Furnace: A Fated Mate Romance Read online

  Petal just winked. “You aren’t the only one who wants this. Now hurry up and lose the boxers. I want you inside of me.”

  Lex did as she said. The fire was behind him, but enough light reflected around for her to see that he was already completely erect. She reached forward to run her palm along the underside of his shaft. The hiss of surprise turned swiftly to a groan as she cupped him gently at the base.

  So focused on him was she that Petal didn’t feel the hand that slid between her legs at first. Not until it made its way across her underwear, feeling the dampness that had already begun to soak through them. If she’d thought she was turned on before, the sensation was suddenly amplified to the point it almost hurt.

  Lex leaned in to kiss her and they stayed like that for a bit, exploring each other. His fingers slipped past the flimsy fabric barrier to find bare skin, even dipping inside of her briefly, a move which filled the cavern with a cry of delight.

  Both of them were breathing heavily by this point, unable to hold back the attraction they felt. Petal marveled at the way he played her like an instrument with his fingers and his mouth. The older she’d gotten, the more pleasurable her experiences with men had become on average, as they figured out what they were doing, and focused as much on her as she did on them. She’d known that Lex was older, but his touch spoke of a lot of experience.

  He knew just when, where, and for how long. It was as if he could read her like a book, simply following the lines as he went. Just when she was about to pull him closer, to take him inside of her, he adjusted what he was doing. His finger, once moving in slow circles between her legs, suddenly sped up. Petal gasped and his other arm tightened around her, holding tight. Her head lolled backward as she bit her lip and covered her eyes with the hand that wasn’t stroking his hard cock.

  “Yes. Like that. Don’t stop. Please. Oh my God.” Her words were a broken string of sentences, barely made coherent as he touched her just right.

  Petal’s core tightened down as she grew near, her body curling inward in response to the tensed muscles. Pressure built and surged between her legs, until it filled her entire body, straining against every fiber to be set free.

  Eyes wide she looked at him, knowing that her ecstasy had to be written all over her face.

  “Now.”

  The single word echoed like a gunshot as he commanded her to orgasm. The sheer silk over steel of his voice reached inside Petal and like the detonator of an explosive, set off the reaction in her body that she’d been building toward.

  A loud cry tore from her throat at the same instant beautiful agony shot through her body in a wondrous eruption of bliss and pleasure. All of the stress of the events of the past two days was slapped down and buried in the torrent of wondrous sensations that rocked her body. She bucked and writhed within his embrace, unable to control her body as he continued right through the peak of her climax. Only when she began to slow did he lighten his touch and resume the gentle circles that he’d been tracing before.

  But even that was too much, and she was forced to gently push his hand away, letting him know she needed a moment or ten to collect herself. Lying back onto the hard, uneven ground, she closed her eyes and waited for her chest to stop heaving as she gulped down lungfuls of cool, refreshing air.

  “Lex,” she said. “That was—”

  Whatever else she was going to say was cut off as he shuffled toward her until the tip of his cock pressed against her opening. He moved himself around, using her wetness to coat himself. Petal looked up wide-eyed as he pushed himself inside of her.

  “Oh fuck. Fuck. Oh. Oh fuck. Holy shit. Lex.”

  “Are you okay?”

  She nodded jerkily. The tip of him had slipped inside with ease, catching her off guard. “More.” It was the only word she could speak, still coming down from the high of her orgasm. Petal was now forced to deal with his cock, which brought forth all sorts of new sensations.

  She’d never been able to truly express in words how intense, intimate, and downright incredible it felt to have a hard cock inside of her. But if she’d found the right saying before, it was like nothing to having Lex enter her. Think a candle compared to a flamethrower. He was big, yes, but not so much that it truly hurt. Petal adjusted easily to that.

  It was the sheer overwhelming desire for more that caught her off guard. Petal thought like she’d been made for this. Not sex, but for sex with Lex. Like she’d never truly experienced perfection until he was inside of her.

