
An Ellora's Cave Romantica Publication
www.ellorascave.com
Lickety Split
ISBN 9781419919893
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Lickety Split Copyright © 2009 Amarinda Jones
Edited by Helen Woodall
Cover art by Syneca
Electronic book Publication August 2009
The terms Romantica® and Quickies® are registered trademarks of Ellora's Cave Publishing.
With the exception of quotes used in reviews, this book may not be reproduced or used in whole or in part by any means existing without written permission from the publisher, Ellora's Cave Publishing, Inc.® 1056 Home Avenue, Akron OH 44310-3502.
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This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locales is purely coincidental. The characters are productions of the authors' imagination and used fictitiously.
Lickety Split
Amarinda Jones
Dedicated to those in the endless pursuit of ice cream. So many flavors, so little time.
And to my editor Helen Woodall and Captain Kirk. One is excellent value, the other is a habit.
Trademarks Acknowledgement
The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of the following word marks mentioned in this work of fiction:
Cinderella: Disney Enterprises, Inc.
Ken doll: Mattel Inc.
Lassie: Classic Media, Inc.
Mr. Frostee: Mr. Frostee Inc.
Nancy Drew: Simon and Schuster, Inc.
Sex in the City: Home Box Office, Inc.
"Fucking men and their stupid words," Waverley Astor cursed as she scanned the available options before her. All of them looked good and each in their luscious own way would make her feel better. Even though it was bloody cold in the walk-in freezer section of the supermarket, she knew she had to make the right choice or end up with a Jonathon again. "Smarmy bastard wanting me to lose weight," she muttered as she blew warm air on her cold hands. "Thank God I never slept with him." But then he hadn't wanted to sleep with her until she lost her "irresponsible weight" as he called it. "Ignorant, arrogant asshole."
Waverley picked up one carton after another and assessed each of them critically. She had an important decision to make. What she did now would have an effect on the rest of her evening.
"Call me thunder thighs? I don't think so." He was never going to be offered the chance of seeing her thighs again. In fact, no man would. She held the carton aloft in the air, placed her other hand on her heart and did her best Scarlett O'Hara impersonation. "I swear on this tub of double caramel pecan swirl ice cream that no man will see these thighs again." Waverley expected a crash of thunder and maybe a bolt of lightning for dramatic effect yet all she heard was male laughter. Great---one of them was in the freezer section with her. "All men suck," she muttered in contempt of their kind. Because of this unwanted male intrusion, she felt justified in adding a carton of French vanilla bean ice cream as well. They made me do it.
"That's a hell of an oath to take," murmured a deep, smoky-sounding voice. "What did he do to make you so angry?"
"He was a man. Isn't that enough?" Waverley grabbed the two cartons of ice cream and started to head out. "But it's okay now as I am giving men up for good." She could hear the man's footsteps on the other side of the packed shelves of frozen goods.
"Thinking of batting for the other side?"
"No, going to invest in lots of batteries and hard vibrating plastic," she responded, stopping dead when she saw him. That would be right. The gods were testing her vows already by sending her temptation. The man was tall, dark-haired and broad-shouldered. Just my kind. He was smiling as if he was pleased by what he saw. The pleasure was reluctantly mutual. Waverley's eyes roamed the strong face before her. It was almost like it was carved out of rock. High cheekbones, dark hooded eyes, a large nose that would have looked weird on someone else and a mouth that was so beautifully shaped that it was a sin just to look at it and wonder at the taste. Waverley looked down at his hands. You could tell a lot about a person by their hands and this man was definitely not her type. In his hands he carried a plastic store basket filled with several bags of frozen vegetables. No ice cream lover this one. But definitely a lover. Those eyes screamed sin and sex and everything in between. Waverley mentally slapped herself. Hello? You are over men. Remember?
"Vanilla, huh?" His eyes read the label on the cartons she carried.
Waverley was already defensive when it came to men, questioning her ice cream flavor choices just pissed her off further.
"Got a problem with that?"
"Not at all. Did you know that different flavors mean something?"
Waverley blew out a tired sigh. "I'm not here to be picked up." Yet she was wondering why she was pausing as long as she was to tell him that.
"Vanilla means hidden passions that are yearning to be free." He tapped the lid of the container with one long finger.
"Vanilla means lunch and caramel means dinner tonight." If they had stocked the cherry coconut she loved, then that would have been breakfast. "Now if you'll excuse me, I am freezing my ass off in here." If only it were possible to freeze flab off. She moved to the glass entry door and pushed. It did not open. Waverley tried again. The same thing happened. She looked at him.
"What?"
"The door won't open." I do not need this. I need ice cream and a male-free area to eat it in. Waverley glared at him.
"What?" he arched his eyebrow at her in amusement. "You think it's my fault it won't release because I'm a man?"
Yes.
"Well, at least do something masculine and kick it open or rip it off the hinges." Now that was something Waverley would like to see. There was an undeniable sexiness about a powerful man. And watching a strong man do manly stuff was not breaking her thigh vow. But then this particular man was sexy just holding a shopping basket. Be still my heart if he kicks the door.
"Would you like to see me do that?" he asked in a deep, throaty voice as if guessing her thoughts. He dropped the plastic basket to the floor.
"I want out so do whatever you have to." Waverley stepped back to allow him to get to the door. The spicy sandalwood smell of him as he passed made her almost drop her ice cream.
He pushed against the door hard. It refused to budge. "It seems it's stuck."
"Oh great." Just what I bloody do not need. It was midsummer. She had not dressed to be trapped in a freezer. Her thin t-shirt and knee-length shorts were appropriate for the sub-tropical Brisbane heat outside but not the icebox she found herself in. Waverley pushed past him and kicked at the door several times. She only succeeded in bruising her toes. Kicking in doors required boots and not flat-soled Indian sandals. Waverley turned and looked at the man who grinned at her. "Are you laughing at me?"
"Calm down, precious."
"Don't patronize me, vegetable boy." Waverley dumped the cartons of ice cream on a nearby shelf. Her hands were freezing from holding on to them. Two questions were uppermost in her mind. What do I do now? And why don't I have a spoon in my handbag? It was always times like this that you never had what you really needed. Ice cream was her thinking food. How am I supposed to deal with this literally cold turkey? Some days just suck. Waverley stamped her feet.
"That's cute." The man laughed and hit the red alarm button beside the door. "You're cute." A minute later, a teenaged employee came to the door. There was a look of panic on his face.
"They probably never had an emergency procedure for this." From what Waverley could tell by his frightened hand signals, he was either going to get help or pretending he was a chicken, his arms were flapping wildly. "Great, where is Lassie when you need her?" That dog would have understood straight away, bringing back a rescue team bearing hot chocolate and cookies. However, surprisingly a couple of minutes later, three other panicked-looking employees came back to stare at them through the glass door. They were like goldfish stuck in a bowl. The employees were mouthing something Waverley could not make out. She turned to the man beside her and looked him up and down. Would it indicate something other than being cold if she plastered her body against his, hugging him to her for warmth? "What are they saying?" She wrapped her arms around her body and hugged herself tightly.
"I can make out 'air lock', 'not supposed to happen' and 'thirty to forty minutes'," he responded with a sigh.
Waverley threw up her hands in frustration. "We'll freeze to death." She jumped back as the man moved in close toward her. "Back off, mate." She wanted away from him and the gawkers staring at them through the glass.
"You're cold and I'm cold so we need to conserve body heat wisely---and don't worry I don't expect to see your thighs---yet." He grinned as she opened and closed her mouth in surprise. He gave her no further time to think as he wrapped his arms around her shivering frame. "I believe under the circumstances introductions are in order. My name is Tor."
Waverley looked up in the strong face above hers. It was a face that bespoke trust. That, coupled with the sudden heat from his body was wonderful. She felt under the circumstances it was okay to collapse against him. I am trying to survive after all.
"Seriously? Tor? Like the god of thunder?" Oh God, he feels good. She hugged Tor to her.
"That's Thor not Tor." He looked down at her as if waiting for something.
"Oh I see. Um, I'm Waverley." And you smell divine and I am rethinking the whole I-hate-men thing.
"Seriously?" Tor mimicked, hugging her closer. "Waverley is a beautiful name."
The sound of it on his lips certainly made her think so.
"No one can spell it properly." Her voice sounded breathless to her own ears. He's just a solid hunk of man. There's nothing to get excited over, woman. He is your survival. "How tall are you?" He had to be at least a foot taller than her.
Tor seemed to find this amusing. "I'm six three in bare feet." His hands massaged her back. "You're delightfully cuddly."
Waverley narrowed her eyes at him. "Are you saying I'm fat?" That was all she needed---another perfectionist of a man making judgments on her short, chunky frame.
"No, what I am saying is I have this intense desire to see all the curves I am feeling in the flesh." His eyes locked on her mouth as his hands moved down to her hips. "But you have that vow."
"And it was made over something I love and believe in, so it's for life." Waverley felt his hot breath against her lips and a promising erection pushing at her stomach. For a moment she wondered what it would felt like to have him heat her up inside as well as out. Forehead slap. Sex with a handsome stranger? You could be so lucky.
"Things change," he murmured, his lips almost touching hers.
"Vows made over ice cream never do." Waverley felt the overwhelming need to touch her lips to his.
"May I kiss you?" Tor asked, his need matching hers.
"I don't think we should." His warm breath on her face was intoxicating. When was the last time I was drunk in lust?
"Why not?"
"Because I...ah..." There were so many reasons but who could concentrate with him looking at her like she was the only woman in the world for him. Before Waverley could stammer further, Tor kissed her. Instant, wild heat shot through her veins. She slumped against him and gave in to the moment. She was kissing a stranger and yet he wasn't a stranger. Tor's mouth on hers felt too deliciously right to be wrong. Then his hands slid down to cup her ass and she felt his cock jerk hard in his jeans. She kissed him back with a passion that she was unaware she even possessed. So maybe vows made on chocolate ice cream would be more binding.
"You taste great."
Waverley was surprised at the rampant hunger she had for this man. She had never felt this way before. He was so delicious that he was bound to be fattening.
"We have to stop." She was starting to feel a long-forgotten sensation of moisture between her legs and her hormones were jumping with excitement, egging her on to do more.
Tor lifted his mouth and looked into her eyes. "Why? Because of your thigh declaration?"
"That and we're in a public place." Was anyone lurking over in the frozen pie section? They had been so caught up in each other that she had not thought to look. And for Pete's sake the door was glass. What the hell am I thinking?
"No one else is here and no one can see us." Tor's words were reassuring as he placed soft, slow kisses on her lips and maneuvered them away from the door. "We're trapped and it may be the last time we have sex."
That sounded so dramatic. So strangely exciting. Waverley felt a shiver run down her spine. Sex? Here? With him? Why doesn't that sound like a bad idea?
"Oh please." She pushed his mouth back from hers. "You're making out like this is the end of the world."
"But what if it is and we're the last people left and we may never have sex ever again?"
Tor's words sounded so cataclysmic to her that Waverley could not help the giggle that escaped her.
"You're crazy." And cute. If she had to be trapped with the last man on Earth, she would want it to be this handsome stranger.
Tor lifted up her hand and kissed it.
Waverly almost sighed. There was something so sweet about a man who kissed your hand.
"I believe what you need, precious, is uncomplicated sex with a man who thinks you are gloriously full-bodied and beautiful. Besides I promise I won't look at your thighs."
Waverley pushed back from him slightly. "You're saying I need a good fucking?" Okay I do. That was the truth of it and the only reason she had contemplated the ridiculous Jonathan. The need to feel something with someone if only for a moment had overcome her. But she wasn't about to let this man know that. Waverley might have her desperate moments but she wasn't a total slut. "Is that a line you use on most women?"
"Actually I have never used it before and I doubt I'll ever use it again." His eyes were soft on hers. "Come on, Waverley, the world is about to end. Come let us share something special before it does. Give a dying man his last wish to be with a beautiful woman."
"I'm hardly beautiful and you're not dying."
"Yes, you are beautiful and the man who made you feel less than you are was a fool." His hands wrapped around her body once more. "And I could quite easily waste away knowing I missed out on the one chance I had to be with you."
Waverley blinked several times at his words. They were exactly what she wanted a dream lover to say but could she give in to this fantasy? It was wrong on so many levels. She did not know the man who had his hands on her ass once more. They could be freed at any moment. But all that paled beside the need to feel something, anything. For the last three days she had been so pissed off. Lust beat the hell out of anger.
"Um..." Waverley knew she should so no but yes seemed so much more logical. And seriously, what would it hurt? She wasn't looking for long-term romance with this man. A ten-minute, passionate love affair was exactly what she needed. I want to feel something.
"Well?" His voice was soft but not pushy. He was making it clear it was completely her choice and he would abide by it.
"I don't want us to repopulate in case this is a false alarm." She stiffened as she realized what she had said. That was a "yes" if she had ever heard one.
"I have a condom."
"I can't believe I am doing this but as the world is ending..." And as fantasies went, this was hot and who would ever know?
"It will if I don't have you." Tor removed his arms from around her body. "Take your panties off."
Waverley felt her knees wobble at the way he said it.
"Take them off me." She had never asked a man to do that before but she figured if she was going to hell for this, then she wanted to go first class without stopping.
"My pleasure." Tor's hands went to the snap of her shorts. His eyes never left hers. In no time at all her shorts hit the floor, followed by her panties. His hand slid between her legs. "You're so beautifully wet."
Waverley's head dropped back as he toyed with the curls of her pussy. She was standing bare-assed with a stranger in a locked freezer. Anyone could burst in on them at any time. This was dangerous. Forbidden. Yet other than the cold, this was exactly what she needed. Uncomplicated sex. No emotion. Just giving in to need and enjoying the moment. She eagerly wrapped her legs around his waist when Tor lifted her into his arms. He stopped suddenly.
"I know I'm heavy but---"
"Hey, I'm not him---what his name?"
"Jonathon."
"No real man is called Jonathon. That alone should have been your first warning you were dealing with a boy. Real men are different, precious."
Oh hell yes they were. Waverley knew she would remember this "real man" moment for the rest of her life.
"And you are not heavy." Tor's eyes were adamant on hers. "He is a prick and I'd like to kick his ass."
This man was hers for only a short time but Waverley knew she would remember his words forever. No one had ever wanted to defend her before.
"I stopped because I don't want you sitting on a cold shelf."
Was that all?
"The world is going to end, oh gallant knight. I think I can handle a cold ass."
"I promised I'd heat you up." Tor placed her on a shelf between the frozen carrots and the rock-hard cobs of corn.
"Whoa, cold." Waverley thought the extra layer of flab on her butt would have protected her but that was not the case. The cold bit into her backside. "Hurry up." She watched as he unzipped and pulled out an impressive cock. "Frig, I thought cold made men shrink." That monster seemed to be growing by the second as he sheathed it, ready for action.
