Cold Foot Komodo (Wreck’s Mountains Book 2)

“Hello?” Sasha answered.

“What are you doing?” Reed asked.

“Waiting for some hot guy to call me, duh.”

Reed chuckled. “Want to hang out up at my place tonight?”

“Is it a booty call?” she guessed.

“Woman, your mind stays in the gutter, doesn’t it?”

“Pretty much.”

“We cleared a sledding hill, and got some of those two-seater inner tubes. Want to go tubing with me?”

“Um, let me think. Hell yes!”

“Can you be ready in ten minutes? I’m just finishing work, and almost to your place.”

“Maybe give me twelve. I’m going to pack a bag and stay at Timber’s so you don’t have to bring me back late.”

“Stay at my place.”

“Gasp. Are you letting me in your den?”

“They aren’t called dens.”

“Nest.”

“I’m not an eagle.”

“Honey-hole.”

“It’s just called my house.”

“I would be honored to slumber in your lair.”

He laughed. “Get ready quick, we’re running out of daylight.”

“Okay, bye-bye then. I like your wiener.”

“Whyyyy do you keep saying wiener.”

“Eight, equal sign, equal sign, equal sign, equal—”

“Capital D, yep. I got it. See you in ten.”

“I like you!”

His voice went all soft when he said, “I like you too.”

Sasha hung up and squealed in excitement. They were back to normal, just easy-peasy Sasha and Reed. It had been four days since he’d talked to Farrah, and he was still waiting on news from his old friend, but they had done good staying busy, working on her rental house together after work shifts.

She packed in a rush and dressed in skinny jeans, an oversized sweater, her snow boots, and her warmest jacket. She shoved a beanie in her back pocket and put a pair of mittens in her jacket pocket, and then she was ready to go.

On the front porch, she waited for Reed like a little kid waiting for the bus to a field trip. She was bubbling with excitement.

“Hey neighbor,” Garret called from a camp chair he sat in near his garage.

“Hi,” she called.

“Hey, I’ve been meaning to catch you,” he said, standing. “I got a strange call the other day.”

“If you are bringing me drama, I reject it, Garret. I’m having a good day.”

He laughed and shook his head as he crossed her yard. “No drama that I know of. A woman called me, asking about Reed.”

The smile fell from Sasha’s lips. “What did she ask.”

“She was asking if he’s dating you.”

“What did you tell her?”

“I said you looked like you are together. It was weird that she was calling me.”

“Why did you talk to her? If you don’t know her?”

Garret shrugged and kicked at a snow ball that had accumulated on a clump of grass. “She said she was a shifter.”

“So?”

“So, I don’t really know any shifters, and it was nice to talk to someone who clearly knew what I am. It’s kind of lonely around here, you know?”

Huh. That was a big admission, and she wondered about how he came to be here, in Darby, with no Crew. “Was her name Farrah?”

“Yeah. Farrah Parker, she said. She’s called a few times since then though, just to chat, but last night she was asking questions that were kind of a red flag.”

“Like what?”

“Like where Reed lives, and who are the members of his Crew. She wanted to know their animals.”

Red flags indeed. “What did you tell her?”

“That I think we need to stop talking. She seemed cool at first, but I don’t want any trouble with Cold Foot. She asked about you a lot. I didn’t have any information for her though. I don’t really know you.”

“Can you stop the flow of information to her? She’s Reed’s ex. She’s bad news, and has no good intentions for us.”

“Shit. I was starting to think that was the deal. I’m sorry. She asked for your phone number, and I told her I think we should stop talking. I can block her. It was innocent. I thought she was friends with you guys at first. Or maybe looking to join the Crew.”

“You know what, can you give her my phone number before you cut her off? I want to see what she does with it.” She rattled off her phone number, and he saved it.

He chuckled and shook his head as he walked off. “You got it. I’ll block her after that. You have a good night, Sasha.”

“You too.”

Reed had pulled up right as she was saying goodbye to Garret. When she got in the truck, she pecked him on the lips, and then told him what she’d just learned. “I don’t think it was the Cold Foot Crew leaking information at all. I think Garret did it, not knowing the history.”