  Unable to focus her brain enough to speak to him, to tell him how she was feeling, Petal went another route. Wrapping her arms around his neck, she stared up at him, all barriers falling by the wayside as she allowed him to see into her soul. Everything was reflected in her eyes just then, and the way he drank it up told her he understood.

  It should have been uncomfortable and painful. They were having sex with nothing but a flimsy little half-plastic half-tinfoil-like sheet between them and an uneven rock floor. But neither of them ever noticed. Time seemed to accelerate. Petal had no clue how long they rocked back and forth against each other, their noises spinning around one another like strands of DNA, filling the cave with the echoes of their mating.

  Finally Lex couldn’t take it any longer. She watched his face as the features tightened. Inside her she felt him swell. A questioning look reminded her they hadn’t addressed this part. She frowned, then smiled and pushed him off of her.

  Lex rolled onto his back and she sat up, taking his shaft in her hand and bringing him into her mouth just as he started to shake. She continued to make noises, letting him know she wanted it, even as one hand stroked his shaft and the other played with his sac, feeling it tighten.

  Her tongue flicked out, rubbing against the underside of his head.

  He groaned loudly and exploded into her mouth. Petal worked him up and down, not stopping at all until he was finished, just like he’d done for her. When he was good and done, which she judged by the way he lay back panting, she finished up, giving him one last mischievous lick and then sat up, reaching for the bottle of melted ice water that was lying around somewhere.

  Lex sat up. “Hey.”

  “Hi,” she said affectionately, but didn’t look back at him.

  “Come here.”

  The next thing she knew, she was kissing him. Tongue and all. Feeling bad, she tried to pull away, but he held her close.

  “It’s fine,” he murmured softly. “I don’t care.”

  She smiled and gave him a kiss. “I know. But I do. Now, make with the water.”

  He laughed, kissed her once more, and then reached over, finding it easily in the gloom and handed it to her. “If you insist.”

  She took several swallows, swishing a mouthful around, and then put the cap back on it. It could be hours yet before help came, and the snow outside was mostly gone. It would need to last them.

  “Now you may kiss me,” she pronounced with a smile, holding her arms wide.

  Lex did just that.

  15. Rescue Me

  Lex

  After they broke apart he shuffled to the very back of the cave and stood so that he could stretch.

  “Pervert,” he muttered when he caught Petal staring.

  “Damn straight. It’s not every day I get to sleep with a Insta-model-worthy male.”

  He frowned. “A what?”

  “It’s the kids,” she replied, not speaking to him. “It’s the kids who are out of touch. Not me.”

  “Pardon?” He was confused.

  “Nevermind. You’ve got an amazing body, is what I was trying to say.”

  “Oh. Thank you.” He flexed his abs.

  “Showoff.”

  “Wanna come touch?”

  She laughed. “No, but if you come over here, maybe I’ll let you more than touch me.”

  “Maybe I want to look only. You’re pretty gorgeous yourself, you know.”

  Her fingers reached out to touch his chest and stomach as he drew close
enough, sitting down. They traced the outlines of his many tattoos.

  “What are these all for?”

  “Oh boy. Um, some of them are mistakes of youth. Others are things I’m not ready to tell you yet. Some are just interesting designs. He pointed to the one on his right shoulder. Like that. It’s not really anything, but it’s neat.”

  “And this one?” she asked, moving her hand lower, to the one on his right side.

  “Remember when I said mistakes of youth?”

  “Really? You’re positive?” Her hand started to touch the body of the half-naked woman covered in vines and nature.

  “Quite,” he said deadpan.

  Then he reached forward and grabbed his boxers, pulling them on before moving to his shirt and the rest of his clothes. Eventually he realized that Petal was still sitting next to him, completely naked, unmoving.

  “Something wrong?” she asked, eyeing his fabric-covered body.

  “Nope. But this show ain’t free, and your allotted time is up. Please insert another quarter to continue.”

