked and sucked and bit down lightly but insistently.
His words and actions made for a powerful combination, and they served to wipe her mind clear of anything other than what was happening right now, right here. He gave her other breast the same treatment before kissing his way down the front of her. Sitting back on his knees, he pulled her yoga pants and panties down and tossed them over his shoulder.
He gazed at her core with barely concealed lust, his intentions apparent.
“Wait. Colton.”
Kissing the inside of her knee, he glanced at her. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing. But I was wondering . . . Could I do what I started to do earlier, before we were interrupted?”
“I wouldn’t say no to that. Like ever.”
She loved that he made her laugh—frequently. “Turn over then.”
“I’m thinking about two birds and one stone.”
“What does that mean?”
“Come here and I’ll show you.”
There was something about the way he said the words that immediately set Lucy’s nerves on high alert. He turned over onto his back and reached for her, shocking her when he arranged her on top of him so she was facing his feet, among other things. “Colton . . . What’re you doing?”
He eased her legs apart and showed her exactly what he had in mind.
“Oh my God.”
“Shh. You do your thing, and I’ll do mine.”
Never one to back down from a direct challenge, Lucy wrapped her hand around his cock and ran her tongue over the wide crown while he tortured her with his tongue and fingers. The whole thing was so wildly erotic and so wildly . . . Well, suffice to say she’d never done this before, and trying to focus on him while he was busy focusing on her was incredibly stimulating and distracting.
“Relax, honey,” he whispered against her inner thigh. “Don’t think about what we’re doing. Just enjoy it.”
Just enjoy it. That was becoming a theme between them, and he’d taught her a lot about relaxing and living in the moment rather than obsessing about what was waiting around the next corner. She bent her head again and closed her lips around him, sucking lightly and swirling her tongue through the groove at the top.
He drew in a sharp deep breath and pushed two fingers into her.
The combination of what he was doing to her and knowing she was getting to him was nearly enough to finish her off. She opened her mouth wider and took more of him while stroking with her hand at the same time.
“Ah, Christ, Lucy . . . Don’t stop.” He curled his fingers inside her and pressed his thumb to her clit.
Lucy moaned, her lips vibrating on his shaft.
His hips lifted off the bed. “So good,” he whispered. “Come for me, honey, and take me with you.”
At his command, the sensations ripped through her, wave after wave of bliss that she felt in every part of her body. His hand on her bottom held her in place while he came right after her. She swallowed frantically, taking everything he had to give her.
And then he relaxed under her, sagging into the bed for a second before he took control, lifting and turning her as if she weighed nothing. His amazing strength was, as always, an incredible turn-on.
When she was on top of him, looking down at him, he ran his thumb over her bottom lip. “Your lips are red and swollen.”
“Gee, I wonder why.”
“That was incredible.”
“Likewise.”
“Have you done that before?”
“No,” she said, resting her cheek on his chest. Eye contact was too embarrassing right then. “I’ve never done either of those things.”
“Either of what things?”
“Are you really going to make me say it?”
“You know I am.”
She sighed, resigned to her fate. “The position or the ending.”
“Ahhh, I see. And? What did you think?”
“Of which part?”
“Both.”
“It was very dirty. And very sexy.”
“I want to see your face when you say that.”
She burrowed deeper into his chest. “No!”
“Lucy . . . Don’t be shy with me. You have no need to be.”
“Right . . . I’m clearly way, way out of my league with you.”
“No, you’re not.” He ran his hands down her back to cup her bottom and gave a little tug, moving her up to better align their bodies. And then he sank into her in one deep thrust that made her burn and stretch as she accommodated his girth.
Her forehead dropped onto his chest, and his arms came around her.
“Ahh, Luce, you feel so good. So hot and so tight.”
“You have to talk about it, don’t you?”
“It feels too good not to talk about it, and wouldn’t you rather I talked to you about how good it feels rather than someone else?”
That got her attention. She raised her head and found his eyes dancing with mischief. “You wouldn’t dare.”
“I wouldn’t dare, but you gotta let me talk it out with you.”
“If you insist.”
“I do.” He moved his hands from her back to her breasts. “Sit up, honey.”
