Snowbound Games Read online

  Thea bent over to look at the little figures. Each was approximately an inch high and had been painstakingly painted. “Do you mind if I look at one?” she asked.

  Nick seemed to resign himself to the idea that Thea had discovered his hobby—not that it looked like he had done much with the figures lately. They were all covered in a thick layer of dust. “Sure,” he said. “Go right ahead.”

  Thea hesitated. “If you don’t want me to…”

  Nick shrugged. “It’s all right. It’s just I hadn’t planned to show you all this stuff. I know Ron mentioned it when we met New Year’s Eve but I—it’s not like I actually play anymore. I don’t have time with the bar.”

  And yet you have what looks like four or five hundred little figures here, she noted. And almost nothing else in the entire apartment.

  She reached in to the shelves and plucked out an armored figure brandishing a sword. The detail was incredible. She blew softly on the figure to get rid of some of the dust so she could see it more clearly. The flowing cloak was painted blue. The figure’s hair was yellow. The sword gleamed like real steel. The shield had been painted in checkerboard, which must have really taken some time to make it come out so neat and clean looking.

  “It’s impressive,” Thea admitted. She’d heard bad things about this game and wasn’t completely pleased to see evidence that it was so important to Nick that he had devoted several shelves in his small apartment to holding his collection.

  “Painting them took up a lot of time back in high school—time I probably should have been putting into my schoolwork. But…”

  He shrugged as if to say, What can you do?

  Thea put the figure down and picked up a larger one. It had the body of a man and the head of a bull. She reached back to her own high school days. “This is a minotaur, right?”

  Nick really looked pleased. “That’s right!”

  She put the minotaur back and picked up a third. This one was a woman with a lot of white skin showing on her arms, her belly and her legs. She also had pretty large—if clothed—boobs jutting out of her chest. In other respects she looked like the first figure—sword in the air and blond hair flowing.

  Thea glanced skeptically at Nick. “This doesn’t seem like practical fighting garb,” she said. “The guy figure had armor on.”

  Nick laughed. “Keep in mind who the primary market for these things are—high school boys or men who still act like they’re fifteen years old.”

  Right now, looking at his toys, Thea was aware that Nick was a heck of a lot closer to fifteen then she was.

  “What else do you have here?” she asked.

  She had to step on the tips of her toes to see the top shelf but what she saw astounded her. “Can I get a better look at that?”

  Nick carefully removed what was by far the largest figure in the collection. It was a dragon that took up the volume of a cube maybe five inches on each side. It was beautifully carved, swirling around protecting its pile of treasure.

  The intricate paint job Nick had done on it impressed Thea. The dragon was done in mottled green with darker scales on top and lighter ones under its belly. Its eyes shone like gold and its fangs and claws gleamed of ivory or pearl.

  But what really astounded Thea was the detail with which Nick had painted the treasure beneath the creature. Most of the treasure was a mass of gold coins, but the sculpture had added a lot of details—open chests, sword hilts, necklaces, jewels. Nick had carefully painted each and every item in the mass of treasure so that it was clearly identifiable in the hoard.

  “This is beautiful. How long did it take for you to do this?” Thea asked.

  Nick shrugged. “I worked on it every night for a week.”

  “Well, it was worth it,” Thea told him.

  Beside her, Nick’s shoulders subtly relaxed as if he had expected her to tell him she thought he had wasted his time. That made her sad. Just because she wouldn’t have spent hours upon hours painting miniatures in high school didn’t mean she thought no one should be able to.

  “How much do these things cost?” Thea asked him.

  “That piece, I don’t know,” Nick told her. “My brother, Tim, gave it to me when I graduated high school. But I think it had to be a hundred or a hundred and fifty dollars.”

  “A hundred and fifty dollars?” Thea asked.

  “Well, yeah,” Nick said. “The others weren’t nearly as expensive but that one is really big.”

  She offered the dragon back to him. “I had no idea that you were an artist, Nick,” she said.

  He colored again with embarrassment. “I don’t think that painting miniatures counts as being an artist.”

  “Well, they look pretty good to me,” she said as she slipped her arms around his neck and leaned in against him. “Sorry I was so cranky when I got here. My Mom can really drive me crazy.”

  Nick set the miniature back on the shelf and then put his hands on Thea’s waist to draw her closer to him. “That is part of the job description for mothers,” Nick pointed out. “Think it through now. Is she really supposed to say, ‘Thea, I think it’s absolutely wonderful that you’re going to spend the night with your boyfriend. I hope he fucks you lots of times and you come so often you can’t see when you leave.’”

  Thea stared at him in shock for a moment then burst out laughing. “Oh, Lord, you’re good for me,” she said. She half collapsed against his chest as she tried to get control of herself again. “That was exactly the right thing to say!”