  Her face turned wicked. “Lex, I’m so sorry. I thought I was satisfying you. I didn’t realize you wanted me to insert something into you as well. I could have used my fingers.”

  Quickly considering his response, Lex went with the most energetic one. “I might hold you to that. Don’t make promises you aren’t willing to keep.”

  She laughed. “Never be ashamed of your fetishes. Good for you.”

  He winked. “As long as you aren’t either.”

  Petal went quiet, which made him grin. Then he started pulling the last of his clothes on.

  “Was it really that bad?” she asked, sounding mildly serious.

  “What? What do you mean?” It hadn’t been bad at all. In fact, it was incredible. Amazing, really. He wished he could do it again right then and there.

  “Well, you’re getting dressed already. That’s usually not a good sign. Most times people cuddle for awhile, have sex again, whatever.”

  “Ah.” He smiled.

  Petal waited for perhaps twenty seconds before shaking her head in question. “What?”

  “Listen.”

  She fell silent, and as she did, the sounds of movement from outside the front of the cave reached their ears.

  “What’s that?” she asked, her hand slowly reaching for the pile of discarded clothing.

  He grinned. “Sounds like our rescue. I bet Vince is out there right now!”

  Petal yelped and started dressing. She paused at one point and pinned him with a stare that was cold and distant, like the woman he’d first seen in Vince’s office. This was someone totally different. “You can’t tell anyone about this!”

  Lex smiled through the cascade of emotions that filled his mind.

  “Of course.” He forced a laugh. “I wouldn’t dare dream of letting anyone know that the corporate bigwig was slumming it by sleeping with a lowly grunt worker. Your secret is safe with me.”

  He tried to play it off, to make a joke of it, but it was obvious that his remark had gone home, stinging her. Part of him didn’t care, even as their sudden bonding fell apart. The way she’d spoken to him while commanding him to keep his mouth shut had hurt a lot more than he’d expected something like that would.

  It was as if now that there were other people around, she had dropped right back into her old persona. She was the boss, and that was it. Feeling embarrassed that he’d fallen for it, believing that she’d truly changed and opened up to him, Lex shuffled up the slope to the cave entrance. He considered pulling the sheet down out of spite, so that anyone looking in with a flashlight would see her trying to get dressed, but decided against it.

  He exited into the open air, waving happily at his two rescuers as they killed the engines to their ATVs and came over to him. Lex didn’t recognize them, had no idea who they were, but he was just thankful they were there. In minutes both he and Petal were mounted behind one of the riders and headed downhill, back toward Surrey. It felt rather odd for him, as he easily outmassed his driver by sixty pounds or more, but he was just happy that the ordeal was over.

  And everything with it is over too, you know. Look at her, staring straight ahead, not even glancing over here. As soon as you’re back in Surrey she’ll probably take a shower and pack up her things and go. You’ll never see her again.

  Lex sagged as the truth of his thoughts weighed down on him. He’d thought for sure that she was a soul he could spend his life with. That Petal was that person to him. He didn’t want to use the word, for fear of jinxing any remaining hope he had, but his mind had been thinking it while they were lying naked together in the cave. Everything had felt right, then.

  Did she not feel a thing for him? Had it all been an act? Or was this now an act, a persona that Petal didn’t know how to drop? Feeling a sliver of hope that maybe that was the case, he spent the rest of the ride looking over at her, waiting for her to look in his direction and give him a smile, or a wink, letting him know that underneath it all, she truly did care.

  The entire ride back, she never looked at him once.

  16. Return to Form?

  Petal

  She sagged into the first-class flight chair, thankful that though it wasn’t an international flight, this particular aircraft still had the huge single-person seats with the little sidewalls that allowed for privacy. Right now the last thing she wanted was to have to force conversation with some stranger for four hours.

