Page 37 of Beyond the Cottage (After the Fairytale #1)

Chapter 37

H e plunged in deep, and Gretta cried out. Fully seated, he went so still she felt his pulse in his cock. His size made it a tight fit. She stared at the rug, panting, trying to comprehend that Ansel was inside her.

They were doing this. It was done.

Well. Not done .

He pulled out and slammed in again with a shuddering grunt.

“Again,” she breathed.

His fingers dug into her thighs. He slid out until the tip barely breached her and held it there. Her pussy frantically clutched him. Before she could snarl a rebuke about teasing, he slammed in hard enough to make her teeth clatter.

“ Fuck , Ansel. Again!”

He sped up, finding a rhythm. Each glide ended with a savage punch of his hips. “I might have guessed you like it rough.” Punch, punch, punch. “And this position is pleasingly impersonal, wouldn’t you agree?”

Half dazed, Gretta looked over her shoulder.

What the hell was he talking about? She was currently impaled on her best friend’s dick. How much more personal could they get?

She gasped at an especially brutal thrust. “What do you mean?”

“No more talking.” Hips rolling, he pistoned into her, looking straight ahead.

Gretta kept her eyes on him, trying to read his blank expression. Something wasn’t right. While his stiff fucking felt unbelievable, it was mechanical, almost perfunctory.

Impersonal .

Let’s get this out of the way, shall we?

Body lurching, Gretta groaned into her elbow. In her attempt to ease his mind about her post-coital expectations, she’d…hurt his feelings?

She hadn’t meant to. He may not be as indifferent to this as he pretended, but he was still a man. She’d assumed it would be easier on him if he knew she wasn’t the clingy type.

Easier on her, too. Despite all her ‘no big deal’ bravado, part of her had feared what might come of this. She’d actually been relieved when he started fucking her like a villain.

Now it felt off.

“Hold up a second,” she said.

Staring at the wall, he kept fucking her.

“Ansel, stop. Stop. ”

He blinked as though coming out of a trance. His cock stopped halfway inside her. “Did you finish?”

She blew a hair off her face. “No. I didn’t finish.”

“Should I keep going?”

“ No. ”

He slid out and knelt before her on spread knees, his wet cock jutting from his open trousers. Seeing him so carnally displayed while clothed did things to her lower belly. The hurt she’d obviously caused him did things to her chest.

Friends didn’t treat each other this way. He wasn’t a stud horse to be led in when the mare got frisky. While Gretta may not be a relationship person, she truly valued his friendship. Fucking him may have been inevitable, but that didn’t mean it had to be rote or without feeling.

Maybe just this once, for him, she could step out of her sexual comfort zone?

She began unlacing her boots.

“What are you doing?” he asked.

After tossing them aside, she shucked off her pants and drawers and walked to him on her knees. “I’m in the mood to try something a little more dangerous.”

His brow lifted. “I see. Shall we check the armory for a whip? Or perhaps you’d like to take this somewhere more public?”

She tore off her tunic and camisole and flung them away. He made a point of keeping his eyes on her face.

“I want you to kiss me while we fuck,” she said. “Exotic, right?”

“I prefer the other way, if you don’t mind.”

“I do mind.” She wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed her tits to his chest.

His palms came to her waist, smoothing over her bare skin. “I’m afraid I’ve recently retired from danger. Now, be a good little fuck buddy, and bend over for me.”

“Kiss me, Anse.”

“No.” His mouth was so close, she felt the word on her lips. The musky smell of sex tinged the air between them.

They stayed like that for agonizing seconds, neither willing to give in. When she couldn’t take it anymore, she tightened her arms around his neck and pulled him in for a kiss.

He resisted at first. Persevering, she gently tugged on his top lip, then his bottom one, over and over in little sips. His mouth finally relaxed, and she opened it with her own. She lightly brushed her tongue against his.

His chest vibrated. He shoved a hand in her hair, holding her head in place. With a deep groan, he took the kiss over, claiming her mouth in a full on assault, leaning her backward, pressing his cock to her belly.

As she held on to him, he lifted her by the ass. He carried her to the pallet and covered her with his body. Her legs fastened around his waist.

