Page 51 of Winter's Thaw

“Well, if I don’t believe in myself, how will anyone else? My clients need to know I’m the best.”

“Your clients, the town, heck, the world.”

He snickered. “If I believe, everyone else will.” He watched her over the brim of his cup as he guzzled the cocoa. “What about you?”

“What about me?”

“What do you think about yourself?”

“I’m amazing. There. Happy now?”

“Not really, no. I don’t think you believe that.”

She scowled. “I don’t need therapy from the town lawyer.”

“What do you need?”

She didn’t like him poking at her, even metaphorically. So she moved into his personal space and lowered her mug to the coffee table. “Do you really want to know?”

“I asked, didn’t I?” Funny, he didn’t seem to be intimated by her. And of course, now as a man, he loomed over her.

Too bad they hadn’t been sitting. Except he was still taller.

That annoyed her. He was handsome, smart, and tall. Life wasn’t fair.

“I need to relax.”

He raised a brow and set his mug down.

Still so arrogant. She snarled, hoping to discomfit him. “An orgasm would be nice.”

His eyes widened.

She stared back, not sure who’d gotten a hold of her brain. She’d been going for sarcasm, not honesty. Aware her face was on fire, she snorted and said, “But that’s a lot to ask. So how about more marshmallows?”

The growing smile on his face alarmed her. “Oh no. No, no. You asked for an orgasm. Well, by damn, you’ll get one.”

Before she could blink, he had her in his arms, kissing her breathless.

Heat swirled through her body, and his scent deepened, drugging her with pleasure. She felt his hands on her, under her clothes, and somehow his clever fingers had found the wet heat between her thighs.

So she did what any self-respecting bear would do and spread her thighs wider, moaning her pleasure.

He kissed her like a man possessed, his firm lips demanding her surrender while his fingers played her like he owned her.

Confused, needy, and so incredibly out of her mind with lust, she let herself take what he offered. Pleasure so thick and frothy she was coming before she knew it, moaning into his mouth while he pumped his fingers in and out of her, brushing her clit, reaching deep inside her to release all the tension of the past few weeks.

She sagged in his arms, conscious he held her up without a problem as he kissed his way across her cheek to her ear.

“You’re a work of art, Laura.” He nuzzled her neck and removed his fingers from between her legs. “So beautiful when you come.”

She shivered, struck mute by his seduction, pliant like a leaf carried away by a strong wind.

He kissed her again, and as he pulled her close, she felt his arousal thick against her belly.

“G-gerald?”

He planted a kiss to her forehead. “I guess we should talk about dinner.”

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