  There was more than enough talking going on in her head as the whirlwind two and a half days came to an end. Petal knew she should have stayed in Surrey longer to ensure everything went smoothly, but nobody would fault her for wanting to come home after what had happened. She was taking advantage of that, using the excuse to flee so she wasn’t forced to stay in close proximity to Lex.

  It had just been too much. All she could see any time she looked at him, heard his voice, or someone mentioned his name, was the look of hurt and betrayal on his face when she’d told him he couldn’t tell anyone. The automatic assumption that she’d immediately jumped back into bitch-mode now that they weren’t alone.

  The worst part is, he’s not even wrong.

  While Petal had meant it because she was his boss, and they couldn’t let anyone know about it while she was in a position of power, lest she, or both of them lose their jobs, he’d interpreted it to mean that she thought he wasn’t good enough for her. It wasn’t true, but that was only because she knew him now. Even she couldn’t deny the fact that she’d been upset about the idea of dying in the cave with a line worker. A lowly grunt manual laborer. Who could blame Lex for thinking that’s what she’d meant, when it could very easily be the truth, based on her earlier actions and thoughts?

  It was that realization that had slammed down any ability for her to communicate with him. Petal didn’t know what to say, because she wasn’t sure how she felt. The one thing that was clear to her was that she had a lot of self-discovery to do. That wasn’t something she could do around him. If she tried, two things would happen.

  One, she would become overwhelmed with anger and disappointment in herself for what she’d said to Lex. Secondly, her mind would go back to the way he’d fucked her. It was a crude saying, she knew, but it was accurate. The more she played back the scenario in the cave, the more clear it became that though she’d enjoyed it thoroughly, Lex had been in charge. He’d made the decisions, and he’d done to her as he wished.

  Never before had that happened to her. There was something about that statement that nagged at her. Petal couldn’t figure out what it was. She knew that the sex had been quite different from much that she’d had, where the lovers had been like other men in her life. Subservient, not overly strong.

  Not Lex though. He was a dominating power, there was no doubt about that in her mind. He took control, and let his base instincts run wild. It drove her crazy to think about. Each time the memory came up, she felt herself become instantly aroused. Like right now.
r />   Angrily she downed the water provided to her by the stewardess. He’d treated her perfectly politely, minus the bit of lip every now and then that she probably deserved. And in return, she’d betrayed his trust. All because she couldn’t find a way to do away with something that had once been a cloak of protection at work, but had now grown to be a core part of who she was.

  That was why she was so angry. Petal knew she was a bitch. That she’d earned her nicknames honestly. It wasn’t an issue in the office, but now it seemed she couldn’t even turn it off outside of the corporate environment. After all, what sort of person would just let Lex go on thinking she thought he was below her, when it wasn’t the truth at all? Petal hated herself for it, but she didn’t know anything else.

  She’d been a cold-hearted bitch for so long, she’d forgotten how to laugh. Slumping down into the chair, she buried herself in sadness, self-doubt, and depression.

  The moment the plane took to the air, the tears came.

  ***

  The next day, back at the office, Lex was still on her mind. He’d never left. All during the flight, and then through the night as she drank an entire thing of boxed wine by herself, he’d been there.

  And there’s nothing wrong with boxed wine. Just because I’m a corporate operations executive doesn’t mean I’m above boxed wine.

  Even in her head the title came out sarcastic-sounding. Petal was upset with herself, and who’d she’d become. In her head, she thought back to a time before she worked in the corporate world. When everything had been open and the possibilities endless. Back then, she’d dreamed of meeting someone like Lex. He quite literally had the entire list of qualities that she’d hoped to find in a man.

  Funny. Tall. Intelligent. Well-spoken and well-educated—if not formally. Strong. Gorgeous looks. Capable and handy in a pinch. Good with his hands, the type not afraid to take on home renovations himself. She didn’t know about the last, but it seemed like a good bet. Everything she’d ever dreamt of had come and dropped quite literally into her lap. He was even interested in her!