"I am so hot for you at this moment, precious, that nothing could make it contract." He grabbed her hips and moved in close. "I really want to see you naked."
Waverley shook her head. She was half naked as it was. "You are lucky just to see as much of my thighs as you are. This is a 'world is ending' fuck. I'm not looking for forever." Though that handsome face was certainly one she would be happy to wake up beside every morning. "I'm freezing my ass off here." The head of his penis was at the entrance of her vagina, as if waiting for permission to enter. "Now be a gallant knight and heat me up before the bad guys come and the end credits roll."
As he pushed inside her, Waverley gasped. It had been nearly a year since she'd had sex. Had it ever felt like this? So hot and full and right, straight away like this?
"Is that a good or a bad thing?" Tor hesitated halfway inside her body.
"Good. Very good. Don't stop now." She repositioned her legs around him, locking his body in close to hers. Waverley wanted to feel the full length of his hot cock surge up inside her. "I really need you." She said the words aloud before she realized it. "I'm not usually like this." It was hard to justify one's actions as being normally pure when urging a stranger to satisfy a need so primal yet personal.
"I know that and I couldn't stop even if I tried." He plunged all the way inside. Tor smiled when she shrieked. "You like?"
"I love," she panted as he immediately started to thrust firmly inside her. Time was of the essence so there was no need for further preliminaries. They were fulfilling a mutual, understood need. "I'm beginning to worry about me," she muttered.
"Why?" His hands were on her breasts, molding them in his palms.
"Because we're strangers." Though the hands on her felt very natural. Have I ever fallen this hard and fast for anyone? Was it just the wild head rush of a gorgeous man wanting her or something else?
"Are we?"
Waverley clutched at him as she felt a long-forgotten sensation tease her body.
"Y-yes." Oh boy, there was a feeling racing up her spine that was making it hard to concentrate. "It's not kismet to meet in a freezer. It's bad luck... Oh-oh-oh." She tried to hold back the scream that came to her lips but it was useless. Waverley had never come so fast in her life. Was it him or just the thrill of doing something naughty?
"God, I hope they can't hear us." How embarrassing would that be?
"I only care for you." Tor held her close and did not stop pumping inside her.
"You're very sweet."
Waverley tried to catch her breath and hold on as his last thrusts drove him to an orgasm that made Tor grab her and kiss her with such passion that for a moment she forgot she was locked in a supermarket freezer.
Tor broke off the kiss and leaned his forehead against hers, their eyes locked.
"I would normally like to do the whole bask-in-the-afterglow thing but, damn it, there is no time." He gave her one last lingering kiss before he pulled from her body and lifted her off the shelf. Tor bent down and picked up her shorts. "They're cold."
"That's okay I'm toasty warm now." There was a pleasant, intense heat radiating in her pelvis that she knew she would remember for a long time.
"I want to see you again, precious." Tor removed the condom and, in lieu of a bin, carefully folded it in his pocket before zipping up his jeans. They both heard the door pop open as if a rush of air had been released, easing the pressure.
Talk about timing.
"You're very sweet." Waverley touched his face. "You made me feel like I wasn't some ugly freak and for that I am grateful but this is just a ships-that-pass-in-the-night, or in this case freezer, thing."
"Do you really believe that?" His hand caught hers.
No.
"Yes." Waverley knew she had to. Getting all moony over a man she would never see again was insane. She reluctantly pulled her hand from his and backed away.
"Are you guys okay in there?" a concerned voice called.
Waverley's eyes never left Tor's. "Perfect. Never felt better." And I am sure I am going to bad-girl hell for it.
"You will love this place, Waves. It has the best ice cream in the world," Martha Ames enthused as she pushed open the door of the Lickety Split Ice Cream Palace. "When I was in Sydney I almost lived in the one at Bondi Beach."
Waverley Astor took a look around the ornately decorated restaurant that was dedicated to everything ice cream. The interior was rich and decadent with its deep reds, glossy blacks and pristine whites. It had a sensual feel. And it smelled divine. She sniffed the air.
"Hmm, chocolate, cinnamon and..." she sniffed again.
"I reckon it smells like fresh-baked almond cookies." Martha also sniffed the air in appreciation.
Waverley nodded. "Ooh, nice call." Sweet yet not sickly. It was heaven to an ice creamaholic. "I am so in need of ice cream." To Waverley, the icy confectionary was like heroin to a junkie. She needed the hit to make her feel good. After the whole Tor business last week, when she left the supermarket sans ice cream, Waverley wasn't sure if she was coming or going. It was all so confusing. She had walked to her car unsure what to do or say and telling herself not to look back for him because what was the point? It was just a fling. Oh sure, in a freezer and that in itself made it unforgettable but she knew nothing could come of it. The man had made her feel good about herself and that was the end of it. Itch scratched. Move on. But I can't and that's the kicker. Waverley could not forget a man she knew for only a moment. She was worried that she was turning into some infatuated thirty-year-old spinster with a crush.
"I tell you, Waves, you'll never want to leave this place. I almost had an orgasm when I heard they were opening their next store in Brisbane City. It was no coincidence that I fell in love with the store in Sydney. It was meant to be." She picked up two menus, handing one to Waverley.
"This would be the universal philosophy of ice cream bringing people together?"
"Is there any other?"
"I can't think if there is any other law I'd rather follow and you know I love ice cream above all else."
"What do you desire, ladies?" a deep masculine voice asked.
Waverley stiffened as the words she just said echoed in her head. Oh no, it cannot be. She knew that voice. Waverley only heard it last week, but once heard, never forgotten. Of all the ice cream parlors in the world, I have to walk into this one. Was it fate or what?
"What?" Martha whispered as she looked at her in confusion.
"Nothing." Waverley turned and faced him. The smile he gave her made her whole body heat up. I am in deep trouble.
"Waverley, how very nice to see you again." Tor could not believe his eyes. The woman he had spent the past week thinking about was in his store in front of him. He could reach out and pull her into his arms and kiss the surprised O shape of her lips. She looked stunned. Tor was stunned. It was the last thing he expected. The beautiful woman called Waverley was the first thing he had thought of every morning when he woke up. And damned if I am going to let her walk away from me again. Everything had happened so quickly after they had been freed from the cold room. Paramedics had been called to check them out and the store had been beyond apologetic. Not, however, apologetic enough to give him Waverley's full name and address.
"Uh," she murmured.
Tor smiled at the disbelief he saw in her eyes. He could not make out the color in the artificial light of the freezer last week but now saw they were a deep, pretty green.
"You two know each other?" her companion asked.
"Uh." It was all Waverley seemed capable of uttering.
That was okay. She was surprised. Tor had plans to surprise her even further and many times over. He did not believe in coincidence. Their meeting up like this was meant to be.
"Waverley and I met in the freezer section of the supermarket." And I cannot forget the delicious taste of her.
"Oh no way! This was the god you were trapped with in the freezer?" The other woman turned on her friend in surprise. "This is the man from last week who you have been pining over?"
Waverley turned bright red and snorted in defense.
"I haven't been pining." She sounded like she found the idea preposterous.
This was better than Tor hoped. It was one thing for him to get all moony over a woman but even better if the feeling was mutual.
"Pining, huh?" She didn't strike him as the pining sort. From what he could remember, Waverley was the mouthy sort but Tor knew everyone had hidden depths. He was looking forward to plumbing them.
"She was too pining." Martha stuck her tongue out teasingly at Waverley.
"I may have mentioned you." Waverley made the reluctant admission.
"Yes, in depth she did."
"Shut up, Martha."
Tor knew when one girlfriend told another girlfriend about a man it had to be something important. When Waverley closed her eyes as if to collect herself for whatever was to come next, Tor knew this was a woman who felt things deeply yet hid from certain truths out of fear. That for one brief, unforgettable moment it meant something more to her as well gave him a feeling of power that he had never before experienced. Tor had never taken a woman like that before. It might have started out as an impetuous fling but he knew it had the potential to be more and for the first time in months he felt excited.
"So introduce us, Waves."
Waves? Cute.
He thrust out his hand. "Tor Arnett."
"Martha Ames and you of course know Waverley."
She opened her eyes slowly. Nope, he was still there. This was no dream. I have to deal with this. Waverley was no sexual sophisticate. What was the etiquette after freezer sex? Had it ever been in a Sex and the City episode?
"The world was supposed to end." Oh crap. She had not meant to say that. It indicated he meant something more to her. He did---sort of---she just wasn't sure what. However, Waverley did not want him getting any ideas of repeat performances.
"Some things don't go the way you planned, precious." His smile was gentle with understanding.
That smile is going to be my undoing.
"Waves---look at this---you've got to have sex." Martha grabbed at her arm.
"What?" Waverley's eyes locked on Tor's. Could I again? Should I?
"Sex on a stick, sex on the beach---they're on the ice cream menu." Martha handed her the elaborate list of options.
"Oh right---ice cream." I knew that. Waverley looked down at the menu to avoid looking at Tor. She could barely make out what was written. It was the first time in her life that she was lost for words. "Um, er, I think I'll have a glass of water." Safe, wholesome water with no sex involved. Waverley took a quick look at Tor. Was he laughing at her? She glared at him.
"No! Have an orgasm. It's exactly what'd you love." Martha went on to read out loud the ingredients of the orgasm. "It's exactly what you need."
Waverley kept her eyes on Tor's. She wanted him to know that he did not affect her in anyway whatsoever.
"I am trying to watch my weight."
Her friend snorted at her words. "Since when have you ever turned down ice cream? It's not over that stupid prick's thigh comment, is it?"
"You have great thighs," Tor murmured as his eyes went down to the thighs in question.
"I do? I mean...er..." What do I mean? Thank you for allowing me to wrap them around your body as we had fast, glorious sex? The black capri pants she had put on earlier had seemed like adequate covering until then.
"That's right, you would have seen them when you---well, you know what you did together." Martha fluttered her eyelashes at him and handed him back the menu. "I'll have an orgasm please."
"My pleasure." Tor winked at her.
Great. A conspiratorial wink between her best friend and the hot guy.
"I'll have plain vanilla ice cream thanks." Waverley could see nothing sexual in that. One of us has to be sensible.
"Bor-ing." Martha responded in a singsong voice.
Waverley gave her what she considered her best back-off eye roll.
"That's what I want, Martha."
Tor took the menu from Waverley's hands.
"Our vanilla ice cream is called Hidden Passions so I believe that's perfect for you, precious."
Drat the man. He knew too much about her. It had been a fling in a freezer. It wasn't supposed to go further than that.
"What?" Waverley asked over-innocently as she followed Martha to sit down in a nearby booth. She really wanted to leave but she did not want Tor thinking he had driven her away.
"He is stunning." Martha licked her lips as she watched him walk off.
"Stop looking at his ass." Waverley knew from her line of sight that's what her friend was ogling.
"Why? Does it belong to you?" Martha's smile was one of knowing. "And he calls you 'precious'. That's kind of cute."
"It's annoying." And yet it wasn't. It sounded sexy coming from his lips.
"So you had sex with the god of thunder."
"That's Thor not Tor." Waverley had told her best friend what had happened because that's what best friends did. Added to that she did not expect ever to run into Tor because Brisbane was a big city.
Martha arched her eyebrow. "There were two men?"
Waverley snorted. "Get a grip, will you? One man and a one-time thing." If I say that enough I will believe it.
"And he owns an ice cream parlor. This is like true love for you, Waves."
"Oh piss off," Waverley responded good-naturedly as she knew Martha was just teasing her now.
"You know he is famous?" Martha nodded her head in eager confirmation. "I've seen him in the magazines with some skinny bimbo hanging off his arm."
Waverley snorted. There was always some skinny dame involved with a hot guy. Why did he even look twice at me? Because you were on heat. Oh yeah...
"He's watching you."
Is he? Waverley shook her head. It's like she was in high school and the best looking boy in the class had a crush on her.
"He probably doesn't meet a lot of women who have sex at the drop of a hat." The thought that Tor might pissed her off and that was strange as it was not like she had an exclusive hold on him. Get a grip, get a grip, get a grip.
"I bet he does," Martha murmured, winking at the man in question. "Jeez, I would drop anything for him."
Waverley sighed. "The world was supposed to end." She explained it to Martha once again. Her friend was supposed to understand her angst, not enjoy it.
"Oh my God, he's walking over to us bearing bowls of ice cream. I may have to fight you for him."
Martha's loud whisper made Waverley wince. "Pull yourself together, woman." Even as she said the words, she wondered if she was referring to Martha or herself.
"I could come just watching him." Martha was goggle-eyed with appreciation.
Tor placed two delicious-looking bowls of ice cream on the table.
"One Hidden Passion and an Orgasm." He sat down beside Waverley.
Uh-oh. The heat of his body near hers had her scooting across the bench seat to avoid the thigh that touched hers. That would be a bad thing to her already-awakened senses.
"Shouldn't you be serving other customers?" His eyes were on her mouth and Waverley remembered only too well the delicious taste of his lips on hers.
Tor moved in closer to take up the space she had relinquished, his thigh against hers once more.
"I serve who I chose, precious."
"Oh God, this is amazing." Martha closed her eyes as she sucked on the spoon in her mouth.
"What about you, Waverly?" His eyes were locked on hers. "How is it?"
She knew that he was not talking about ice cream. It was all about "How's this for a surprise?"
"I---er, I mean---it's very nice." As much as she wanted to eat the pure white confection, his eyes on her mouth made her very conscious of anything she was going to slide in there. Waverley did not want to draw any more of his attention to herself until she felt she was under enough control to handle whatever this was between them. One-time sex did not make a relationship. Maybe this was nothing. Maybe the thigh that was burning into hers was merely just good for weight loss.
"So why call this place the Lickety Split?" Martha asked between mouthfuls.
Waverley decided that mundane conversation was good. Martha was the mistress of that. Talk about the store. She toyed with her ice cream and wished she had the strength to tell him to back off as she would have any other man who was pushing his luck. The problem was Tor was just not any man.
"Well, you know how lickety split means fast?" Tor dipped a finger into Waverley's bowl then licked it, his eyes locked on hers. "I believe some of the best things in life happen fast."
The spoon Waverley held clattered to the table. The smoldering look he gave her made Waverley instantly wet between the legs.
"Fast isn't lasting though." She was fairly sure relationships were not built on freezer sex.
"It can be if you want it." Another long digit dipped into her ice cream. "You have to take advantage of those lickety-split moments when they come along. They can change your life, precious."
"Wow," Martha murmured, her eyes on the man before her. "Waverley never likes to share ice cream."
"Doesn't she?" Tor smiled at the woman in question.
Against all common sense, Waverly watched as he sucked the cream off his finger. Oh boy.
"You make it sound like kismet."
