Page 36 of Beyond the Cottage (After the Fairytale #1)
Chapter 36
A nsel slammed his mouth on hers. Her lips spread on a gasp, and he invaded. His tongue attacked hers, swirling and stabbing, taking what she offered and returning it threefold.
Fuck control, fuck reason. He could only take so much.
With a little whimper, she raked her nails along his scalp. He roughly grabbed her ass and drove her against the wall, helping himself to the space between her legs. Depraved piece of shit he was, he ground his erection there.
“You know what this means, right?” He thrust hard to show her.
“Yeah,” she breathed.
“Tell me.”
“You— ungh ! You want to fuck.”
“One more time so there’s no confusion.”
“ You want to fuck! ”
Hearing her say it incinerated his resistance. When her hips began rocking, he forgot why he’d bothered resisting at all.
Mixed signals? The way she brazenly rode his cock dispelled any doubt she wanted this, too.
Self-preservation? He’d gladly endure a lifetime of insanity to watch her come one more time.
Friendship…?
Ansel froze.
Gretta kissed him deeper. Her clumsy fingers grappled with his shirt, pulling it free from his trousers.
Friendship.
When the buttons proved too big a hassle, she ripped fabric. Her palms roamed his naked chest, his shoulders, his arms, leaving gooseflesh in their wake.
Friendship, asshole!
Ansel tore his mouth away, heart pounding so hard he feared it might explode. Panting, they stared at each other—Gretta with confusion, Ansel with despair. He focused on her face to keep the shadows at bay.
What the fuck was he doing? Pinning his best friend to the wall with his cock, minutes after getting her back? Had his dick drained all logic from his brain? She welcomed his attentions, fine, but that didn’t mean she wouldn’t regret them later.
He breathed and counted. Her hair had escaped the ribbon, and he stroked it, staring into her soft, half-focused eyes. Trust shone from them. The kind that had come so naturally to her as a girl but now required careful nurturing by a steady hand. Through some miracle, she’d returned her trust to him, and that came with responsibility.
Fucking her offered one substantial reward and a thousand risks, a thousand consequences. A thousand ways he could fuck it up.
If he did, and he lost her again, he wasn’t sure he’d survive this time.
“Stop thinking,” she said.
“We need to—”
“Don’t.” She tightened her legs around him. “We both want this.”
Momentarily weakened, he looked down where their hips connected. His cock nestled so perfectly between her thighs. Heat radiated through her clothes, entrancing him, letting him know how warm and soft she’d be. A few buttons undone, a bit of fabric dispatched…then all that warmth could be squeezed around him.
Gretta’s fingertips skated down his chest to his waistband. With quick flicks, she released two buttons. Just as quickly, his lust-soaked stupor snapped.
He grabbed her wrists. He held them above her head, giving her the sternest scowl he could manage.
A mistake.
Her lips curled as she arched her back. The move thrust her tits in his face and dragged her pussy along his erection in a long, lazy stroke. Ansel winced his eyes shut and only felt it more acutely.
Pleasure was a pathetic word for it. Ecstasy came close. She did it again, and words abandoned him entirely.
All except three: Must get inside!
She laughed. “If you’re trying to scare me, you picked the wrong tactic.”
He responded with a grimace.
“You don’t like it?” She rolled her hips, her smile indicating she knew exactly how much he liked it.
“You’re trying my patience.”
“And you’ve exhausted mine.”
Ansel felt the words on his mouth. Somehow, his face had drifted closer to hers. Rearing back, he said, “I’m going to release your hands, and you’re going to keep them off my trousers. Understood?”
She nodded sullenly. When he let go of her wrists, her palms settled around his neck. Not ideal, but he could live with it.
“Now you’re going to unwind your legs,” he said.
“What happened to demanding I tell you what your hard-on means?”
“I let my mouth run away with me.” He gently, but firmly, pried her legs open and lowered her to the ground. “It won’t happen again.”
“Why?”
“I’ve realized it wouldn’t be prudent.” Ansel winced. Could he sound any more like a stuffy schoolmarm?
She considered a moment then sighed. “You’re worried fucking will mess with being friends.”