“Idiot,” Reed muttered, pulling away from the house and sliding his hand over her thigh.

Sasha hugged his arm. “You remember how persuasive Farrah could be. She probably laid it on thick for Garret. He said he gets lonely, and it was nice to talk to another shifter. At least he came clean and asked what we wanted him to do.”

“What did you say?”

“I told him to give her my number.”

Reed snorted. “Of course you did. Have you ever been afraid of anything in your entire life?”

“Um, bumblebees scare me. Not disgruntled exes though. Those, I can handle. Guess what color my scrubs were today.”

He blew out a breath and narrowed his eyes at the road ahead, thinking. “Was it those sexy purple ones with the cartoon cats on them?”

“Chhh, I wish. They have a rule that only solid-colored scrubs are allowed at this hospital. I’m saving the kitty scrubs for one night when I want to seduce you.”

He belted out a laugh and dragged her hand to his lips, pressed a kiss on her knuckles. “You make me feel happy, Sasha.”

“Aw, really?” She didn’t know why, but that felt like such a deep compliment coming from him. He’d been through so much.

He nodded, and glanced over at her quick before pulling his focus back to the road.

“You make me happy, too.”

“Truth,” he murmured low.

He lifted his arm up to show her the chills that were covering his skin in gooseflesh. “Anytime you want to say those words, feel free. That was a damn good feeling, hearing that.”

And that part made her happy, but also sad. He’d really been through it with his last relationship, and he’d taken the fall for his entire Bank’s awful behavior. She couldn’t imagine the mental work it had taken him in Cold Foot to clear his head of all that noise.

He was a very tough man, and she admired him for it.

By the time they drove up to the clearing of the Cold Foot territory, the others were already tubing. On the drop-off near Reed’s cabin, Cash’s truck was parked, facing the downward slope, and Timber and Katrina were waiting a turn with a big two-person inner tube clasped between them. Timber turned and waved as they got out. “I was wondering if you were going to show up!”

“I just got off work,” she called, tromping through the deep snow toward Reed’s cabin. He was carrying her bag, and jogged to catch up. “Oh, I forgot my bag,” she said with a laugh. “I got too excited.”

“I don’t mind carrying it,” he murmured, holding her outstretched hand instead of handing her the bag.

Heat flooded her cheeks, and she bumped up against his shoulder as she intertwined her fingers with his.

“Be right there,” she called as she followed Reed up his front stairs and past the outdoor furniture on the sprawling porch. By the looks of it, he had never used the miniature firepit that sat in front of a snow-covered outdoor couch. “Can we have a firepit night?”

“Tonight?” he asked, opening his front door.

“We could break in your front porch and make a memory.”

“Sure. Whatever you want,” he assured her as he held the door open for her to pass by.

She stopped in the entryway and looked around. His furniture was simple and black, and the walls were a light gray with white trim. The living room had a towering ceiling from the A-frame shape of the cabin. The fireplace was a simple fireplace with white brick that traveled up the entire length of the wall. A gray rug adorned the floor. As she made her way through the living room toward the kitchen, she noticed his taste matched in here too. The cabinets were a rich gray, and the countertops were white. Open cabinets showed off his black-and-white dishes. Even the abstract pictures on the walls were black-and-white.

“I don’t like a lot of color where I sleep.” He’d said it almost apologetically.

“I love it,” she said softly. “Is your bedroom up there?” she asked, pointing up to the loft above.

“Do you want to see it?”

“I want to see everything.”

He took her bag up with him, leading the way up the wide wooden stairs along the wall opposite the fireplace. Up in the loft, it was a simple space with the king-sized bed up against the wall with the huge picture window behind it. There was another gray rug up here, covering most of the floor. There was a closet up here, and two bedside tables, and a simple dresser.

Everything was in its place.

“This home looks so expensive. I feel like we are on an episode of Cribs, cabin edition.”

He chuckled and sat on the edge of the bed. “Damon put a bunch of money into this place, but this cabin is actually about to be paid off. I won’t owe the blue dragon any payments here in a couple weeks. It’ll be mine.”