"Anything so fast and wildly passionate is as unstoppable as kismet." They all knew they were not talking about some cosmic law. "How about a tour of the store when you've finished your ice cream, ladies?"
"Oh damn, I have to get back to work." Martha did not sound like she was disappointed as she looked at her friend. She scooped up the last of her ice cream in a hurry.
"Me too." She knew what Martha was going to try to do. The ratfink. She was going to leave her with Tor. There was no way Waverley felt she could handle him alone without doing something silly.
"Waves, you have today off work."
The daggers Waverley shot at her friend just bounced off her. Before she could say any more, Martha was waving goodbye.
"Don't do anything I wouldn't do."
"There is nothing you don't do," Waverley muttered at her friend's back as she left the store. She turned to look at Tor.
"Hello." His voice was husky and full of amusement.
Oh boy. "I need to finish my ice cream." Waverley suddenly felt like she was completely out of her depth. No man had ever bothered her like this one.
"It's melting." Tor indicated the bowl before her.
As am I. "Yes but---"
"I will get you more." He slid off the seat and held out his hand to her. "Come with me."
"Oh that's what I'm worried about," she mumbled. When Tor chuckled at her words, she felt the breath catch in her throat. He had such a sexy laugh. "Where are we going?" It seemed natural to place her hand in his.
"On the tour I promised." Tor moved them past customers and staff as they made their way through the kitchen and beyond. "Wanna see the freezers?" He grinned and nudged his hip teasingly against hers.
There was something about this man and his smile that made Waverley feel good.
"Tor, I---" I, what? I feel hot all over and want to rub my body against yours?
"I just want talk to you, precious."
"Just talk?" Waverley hoped that did not sound as disappointed as she felt. Realistically it was crazy to be getting excited over a stranger and yet against all common sense she was.
"Among other things," he told her as he led her into a large room and shut the door.
"This is a storeroom."
"Yeah, it's nice and quiet and only I have the key." He turned it in the lock. "We can talk and do stuff."
Uh-oh.
"I believe in indulging women in two things---ice cream and---"
"Shopping?"
Tor smiled at the nervous woman before him. He would never take a woman against her will. The thing that interested him about Waverley was she was on edge but not through fear. She radiated this sexual intensity that had him enthralled but he suspected that she was confused by her reaction to him.
"No, sex, but we seem to have a problem."
'"We'?" The word came out in a breathless rush.
Tor leaned against a wall and watched as she shifted her feet uneasily. Waverley only had to ask to leave and he would let her. However, he had a feeling she wanted more but was unsure about the wildfire attraction between them. Tor would not have taken just any woman as he had Waverley. There had to be more than just lust. There had to be that spark of recognition that could only be felt between like-minded souls.
"Yeah---you and me." He pushed off the wall and moved toward her slowly. "I really need to kiss you."
"That's a problem?" Her eyes were wide with fear mixed with excitement as she licked her lips.
Tor wasted no time claiming the space between them.
"Only if you won't let me." He smiled when she gulped loudly.
Waverley started backing away from him. "I just think this is all going too fast."
"What is, precious?"
"You and me." Her back hit the shelves behind her.
"Us?" I like the sound of that. Tor held his body an inch from hers, waiting for permission from her to touch and taste.
"Yeah---I mean, er, we had a moment. It was good and now we move on."
He did not want to move on and when her hand reached out to rest on his hip, Tor knew Waverley didn't either. She was not pushing him away, she holding him there. Permission granted.
"Do you believe in coincidence?" When his body met hers, Tor closed his eyes for a moment, giving in to the sensual warmth and scent of her. My woman.
"No."
Tor lifted her chin and looked into her green eyes, seeing the need and intense passion within.
"Liar."
"Okay, but I know where you want to go with this and I am not as au fait with your lickety-split logic."
"Where do you think this thing between you and me is meant to go?"
"We did not meet to just have sex."
"No, I agree." Tor could see his words confused Waverley. "We met because we are meant to be together."
"This is too fast and I---"
Tor kissed her before she could say another word. His mouth took hungry possessions of hers as he reached down for her hands and entwined his fingers with hers. He had not dreamt it. Waverley tasted as good as she did last week.
She pulled her lips from his. "We have to stop."
He liked the way she bit her swollen lip nervously. "Why, precious?" Her response matched his own. They were two people who needed each other and that was not something that could be faked. "I like kissing you." He lifted their linked hands above her head, resting them against the shelving. Tor looked up and frowned.
"What?" Waverley waited breathlessly for his next move, knowing it would be a good one. Her heart pounded wildly in her chest and she knew Tor would have felt it as close as they were.
"There are boxes of strawberry syrup missing."
Huh? She had not expected to hear a declaration of undying love but nor had she expected to be second best to syrup.
"We're just about to have sex and you're focusing on toppings?" It was not the most flattering thing for a woman in heat to hear.
Tor's eyes instantly locked on hers. "We're going to have sex?"
"Weren't we?" Oh please don't let me have misunderstood. She had gone from wanting to be rational and careful to needing to have Tor hot and hard inside her once more.
"I want to." Tor looked up again at the shelf. "I was thinking how great it would taste as I licked strawberries off your skin."
Oh boy. The wetness between her legs intensified.
"So someone nicked the boxes?" Am I going to miss out on getting licked? She mentally slapped herself. One minute she didn't want him and the next she did.
"We have a thief." Tor did not look happy about it.
"Stealing from the register is tacky." People always got caught. Waverley had never worked out why they thought they could get away with it.
"No, ice cream and toppings."
"Oh well, that's different." She shrugged her shoulders at his words. So the staff was eating some of the profits. You had to factor in shrinkage like that when you had an ice cream shop, surely.
Tor's eyes focused on hers. "How?"
"Well, it's ice cream," Waverley responded, wondering why he was looking so puzzled. And why were they even discussing this when there were other more interesting things they could do? The cock that pressed against her was turned-on and ready to go and not because of ice cream.
"Let me get this straight. It's okay to steal ice cream but not money?"
"Well yeah, it's a perk of the job---like stationery." Everyone knew that.
Tor shook his head and looked bemused. "So ice cream theft is okay?"
"No, it's more like acquiring stuff because it's part of your job." But then he was an employer so maybe he did not understand employee logic. "If it was a candy store, you'd be missing bonbons. It's not rocket science."
"Uh-huh," he murmured as he rubbed his pelvis against hers.
Nice.
"So if you are the only one with the key..."
"No, Malcolm the store manager has one and clearly someone else does too." Tor unlinked their hands.
Waverley's fingers moved to the broad shoulders she longed to caress.
"Is it just strawberry syrup that's gone missing? No ice cream?" Strawberry wasn't exactly one of her favorite flavors so in her eyes no great harm had been done. Missing ice cream, though, would be a tragedy.
Tor pushed back from her slightly.
"How does that matter?"
"Just interested." She shivered as he ran his hands down her back to her ass. Why did it feel like she had known Tor forever and not just a stolen moment or two? And why do I feel like I have to be with him? Some people would consider her haste morally wrong. Maybe it was, maybe it wasn't. Maybe feeling right was more important than following rules.
"Chocolate, butter pecan and licorice-flavored ice cream have gone missing as well."
"Licorice? That's just wrong in an ice cream." Waverley pulled a face. "Why would anyone steal black ice cream? How pukeable."
Tor laughed at her words. "But stealing other flavors is morally okay?"
"They're popular. You'd have to expect they would get stolen first." Waverley did not want to discuss ice cream. To hell with being careful and good. She longed to kiss Tor but she had never been one to initiate contact. In some things she was fearless but with intimacy she was scared of messing up. "I would have expected French vanilla and anything with caramel in it to go missing as well." Now kiss me please.
Tor pushed back from her slightly, amusement dancing in his eyes. "You're an interesting woman. You're worried about having sex with me but stealing ice cream is okay."
"Well, there is a big difference." As much as she loved ice cream, it was not what was on her mind at that moment.
"How so? Both are enjoyable."
"Yes, but ice cream is a pleasure that you don't always need." And I can walk away from ice cream but for the life of me I can't walk away from you right now. That worried her. She barely knew him and hot sex in a freezer was not your standard getting-to-know someone etiquette.
"Don't always need." He repeated her words slowly, his eyes never leaving hers. "Do you need me, precious?"
Waverley knew for the first time in her life what it was like to crave someone. Her past two lovers had never elicited that response from her. So why this man? What made him so different? Even Tor calling her "precious" was not enough to turn her away from him. Waverley liked the deep, husky timbre of his voice when he called her that. It made her feel like she was special.
"I don't have to have you." Her hands gripped his shoulders, pulling him closer to her.
"Says she pulling me close and lying."
Tor's breath was hot on her neck and all she could think of was tasting him. Maybe lickety-split logic was doable.
"Yeah, well, it's self-preservation."
"I'm very interested in preserving you." Tor's hands slid down and started to unbutton her shirt.
"Hey," she pushed half-heartedly at his hands. "What are you doing?" What am I doing? Thinking?
"I need to see you naked." Tor pulled open her shirt, his eyes fixed on the full swell if her bra-encased breasts. "Thighs included."
"I don't just have sex with anyone at any time." Waverley's hands caught his. "If I have given you that impression, then I was wrong to do so." She was many things but she was not a slut. Sex for the sake of sex was not something Waverley ever did. It had to mean something even if later on she slapped her head and wondered at her logic at the time.
"I know that." Tor leaned in and kissed her. "I want you because you are so damn sexy it would kill me not to touch you. I dreamed about you all last week and how damn good and right it felt to be inside you."
"You could have anyone." And he could. Tor was all hot male and the type of man who would be on any woman's Christmas wish list.
Tor ran his finger along her bottom lip. "Yeah, but I want you. Tell me what you want, precious."
"I'm thinking I should never have done what I did in the freezer and not had that orgasm." Waverley noticed the puzzled look in eyes. "I rarely have a male-induced orgasm and I'm not sure I have more than one in me." It was something that worried Waverley. Was she somehow undersexed because while turned-on by the thought of a nice, hot man, she rarely came with one? Until Tor. "I don't know if I should." God knows I want to. She was wet with need and the thought of Tor inside her once more made her tremble with desire. But previous lovers had been pissed off that she had lain there and not oohed and aahed and panted in rapture. Waverley did not believe in faking it. Either it was or it wasn't. She could see how that could be a smack to a man's ego. While Waverley did not know Tor, she didn't want to hurt him. "I think I'm frigid. Probably explains why I was able to come in a freezer. It's my natural environment."
Tor threw his head back and laughed at her words.
"Oh precious, you are anything but." One of his hands cupped her face. "It's all about chemistry. If the man's not right, then it's a wasted exercise." His eyes were tender on hers. "I'm right for you as you are for me and I have the most ardent desire to be with you again. Will you do me the honor?"
Waverley gave a loud gulp. No one have ever spoken to her so sweetly before. How was it possible that this man, a virtual stranger, understood her so well?
"Yes, Tor." To say anything else would have been crazy. The need to feel overrode any other worries. She slid the shirt off her shoulders and moved her hands around to her back and undid the clasp of her bra. His deep intake of breath as her breasts were freed gave Waverley a crazy feeling of power.
"Thank you," Tor growled, his voice full of raw emotion. "You are so beautiful." Without further delay his mouth descended on one pink nipple, sucking hard.
"Oh my," Waverley gasped. It was exactly how she wanted a lover to act, with skilful yet insistent force as if he was unable to control himself with her. That it was more than just sex by the numbers. She could feel Tor's hands on her capri pants tugging, pulling them down as his mouth never lost suction. "Oh God---stop..." Tor pulled his mouth from her breast and looked at her in concern. "I mean go. No, stop. This is crazy." What the hell do I mean? One nipple was swollen and the other was begging for attention. Her whole body was on fire. She made a conscious decision and turned the lights out on her "good girl" thoughts. Lust tonight, penance tomorrow.
"How do you feel?" Tor asked as he placed soft, wet kisses along her jaw.
"Hot...so hot." The pride she saw in his eyes dazzled Waverley. It was so primal, so possessive and it thrilled her.
"For me?"
"Yes, only you." Waverley knew in her heart after this man there would be no others, for no one else could follow Tor. If I sit and think about the one that got away when I'm old and gray, so be it. I have the here and now and I am going to make it count. Waverley kicked her pants free from her ankles.
Tor groaned as his eyes locked on her thighs. "Wow, what an idiot."
"Huh?" Who was?
"Your thighs. I never noticed them fully in the freezer."
Waverley swallowed hard on her disappointment. She knew where this was going. "Okay---yep, they're pudgy and---"
"And magnificent." Tor dropped to his knees before her, his hands firm yet soft as he caressed her flesh.
His touch made her tremble. "Really?
"May I?" Tor's fingers caught at the sides of her panties. When Waverley nodded her consent, he pulled them down and off.
Before she could say anything, Tor's tongue parted the cleft between her legs with one long licking stroke.
Waverley staggered. No man had ever done that to her before. They had considered it gross. But not Tor it seemed. He licked and sucked on her clit as if he could not get enough. She pulled his head close, threading her fingers through his hair, enjoying every wet, delicious moment.
"T-Tor..." she stammered, finding it hard to stand on her weakened legs.
He stopped and looked up at her, his eyes filled with lust. "Yes, precious?"
"I need you now." Waverley was about to come in his mouth and she wanted more than that. She wanted the full, thrusting weight of him inside her.
"Thank God. I am about to explode." Tor rifled through his pockets quickly. "I'd better have one." He smiled in triumph as he pulled out the foil pack. With one deft move, he slid down his zipper.
Waverley licked her lips as she saw his cock spring out. There was something so nicely wicked about being completely naked when your partner wasn't. She felt like she could come just watching him stroke the rubber over his shaft. When Tor was fully sheathed, he pulled her into his arms and kissed her with a hungry passion that left her breathless.
"Where?" It was not the most romantic of places but then nor was a freezer. Yet being with this man was all that mattered. The time and the place were irrelevant at that moment.
Tor walked her over to a nearby desk, pushing her back on it.
"Ouch, stapler." Waverley jerked up as the hard plastic prodded into her back. Tor cleared the surface and pushed her back down.
"Okay?" He wrenched off his jeans and shoes, kicking them across the room. He then lifted her legs up to his shoulders.
Waverley was totally exposed but he was at her command. Not that she would have said "no" at that moment, but she knew if she did Tor would respect that. And the damnable thing was he was only in her life for a short time.
"Please, Tor." Waverley wanted to make every second count. She shrieked as he plunged into her in one hard, hot stroke. It was exactly what she craved. How did he know her so well? No words had to be said between them as he thrust deep and hard inside her. Their eyes were locked on each other and everything they felt was reflected there. Waverley clutched at his hips as she matched his rhythm, loving the fact that he knew just what she craved. She caught her breath as the orgasm tore through her. It was so intense she could not help digging her fingernails into his flesh to hold on for fear of exploding. "S-s-sorry," she gasped out, but still did not let go.