He nodded once, and she slumped against the wall, thoughtfully twirling a lock of hair. His ravaging hands had left it in tangles, taunting him with how it would look in the morning if they slept together.
“I get it,” she said. “I had the same thought.”
“I’m pleased we’ve made it to the same page.” Now he could show her out, stroke himself off, then go the fuck to bed. Surely, the tightness in his gut was relief?
“The thing is,” she said. “I have a theory.”
Don’t even ask, Ansel! “…What?”
“There’s sexual tension between us, right?”
He snorted. “A degree.”
“So have you considered the possibility that might interfere with our friendship?”
Ansel stared, struck mute with alarm.
“The way I see it,” she said, inching closer, “we have two options. One, we can ride it out and hope it fizzles on its own.”
Alarm turned to panic—he may as well ride out a wildfire in a grass hut.
“Or.” Her fingertips brushed his chest. “We could get it out of our systems.”
Ansel’s cock nodded its approval, but their second option was more ludicrous than the first. There’d be no getting her out of his system once he fucked her. He’d want more, everything she had, until friendship wasn’t enough and he’d destroyed even that. Eventually, it would make her leave him again.
“Think about it,” she continued. “We’ve been playing with matches in a room full of dynamite. To neutralize the risk, maybe we need to let it explode.”
“Perhaps we ought to stop playing with matches.”
“Ansel,” she said, smiling, “we are the matches.”
“In your brilliant analogy, we’d blow ourselves up.”
“Maybe.” She cheekily ran a finger up his erection. “But what a way to go.”
He grabbed her wrist. Electricity crackled where he touched her. It would be incredible between them, literally explosive.
But at what cost?
“It’s a shit idea,” he said.
“Not if we only do it once. Just one time, to get it out of the way. After, we’ll move on as friends.”
He indulged in picturing it.
Then her full implication sank in.
“Hold on,” he said, eyes narrowing, “To be clear, you intend to fuck me then pretend it never happened?” Exactly like at Isobel’s?
“That’s not how I phrased it.”
“Yet it amounts to the same thing.”
“You’re over-thinking again.”
“And you haven’t thought it through at all! This will come with a price tomorrow, one I don’t wish to pay.”
She yanked her wrist from his hand and crossed her arms. “I’m not asking you to marry me, Ansel. I can more than handle a casual lay. I prefer it, actually, so don’t fret I’ll get sappy on you after.”
A little growl rumbled in his throat.
Would it mean anything to her? Or was he just another lay to be gotten out of the way? And why the hell couldn’t he care as little as she did?
“How modern,” he said. “Is this how you initiate all your friendships?”
“Quit being a dick.”
The jealousy piqued by her non-answer disgusted him. He hadn’t even fucked her, and he was already a pathetic, possessive jackass.
She sighed. In a move surely calculated to pummel his final defenses, she swirled her palm around his heart. “This won’t be a big deal, Anse. I promise.”
A snarl tore from his chest.
Fine, then!
No big deal. Gretta didn’t give a shit, so why should he? If she wanted it so bad, he’d fuck her brains out until she couldn’t walk properly. Her pussy would feel him for days, long after their journey ended. A little something to remind her it happened.
She squeaked as he threw her over his shoulder and dumped her on the pallet. Knocking her knees apart, he reclaimed his place between them.
“You’re absolutely right.” He shrugged off the remains of his shirt. “You want a casual, one-off lay? Fine by me.”
He opened his trousers one button at a time until he was exposed. She stared at his cock, pupils dilated.
He nodded at her pants. “Your turn.”
She undid a button. When she finished the rest, he flipped her to her stomach and yanked her pants to her knees, and she gasped.
Straddling her ass, he leaned in until his chilly smile brushed her ear. “Brace yourself, Gret. I’m going to fuck you like a villain would.”
She straightened her arms above her head, gripping the pillow. As he pushed two fingers inside her pussy, her hips rose to drive them deeper. She was already drenched. He swirled his fingers, coaxing a moan from her.
“I’m beginning to see how you like it,” he drawled. “And I never was any good at denying you.” He wet his cock with her arousal, making sure she heard it. When he was nearly as slick as her, he looped an arm under her hips and positioned himself. “Now let’s get this out of the way, shall we?”