Bael had taken his glove off, which in other circumstances might have engendered frostbite, but he was keeping his fingers warm by burying them between her legs. His thumb caressed her clit while his fingers slid inside, stroking her slick pussy.
Kett wasn’t even really aware her own hands were moving to his fly until she felt his cock thud heavily against her fingers, thick and hard. She ripped off her glove and wrapped her hand around it.
“Sweet fuck, Kett, that’s good,” Bael moaned, even though all she was doing was holding his cock. “Gods, I want to be inside you.”
His teeth scraped her nipple, and Kett yelped, “Yes, me too. Inside me. Now!”
Bael didn’t waste any time. He shoved her jeans down, pulled her bare right leg around his waist under his coat and pressed his hot cock against her wet, desperate pussy.
“It’s you,” he breathed, and surged into her. “It has to be you.”
Kett wasn’t really listening. He filled her up, all the way in, so thick and long and so damn good. Maybe this mate thing wouldn’t be so bad. She’d get fucked by Bael every night. Get that wonderful big cock ramming up inside her whenever she wanted it. Those magic fingers working her clit, just like they were doing now, oh dear gods…
With each thrust he pushed her back against the wall, nearly shoving her off her feet. Well, foot. Her right leg was wrapped tight around his waist, pulling him deeper inside her with every stroke.
She braced her hands on his shoulders and hopped her other leg up, clenched tight against his hip so she was being supported solely by his cock.
“Oh gods,” she moaned, as Bael’s hands gripped her hips tight. “Oh fuck, yes. Harder!”
Bael obliged. Every slide of that huge, thick penis inside her was wonderful, so slick and hot, filling her up and stroking pleasure into her. It was getting unbearable now, heat spiraling up inside her, consuming her, and her body started to shake. Someone was crying out and it sounded like her, but Kett wasn’t really sure and she didn’t really care either, because she was coming, coming hard out in the snowy yard behind the pub with Bael’s cock plowing deep into her.
She felt him come too, the wetness and heat inside her, and then they were both slumped against the wall with the snow coming down on them.
“That was great,” Kett said breathlessly. “Thanks.”
“Great?” Bael lifted his head. “It was fucking awesome.”
“Ego much?”
They were both silent for a minute or two, breathing hard. Then Bael pulled out of her, fastened his jeans and helped her get dressed again without landing in the snow. They started up the hill toward the forge and Bael took her hand.
“Just so you know,” she said, her skin still tingling, “that was a one-off.”
“It was?”
“Yeah. I’m still not subscribing to this mate thing.”
“Right.”
Silence. The snow fell some more.
“So, when we get back to the forge, you’re going to make me sleep on the floor?”
She lifted her chin and ignored her body’s cry of dismay. “Yes. It’s what you deserve for all this bullshit.”
“Well, okay. You have your own room, right?”
“Of course.” Hastily, she added, “Too small for you to sleep on the floor there.”
“Right. So I’ll sleep in the forge.”
“Right.”
Bael nodded thoughtfully. “Well, that’s good.”
Good? “Why good?”
“Well, because it’ll keep me warm. I don’t have any pajamas, you see. Packed in a hurry. Well, didn’t pack at all. Really only have what I stand up in. Besides, I hate pajamas. I always sleep nude if I can.”
Kett swallowed at the memory of what he’d looked like nude.
“I wouldn’t think it’d bother Jarven, would you?” Bael went on, and Kett tried not to think about how many pieces Jarven would carve Bael into before he fed him to the dragons if he found him lying naked by the forge.
Besides, what if a spark jumped out and burned him? What if it burned his cock? She might not be sleeping with him anymore, but she wasn’t evil, and she didn’t want to ruin that body for other women.
“Okay,” she said. “You can sleep in my room, but I ain’t having sex with you. I have to get up early and…and… and besides, the sex would be bad. A bad idea, I mean. Because I don’t…I’m not…we’re not having sex again, all right?”
“Right,” Bael said, his eyes sparkling.
“Oh, shut up,” Kett said, and unlocked the door to the forge. It was quiet and dark but for the glow of the dormant fire, and she ushered Bael across the floor to her small room on the other side of the cottage.
As she’d told him, it was small, and there really wasn’t enough room for him on the floor.
Bael looked at the bed, looked at her, and his mouth twitched.
“No,” she said. “Look, maybe I should go sleep in Jarven’s room, so you can-”
She was cut off by Bael grabbing her and sliding his tongue inside her mouth.
“Okay,” she said breathlessly. “Maybe I’ll stay.”
When morning woke Bael, pale cracks of light filtering in through the gaps in the heavy metal shutters, the bed was empty of Kett. He stretched, smiling, and looked around the small room. It wasn’t what could ever be called pretty-it wasn’t even cozy. There were rugs on the stone floor, a couple of plain wooden trunks and some hooks on the wall for clothes, and that was about it. No mirror or any girlie accoutrements of any kind.
He couldn’t even see a hairbrush.
Noises from the outside room caught his attention and he pulled on his clothes to go investigate. Maybe his mate was making him breakfast!
Bael snorted. The idea of Kett making anything but trouble for him was pretty funny.
Jarven stood at the forge, pulling on heavy leather armor like Kett had been wearing. Bael smiled in greeting and got a nod in reply.
“Kett out with the dragons?” he asked, and could have sworn he saw the quirk of a smile on Jarven’s face.
“She’s out with
Bael nodded and opened his mouth to say he’d go out to find her. Then, remembering her reaction to that yesterday, changed his mind and said, “I guess I’ll just wait here for her then.”
“Could be awhile,” Jarven advised.
Encouraged by this entirely voluntary input from the other man, Bael said, “How long? Couple of hours?” Maybe he could make her something to eat. It’d show willing, even if he was a crappy cook.
“More like weeks,” Jarven said.
“What? Where is she?”
“Elvyrn.”
Bael blinked. Elvyrn was a couple hundred miles to the south.
“Well, shit,” he said. “Why?”
“Family. Yule.”
Memories of Chance telling Bael he must come to the family Yule party came back to him. Of course. Kett hadn’t seemed wildly keen on the idea, and he’d wondered why. Dark had warned him the family might be