"You've marked me for life and I like it," Tor growled as he continued pumping swiftly inside her until he jerked and shuddered and fell forward into her arms. "Bloody hell." They lay panting against each other. "What?" he asked as he looked at her.
"Is this rational?" Waverley already knew the answer to that. It wasn't, but then was anything rational in life? "We barely know each other and yet we've had sex twice. You don't even know my surname."
"It's wonderfully irrational, Waverley---"
"It's Astor."
"And I am falling in love with you, Waverley Astor."
"You are not." She slapped his chest, loving the hard male heat under her hand. "Sex does not equal love."
Tor picked up her hand and kissed it. "But this is not just sex. I want to know everything there is to know about you."
If only life was as simple as believing the intense look of emotion in his eyes. She could almost believe Tor loved her. But he didn't and she was naked with him in a storeroom and she doubted fairy tale romance happened that way. It was not the stuff dreams were made of. Waverley tried to pull away from him.
"Why? It's not like you're going to stay in Brisbane. You run a national business." National did not mean hanging around in one city when your empire was based in another. Although many had tried, Waverley was pretty sure that all the great sex in the world could not compete with market forces.
"No, Brisbane is not home," Tor admitted as he watched her intently. "I only came here to set up the latest store of Lickety Split. I will have to leave and go back to Sydney."
At least he was honest. Waverley did not want to get all caught up in someone, knowing there was no future in it. Already she knew Tor was a man she could get too involved with. It was better to call it mutual, spur-of-the-moment sex and move on.
"So what's the point?" Waverley did not want to move from where she was. He was still inside her and it felt so good, so right.
"Does there have to be one?"
"Yes because I don't want to get all silly over you and have you leave." Waverley wondered why Tor was not moving from her. Did this mean more to him? The look in his eyes made her think so but maybe that was the look of an accomplished lover. He wanted to make women feel good.
"Are you getting 'all silly' over me?" Tor caressed her face.
The look of hope in his eyes both scared and pleased her. Regardless of that, she wasn't one to play with another's feelings.
"The thing is, I don't want to."
"Can't live for the moment, precious?"
As moments went, Waverley had to admit this was one of her finer ones. Wild, knee-wobbling sex with a gorgeous hunk of a man who seemed to crave her as much as she did him. That did not happen to her. So it was a moment to savor.
"Not when you're declaring you love me." How could he love her when he knew nothing about her but her name and body parts?
"I own ice cream parlors." His voice was teasing and seductive.
"Don't try to blackmail me with my weakness." Though free ice cream for life wouldn't be a bad thing.
"What do I need to do for you to be with me?"
Very bloody little if you remain naked and keep looking at me that way.
"I think it's better we stop this before we get too deeply involved."
"That's already happened." Tor pulled out from within her.
As his body left hers, she felt the loss. I am already silly over you. She sat up and watched him. He could make even removing a condom look hot. Be still my heart. He was beautiful. It was like Michelangelo's David had come to life without the tiny, stylized penis. Had Michelangelo run out of marble or what?
"What are you thinking?"
"Michelangelo..." Waverley muttered as she looked at Tor. "Just get dressed, will you?"
Tor gave her a wide, charming smile. "Why? Does my being half naked bother you?"
"Yes." Why deny it? She wanted to look and touch and taste, but where would that get her other than alone when it all ended? "Now let me out of this damn storeroom."
Tor retrieved his jeans and found the key. "Going to get dressed first, precious?
When he'd bent over to pick up his jeans, the sight of his taut ass nearly made Waverley swallow her tongue. So this is lust. I like it.
"Why? Does it bother you?" All of this bothers the hell out of me.
"What do you think?" He tossed his jeans back down and walked back toward her with a definite look of intent on his face.
Waverley scrambled off the table. Having sex with Tor again would be fantastic but it would make it harder to leave. She caught the key he threw to her.
"I'll see you soon." His words left no doubt of his intentions.
Waverley caught the key. She knew there was no way they were likely to meet again. She had no intention of punishing herself by coming to Lickety Split again but that did not mean she would not remember this man forever.
"While I understand the Tor Arnett principle of lickety split and the cosmos, I have to live my life in the real world and that does not include you." She liked how strong she sounded in voice if not actions. "Thank you for whatever this was but it's over."
"Oh what are you doing here?" Why now? She had spent the previous night shoring up her defenses by telling herself it was a good thing she would never see Tor again and yet here he was. At her home. Him. The man she wanted against all good sense.
"Before you ask, your friend Martha dropped me a note with your address on it. She thought you might choose to disappear from me."
Damn. That had been her plan. The whole walk-away-and-don't-look-back thing. Bloody, pushy Martha. Waverley felt her heart skip a beat as she looked Tor up and down. Delicious, edible and standing at her front door as if he were hers for the taking. She pulled her robe closer to her body. It was Sunday morning. Waverley hadn't been expecting visitors, especially not someone she had planned on never seeing again.
"So... What's in there?" She pointed at the large brown paper bag bearing the Lickety Split red-, black-and-white logo.
"Triple swirl caramel ice cream."
Waverley clutched at the doorframe. It was eight o'clock on a Sunday morning and in her mind never too early for ice cream.
"Oh you know how to get to a woman." It occurred to her then and there that she could quite easily fall in love with Tor. Only he would be smart enough to understand ice cream and not flowers was the way to her heart.
"I'm not interested in just any woman." He moved closer to her. "Can I come in?" Tor waved the bag before her eyes.
And the diet once again starts tomorrow.
"Aren't you worried about the ice cream parlor and those thefts?" Waverley stepped back to allow him inside her home.
"I have security at the store doubled." Tor kicked the door shut behind him. "Besides no one but you eats ice cream at eight o'clock in the morning."
"I can't help it if I am unique." The smile Tor gave her made Waverley feel hot all over. That was a bad thing. That kind of heat was addictive. "What about your girlfriend?" How rude would it look to snatch the bag and push him out the door before she did something she would regret?
"I don't have one, precious." Tor looked around her place with interest.
"You know, the skinny one who was draped all over you at that premier of something or other. It looked like she was too starved to walk." Waverley just knew women like that did not eat ice cream.
"Melissa?" He turned to look at her. "She is an old friend who has trouble letting go." Tor waggled his eyebrows at her. "Jealous?"
Waverley crossed her arms defensively over her chest.
"No, why would I be?"
"'Seems like you're checking up on me." Tor came to stand before her.
Well, of course she had. Like any woman worth her salt, Waverley needed to know more about the man who was in her thoughts.
"The magazine was open at the newsstand, so naturally I looked." Bought and devoured the article on "Australia's hottest bachelor".
"Is it the same one that's on your coffee table?"
Bugger. Waverley knew there was no way she could deny that. But she did anyway.
"I have no idea what you are talking about."
"You are so cute." Tor tweaked her nose. "Now take off your clothes, precious."
Waverley's head jerked back at his words.
"What? Just like that?" If any other man had said it she would have told him to get out. But Tor, well, he was Tor and the possibilities of being naked with him once more were exciting. "I'm not having sex with you again." Waverley winced at the whiney tone of her voice.
"Yeah you are. We both know it, so drop 'em."
"Why?"
"Why do you think? Actually, Waverley, don't think. You do that too much---just act." Tor placed the bag on the table and lifted up his shirt, pulling it over his head. "I want to feed you ice cream."
Waverley caught her breath. She still couldn't believe this man with the six-pack abs wanted her.
"And I need to be naked?" She licked her lips in anticipation of stroking her tongue from his chest down. Tor unbuckled his jeans and let them drop to the ground. "Oh my," she sighed breathlessly. The man was naked and Waverley knew there was no way she could resist the fine flesh that was on display.
"What?" he asked as he kicked his clothes away.
"You're beautiful." Waverley had never thought any man so until this moment.
Tor raised his eyebrow at her knowingly.
"Saying that to flatter me to get to the ice cream?"
"Maybe." Though her eyes were not on the bag but on the luscious man before her.
"Your turn." Tor laughed at her expression. "Strip and you'll get the ice cream and anything else you want."
Waverley pulled at her robe. Part of her wished she had something more glamorous than her ratty old purple nightshirt on underneath.
"I'm not used to being naked so much." She shucked it off before she could chicken out. Waverley stood before him, naked. The thing that amazed her about Tor was he looked at her body as if he wanted to devour it and not offer her a gym membership. It was sweet and liberating.
"Get used to it. And I like the no panties. Excellent." Tor pulled her to his side and picked up the bag. "Where's the bedroom?"
The feel of his naked flesh on hers made her tremble. Waverly looked up into Tor's eyes and saw two things. Reassurance and passion. She pointed out the direction of the bedroom. She knew to do anything else would have been insane.
Once inside her bedroom, Tor smiled as he let go of nervous yet willing Waverley and walked around, taking in her environment.
"This is exactly what I expected." Waverley's bedroom was sensual and soft with its pinks and reds. But it had a flirty edge with wild splashes of purple that seemed to come out of nowhere almost like the lady herself. To think Tor almost decided to eat the hotel food where he was staying instead of venturing out to buy something microwavable to cook on that day they met in the freezer section. He was tired of fried and overdone food. Being on the road with his business, Tor did that a lot. To think I could have missed out on meeting Waverley.
Tor felt an all-consuming wave of tenderness for the woman who stood so shyly before him. She was so beautiful that looking at her made his heart skip a beat. That some fool of a man would tell her that the lush curves of her body needed work was insane. Tor wanted to spend a lifetime with this body and this woman. He had always thought the idea of being "complete" with someone was pop psychology used to sell self-help books. But now with Waverley and the things she made him feel, Tor was beginning to wonder. No other woman made him feel both lustful and protective at the same time. He knew in his heart it was love and it made him strong.
"You can tell a lot about someone from their surroundings."
"Like what?" Waverley shifted her stance in an uneasy way.
Tor went back to her and stilled her hands as they fluttered nervously as if wondering what to expose or cover.
"That you have a passionate self that you hide. That you want to let go and be wild but you hold it in because of fear." Tor knew he was right by the trembling of the hands he held in his. At that moment he made a vow to protect her forever. Maybe it was crazy to fall in love with someone after mere hours but forever with Waverley was what Tor planned. Now to get the lady to agree.
"Tor, I---"
"On the bed." He gave her a gentle push in that direction, admiring the fleshy curve of her ass. Tor was pleased to see the bed was the old-fashioned type with a headboard and footboard. "Lie on the bed and put your hands over your head." He opened the bag and pulled out some silken cords he had brought for their mutual enjoyment.
"You're going to tie me up?" It was something that Waverley had always wanted a lover to do to her but it was not a normal thing to ask of someone. The idea of having no control was both frightening yet exciting. She lay on the bed and extended her hands over her head. Her body was stretched out for him to admire. Waverley was vulnerable yet no other lover had made her feel so confident at the same time. She was woman. His woman.
"Yes, because you want me to." Tor got on the bed beside her and started tying her hands.
"How do you know?" Waverly asked as first one then the other was secured. To think she had almost traded in her old-fashioned bed for a sleek new one without places to tie a person up. Lucky. She looked at the cock bobbing in excitement beside her. Oh yes, very, very lucky indeed.
"I can see it in your eyes, precious." Tor pulled her legs apart and tied each foot to a post.
Waverley stiffened suddenly when she realized that she was totally immobile. Fantasy was one thing but reality was different.
"Tor?"
"Don't be scared, precious." Tor nodded his head as if satisfied she was secured to his satisfaction. "You look stunning." He ran his hand over her body and smiled as she moaned. Tor then reached for the bag and pulled out a carton of caramel ice cream and a spoon then took the lid off. The ice cream had gone soft enough for him to spoon it up. He held a caramel-covered spoon to her lips.
Waverely eagerly opened up and let the cool ice cream slide inside as his other hand rested on her stomach, stroking it.
"Want more?"
"Oh yes." He fed her another spoonful. The heat of his hand and the cold of the ice cream were amazing. Waverley watched as he opened the bag once more. "'Got a rabbit in there?" She joked then gasped when she saw him pull out the silver, egg-shaped bullet. "Oh..." Words failed her at that moment.
"You like?"
Oh yes indeed.
"You're not going to..." Please do.
Tor eyed her in mock concern. "Would it worry you having a hard, vibrating thing inside you?" He moved between her legs and toyed with the bullet, flicking it on and off.
Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy. This was so terribly naughty and Waverley loved it. That Tor was secure enough in himself as a man and a lover to give her pleasure however she needed it showed a confidence few men possessed. She gave a soft cry as Tor placed the vibrating egg on her clit. She closed her eyes as intense pleasure flooded her body.
"Keep your eyes open, precious, or you'll get no ice cream or anything else you may desire."
Her eyes snapped opened. Waverley did not want to miss anything on offer.
"'Want more?"
"Yes, please."
Tor removed the bullet from her clit and slowly inserted it inside her vagina. As much as he longed to trade places with this battery-powered dildo, he wanted to tease and please Waverley more. Once it was almost fully inside, he turned the dial up to medium and pushed it home. He smiled as her body tensed with excitement. He leaned over until they were face-to-face.
"I dare you not to come."
Waverley's eyes widened as his words. "But---"
"If you come without me inside you, then that's the only treat you will get today." Tor drizzled some of the melting, caramel ice onto her breasts. Her body twitched and shivered. He dropped his head and lapped up the sticky substance from her nipples and the tender undersides of her breast. Tor was rewarded by a strangled moan.
"Oh Tor," she sighed as she thrashed back and forward on the bed.
Worried that she was going hurt herself, Tor held his body over hers to still her.
"You like?"
"I love."
"Being with me?" Tor asked as he rubbed his body back and forward over hers, his cock stroking the soft skin between her pussy and stomach. "Or is it the ice cream turning you?"
"Definitely the ice cream."
In answer to that, Tor ramped up the speed on the bullet by flicking the switch on the outer mechanism. Waverley choked back a scream and gritted her teeth. He could see the muscles in her thighs taut with tension. "No, Tor, it's you. I need you."
"More than ice cream?" He pulsed the speed from fast to slow and back again. Tor was already so hard from watching her body twist and turn in pleasure that he was having a hard time trying not to come himself. He knew this was not a game they could play too long. Tor had prided himself on his sexual self-control but with Waverley he lost any command he had over his cock. The need was greater than he had ever experienced before. Waverley made him feel more alive than he had in a long time. While it was true there were many women out there, none of them had the same sweetness as this one. I need this woman in my life.
"Yes, and I never thought I'd say that about anyone." Tor was officially killing her. She wanted to bear down on the bullet inside her and come. When he had rubbed his body on hers, she had to bite her lip to stop screaming for Tor to fuck her until she couldn't walk. Waverley had heard that expression before. She wondered it if was possible. I'd certainly like to find out.