“Wait what? Are you rich? No, don’t even tell me if you are. I don’t want to know.”

He reached for her, and pulled her between his legs. “Damon hired lawyers to go after Cold Foot on my behalf. They did a settlement for not releasing me. It happened really fast, like Damon had it lined up before our escape. The prison is settling on a lot of stuff, and trying to do it fast, before the public catches wind of it all. I got enough to pay off this place, and put a little extra in a savings account. Just got the check the other day. I want to own the house. It’s kind of a dream.”

“Holy shit, Reed,” she whispered, running her fingers through his hair. “Congratulations.” She looked around with new appreciation. This place belonged to him. She was so freaking happy for him. “You deserve good things to happen to you.”

He shook his head and rested his forehead between her breasts, gripping her hips. “I still can’t believe this is my life. Whatever happens, I want to try and keep as much of it as I can.”

“It’s normal to feel like the other shoe is going to drop when you go through a long time of hardship,” she said softly. “The longer you stay steady, the more you’ll trust what’s happening. I’m working on the same thing.”

“Smarty-farty,” he teased.

“I did go to nursing school.”

“I’m still trying to figure out why you’re hanging out with me.”

“Mostly because you’re hot,” she joked.

He chuckled and lay back on the bed, taking her with him. She yelped and fell onto his chest, kicking her legs as he tickled her ribs. His smile reached her lips as he rolled her onto her back and covered her with his own body, kissing her.

His hand stayed gripped on her waist, and without telling her body to do it, she arched her back slightly and moaned against the kiss.

Reed pushed his tongue into her mouth, and her brain just shut off. He was such a consuming man—all hard body, giant frame, powerful touch, smelling like cologne. He was warm and banished the chill that had clung to her from outside.

Sasha reached under the hem of his sweater and reveled in the curves of his flexed abs. Up, up she reached until she could feel his powerful chest. Reed eased out of the kiss and pulled his sweater off in one smooth motion, and now she had full access to his skin.

“Where’s the tattoo,” he murmured against her neck as he laid kisses there.

“Oh, you’ve been thinking about it, have you?”

“You have no idea.”

A grin took her face as she looked up at the tall A-frame, vaulted ceiling. “So you’ve been thinking about me naked?”

“Twenty-four hours a day,” he murmured against the sensitive skin at her throat.

“Then why haven’t you put the moves on me?”

He snorted and eased up, searched her eyes. “I’m trying to do this right.”

“Oh. I thought you just didn’t want that with me.” She only half-believed it, and was more so teasing him.

“Woman, are you kidding me? Every time you touch me, my dick gets hard.” He pulled her hand down to the seam of his jeans.

“What if I get nervous and I’m bad at this?” she whispered, her smile fading as she voiced an insecurity.

Reed chuckled and stroked a strand of hair out of her face. “Want me to make you feel better?”

“Yes.”

Reed’s fingertips trailed down her cheek, to her neck, to her chest, and then down to the bottom of her shirt. He slid his hand up under it and gripped the skin at her ribs with his big, strong, warm hand. He leaned down and rested his lips right near her ear as he told her, “I’ve been locked up for ten years. If I manage to slide inside of you without exploding, we’ll be doing good. You could lay there and do nothing, and you will still blow my mind.”

“So the bar is set low. I like it.”

He laughed and eased up to kiss her lips again. “I think you’re the sexiest woman alive. I can’t keep my eyes off you. I can’t keep my hands off you. Every time you touch my arm, or hug me, I get this overwhelming urge to take you into the nearest closed-off space and make you mine.”

“And yet you have resisted,” she teased.

“For you. I want you going into this with your eyes wide open. I don’t just want to fuck you. I want to be your best friend. I want you to need me.”

Butterflies were slamming their wings against her chest right now. “You’re in this for the long game,” she whispered.

“Damn right I am. You’re sexy, and kind, and mature, and hardworking, and well-rounded, and funny, and happy, and you take away all the dark parts of my life. I know exactly what I have in you, Sasha. I don’t want to fuck it up.”