Lucy flattened her hands on his chest and pushed up, gasping when he slid in deeper. Her head fell back as she absorbed the rippling pleasure.
He pinched her nipples between his fingers and added to the riot of sensation unfolding inside her. “Good?”
“Yeah. Really good.”
“Roll your hips. Hold on to me.”
She kept her hands on his chest as she began to move tentatively at first and then more eagerly when she found her rhythm.
“God, that’s amazing.”
Lucy opened her eyes and met his intense gaze. He was so beautiful and strong and sexy. Watching his muscles flex and move under her, his cheek pulse with tension and his lips part nearly undid her. How was it possible that this incredible man had chosen her over all the others who wanted him? How would she ever manage to keep his attention when he had so many choices? And how would she bear to leave him the day after tomorrow after this incredible weekend?
He surprised her when he sat up and wrapped his arms around her. “Whatever you’re thinking right now, stop it.”
And he was so incredibly tuned in to her. He had been from the very beginning, and that was the first thing she’d found attractive about him. No, honestly, it was the second thing. His rugged sexiness was definitely first.
“Stop it,” he said again, more softly this time as he kissed her. “It feels just as good for me as it does for you.”
Lucy wound her arms around his neck and held him close as she continued to move on top of him, guided by his hands on her bottom. She once again closed her eyes and gave in to the magic they created together. She turned over the control to him and let him take her away until her world was reduced to him and them and the place where they were joined.
He shifted their position so he was on top of her, pushing into her repeatedly until she could no longer contain the cry that erupted from her lips at the moment they reached the peak together, clinging to each other as they rode the wave of pleasure.
Colton came down on top of her but was careful not to crush her.
Lucy held on tight, running her fingers through hair that was now damp with perspiration. She licked a bead of sweat from his face and absorbed his shudders while aftershocks pulsed through them.
“You’ll understand when I say I have no choice but to keep you here with me forever, right?”
“And you’ll understand when I say that although that’s the loveliest offer I’ve ever received, it’s not possible.”
His deep sigh said it all. “I know.” He kissed her once more before he withdrew from her and shifted onto his back.
Lying next to him, her body cooling from the heat of passion, Lucy was certain of only one thing. The closer she got to him, the harder it became to picture a life without him in it.
Colton woke early the next morning and watched Lucy sleep for a long time before he decided to get some work done while she slept in. He’d greatly enjoyed the days off with her, but he adhered to such a strict schedule this time of year that he began to stress out if he took too much time off.
Once the woodpile was replenished for the following winter, he could relax. The autumn was usually the quietest of the four seasons on the mountain, and a time he looked forward to every year.
He stepped onto the front porch and nearly tripped over a small cooler that sat right outside the door. “What the heck?” Opening the lid, he found several containers of food and a note sitting on top of the pile.
Dear Colton, I was so sorry to hear about your terrible injury. I am praying for your speedy recovery, and I’m happy to come up and help take care of you. Just let me know. xoxoxo Brandy
“Oh for the love of Christ,” he muttered, thankful for the small favor of having woken before Lucy so she wouldn’t see Brandy’s care package.
With Sarah and Elmer dancing around his feet, he picked up the cooler and crossed the yard to the sugar-house, where he stashed the food in the icebox. He peeked inside the foil packet to discover a delicious-smelling lasagna that made his mouth water. He’d save that for dinner. Lucy didn’t need to know where it had come from.
There was also a container of salad, a loaf of Italian bread and a pan of brownies. He took a couple of them and had them for an early-morning snack. As soon as Lucy got up, he’d make them some eggs and sausage. The thought of it made his always-ready-to-eat stomach rumble.
After he fed the dogs, he settled into an easy routine with the axe, letting his mind wander as it always did during the routine, rote work of splitting wood. Naturally, he thought about the night he’d spent with Lucy, the erotic lovemaking that had left him depleted in every possible way as well as the sweet comfort of sleeping with her tucked in next to him.
He who never let any woman spend the night in his bed was now addicted to sleeping with one particular woman, and tomorrow he had to let her go again. That truly sucked. For the first time in his life, he had reason to be envious of his brother Will, who had found a way to make things work with Cameron. She seemed thrilled to be living with Will in Vermont. But Lucy had made it clear from the beginning that she wasn’t Cameron and she wasn’t going to move.