His hands were once more on her breasts, the speed of the bullet mercifully slowed. "I'm not just anyone though, am I, precious?"
If any other man had said it she would have thought it a cocky statement but he was right. Tor wasn't just anyone. He was the man who, against all reasoning, she had fallen head over heels for.
"Take me now or I'll come on this bullet and it would be an awful shame for you to miss out on that." She smiled as she saw the look on his face. Yeah, Tor wanted to be the one who made her come. Not a mechanic gizmo. Men---simple creatures really. Appeal to their ego and get your own way. He moved to untie her. "Leave my hands." Waverley liked the idea of being helpless up to a point. It surprised her that she felt that way as she was not a helpless woman. However, sometimes the strangest people had the simplest needs. Hers was to be loved by someone in control.
"Really?" Tor freed her legs.
"Yes." She watched as he drew the last thing out of the bag---a packet of condoms. Who's a clever boy, then? "Better hurry." Waverley's eyes were greedy on his cock. It was clear to her that she was not the only one losing control.
"Desperate, huh?" Tor ripped a packet open and worked on rolling the rubber up and over.
"I'm worried you are going to explode without me then I will need the bullet to finish the job properly."
"Never!" Tor was adamant that was not going to happen. He removed the toy from inside her. "You make me feel like a teenager---completely randy and out of control."
"Hurry up." Waverley opened her legs wider. She enjoyed the fact that he was as desperate as she was.
Tor moved in between her legs and lifted them up around his waist. "I think you like me."
I think I love you.
She wrapped them around his waist and waited for that first thrust. When it came, Waverley didn't bother choking back the scream. This was what she needed. This was not the time for pretense.
He chuckled at the wild sound that tore from her lips. "What will the neighbors think?"
Think? Who could do that when the grinding thrust of a hot cock was filling up her mind and her senses? "Oh Tor..." she sighed as she gave in to the sensation. It was weird but having her hands bound made it even more exciting. Whatever Tor wanted to do to her was completely beyond her control. "Harder."
"I don't want to hurt you."
Waverley told Tor about her fantasy of being fucked until she could not stand.
"I will do my best, precious." He pulled out of her and picked her hips up so her legs were almost doubled back on herself. Tor ran a finger around the puckered hole of her anus.
Waverley stiffened. "You're not going to---" The thought if it sent a hot rush through her body. She had always wanted to try that but never had been game enough to ask for it.
"Do you want me to?" Tor slid one finger into her hole and past the ring of tight muscle.
"Oh," Waverley murmured as another finger joined the first. It was uncomfortable, but not. It was a different feeling of fullness that she wanted to try but only with Tor. She could see his cock gleaming from the slick wetness of her own body. She bit her lip nodded. "Yes---please, Tor."
He needed no further invitation as he eased a further finger inside and moved back and forward, his eyes on hers as he watched her expression.
If someone had told her a week ago she would have been doing this on her almost-nun-like bed she would have laughed. Soon she needed more than just the gentle thrust of Tor's fingers.
He seemed to sense that. "Now? I need something."
"What?" She was naked and willing. What more could he want?
"Some lotion."
Waverley blushed. Duh, of course. Otherwise it would be like the proverbial square peg into a round hole. She turned her head in the direction of her dressing table. "The blue bottle. No, wait. The pink."
"There's a difference?"
"You're a man. You wouldn't understand." One was body lotion for the day and one was for the night.
"No, we never do from what I hear." Tor went to the dressing table and brought back the lotion.
She was entranced as he flicked the lid and worked the smooth gel over his cock. It was sexiest sight.
"I need you." Waverley allowed Tor to position her legs so he could elevate her ass using a nearby pillow. She started giggling.
"What?" His cock was positioned, ready for entry.
"What would someone think if they walked in now?"
Tor chuckled and eased the head of his cock inside. "They would think I was a very lucky man."
Waverley had heard of the old camel-passing-through-the-eye-of-the-needle thing and she was beginning to wonder if something so large would fit into such a small area.
"Um, Tor---"
"Relax, precious," he murmured, pushing inside. "This will work but if it hurts I will stop."
Waverley snorted. "No, you bloody won't because I won't let you, besides I wasn't saying don't do it, I was just wondering and--- Oh..." She felt something give inside her as his penis pushed in farther. "So hot, so full."
"Okay?"
"Oh hell yeah." Tor began thrusting in long, slow strokes that made her head spin with the intensity of what she was feeling. It was so different from anything she had ever experienced before. "I just know there is no way I am going to be able to walk tomorrow."
Tor stopped thrusting to laugh. "Have I told how much I love you, precious?"
"Yeah, now prove it and move." She smiled as Tor's fingers buried themselves in her vagina and thrust in rhythm with his cock. The feeling was exquisite and having already been on edge with the silver bullet, it did not take long for the shooting pleasure of a climax to crash through her body. Waverley let out a low, keening moan as she wallowed in the pleasure.
"I didn't say you could come," Tor reminded her.
"I dare you not to come." She could feel he was so close to exploding inside her.
"I'd lose," he growled as a rush of sensation had Tor coming hard and fast within her. Her dropped her legs and moved to undo her hands.
When he gathered her in his arms and lay back down with her on the bed, Waverley knew true happiness for the first time.
"She's the blonde one looking all moony-eyed at the boss." The man watched as his employer led the woman into the store. It was after eleven o'clock at night and the Lickety Split had closed.
"She sleeping with him?" His accomplice ducked down behind the counter to make sure he was not seen.
"They're fucking like rabbits." He could tell just by the way he held her against his body as they walked. It was the possessive hold of a man besotted by a woman.
"So he doesn't have a clue what we are doing?"
"Nope." And they were going to make money out of their boss's ignorance.
The other man stood up once the couple had passed. "So we ship out containers tonight?"
"Yeah, and we have a limited time to get them to Pete's store in this heat." It angered him greatly when he thought about the money they had lost on the last deal because they had been thwarted by the upgraded security. But careful scrutiny of when security made their rounds meant they had a window of opportunity. "Is the van parked nice and close out the back?" Lickety Split ice cream was big business. It had a taste that no other did. Thieves relabeled it made themselves a nice little profit.
The other man nodded. "You think he'll be around for long tonight?"
"No, he'll be too caught up in wanting to bang her."
\*
"Should we be here after-hours?" Waverley held on to Tor's hand tightly. They had spent all day making love and she still couldn't get enough of him.
"My store---I can do what I like." Tor pulled her to him and kissed her hard. "Besides you wanted ice cream and I aim to please, my lady."
"Am I?"
"You know you are."
"But---"
"No buts." He spun her around until she was facing the table of a nearby booth. "Let's enjoy what we have." Tor tugged on her shorts.
"Here?" Waverley felt the air on her naked behind as he removed her pants. "'Has to be a health violation surely." But she didn't care because her need for him was more urgent than worrying about rules. Part of Waverley knew that what they had might all fall apart tomorrow. If so, she wanted to take advantage of every moment she had with this amazing man. No one had ever made her feel so good. She jumped as his hand slid in between her legs from behind.
"I love how you are always so beautiful and wet for me."
"Only for you, Tor." She shivered as he nuzzled her neck, his warm breath on her skin making her hot with need. How was it possible to want someone so much?
"May I?" he whispered low in her ear.
"Yes, please." There was no other response that Waverley could give. She braced her hands against the table and widened her stance as she heard the sound of wrapping being ripped off a condom. "What's taking you so long?" she teased.
"Patience, precious," Tor murmured, sounding anything but.
Waverley butted her ass back against him. "Do I have to use my fingers?"
"You do and I'll spank you."
She let one hand slip between her legs and toyed with her clit. She didn't want to touch it too hard as she was ultrasensitive to any stimulation at that moment. When Tor's hand came down on her backside, she squealed with delight and removed her hand.
"Finally got the condom on, then?" Waverley was rewarded with a slap to her ass. She had never thought that spanking was the remotest bit erotic until she met Tor.
"You like that, don't you?" Tor spanked her one last time. He smiled as she sighed with contentment.
"I like it better when you're inside me." Waverley felt Tor's hands on her hips and the head of his cock against her vagina. She pushed back against him. "Now please." As the full length of his shaft sank inside her, she moaned. Waverley had never considered herself an overtly sexual person until she met this man. Anything he wanted she would give. Because I love him. She stiffened in shock as the thought slammed into her. I love Tor.
The man in question stopped thrusting inside her. "Are you okay?"
"Don't stop. Make me come." If this all fell apart between them at least her memories of Tor would never fade. "Harder," Waverley insisted. She was answered by Tor pulling out and thrusting back in hard, pumping inside her as if he was a man possessed.
"You drive me crazy," he growled against her ear.
Waverley grabbed the tabletop so firmly she was expecting it to rip out from the floor and send them rocketing backward.
"Steel bolts," Tor murmured as if guessing her thoughts. "Hold on."
The scream that tore from her throat was loud and long and anyone passing the Lickety Split at that moment would have thought she was dying. The orgasm that gripped her was so powerful her legs would have buckled if not for the fact that Tor was holding her so tightly against him. She panted in short gasps as she tried to regain some vague composure. Tor continued his pace until he let out a loud groan and clutched her to him as his penis jerked and twitched inside her.
"Bloody hell," Waverley breathed out as Tor pulled out from her body. He turned her around and kissed her with a passion that made her sag against him in response. "You're very good and I am ruined for all other men." Now she finally understood what that statement meant.
Tor picked up her hand and kissed the palm. "There is never going to be anyone else for me but you, Waverley Astor."
The dream sounded so nice but the reality was too hazy and undefined for her to believe it wholeheartedly.
"I believe you promised me ice cream."
"Ah, a change of subject." Tor gazed into her eyes. "I love you and I plan to be with you forever so get over it."
'"Get over it' is hardly romantic." I want to believe, I really do. Problem was it had all happened so fast that Waverley was scared it would end just as quickly and she would not be able to get over it.
Tor stepped back and removed the spent condom, disposing of it in a nearby bin.
"You're a hard sell, precious." He took her hand in his once more. "So I will ask you a question I think you can handle. What flavor?"
"So you're going to race in get the ice cream and race out?" The freezer Tor had brought her to was a large industrial one. It was nothing like the one they had been stuck in at the supermarket.
He told her it was where all the extra special ice cream was kept. Well, I'm pretty damn special. Waverley felt smug and excited. Special ice cream. Yum.
"Yes, so stay outside. It's too cold in there." Tor opened the door a fraction. "So caramel?"
"May as well get chocolate mud while you're in there." Waverley smiled as he looked at her in mock exasperation. "I'm a woman. I could change my mind at any moment."
"That's what I'm hoping." Tor went in and shut the door.
"Oh and I want to." She leaned against the side of the freezer and thought about the future. How nice would it be to have Tor as part of her life? Yes, Waverley was capable of living alone but having someone you loved made life more livable. "Please let it b---" She stopped when she heard the noise. "What the?" It sounded like a fight had broken out in the freezer. Surely no one else wanted caramel ice cream at this time of night and was fighting Tor for it? Before she could do anything, the lights went out. "Holy hell. What's going on?"
The next thing Waverley knew a blast of cold hair hit her and the sound of two men grunting and swearing colored the air.
"Tor?" she yelled as she ran into the open freezer door. "Crap, that hurt." Waverley put a hand to her cheek to assess the damage. She could still hear the scuffling around her. She didn't know what she could do in the dark and Waverley didn't want to be one of those helpless females who screamed the hero's name over and over for no reason. Before she could do anything, a man rushed past, knocking her to the ground. Waverley was winded as her back hit the ground. She was just beginning to make out shapes in the darkness. As another body rushed past her, she rolled over and grabbed one of the legs, forcing the man to trip and fall. She scrambled on top of him. Waverley could hear the sound of running feet. "Tor, I got one." The sound of familiar laughter came from beneath her. She ran her hand over the body she was perched on.
"You have me." Tor's hands slid up to her hips. "And if you ever climb on another man you are in big trouble, precious."
"What happened? How did the lights go off and how can you be turned-on by this?" Waverley could feel his cock pushing at his jeans.
"I suspect they are the ice cream thieves and that they turned off the lights to confuse us."
"Well, that worked nicely."
"And any time you touch me I want you."
Oh boy. Who's a lucky girl?
"Did you see either of them?" Tor's hands massaged her ass.
Waverley shifted position so she was directly over his covered penis. She was strangely turned-on by what had happened as well. It seemed natural to rub herself against the erection that was being offered.
"No, I was knocked to the ground."
"Are you okay?"
The fierce, worried sound of Tor's voice made her feel loved and protected.
"Yes...you know we can't have sex here." Waverley knew she was only saying what they were both thinking.
Tor sighed in agreement. "You're unfortunately right." He squinted at her through the darkness. "Are you going to get up?"
"'Just trying to will certain parts of my body to calm down." The sound of Tor's laughter made her smile. To make this man happy was important to her. "Got another condom?"
"Left-hand side pocket. Why?"
Waverley moved her hand to the pocket in question.
"Because, despite everything, I don't want certain things to calm down." His cock was one of them.
"Danger turns you on, precious?"
With Tor---any time and every time. "Maybe, or maybe I just want to be with you." To make the most of whatever this wildfire craziness was between them. She pulled out the condom and stood.
"Where are you going?" Tor reached out for her.
Waverley tried to focus through the dark for the light switch.
"I need to see you. Where are the lights?"
"Why?
"Because I don't want to put this condom on your big toe."
"My toe isn't that big." Tor told her where the lights were. "Hello." He lay back and watched her. "What do you have in mind, precious?"
"Sliding down on top of your cock and holding you inside me until we're both breathless." She pulled her shorts down.
Tor grinned at her. "That's sounds like a good plan to me."
Waverley hesitated for a moment before kicking the material from her legs.
"Maybe we should call the police." Have sex or do the responsible thing?
"Why?" Tor asked, his voice lazy with need as he unzipped his jeans and freed his penis. "Making love is not an offense is it?"
Waverley was about to kneel down beside him but common sense overrode lust for a moment. "We should be chasing thieves." They stole from you."
Tor ran his hand through his hair. "Damn, I can't think straight when I'm with you---and don't look so pleased." He rezipped his jeans and pulled out the cell phone in his trouser pocket. "I'll report this first but then we're having sex."
"Well, of course, I'm not totally stupid." Waverley was so wet with need it was killing her to be the responsible one.
Tor reported in. He snapped off his phone and pulled Waverley to her knees beside him. "They'll be here in twenty minutes. They're on the other side of town doing their rounds."
Waverley snorted. "They sound like a fairly slack-assed bunch to me. I bet they were asleep in their car." Her gaze lowered once more as Tor's hand freed his cock from his trousers.
In turn, he picked up her hand and urged her toward him.
