Page 23 of His Wood Her Fire

“What?No.Just stop for a second.Look, I am the one who fucked up the other day.It’s been a while for me, Slick, and you threw me a curve ball.But I didn’t mean to upset you or to make you think I in any way regretted what happened between us.I just—I suck at talking to women.”

“You don’t have to say things like that to me, Bo.It’s over?—”

“No, I do have to say this because clearly you are not understanding me.I guess I am more out of practice than I thought,” I grumbled.

“Can we talk about this inside?My nose is frozen.”

“Yeah.Shit.Come here,” I growled, and since she suggested it earlier, I bent down and wrap my free arm around her ass and lift her over my shoulder.

“Bo!”she squeaked, but I just kept my palm against her plush bottom and half-jogged the rest of the way.

“Here we are.”

I placed her back on her feet and opened the door, hustling her sweet ass inside.

We spent the next few minutes shaking snow off our hair, taking off our boots, and hanging up her borrowed sweatshirt and my damp flannel.

“Let’s warm up by the fire,” I whispered, and held out my hand.

Gloria paused, her sweet face scrunching up curiously.She looked at my proffered appendage for a good, long moment before accepting it.

I exhaled, not even realizing I’d been holding my breath.

Once seated, I grab a blanket from the basket by the sofa and wrap it around her shoulders, rubbing my hands up and down her arms.

She hardly waited a minute before she picked up right where we left off outside.

“How long?”she whispered, and I knew exactly what she meant.

I didn’t pretend to not understand her.This was too important a talk for any miscommunication.

“Since I moved here.”

“When was that?”

“Five years,” I tell her honestly.

“Oh.”

She looked surprised, but it was only the truth.Before I moved to the mountain, I’d known plenty of women.But the thrill of having sex with people I didn’t care about beyond common courtesy had worn off long before then.

Truthfully, before her, I hadn’t been interested in anyone for a very long time.

“Yep, and because I'm just that smooth, I freaked out right after you blew my mind.”

“I blew your mind?”

“Damn straight you did, with all your soft curves and that sassy mouth.Those velvet eyes and the way you kissed me.It wasn't anything about you that made me panic, Slick.”

“Are you sure?You don't have to say that.I mean, I'm not a kid and I know what I look like?—”

“That’s twice tonight and I swear if you talk down on yourself again, I’m gonna have to punish you.”

“Punish me?”

At first, I thought maybe I’d fucked up.But heat swam in her dark eyes as she asked the question.That look went straight to my cock, just knowing she was getting turned on by my dirty talk.

“That’s right, Baby.You call yourself anything other than perfect, and I’m gonna turn you over my knee and spank that pretty ass of yours till it’s all warm and red.”

---