Page 40 of Snowbound

I can’t think straight. I’m too turned on… too out of control.

My thoughts scatter, replaced by the singular, throbbing heat in my body, right where his palm connects with my skin.

And in that heat, something builds. Something dangerous. Something that hums low and needy in my belly.

“There,” he says finally, loosening the grip on my lower back, his free hand brushing the curve of my spine. “That ought to teach you to hit your word count. Hmm?”

But no.

It doesn’t teach me anything.

If anything, it ignites me.

I need more. I crave it. My body is screaming for release that I somehow know is just on the other side of this edge.

But he stops, then pulls me into his lap, cradling me, my skin still burning hot against him. His arms wrap around me, grounding me in the aftershocks.

I look up at him, my cheeks hot, my eyes unfocused.

“Now then,” he says softly. “Are you going to hit your word count today?”

I nod, swallowing hard. “Yes,” I whisper.

“Good girl,” he says again, with that same possessive pride in his tone.

Then his mouth dips close to my ear, his voice a delicious rasp.

“Let me ask you something else, Emma. Did that turn you on?”

I freeze.

“If I put my fingers into that tight, needy little cunt, would it be slick for me?”

I squirm, my breath catching.

Another swallow.

“Yes…”

He gives my red-hot ass an appreciative squeeze that makes me hitch in a breath.

“Good. I’ll keep that in mind. Finish those words, Emma.”

CHAPTER TWELVE

Owen

Emma stands in the hallway,fidgeting with the hem of that too-thin sweater. The one that makes it impossible not to imagine what my hands would feel like slipping beneath it. It's ivory, soft from years of wear, and so threadbare I can see the delicate slope of her shoulders beneath it, like a secret begging to be uncovered.

She looks up at me from beneath those thick lashes, cheeks flushed the prettiest shade of pink. “I did it,” she says proudly.

“Good girl.”

It comes out automatically, unthinking, and she soaks in the praise like a cat stretching into a patch of sunlight. She inhales through her nose, slow and deep, then exhales like she’s trying to hold onto the moment just a little longer, her eyes hopeful and soft.

Goddamn. Makes me want to do it again.

“Mmm. Something smells good. What is that?”