"Thieves? What thieves? As far as security guards go, yeah I'll be looking at changing the company. But for now I can only see a beautiful woman." He helped her straddle his body. "This is not the most romantic place."
"You are here and that's all the matters." Waverley ripped the condom open with her teeth.
"I like a forceful woman."
Waverley reached for his cock and began to roll the condom down.
"I can't believe how much I want you. I'm turning into a complete slut."
Tor shook his head, his eyes locked on her. "No, never, precious," he told her. "We love each other and making love is never wrong or too much." He groaned as she rubbed his penis along the wet slit between her thighs. "You make me feel so good."
"You are." Waverley plunged down on over his shaft, smiling as Tor gulped loudly at the suddenness of it.
His hands caressed her hips, holding her down as she rocked back and forward on top of him.
"One day you're going to have to admit how you feel about me and us."
Waverley looked down at Tor. She loved him, fool that she might be for rushing in. She just wasn't ready to say the words.
"Don't you know?"
"I long to hear the words."
"Tomorrow at two o'clock in the afternoon," she responded flippantly. Waverley chortled with laughter as Tor slapped her butt. "Ooh, do that again." It sent a thrilling vibration through her body and down onto the cock that was ensconced in her body.
"I'm going to hold you to that promise."
Waverley arched her eyebrow at him in amusement. "What are you going to do if I don't?"
Tor pulled her down into his arms and rolled her over so she was underneath him. He pulled his penis out and lifted Waverley's legs until her ankles were resting against his neck.
She yelped with excitement as he pushed back into her slowly, as if taking every inch of her body in possession.
"Wow, if this is punishment I like it." She reached out and held on to his hips as he ground in and out of her body. It was just the slow, hard fuck she needed. The intensity of it made Waverley close her eyes.
"Look at me, precious." Tor did not stop thrusting for a moment. "I am the man who loves you."
"Yes," she gasped breathlessly as she felt that familiar feeling of excitement rush through her.
"This is forever."
"Really? Our lying on the floor like this may be hard to explain to your staff tomorrow." She shrieked as he pulled out and plunged back in. "Oh my..."
"Waverley," Tor murmured as he increased his pace.
"Yes, Tor?"
"Please give us a chance."
The "yes" that ripped out from her throat was as definite and decisive as the orgasm that rushed through her body.
Tor groaned. "Was that you or the orgasm speaking?"
"Both." She lay back and gave in to the wonder as a feeling of great peace took over her body. When Tor growled moments later and came with her, she pulled him down into her arms. "I promise you."
Tor pushed the hair back from her face and kissed her.
"That's all I can ask, precious."
"You're kidding me?" Martha looked at her friend in amazement. They worked in the same office building and met for morning tea.
"Nope, the cops showed up and took statements." It had been all very anticlimatic after the climaxes she had shared with Tor. Waverley still tingled with the feel of him.
"Not the cops. I mean the sex. Twice in the restaurant and once at your home? You are so lucky. I can't even remember what sex is."
Waverley rolled her eyes and grinned in good-natured amusement. She knew at that moment nothing could upset her. She felt too good. "You have a one-track mind, Martha."
"Come on, Waves, when you're not getting any you generally do." She eyed her friend with wonder. "So have you told him you love him?" Martha held up her hand before Waverley could speak. "No, don't try to deny it. I can see it in your eyes."
"Two o'clock today." Waverley explained some of what she discussed with Tor.
"You're crazy."
"I know." So this was love. I like it. "I know it's happened so fast but---"
"So what?" Martha interrupted. "It either is or it's not. Great love can grow from a momentary glance and to look away in fear is a waste."
Waverley laughed. "What's that? The wisdom of chop suey?"
"Just don't mess it up. Not every man is a Jonathan." Martha looked at her meaningfully. "Though actually he wasn't a man at all, more like a wind-up Ken doll. I bet he also had the plastic bump between his legs and no penis." She grinned at the thought. "I reckon he was jealous of your thighs because you had them and he didn't. What a weedy little sod. He's not like your god of thunder."
Waverley had to agree with that. "No one is like Tor."
"So don't let him get away. Just because it's good and fast doesn't mean it won't last."
"I love him. I want it to last."
"Atta girl."
\*
At lunchtime Waverley walked the six blocks from her office to Lickety Split. She had made herself do it.
"Time to stop being a scaredy-cat and see what happens." Realistically she knew the man was going to leave. The thing was, did she take what he could offer while it was on offer and have pleasant memories to look back on? Or did she convince Tor, by some miracle, to take a chance and stick around Brisbane? "A girl can dream," Waverley muttered as she took a deep breath and pushed open the door of the parlor. The first person she saw was the man himself.
"Hi." Tor's smile was one of pure delight. He instantly came around from behind the counter to her.
It made Waverley feel good inside that she had the power to make Tor happy. She leaned in and kissed him.
"What's going on?" Tor looked at her in bemusement.
I can't be that bad at being spontaneous, surely?
"Can't I just come round and say hi?"
"You?"
"Yes, me." God, why did this seem so hard? In her head she had worked it out that he would say 'I love you', she would answer back with the same response and then they would ride off into the proverbial sunset.
"Uh-huh," Tor responded as he assessed her with interest. "Why are you here?"
"What?" Waverley placed her hands on her hips, a little pissed off that any wild plan that the man would fall at her feet and declare he would never leave her side was not working.
"I'm just kind of surprised."
"Jeez, I making an effort to be---you know." Surely Tor had to know how hard this was for her. Maybe I am just a fling? Crap. How did I get this so wrong? Just because he said he loved her didn't mean anything. Waverley was well aware people fabricated their own version of the truth to get what they wanted.
"What are you making an effort on?" Tor's words were teasing as he grinned at her.
She threw her hands up in the air. "Oh forget it." Waverley wasn't about to beg the man. The sex was good but her dignity was more important to her.
"I kind of like it when you are pissed off. You get all cute and cranky." Tor looked at his watch. "Nearly two o'clock. Ten minutes to go before you tell me you love me."
Waverley snorted in derision. "I'm not going to say it now if this is the response I get." Bloody hell, let me out of here. For the first time in her life she wished she was back at work. This had been a big mistake.
"Say what, precious?" Tor held his ground as if waiting for her next move.
She turned on her heel and stomped to the door.
"I'm going back to work." Without ice cream and I really need it too.
"I love you, Waverley," Tor called as she shoved at the door.
"I love you back, you pain in the ass." She slammed the door and stalked off.
Tor hadn't felt this alive in years. He had known Waverley for but a heartbeat of his existence yet to let her walk away now would kill him. She was life itself to him. Passionate, wild, temperamental and sweet. She was everything he enjoyed in a woman. That she admitted, albeit under pressure, that she loved him made Tor want to wrap her in his arms and kiss the stuffing out of her. Any thought he had about going back home to Sydney had vanished. He could not care less about his life there. At that moment Waverley was the most important thing to him.
"Got to love these lickety-split moments." And that's what this was. Lightning fast but incredibly right. "You're not going anywhere, lady." He called to his staff he was leaving for the day and shot after her. He wrenched open the door and looked left then right. Tor chuckled when he saw Waverley marching in full fury as fast as her Cuban heels would take her. Tor ran and caught up to her, walking alongside as if everything was right in his world.
"Going somewhere, precious?" He caught her hand in his and refused to release it no matter how hard she pulled.
"Piss off."
"Why?" He linked his arm in hers.
Waverley dropped her arm to her side and stopped. "Because you're annoying."
"But you love me." That was a fact. The lady had said it and Tor was going to hold her to it no matter how scary it seemed to her.
"I have to get back to work." She started walking again.
"And you love me."
Waverley stopped once more. "Not everything is about you."
Tor nodded his head. The woman was right. "No, it's all about us."
She looked at him in bewilderment. "You are so confusing."
"No, you're just scared." Tor said it as a challenge to make Waverley rise to meet it.
"Of what?"
The woman had her hands on her hips. Tor knew this was Waverley's fighting stance. "Of letting someone in."
"You've been in," she pointed out.
Yes he had, and he planned to go back there again for their own mutual enjoyment. "You know what I mean."
"No, I don't but marry me, Waverley."
The woman in question staggered. "Huh?" the word came out as a high-pitched squeak.
"As much as I would like to drop down on bended knee now, I know you would have a heart attack."
"I would not. Okay maybe I would but only because what you're proposing is insane."
"Let's go somewhere and talk this through." The more time Tor had with Waverley the happier he was. Yes, his business was important but this woman would always override everything else in his life.
"What about work?"
"I'm the boss and you can't tell me you like your job." Tor already sensed Waverley was not the career-minded type.
"Well, no."
"So call in and say you came down with food poisoning over lunch and then come with me." Tor caught her hand up in his. "Trust me and I'll show fantastic things."
\*
"How is any of this fantastic?" Waverley looked around at the stainless steel vats as she tugged at the cap on her head. "It's a factory and I'm wearing a shower cap." She gazed at Tor. He actually looked good in the dumb blue elasticized cap but then he was the sort who could carry anything off.
Tor moved in closer to her, wrapping an arm around her waist.
"This is where they make ice cream, precious. You like ice cream."
Waverley gave him an eye roll.
"Yeah, in a bowl or in a tub, not like this." This was raw produce being fashioned into product. She was a city girl. She had no wish to know the truth of where stuff came from other than a supermarket shelf or a fridge.
"You're a hard woman to please." Tor tweaked her nose.
"Glad you know it."
"I wouldn't want it any other way."
Waverley's gaze returned to where the men in spotless white overalls were checking gauges and peering into vats of what appeared to be milk. They were about an hour from Brisbane in the farmland of the lush Lockyer Valley. It was not somewhere Waverley had ever thought to visit. She was a city girl. Cows made her edgy.
"Just watch and learn. This is how they make ice cream the old-fashioned way." Tor started talking about how he set his business up and why.
Until that moment, Waverley realized she had been so caught up in the thrill of being with the sexy Tor that she knew little about the whole man. That he was sweet, kind and loving she knew. But there was another part to him that she wanted to know---the businessman. She listened quietly as he talked about how his grandfather had a farm in central west New South Wales where he taught the young Tor all about the time and effort it took to make quality ice cream.
"I helped granddad in the sheds where I learned to milk cows right up to the proper way to freeze ice cream. What I know today I learned from him."
Waverley was impressed. This was not some hard-nosed businessman who had jumped on some fad and decided to capitalize on it. Tor really cared about the product he made.
"So you decided to do it yourself?"
Tor nodded. "Yeah, when I knew I could do it almost as well as my grandfather, I borrowed money from anywhere and everyone. I sank it into this little dairy farm with a ramshackle factory and started making ice cream using granddad's recipes."
Waverley could see it in her mind's eye. A young Tor working hard, trying to fulfill a dream. She admired that. She had never had any dreams to follow. Waverley tended to blunder into things. But now she got why she was staring at steel vats and wearing the hat from hell. Because all this was important to Tor.
"Is your granddad still alive?" Him, she wanted to meet. Anyone who inspired passion was someone to be admired.
Tor gave a sad smiled and hugged her close.
"No, he died last year." He stood quietly for a moment. "However, he lived to see my business up and running."
Waverley looked at Tor in admiration. She loved him before for other reasons, now she loved him for being a dreamer and a battler and taking a chance. Not many people did that. She didn't.
"What?" Tor looked at her in bemusement.
"You are quite amazing." Waverley touched his cheek and wondered how she had been so lucky to wander into the freezer at that moment and meet Tor. Maybe there was something to his theory about Lickety Split forcing people who are meant to be together. "You're sexy, smart and hardworking and you believe totally in what you are doing."
"I also believe in you."
Waverley shook her head in wonder. "Don't you question what we are doing together? We are not alike in any way."
"Maybe we aren't but there is no law to say we have to be."
"No, but---"
"Why you?" Tor held her hand to his heart. "Because you make me happier than I have ever been. Just seeing your beautiful face makes me believe in love." He tilted his head in question. "What?"
"I just don't believe how I could be so lucky." Tor's heart beat strongly under her palm. "You and me and the way you make me feel---it's just wild."
"Believe it, and wild can be good." Tor winked at her. He turned as the owner of the farm came up and talked to them.
To be honest, most of what they said went straight over Waverley's head but that was okay. She was more interesting in the passionate, caring way they talked as if what they were speaking about meant something to them. And that's why I love him.
\*
"Why are we stopping?" Tor had pulled the car off the side of the road and into a laneway.
"I need to kiss you." He wrenched up the handbrake and pulled her into his arms.
"Yum."
"Very much so," he murmured as his hands slipped to the bottom of her shirt and started to pull it up.
"Is this kissing?" The heat of his skin on hers was delicious.
"I never said just on the lips." Tor pulled her shirt off over her head.
"We're in a car." Anyone could see them and she didn't want cows staring at her as she did stuff.
"Not only are you beautiful but you are smart." He licked the deep cleft of her cleavage.
"Someone will see us."
"Only the cows in the next paddock." Tor unclasped her bra. Her breasts bobbed out of the cups. "Besides, I'm only kissing you." His mouth descended onto her nipple.
"Oh---that's sucking," Waverley moaned as she held his head to her breasts.
Tor chuckled against her skin. "Okay I may also lick you."
Licking was good.
Waverley shivered and felt the surge of wetness between her legs as his hand slid up under her skirt.
"Tor, this is not the place." What was the reason against that again?
"Yeah, you're right. There's no room. Let's move to the backseat." Tor removed his hands from her body and started work on taking off his shirt.
"I don't mean that." Oh no, he was undoing his pants...
He kicked off his shoes and lifted his backside to slide his trousers off. "Come on, precious, take your clothes off and let's shock the cows."
Tor was naked. Waverley could not look anywhere else but at him. "What if they won't give milk. That could affect ice cream sales."
"Or maybe they'll get excited and produce more." Tor moved out of his seat and climbed in between the two front seats and into the back.
Waverley watched as his ass passed by and she knew there was no way she could say no to that. She shimmied out of her skirt and panties and joined him, sitting on his lap. His mouth once more fastened on her breasts, sucking the nipples as his hand massaged her ass.
"Does ice cream making always turn you on like this?" Waverley fisted his cock and felt the power beneath the hot, smooth flesh.
"You were so hot and sexy with on that cap on."
Waverley gave him a playful slap. "I am assuming you have a condom here somewhere?" She knew that neither of them, once naked, would last very long. Their endurance was shot around the other.
"In my trousers."
She reached back into the front seat and found them. "Uh-oh." Her hands rechecked the pockets. No condom. Damn. Just when she was ready to shock the cows.
"What?"
"No rubber." Oh why now?
"Seriously?" Tor grabbed the pants and turned out the pockets. "Fuck."
"Or not in this case." Waverley made a move to get off his lap because there was way too much temptation going on there.
"I need you, precious."