“Are you hunting me, sir?” she asked, cupping his cheeks.

“Does it feel like I am?” he asked her back.

“Yes, but in a good way. You show up quietly, leaving little traces of yourself to make sure you stay in my mind. Clearing roads just for me before I wake up. Bringing me drinks I like. Working on my home during your lunch breaks, and never asking for credit.”

He shook his head. “That’s not me hunting you. That’s just me taking care of what’s mine.”

Chills rippled up her arms. “I’m yours?” she asked on a breath.

“If you want to be,” he said softly, bi-colored eyes locked on hers. “It’s what I want. You choose though. You set the pace. You tell me what you want, and I’ll make it happen.”

“What I want is for you to be upfront and open with what you want, too.”

A wicked smile curved his lips as he pushed her jacket off her shoulders. “I want to touch your skin.”

The fluttering in her chest was so intense now. “What else?” she asked, sitting up to peel her sweater over her head.

His eyes sparked with focus as he stared at the forest-green lace bralette she’d worn for him today.

“I want to fuck you until you forget everyone who came before me. I want to fuck away your insecurities. I want to own your body so completely, that every time you walk into a room and a man talks to you, you laugh, because you know exactly who you have behind you. I want to get you addicted to me. I want to be the only one who can really touch you.”

She loved all of this. Sasha lay back down and ran her hands up his strong chest. “What else?”

He kissed her—drinking her in, lapping at her. He eased back and moved to kissing her neck again. “I want to be the one you tell everything to. I want to be the one who makes you smile and laugh. I want other people to look at us in public and see how comfortable you are with me, and I want them to understand that you are taken care of. I want you to feel safe. To really understand that if anyone went after you, I would destroy them. I want to be the listener on your bad days, and I want you to drag my bad days away from me, too. I want the teamwork. I want the random texts, the random I-miss-you calls. I want you to trust me.”

This man…this man…

Sasha rolled her eyes closed and got lost in the feel of his hand as it slid under her bra.

“I want you to keep reminding me that the other shoe doesn’t have to drop,” he whispered.

She opened her eyes and cupped his cheeks again, locked her gaze on him so he could see the truth as she said it. “We’re keeping that shoe on. Me and you. We won’t let it drop.”

And he knew what she meant. She knew he did just from the look on his face. She wasn’t alone in the falling. Reed was falling right along with her.

He pulled her up onto her feet right beside the bed and leaned forward, pressed his lips to her ribs, to her hip, to her belly. For a moment, he rested his head there, and then he pulled back and pushed her jeans down her hips, panties and all.

This was the part where she was supposed to be brave. Daylight streamed through the window over the bed. Outside, snow was falling in fat flakes and distorting the view, but it was light enough that Reed could see every inch of her skin.

“It’s been awhile since…” She let the words trail off and resisted the urge to cover her curvy bits.

“You’re perfect,” he murmured, and she could see it in his eyes—he was worshipping her body. He looked awed.

Feeling bold, she pulled her bralette over her head and stood there for a few seconds. Reed rubbed his big hand over his dick and then stood, shucked his pants, and stood before her naked—scarred, enormous, muscular. His chin was tilted up, and confidence oozed from him. It was inspiring, and she lifted her chin too, and allowed a slow, wicked smile. “I think I’m going to like being yours.”

“Mmm,” he said, a rumble in his voice as he stepped toward her and slid his hands to her waist. He pulled her against his warmth and leaned down enough to say against her ear, “I like when you say that.”

“That I’m yours?”

He nodded. “You don’t know the meaning yet, but I still like it.”

“Are you going to make me see only you?”

His hand slid to her throat and with his thumb, he tilted her chin up to meet his eyes. There was such a cool confidence that existed in his expression. “I am.” There was promise in his words.

Bloated with the power of his oath, Sasha dropped slowly to her knees, eyes locked on his. His chest swelled with a deep inhalation as he realized what she was doing. His hand went to the back of her hair, and he gripped her gently there. He was enormous, and hard as a rock as she took his thick shaft in her hands and slid her mouth over him.