She had a close bond with her dad, sister and niece, not to mention a thriving business that needed her attention. When Cameron left, the business became solely Lucy’s responsibility, and he knew she took her obligations to her employees and clients seriously, which was something he admired about her.
He brought the axe down and the log splintered into two pieces. In need of a break, he used his T-shirt to wipe the sweat off his brow and took a long look around at his piece of paradise in the mountains. Would he give this up for her? He might actually be tempted. For the first time since he moved up here at seventeen, something—or someone—interested him more than the seasons that governed the sugaring cycles.
But to give up his entire way of life for a woman . . . Not just any woman, of course. The other issue that weighed on him was his lack of marketable skills. He knew how to do one thing and one thing only. He was damned good at that one thing, but running a maple sugaring facility in Vermont didn’t exactly translate well to other industries or other locations. His parents had wanted him to go to college, but he’d refused. He’d found his calling early, he told them, and couldn’t imagine ever doing anything else.
Maybe if he’d gone to college and gotten a degree, he’d have some options now that life had put an amazing woman in his path and forced him to reconsider every choice he’d ever made.
He was losing his mind. That much was for certain. They’d only made love for the first time two days ago, and here he was contemplating the possibility of tossing his whole life to be with her.
“Hey, mountain man. What’s a girl gotta do to get some coffee around here?”
Colton turned and his brain totally froze at the sight of her wearing one of his flannel shirts buttoned once in the middle and nothing else. She was leaning against the post on his porch, arms crossed under her breasts. Her hair was curly and rumpled from bed, and she’d never looked sexier.
He dropped the axe and went to her, so powerfully drawn to her that the emotional wallop took his breath away. Coming to a stop at the bottom of the steps, he reached up to run his hands over her smooth, silky legs, gasping when he encountered naked buttocks under his shirt.
“Fuck, Lucy,” he groaned as he pulled her closer and pushed his face into the softness of her belly. “You make me crazy. One minute I’m chopping wood and the next minute I’m sporting it.”
Laughing quietly, she put her arms around him and combed her fingers through his hair.
“You’ve ruined me for every single day that doesn’t start just like this,” he said.
“Good morning to you, too.”
He tightened his grip on her bottom and lifted her into his arms.
She squawked with surprise but recovered quickly, wrapping her legs around his hips and tightening her hold on his neck.
“Kiss me.”
“No, I haven’t brushed my teeth yet.”
“I don’t care.”
“I do.”
“Lucy . . .”
“Colton.”
Moaning with frustration, he went to work on her neck, making love to her sweet skin with openmouthed kisses and lots of tongue that had her squirming in his arms. He went up the stairs and into the house, kicking the door closed behind him.
“You’d better be leading me to coffee, mountain man. Ain’t nothing else happening around here until I get that.”
“Nothing?”
“Not one thing.”
He ground his throbbing erection into the V of her legs. “You drive a hard bargain, city girl.”
“I’ll drive your hard bargain—later. First I want coffee, then a shower, and then I want a full and complete tour of this place. I want to know everything there is to know about making maple syrup, and be prepared. I have a lot of questions.”
He kept up the kissing and licking and sucking on her neck. “How about we drive the hard bargain now, while it’s actually hard, and then we see to all those other things?”
“No deal. I need coffee and a toothbrush and a shower before we do any more driving.”
“That’s not the way country girls roll.”
“So noted. You might’ve also noted that I’m not a country girl.”
No, she wasn’t. She was all sorts of refined city girl and was being an exceptionally good sport about roughing it on his mountain. “Does this place sort of horrify you?”
She pulled back to look down at him. “Horrify me? Absolutely not. I love it here. It’s amazing and beautiful and peaceful. Well, except for the pesky harem, but I think we took care of that problem.”
Colton thought it best not to mention the gift he’d awoken to on the porch. What she didn’t know wouldn’t hurt her, especially since he had no plans to see Brandy or any of the other women who’d once kept him company. Not as long as he was lucky enough to have Lucy in his life.