"The feeling is most definitely mutual." However, Waverley wasn't about to have unprotected sex. She loved Tor and wanted him but she was also smart enough to know the risks. But she did have an idea that might be kind of fun. Waverley climbed off his lap and reached back into the front seat and retrieved her plain red cotton panties.
"Bad move having that luscious ass on display like that."
She turned and swatted the hand that caressed her butt. "Down, boy." Not that the erection was going anywhere any time soon without some help.
"What are you doing?" Tor helped her back on to his thighs.
Waverley fisted his cock between her hands.
"Are you trying to kill me?" Tor's voice was tight with suppressed need.
She covered the head of his penis with the red cotton in one hand and with the other she stroked his shaft up and down in a slow milking action. "Just sit back and relax."
Tor's head fell back against the headrest. "Oh Waverley. Oh God, that's so good."
Waverley found it exciting to be holding this man's nerve center in her hands and have it totally under her control. She increased the friction of her hand, wanting to see him come. It was different from having him inside her. It was for him but also for her. Waverley wanted to give him pleasure.
"What about your panties? I'll ruin them."
"It'll give me more reason not to wear them, then." She felt his cock jerk in reaction to her words so Waverley squeezed the base of his shaft a couple of times and the man shook as he started to come. They both grasped the cotton pants as liquid heat seared the fabric. She was quite intrigued about the volume of semen that shot forth. One day she'd like to see that without the covering. "That was fun. I could do that again."
"Oh Waverley, I adore you---now get on your back." Tor threw the stained panties to the floor of the car.
"I don't need---"
"But I do." He pushed her back against the upholstery and lifted her legs.
When his mouth fastened on her clit, Waverley screamed. She was so on edge from everything that had happened in the backseat that if a feather had touched her clit she would have exploded.
"Oh Tor," she whimpered as he kept sucking until she was shaking beneath him as the powerful orgasm hit.
Tor gathered her into his arms and smiled. "Now that was fun, precious."
\*
Waverley was feeling pretty damn good by the time they got back to Lickety Split. But as they pushed open the door, the somber atmosphere sobered her right up.
"We've been robbed," an employee blurted out as she rushed up to Tor.
Waverley did a double take.
"Really? More ice cream?" Who the hell was this bandit? Mr. Frostee?
"Yeah, but also this time they cleared out the cash register."
"I don't like the look of him," Waverley murmured, her eyes glued on the employee talking to the police.
Tor looked at his staff member. His nickname was Roo and he hadn't been his first choice in an employee but the store manager had employed him before Tor had a chance to say anything. Even though the man's arms were heavily tattooed and his uniform did little to hide that, or the baseball cap to hide his earrings, Tor did not want to judge him on his looks. But it had been hard because he wanted a certain fun look to his stores and Roo wasn't part of it. He had a smart-ass malevolence that was off-putting. Tor had decided to give him a chance but time was running out for Roo at Lickety Split. He found it interesting that Waverley had zeroed in on him.
"Because of the tattoo and the earrings?" Even thought he had known Waverley for such a short time, she had never struck him as someone who would judge another by the way they looked. Her hang-up about her thighs was evidence of that.
"No, I think on some men they can be sexy."
Tor pulled her close to his side. "Damn, I have none but I will pierce or ink anything you desire."
She reached up and stroked his face. "You have other things I like." Her fingers trailed over his lips. "No, it's his eyes---they're sly-looking and the way he stands is too defensive."
"Seriously?" And yet even as he asked, Tor knew women often picked up things men did not. However, he needed something more to go on than just body language.
Waverley tilted her head this way and that as she assessed the man.
"There is something about him that's just not right and a woman always knows."
"So what? I confront him because of his eyes?" Tor knew at this point in his life he would do anything Waverley asked but that was too irrational for him. While he liked that side of her, Tor knew he needed more than just "sly eyes" to go on.
"Search the place," she whispered out the corner of her mouth so others could not hear. "I bet the money is still here."
If it wasn't so serious Tor knew he would be laughing.
"Really, Nancy Drew?" How I love this woman.
"Yes, because people who rob registers aren't smart."
Tor nodded. He knew this was only too true. He had been burned in the past by staff theft and, yes, while the money or product may be negligible, it was never going to be something he tolerated.
"It's a snatch-and-grab thing and no one leaves an unattended sales register in a busy store." Waverley's tone sounded like that was only logical. "Customers are always coming and going. It makes no sense to walk away from where they are paying their bill."
Smart and beautiful. "The problem I have is I can't just go searching the place without proof. Employees have rights."
Waverley turned to face him. "Absolutely, but it's your money and you also have rights."
"It won't break me."
"Really?" Waverley had never contemplated the fact that it was highly likely that Tor was wealthy. Yes, she had learnt a lot about his non-silver-spoon origins today. And while he was clearly successful with his own ice cream parlors spread across the country, the funny thing was she had not been focusing on that aspect. Tor, the man, not the mogul had taken up her complete attention. "I mean no---but if you find the money, I bet you find the ice cream thief." While it wasn't her business, Waverley didn't want to see anyone take advantage of Tor. Sure, he was a foot taller than her and all solid muscle but that didn't mean he didn't need support.
"How do you figure that?"
"Ice cream theft would have to be an inside job." Waverley looked certain of this. "No one is going to deliberately break into an ice cream store in the hope of stealing gallons of ice cream."
"I bet if you were a thief you'd be an ice cream thief."
"Yes, but we're not talking about me." Added to that she would get caught because she would be stopping to sample the merchandise before it even got out of the store. "The thing is, I reckon that the money was taken to get your mind off thinking it was all about the ice cream." The man had a marketable product that no doubt had a million-dollar turnover. Others would seek to capitalize on that, be it on selling or trying work out why Lickety Split ice cream was better than their product. "Don't you watch any who-dun-it movies? The answer is always the simplest reason."
Tor leaned in and whispered in here ear. "You are either incredibly imaginative or amazingly correct." He winked at her and headed off to talk further with the police.
Waverley watched the tattoo guy who in turn stared at her.
"What are you looking at?" he snapped.
"No idea. That's why I keep looking." Waverley stared at him until he looked away. Ha! No one could outstare her since she was six years old.
\*
A search was initiated after Tor spoke to his employees to ask if they would permit it to happen. Like anyone not guilty, they readily agreed. All that is but the man called Roo.
"I knew he would get upset. He had carried on about his right to privacy and Waverley knew if she had hesitated to think him guilty before, his words now proved it. Unfortunately for him he was outvoted by his fellow staff members. As expected, a search of Roo's locker turned up the missing money. "How dumb could you be to put it in your locker?" Apparently the door had swung open and there it had been for anyone to see. "Problem solved."
"No, not quite. Remember there were two of them," Tor pointed out. "We only have one."
"Oh yeah." Waverley remembered that night in the shop. There had been two sets of running footsteps as they got away.
Tor pulled her into his arms and kissed her lightly on the lips.
"But I owe you a reward for being so smart, precious."
"Yay! Ice cream."
"I was thinking of something a little hotter." His hips ground against hers.
Okay, ice cream was good but it was rapidly becoming her second favorite thing.
"Like hot caramel fudge on ice cream?" She teased.
Tor sighed dramatically and looked at her with mock despondence.
"A man could get a complex with you around."
Waverley slapped her head as if she only just understood what he meant.
"Oh you mean knee-wobbling sex?" She had indulged in more sex in the last two days than she could remember in her whole adult life and yet it still did not seem enough. The thought of being skin to skin with Tor once more was an addiction she would find hard to break.
"Interested?"
"With you?" Like there was any other man on the planet for her.
"Who else?" He gave her butt a playful slap.
Waverley pushed herself against him, leaving no part of their bodies not touching.
"Do that again."
Tor chuckled and spanked her ass again.
"I'm going to close the store and let everyone go home."
"You'll miss out on business." Like I care at this moment. There was only one type of business she wanted to indulge in.
"The staff's well-being is more important."
"I have never heard any employer ever say that before." Waverley was impressed. "And this is why I love you." Tor cared like no other person she knew.
He slapped his head in mock surprise. "If I knew that was all it took I would have shown my nice employer side earlier."
\*
It didn't take long for the staff to leave. The police had long gone and there were no patrons to shoo away.
"Give me ten minutes to tally up the banking, precious, and we'll go." He pulled out some paper receipts from under the cash register. "Will you put the lids on the ice cream for me please so I can close the cabinet and lock up when I get back."
Waverley nodded and wandered over to the large display counter where all the ice creams were showcased.
"This is like what heaven would look like." Every flavor she could think of was on display. She picked up a lid that said chocolate crunch and looked for the corresponding tub. "Oh yum, that looks good." She dropped the lid on the counter and picked up a nearby scoop and found a bowl. "Not to try this would be wasteful and wrong." How, Waverley wasn't sure but that wasn't the point. She spooned a small amount into her mouth. She staggered. "Oh my God! That's almost as good as an orgasm." If she did not have Tor she would seriously consider investing in a great big tub of chocolate crunch. The flavor beside that was passion fruit cheesecake ripple. "Damn, it would be wrong not to try that too." Waverley reached for a clean spoon, dipped in to the gooey confection and closed her eyes as the smooth cream slid down her throat. "Oh...nice." She was just about to take another mouthful when she heard a noise behind her. "Tor, I swear I'm only tasting to make sure they have not gone off."
Waverley turned around. It wasn't Tor who stood looking at her. "Who are you?"
"You cost me, lady."
"Ah, you would be thief number two." He was almost as feral-looking as number one and the thick nose ring reminded her of a pig.
"Back off and no one gets hurt," the man snarled.
"No." Waverley wished she sounded more confident than she felt. But the thing was, she was not about to let someone rip off the man she loved. And where the hell were the security guards? Having a donut break?
"You think you can stop me taking what stock I want?" His harsh laughter indicated his thoughts to the contrary.
Well, no. Waverly assessed the man. That he was a petty, sneak thief was obvious. Only one of them would try a snatch and grab on the front-of-house stock when there was gallons of it out back. But he was a big man who appeared to be all aggression and anger combined with muscle and ignorance. That was a deadly mix. Her plan was to keep him talking long enough for Tor to return and do something heroic.
"Yes, I will." How, I am not sure. Her only weapon was an ice cream scoop. The man advanced toward her. Waverley did the only thing she could. She scooped up a ball of ice cream and flung in his face.
The man stopped dead in his tracks as the cream oozed down his face.
"Hey, I'm allergic to strawberries." He pulled his shirtfront up and madly started wiping the mess from his face.
Waverley used that moment to send another strawberry ice cream missile at the bare flesh of his stomach. The man howled angrily. That did not stop Waverley. She set off a barrage of ice cream bombs at his head, her hand cold in the gooey ice cream.
The man recovered enough to dig his bare hand into a tub of ice cream and he flung a hard fistful at Waverley. It hit her straight in the boobs. She looked down at the black goo. Licorice ice cream was wrong in so many ways. She dropped the scoop and used her hands to dig up a wad of pink ice. Before she had a chance to throw it, two ice cream missiles slammed into her head. Waverley swore in anger and started pelting the man as fast as she could with handfuls of ice cream.
At first, Tor did a double take when he saw the ice cream fight that was happening at the front counter of his store. Waverley was drenched in the icy confectionary and fighting some man like a woman possessed. Tor gathered his wits and immediately ran to her assistance, grabbing the man and pinning his hands behind his back.
"You okay, precious?" If this man had hurt her in any way Tor was going to rip his arms off.
"I hate licorice ice cream."
"You threw strawberry at me." The man struggled in Tor's hold. "If I get an allergic reaction from this you are in trouble."
"So scared of that," she mocked, finishing by sticking her tongue out at him.
Tor had no idea what that was about but he did know one thing. The man he held had to be the accomplice of the employee Roo. There was no other way he could have gotten into his store.
"Well done, precious." The beautiful woman had fought the bad guy with ice cream and won.
"Thank you," Waverley murmured as she tried to smooth down her ice cream-matted hair.
\*
The reporter swung around to face the network camera, a big cheesy grin on her face.
"You've heard of the shoot-out at the OK Corral but what about an ice cream fight where the bad guy gets his just desserts? Well, that's what happened at Lickety Split today. One of Australia's most eligible bachelors Tor Arnett fought off the bad guy with his most powerful weapon---Lickety Split brand ice cream. But then it's been slaying people since it first came on the market."
Waverley did an eye roll as she heard the newswoman gush on. Did these people get trained to be that cutesy or was it natural?
"I fought the battle with ice cream and Tor is no longer eligible as he is mine." She looked around. Where was he anyway? After the police returned, he had gone off with them. Hmm, do I go home or stay? Waverley was longing to shower off the sticky mess of the ice cream but she really wanted to see Tor.
Waverley wasn't the only one with the desire. Just as Tor appeared and cameras started to click and turn on this quirky, feel-good news story, a skinny, dark-haired woman ran up and threw her arms around him?
"What the?" Waverley murmured in disbelief. She squinted at the woman in question. "She had better be his sister."
"Oh Tor, I heard in the taxi on the way over here what had happened. Are you hurt, darling?" She kissed him full on the lips.
Waverley was shocked. It seemed like a million voices were whispering around her as cameras flashed.
Melissa and her lover Tor.
I read they're inseparable.
Is that an engagement ring?
I heard the wedding will be on his private island.
"This can't be right." Waverley wanted to scream as she watched the woman hugging and kissing Tor. He was her man. Who was this bimbo? The people around her jostled to get closer to the couple. From what little she had read about Melissa, she was a big drawcard in the celebrity stakes due to her waiflike figure and flamboyant lifestyle. When coupled with a rich eligible bachelor it was not like anyone was going to be respectful of her in her ice cream-splattered clothes. There was so much pushing and shoving to gawk at the pretty people. "Hey!" Waverley kicked one man in the shin as he shoved her. "Back off, ugly."
She moved back from the pack and looked at the couple. They looked right together, like they belonged in each other's world. While in some cases it was true that opposites attract, beauty also attracted its own kind as a reflection of itself. Waverley watched Tor. He wasn't even looking around for her. She snorted at her own stupidity.
"Well, what did you expect? You knew it would end like this." Tor was rich. Melissa was famous and adored. Waverley Astor was a nobody who he took up with for a couple of days. "What the hell was I thinking?" It was great sex and nothing else. She slapped her forehead. "How pathetic am I? I told him I loved him." How many women had he heard that from? "Why would he want me if she is there?" While Waverley had a solid self-esteem, she wasn't delusional. Reality was smacking her in the face too hard not to know there was no way she could compete with the other woman. "Two days does not make a lifetime." Waverley turned and walked away.
\*
"I'm telling you he loves you." Martha's tone was adamant. She had rushed right over as soon as Waverley had called her. "She's just some tart who needs to get a life and she thinks he's it."