For the rest of her life, she would never forget the way his muscular neck looked as he rolled his head back and moaned helplessly. He guided her with his grip on her hair, but he didn’t push her too deep onto him or set a punishing pace. He seemed to revel in the wet friction she created.

His legs tensed as she slid her hand under his sack and dragged her nails lightly forward. He moaned a curse and his other hand went to his hair, gripping it like he was barely in control. His abs flexed with the tension that was consuming his body, and she’d never felt more powerful than in this moment.

“Fuck, not yet,” he whispered, easing her off him.

Oh, he was really sensitive to her touch. Sasha couldn’t help her smile as he helped her to her feet like a queen and led her to the bed. He eased her down, and locked his arms on either side of her face as he covered her. “You first,” he rumbled, pushing her knees apart with his.

Reed cupped between her legs and slid his fingers up and down her slick sex. She inhaled sharply as he hit just the right spot, and Reed focused his touch closer and closer, pinpointing it until he pressed it in small pulses, dragging a ragged breath from Sasha. She arched her back, and he smiled. “There it is.” He lowered to her and pushed her hands above her head, intertwining their fingers as his lips pressed to hers. He was so close to her entrance, resting just there, pressing there as he rolled his hips. She was already so wet, so ready. Oh, Reed knew exactly what to do with her body. Already she was so ramped up and writhing in invitation.

His kisses trailed to her throat again, and he sucked hard as he eased inside of her. She bucked against the mattress and groaned at how perfect it felt. The window above led to a different world. Outside, it was snowing heavily, and the light was muted. She could barely see the outline of the snow-covered pines in the woods beyond. And in here? Nothing could reach them in here. She really was safe. She was taken care of. She was revered. Worshipped.

She was cared for.

He pushed into her slowly again, grazed his teeth against her neck and gripped her hands tighter. Did he know? Could he tell? She was already headed for annihilation. He was already pushing her toward a release. Was it supposed to happen this fast?

“Reed,” she whispered desperately.

He bucked into her deep as a response, and she gasped, and clenched his hands to anchor herself to this earth.

He eased out slow, and then hit her fast and deep. Again. Again. His body moulded around her as he released her hands and wrapped his arms around her. Every inch of skin that could touch her now, did. He hugged her so tightly as he pushed into her over and over, so deep. He was big, but he wasn’t hurting her with the girth. He was in absolute control, focused on her needs, and there was something so damn sexy about a man who could do that during a moment of ecstasy.

He rolled his hips into her, faster now. Faster.

She was moaning on every thrust. “I don’t want it to stop,” she whispered mindlessly. “Feels so good.”

“Fuck,” he gritted out, driving deeper into her. His body was tensing now, and he was bucking so fast. He had her wrapped up so tight. So tight. So safe. “Fuck, Sasha.”

“I’m there!”

He yelled as her body constricted and then exploded in pleasure. He drove into her hard, deep, fast, but froze for a second as the first wave of warmth jetted into her. He bucked again, gritting out a sexy, desperate sound.

She wrapped her legs around him as tight as she could, clinging to him as her orgasm pulsed on and on.

He drew up his leg under her and drove deep again, propped up on his elbows. He gripped her hair on the sides of her face and nipped at her throat as he slowed his pace, dragging out every pulse of pleasure from both of their releases.

Chest heaving as he pushed up on locked arms, he searched her face, and there was sense of shock written all across his features. “That was…”

“That was important.” She felt it too. Sasha pressed her hands to her pounding heart.

She couldn’t explain it, but her body was reaching for him. She had never felt like this before—like there was an invisible tether that bound their bodies now.

Reed swallowed hard and rolled to his side, taking her with him. He hugged her up so gently, his hand cupping the back of her head, his powerful leg thrown over her hip, and she’d never felt so seen, so warm, so comfortable.

She could stay here forever, all wrapped up in Reed.

“Now you’re going to know,” he whispered.

“Know what?”

He kissed the top of her head, and his heart pounded on against her cheek. “That you’re mine.”