Page 52 of Snow River

She was closer to the head of the bed, so she rolled over and grabbed a condom from the box in his nightstand.He rose onto his knees so he could sheath himself with it, and caught the way she looked at him.As if she wanted to do dirty, hot, nasty things to him all night long.

God, being inside her was going to be…well, he didn’t have to wait a second longer to find out.Bracing himself with one hand over her, he moved his other to feel between her legs, making sure she was still ready for him.

“Come on,” she urged him, looping a leg around him to pull him closer.“I want to feel you inside me.I’ve wanted…oh.”She stopped as he eased inside her, using one hand to guide himself into the hot depths of her body.

He closed his eyes as pure sensation engulfed him.She was so soft, but so vibrant at the same time.The push and pull between them sent fireworks exploding over his head, stars dancing through his vision.He gritted his teeth, focusing on in-and-out, slow and steady, then hard and fast.But it was hopeless, because maybe that was part of making love to Lila.There would always be magic with her.He could either embrace it or run the other way.

For him, there was no question.He let loose all restraints and gave himself over to the vivid joy of losing his heart, body, and soul to Lila.

24

Lila hadn’t slept so wellin weeks.Here in this vast bed, wrapped in Bear’s arms, she was safe from Allison Casey, safe from all her worries and fears.

She dreamed of snow drifting across fields, soft and silent.The beauty made her heart ache and tears run down her cheeks.The tone of the dream shifted when she turned and found herself in the forest where she’d run the truck off the road.She caught sight of a magpie, a flash of white and black, landing on top of a boulder.It held something in its beak, something important, if she could just see what it was…

After a couple of hours, she woke up with a start, details of her accident flooding her mind.Run and hide.That was the phrase that had come to her right before she’d crashed Bear’s truck.It had felt as if the man from the drawing had been saying it to her.But that man was long gone.If he was still alive, he’d be even older than Paulina—in his eighties, most likely.Who was he?

Bear was fast asleep next to her.She was curled on her side, facing him, while he lay on his back, his massive chest rising and falling.He’d pushed the comforter down to his hips; he must run hotter than her.He had a fair amount of hair curling across his sternum and down to his belly.His skin was a dark coppery-gold shade, lighter where the sun didn’t reach, darker on his arms and neck.He was a work of art.Next to him, she felt like…well, like a magpie landing on a boulder, finding a moment of rest in a bewildering world.

He opened his eyes and a smile touched his lips.“Hi.”

Her anxiety eased at the sound of his deep rumbling voice.She should bottle that sound up and dose herself with it in moments of stress.“Hi.”

“Did you sleep?”

“I did, a bit.You’re an excellent sleep aid.Even better than sleeping pills.A doctor prescribed Xanax for me once, and all it did was give me the most terrifying nightmares.If only he’d known the answer was sex with you.”She slid a finger through a curl of his hair and watched it spring back.

“Available any time,” he said in a drowsy rumble that sent a thrill to her lower belly.But they had other things to deal with right now, no matter how much she might want to drown out everything except this beautiful naked man.

“I remembered something.The drawing that Paulina gave me, of that man…Right before I drove off the road, I was looking at it and it spoke to me.I could hear the man saying,Run and hide, little girl.Run and hide.That’s the same thing that the vandal wrote at the train station, right?And that was where Paul Anthony Bowman was hiding out when they caught him?”

Bear stretched his arms overhead and let out a sigh.Watching his muscles flex under his bronze skin, she was tempted to forget the eerie moment and dive back into sex.“Back to work, huh?”

“I just wanted to tell you in case I forget again.”She shivered.“It couldn’t have actually been him, right?He’s probably long gone.”

“Probably.”He sat up and scratched at his jaw, where dark scruff was beginning to show.“Maybe it was your brain making another connection between the past and the present.”

“Hmm.‘Run and hide’ is a pretty common phrase.Maybe it means absolutely nothing, just my goofy brain latching onto something.Most of the time, I have no idea about the things it comes up with, what they mean, or why I’m seeing them.It can be maddening.”

He touched her hair, smoothing it away from her face.“Frustrating.”

“You have no idea.Do you know how many times I wished I could just be normal?Just go to some doctor and tell them to fix my brain so it worked like everyone else’s?”As soon as she said that, she bit her lip, wishing she could take it back.She sounded like a child when she complained like that.

But he didn’t react, other than continuing to stroke her hair.

“And I know that everyone’s brain is a little bit different.I understand that.I know about neurodivergence and all the ways that one brain can function differently from another.Some people have sensory issues, there’s the whole autism spectrum.I just wish my particular brain wasn’t so…confusing.”

More silent stroking.The tension eased out of her.

“Okay, I’m done whining about my lot in life.”She gave him a crooked smile.“I swear I don’t usually do that.I just have my weak moments.”

“I don’t mind.”His dark eyes held no criticism, just acceptance.His stomach rumbled.“There’s some potato soup downstairs.Interested?”

Potato soup.She wanted to burst out laughing.Why did that sound like the perfect antidote to her moment of self-pity?“Sure.”

He rolled out of the bed, treating her to another look at his magnificent form.“For the record, it didn’t sound like complaining.”

“What did it sound like?”She slid from under the covers, shivering in the cold, and pulled on her clothes as quickly as possible.

---