"She has Tor." Waverley held up the newspaper with the photo of "the happy couple reunited once more". It had hit the newsstands that afternoon, three hours after it all happened. Romance sold and when it was hot, it hit the streets as soon as the presses could shoot copy out.
"That Melissa chick is holding on to him as if she's scared to let go. That's not healthy."
"Neither is thinking you're in love with a man after freezer sex." Jeez, what would Freud say about that?
Martha ripped the paper from her friend's hands and threw it aside.
"Did you ask what was going on?"
Waverley shook her head. How pathetic would that have been, tapping Tor on the shoulder and asking where she fitted into the scheme of things after their stolen moments together. The thing that she definitely did not want to hear from Tor was that she was a stopgap for the glamorous Melissa.
"I have some pride." Besides, Tor was hardly running to her side to explain anything to her. Three bloody hours and no word. Waverley knew she did not have to be a rocket scientist to realize what that meant. Still, she had thought maybe Tor would have at least called to say, "So long, it was nice knowing you, er, what's your name again?"
"Hell's bells, if that was my man I would have kicked her ass out of the way."
"He's not my man, Martha. We had sex for a couple of days." Waverley knew there was no ownership implied in a one-night, or in this case, two-days' stand.
"You love him."
Waverley barked out a harsh laugh.
"No, I'm an idiot who fell in love with the idea of love." That had to be it. Damn, it hurt.
"Tor loves you," Martha insisted. "I could see it in his eyes."
"No, Tor loves sex and it's not the same thing." It may have felt like it but that was why people did dumb things in the name of what they thought was love.
Martha blew out a sigh. "Want me to kick his ass? I have my pointy-toed shoes on today."
Waverley smiled at her friend. Men could come and go but friendship like this was forever.
"Nah, just kick my ass next time I think I'm in love."
"What can I say?" Martha looked helpless.
"Nothing." And that was the truth. It was better to forget it and move on.
"Do you want ice cream?"
For the first time in her life, the thought of ice cream made Waverley feel ill.
"I will never eat ice cream again."
Martha staggered as if in shock.
"Frig! Do you want to rethink those words? They're pretty drastic." Her voice indicated her dismay. "Sure, cut Tor out of your life but ice cream? That's just wrong. What about if you cut it out for, say, a month?"
Waverley thought about that. Could she forget Tor in a month? Nope. But then why deny herself something that gave her pleasure? Besides it was a symbolic thing like cutting your hair in defiance. You knew it would grow back and the beauty of ice cream was that it was always there waiting when you needed it.
"Okay. A month. You're right why should I suffer because that man likes stick insect girlfriends. He was damn lucky to see my thighs."
"Frigging A he was." Martha nodded in agreement. "Besides he's just a man."
"Yeah." Damn right. I will get over him if it kills me.
"A man who you love."
Waverley stiffened. "Yeah, but I'll get over that." I have to. I have no choice.
\*
A week later, Tor turned up on her doorstep.
"Where have you been?" Damn. That was wrong. Waverley hadn't meant to say that. She had meant to be cool and in control. The man was a bastard. I hate him for not contacting me. He is a pig. Yet for all that, one look at him made her all hot and wobbly.
"I wanted to give you time to think about us, precious."
Waverley snorted at his words.
"I have done nothing but." What was the point of denial? It would only come out fake. Besides Tor needed to know he was a creep for making her feel the way he had.
Tor leaned against the doorjamb as if he did not have a care in the world.
"And?"
That he acted so casually annoyed Waverley to the point that she wanted to grab Tor and shake him. She wanted him to feel as rattled as she did.
"You turn up on my doorstep now and ask me that?"
"I need to know." Tor's words were soft and to the point.
Waverley threw her hands up in the air. "What do you think?"
"That maybe you missed me."
Only every second half-hour.
"I gave up ice cream because of you." The words were out of her mouth before she thought about what she'd said. Waverley did not want him to think she had been pining for him.
Tor's face lit up in happiness. "Really?
"The vow was only for a month. I figured I'd be over you by then." Bluff it out, girl.
"Hmm, a month to get over me." Tor assessed her thoughtfully. "And are you?"
"It's only been a week." Waverley sighed. She had pictured coming across Tor again. In her mind she had thought up all these clever things to say. In reality none of them came to her lips. "Why are you here?"
"You wouldn't come to me."
She stopped and thought about that. Okay, maybe he had a point. Maybe she should have confronted him. But, damn it, this is his fault not mine.
"What about that emaciated, make-up enhanced woman who was draped all over you? Isn't she available at the moment? Have you come for another round with second best?"
"Melissa?" He arched his eyebrows in interest.
"Yeah, the unnaturally skinny one."
Tor smiled. "Jealous?"
Waverley brushed an imaginary piece of fluff off her sleeve.
"No, I was just wondering if she has had a good meal. You know you should look after your women better."
"I plan to."
"Good." I hate her and I hope her stick insect legs break. Waverley knew it was okay to be bitchy at times like this. It was part of female psychology.
"There is only one woman."
Frigging rub it in why don't you?
"I hope you'll be very happy." Not. Times one hundred.
Tor moved toward Waverley forcing her backward as he came inside.
"You don't sound like you mean it."
Was the man dense? "I don't. Frankly, I think it's in poor taste for you to come and tell me you're in love with the half-starved bimbo."
"She's not a bimbo or half-starved either."
Waverley looked at him in mock amazement.
"Did skinny Minnie put on weight in a week? I bet she is the type that loses it just as quickly. Those women are so annoying."
Tor nodded in agreement. "This woman can be."
"Well, thanks for coming and telling me your happy news but now if you don't mind, piss off." Her hospitality only went so far.
"My news concerns you."
Waverley held up her hand. "Okay. I know where this going. No thanks, I was a flower girl at my aunt's wedding when I was five and all I can recall is throwing up over the ring bearer." Waverley backed farther inside her house. She wanted to push him out but to do that she would have to touch him and that would be a problem. Touching could lead to others things as Tor was very touchable.
"That won't happen again." He turned round and pushed the door shut.
"Damn straight it won't, I'm not going to any wedding."
"Not even your own?"
As if. Marriage was not in her future and discussing it with Tor was torment. Tor the tormenter.
"I'm not marrying anyone." She looked in his eyes and saw the amusement within. What? Was this funny for him?
"Aren't you?"
"I'm not..." A wild thrill of sensation ran through her body. Why was he looking at her like that? When Tor reached out and caught her hands in his, she started to shake. Oh he could not mean--- That would be crazy. Me? He did propose that once but surely that wasn't serious?
"Yeah, you are."
Waverley tried to pull away from him but he pulled her closer.
"You're crazy." I'm crazy even to think what I think he's thinking.
Tor shook his head and smiled.
"No, I'm not. I'm in love---with you." His body met hers and he sighed in contentment.
"What about skinny Minnie?" Not that I give a rat's ass but I need to put all the pieces into place so I know I'm not losing my mind.
"I don't love her, precious."
Wow, wow and triple wow. Talk about life turning on its head.
"You'd hurt her feelings like that?"
Tor pulled back from her in query.
"Do you want me to be with her?"
"Oh hell no, she's completely wrong for you." What sort of advertisement was that woman for ice cream? She'd make customers feel guilty just looking at her bony body.
"So marry me." Tor said the words so simply as if there was no reason why not to.
"Marriage?" Seriously? Waverley had never really contemplated such a thing happening to her. She always attended other people's weddings and never imagined that would be her. "I can't."
"Why not?"
"I don't know you." I barely know myself at this moment.
"Precious, the minute I saw you I wanted you---not just sexually but forever. When you opened your mouth and spoke, in my heart I knew."
"That I was an irritating smart-ass?"
"That, and I fell in love with the irritating, sweet, sexy and shy woman and her ass."
Waverley snorted at his words. Sweet, crazy man.
"I jumped your bones in the freezer. I'm hardly shy and that's not a great reason to marry a man. For Pete's sake, what would we tell our grandkids?" She stopped as she realized what she said. Now I'm planning grandkids with the man I have been trying to hate all week?
Tor chuckled at her discomposure. "We'll worry about that when it happens." His eyes searched hers. "Tell me you don't feel the same?"
"Now I'm the crazy one." Waverley wanted anything and everything with this man.
Tor tapped her nose playfully. "Nah, you're beautiful and smart with exceptional thighs."
"Now you're just trying to butter me up." And I like it a lot. The man she loved, loved her thighs. It was like Cinderella sliding her foot into the glass slipper. Waverley had found her prince.
"Tell me, if I left right now, what would you do?"
"Eat a carton or twelve of ice cream." That was the obvious answer to all life's problems.
"Why?"
"Because I love you." There it was. The truth. Even if it couldn't compete with ice cream.
Tor hugged her close as if not wanting to let go.
"You have no idea how much I needed to hear that."
Waverley pulled back from him. "You really want to marry me? I'll expand as I get older and get crankier and moodier. It's a genetic thing."
"And I may go bald." Tor smiled. "Actually, I probably won't. The men in my family don't. I just wanted to make you feel better."
Waverley did not care about hair or lack of it. This was more than just the superficial stuff. She knew she would love him even if he went bald because he was Tor.
"The thing is, precious, I love you because of who you are. You can't scare me away."
This was almost too good to be true and that worried her.
"What if we rush into marriage like we've rushed into everything else and---"
"And that's turned out very nicely."
Yeah okay it had. "But what if it doesn't?" A week without him was hard. What if they separated because they really knew nothing about the other? Was that the basis of a strong marriage?
Tor placed a gentle finger on her lips.
"I know me and I know you. I know us---we are good together. Yeah, we rushed things but my grandfather married my grandmother after one quick meeting."
"The ice cream maker did that?" He was the foundation of what Tor was.
"Yes, and she was the local school teacher and people just assumed they married because it was the thing that happened at that time for single people. But he told me he knew in one look she was for him as you are for me."
I cannot believe I am going to do this. A huge leap of faith was about to be taken.
"We'll need a pre-nup."
Tor shrugged his shoulder as if the thought did not worry him.
"Okay, but why?"
"I want a pre-nup that says if we ever get sick of each other, then we walk away with dignity." Waverley didn't want a screaming match about who was wrong or right. Things happened in relationships. She wanted to be realistic and go into this without blinders on.
"That will never happen but okay," Tor agreed as his hands slid down to cup her ass. "Scared of this lickety-split love we have?"
"No, I just want no secrets or false realities between us." Yes, their love had happened fast. Some people would consider that unusual. Not that I care what some people say. There was only one man she cared for.
Tor slapped her butt. "You don't want my money?"
"No, but I'll add a clause." She smiled at the puzzled look in his eyes. "Whatever happens to us, I am guaranteed a lifetime supply of ice cream."
Tor threw back his head and laughed.
"Done. So that's a yes, precious?"
Waverley took the leap. "Yes, I will marry you." The landing felt pretty damn good.
"Thank you." Tor picked up her hand and kissed the palm. "Let's practice married stuff now."
Waverley jumped up into his arms, wrapping her legs around his waist. She liked how his cock instantly jumped to attention.
"Bloody hell," Tor groaned.
She looked at him. "What? Am I too heavy for a big, strong boy like you?" She teased, placing a light kiss on his chin.
"No, I was actually thinking I don't think I can make it to the bedroom." Tor propelled them over to a wall. "I haven't tasted you for a week. I'm not sure how long I am going to last."
Waverley's back hit the wall. She pulled out of his arms and immediately set to removing her clothes.
"Last one to strip has to clean my house for a week." There was no way Waverley planned on losing that bet. She hated house cleaning. She threw off her clothes quickly. To her exasperation, Tor was quicker.
"Finished," Tor called out. He stood before her totally naked. He pulled a condom out of his trouser pocket before throwing the material aside. "Don't feel bad. I have been dreaming of how quickly I could get naked with you."
Waverley threw her panties across the room with her bra following. She held out her arms to him. She had been wet the minute he walked in the door. She almost came when he proposed. There was no further need for foreplay.
"Take me, big boy, and I do mean big." She watched as he made short work of the rubber. His stiff, upright penis seemed enormous to her. "Have you been surgically enhanced in a week?"
Tor lifted her into his arms and pressed her back against the wall.
"I feel like I have been storing myself up for you all week."
When his shaft plunged inside her, Waverley sighed in deep contentment and kissed his lips hungrily. His hips ploughed back and forward against hers, the penetrating force of his cock making her shiver at the intensity of his thrust. Her mouth never left his as they kissed like they could not get enough of each other. It was fast and furious but that was exactly what they both needed. It was like an unbreakable deal was being signed between them. As they came together, her eyes locked with Tor's and her mouth left his.
"I love you."
"Precious, I am the luckiest man in the world."
"The Waverley is still our number-one best seller," Tor told her as his hand caught and held hers.
"I'm not surprised." She had suggested rich caramel ice cream, caramel sauce and chocolate-covered caramel wafers as a menu item for Lickety Split. It had been an instant hit.
"And people said it wouldn't last." Tor pulled her close to him and smiled into her eyes. "After two years it's still number one and going strong."
It had been the best two years of her life. Their wedding had been a simple affair with close family and friends followed by an ice cream reception at Lickety Split. Waverley had never expected marriage to be easy. How could it be when two people from two different backgrounds came together? But it was certainly worth every roller coaster ride moment.
"It will always be number one."
Tor lifted her hand and kissed her palm. "Come with me."
When he looked at her like that she knew it meant only one thing. Another trip to the freezer. They had honeymooned in the Snowy Mountains. Cold brought them together and sealed their fate. Waverley was wet just thinking about being with Tor. Would that ever change?
"I swear I am going to get freezer burn on my ass one of those days."
"Yeah, but it will be worth it," Tor murmured in amusement.
About the Author
Amarinda Jones believes anything is possible and sometimes just asking for the impossible will surprise someone enough that they will give it to you. Writing is like that. Put it out there and wait for a response. There is always the possibility you may fall on your ass, but after all, that's what cellulite is for. Amarinda believes in taking chances, speaking her mind and aging disgracefully. Twenty years from now she plans on being the neighborhood witch who all the kids are scared of. But then, everyone has to have a hobby.
Amarinda welcomes comments from readers. You can find her website and e-mail address on her author bio page at www.ellorascave.com.
Tell Us What You Think
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Also by Amarinda Jones
Anyone but You
Because I Can
Knock Three Times
Mad About Mirabelle
Maid for Death
Marlow's Curse
Micah Blue
Penned Again
Prince Vampire
Rowdy
Run the Gantlet
Seducing Celestine
Shades of Gray
Tantalizing Tilly
Thief of Mine
Unbreakable
Who Knew
Discover for yourself why readers can't get enough of the multiple award-winning publisher Ellora's Cave. Whether you prefer e-books or paperbacks, be sure to visit EC on the web at www.ellorascave.com for an erotic reading experience that will leave you breathless.
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