“No more games,” she said as his mouth trailed along her neck. “No more thinking.”

He lifted his head and stared into her eyes. Gretta stared back, breath coming hard.

His hand slipped down her ribs, over her stomach. He reached between their legs and gripped himself. She felt a gentle nudging at her entrance.

“No more thinking.” He drove home in one thrust.

Gretta’s neck arched, and her vision wavered. Fingers fanning her cheek, he tilted her face forward until she looked at him. He plunged in again.

“I want your eyes on mine,” he said, fluidly riding her. “I want you to know exactly who’s fucking you.”

“I do,” she whispered.

“Who, Gretta? Tell me who’s fucking you.”

“ Ansel. Ansel is fucking me.”

Groaning, he quickened his pace. His thrusts got erratic and tight. “And who am I?”

“My friend, the best one I ever had.” She ran her fingers through his hair. “My favorite person ever .”

He shouted wordlessly. His cock shuddered as it emptied, and she let out her own cry. She arched against him, quaking, coming harder than she ever had. He’d just done something to her she didn’t understand. Fucking someone you cared about was different .

As they slowly came down, Gretta hid her face in his neck. Her eyes watered, and she dried them in his hair, trying to stave off a wave of panic.

Had they just fucked everything up?

Had she been an idiot to believe once would be enough?

Would everything be different now?

He rose to his elbows. His cock slid out with a squelch, and she felt his come trickling in its wake. He rolled to his back, and for long seconds, they caught their breath.

“Well,” he finally said, buttoning his trousers. “Glad we got that out of our systems.”

Though she’d been the one to frame it that way first, it stung. And his tone was light, but she detected…something.

Gretta sat, drawing her knees to her chest. “I didn’t…force you, did I?”

“Did you force me?” Indignation and amusement laced his tone.

“Okay, but do you regret it?”

“No . ” He glanced at her. “Do you?”

“No.” Maybe she should, but she didn’t and wouldn’t pretend to.

He sat and scrubbed a hand through his hair with a sigh. “You were right. We both needed it. We scratched an itch, now we move on.”

Moving on had been the second part of her plan. So why did it make her heart shrivel? When he’d taken his cock out of her, apparently all Gretta’s cool worldliness had gone along with it. Wondering what sex meant or how it would change things was totally foreign territory, and the anxiety churning her stomach made her want a shot or three of whiskey.

So she fell back on what she knew. She ignored it.

“I’ll get out of your hair,” she said, pulling on her tunic. “But we should go over our strategy tomorrow.”

He stretched out beside her on the pallet. “I’ve never hunted anyone before. Perhaps you should tell me what to do.”

“First of all, you won’t be hunting.” Ansel was big and scrappy, but brawn counted for little against witches. “I’ll go in by myself. Hopefully, the repellent will let me keep this one alive for a while, giving you time to study her.”

He hesitated. “And if the repellent doesn’t work?”

“It will.”

“But if it doesn’t?”

“It will .”

Mouth thin with worry, he stared at the ceiling. It was really…cute. Even big, scrappy dust thieves needed reassuring.

And she was his friend now, right?

She stretched out, laying beside him with her head on her elbow. “The repellent is going to work, Anse. This will all but cement Nat throwing gobs of money at you.”

“Isn’t this dangerous, though? How can you safely test it without exposing yourself to magic?”

Gretta’s heart twitched. He was worried about her ? “I’ll be wearing my silver cloak. If she steals my voice, well. Some might call that a bonus.”

He glared at her stupid joke. “She nearly killed Heron.”

“I’m a lot more experienced than he is. But you’re right, there’s always an element of risk. For the sake of the repellent, I’m okay with that. Aren’t you?”

His mouth went tighter.

Reminding herself friends were allowed to comfort each other, she gently pet his bicep. “I won’t do anything stupid, I promise. And the repellent is going to be amazing.”

He continued glowering. Her knuckles skated across his arm, back and forth.

Soon, his mouth relaxed, and his eyes went glassy.

The past few nights had been as disrupted for him as they had been for her, but her touch seemed to relax him. She could wait a few minutes for him to fall asleep before she snuck out.

He didn’t say anything else. Gretta yawned and kept stroking his arm.