“I really appreciate you sharing your home with me, Colton. I can’t wait to share mine with you.” She kissed his forehead. “Now about that coffee?”
He very reluctantly put her down but took another squeeze of soft ass cheeks before he released her and got to work stoking up the fire in the woodstove so he could make her coffee. “You’ve got a few minutes if you want to grab a shower while it brews.”
“That sounds delightful.”
“I don’t know if it’ll qualify as delightful, but at least you’ll be clean. Come on. I’ll show you how.”
“Colton.” He stopped on his way to the door and turned to her, raising his brow in question.
“I really do like it here. I’m not just saying that. I like that it’s simple and rustic and devoid of all the insanity of modern life. But more than anything, I like that you’re here, and I can see how much you love it.”
Her words touched him deeply, in a place where no other woman had ever gone before. “Thanks for that. I appreciate that you appreciate it. Means a lot to me.” He cleared his throat and gestured for her to go out ahead of him. In the bathhouse, he walked her through the steps of taking a shower.
“When you need water, just tug on this cord and you’ll get nice warm water, but when you’re soaping up, keep the water off. That way you’ll have enough warm water to rinse off.”
“Okay. Got it.”
“Like I said, not luxurious, but it gets the job done.”
“It’s fine, Colton. This is an adventure for a spoiled city girl like me.” She looked up at the tank that sat above the shower stall. “Where does the water come from?”
“Rain and snow all year round, and it’s heated by the sun. There are solar panels on the roof.”
“That’s very cool.”
“It’s literally cool in the winter when the sun isn’t quite strong enough to heat it.”
“I don’t think I’d like that.”
“You get used to it.”
“If you say so. Now if I use all the warm water, what will you do?”
“I can make do with cold. Doesn’t bother me.”
“Or you could join me and we could share the warm water.”
As she said the words her full-body blush traveled from her chest to her cheeks, making him smile. “I know I’m blushing, so deal with it. Do you want to join me or not?”
In answer to her question, he pulled his T-shirt over his head and dropped his shorts, revealing the erection that had never quite subsided after she appeared on his porch wearing only his shirt.
She eyed his poor cock disdainfully as it got even perkier in the fresh air. “Does that thing ever take a break?”
“Not lately, but that’s not his fault. It’s yours.”
“And how is it my fault?”
“You’re here and you’re breathing and you’re you and you’re sexy and hot and wearing my shirt oh so well and . . . I’m only human and so is he.”
Her lips formed an adorable pucker as she seemed to contemplate what he’d said. “No one has ever found me hot before.”
“Maybe you just needed to find me because I think you’re very, very hot.” He kissed her nose, unbuttoned the flannel shirt and pushed it off her shoulders. Then he turned on the water and nudged her into the shower stall that was really only built for one—and how shortsighted had that been? Truth be told, when he’d added the shower to the bathhouse, he’d never expected to share his home on the mountain with anyone.
They stood together under the spray.
“Did I mention the water pressure is somewhat lackluster?”
“It’s fine.”
“You’re a very good sport, Luce.”
“I’m not nearly as high maintenance as you’d like to believe.”
“I know you aren’t.” Even still, he was surprised by how well she was rolling with life on the mountain. In some ways that only made it more difficult for him. If she’d come here and hated everything about it, he would’ve had a much easier time letting her go tomorrow. Instead he was quite certain that after she left, he was going to be extremely lonely for the first time in all the years he’d lived here.
They soaped each other up, which led to the kind of inappropriate touching he loved best with her. If he’d had his way, they would’ve taken care of business right then and there, but he didn’t want her to think that was all he wanted from her. Rather, he rinsed the shampoo out of her hair and then bent his head so she could do the same for him.
When they were clean and dressed, Colton made scrambled eggs, potatoes and toast to go with the coffee, which they enjoyed on his front porch.
“This is really, really good,” she said. “You’re a great cook.”
“I don’t know if I’d go that far, but as you well know, I do love to eat.”
“I’m impressed, and this coffee is about the best I’ve ever had.”
“It’s the fresh mountain air. It makes everything taste and smell better.”
“Will you show me your mountain, Colton, and tell me everything there is to know about how you make syrup?”
“You really want to know?”
“I really do.”
“Then let’s go.”