  Nick adjusted his hands on Thea’s body, slipping one down to her rear to better support her—or at least that was probably what his excuse would be. “I hope you’re saying you want me to fuck you so many times you can’t see when you leave.”

  Thea laughed harder. “Is that even possible?” she said. “How would something like that work?”

  Nick squeezed her ass as he spoke. “I know I’ve impressed you with my growing mastery of your body, but that doesn’t mean I’m actually all that experienced myself,” he teased.

  Suddenly he scooped her up in his arms. “But if you’d like to experiment with how many orgasms it takes to drive a woman blind, I would be happy to assist you in your commendable scientific endeavor.”

  She was still laughing when he kissed her.

  They’d never done it like this before—with Nick literally holding her in his arms. His lips were just as firm, his tongue as deft and supple, but somehow his kisses felt more intimate when he was holding her off the ground.

  She kissed him back, stroking his cheek, and smoothing back his long blond hair. When they broke for air, he shifted her weight in his arms, leaning momentarily against the wall. “I think I’d like to take this to the couch,” Nick told her.

  He immediately started carrying her toward the door to the other room.

  “I can walk you know,” Thea reminded him. She wasn’t completely comfortable with him carrying her through the apartment, but it did feel really good to be cradled against his chest.

  “That may be,” Nick said, “but I like carrying you.”

  He maneuvered through the doorway without bumping her into anything and sat down on the couch with Thea in his lap and arms. Beneath her, she could feel the bulge in his pants, but she was immediately distracted from it when his hand touched her breast and his lips started kissing her again.

  He didn’t clutch her. That usually didn’t happen until he was hard inside her body and getting ready to come. No, until Nick lost control he was always gentle and thoughtful of her needs, which was not something to complain about. Although sometimes, Thea wished he’d try something a little more rough and demanding. Her fantasy embarrassed her, however, and she kept it to herself. The idea of getting off on being ordered what to do by a strong and forceful man, maybe even being paddled a little to encourage her, those didn’t feel like the sorts of fantasies a modern liberated woman should be having.

  Not that she needed those now with Nick’s lips on her throat and
his hand sliding down from her breast, across her stomach toward her jeans. His fingertips always brought her flesh to life, making her billion nerve endings tingle both at the spot of direct contact and spiral out through the rest of her body.

  He surfed on to the surface of her jeans above her bush, then hesitated and came north again, this time cupping her breast and lightly squeezing it.

  He stopped kissing her. “I never know which part of you I want more,” he complained.

  As if he were trying to help himself make up his mind, his lips bent down to her breast and he sucked it through her t-shirt and bra. It felt nice, but evidently it did even more for him because he had to slide her body off his groin and pull at his jeans to reposition his cock.

  “Is it getting crowded in there?” Thea asked him.

  This was one of the moments she fantasized about. Nick would tell her, “You know it is! Now why don’t you get down on your knees and do something about it!”

  Then he’d make her get down on the floor and suck him until he reached his full eight and a half inches. After which he’d make her get up and undress for him while he slowly stroked himself and stared at her body.

  Instead Nick laughed and selflessly continued to worry about Thea. “You know how turned on you make me. Now let’s see if I can return the favor.”

  He shifted his body about so that they were lying next to each other on the couch, Nick on the inside and Thea on the edge of the cushions. Then he started kissing her again while his fingers circled her breasts and teased her nipples to their full prominence.

  It felt heavenly, but it still wasn’t exactly what she wanted.

  His hand slipped back down to her belly and pulled her t-shirt out of her jeans so he could reach beneath it. He took his time, teasing her navel and tickling her stomach before returning to her bra-covered breasts.

  Thea reached behind her to undo the strap of her bra. That wasn’t the easiest thing to do, but she managed it quickly enough.

  Nick showed his appreciation by picking up the pace, sliding his hand beneath the soft fabric and rolling her swelled nipple between his thumb and forefinger.

  Thea caught her breath. Maybe this was exactly what she wanted. “Use your mouth, baby,” she told him.

  Nick was only too happy to comply. He pushed her t-shirt and newly freed bra up toward her neck, exposing Thea’s full brown globes. His tongue began to swirl around her ample curves, making Thea arch her back in appreciation.

  “I love your breasts,” Nick said. He paused to emphasize his point by licking the edge of her aureole, puckering her flesh as it continued to engorge. He moved higher, licking the sides of her tit. “I mean, I’ve always loved breasts—what guy doesn’t?—but I never fully appreciated how thick and juicy and wonderful they are until I met yours.”

  His lips closed over top of her nipple and pulled it taut.

  Thea’s whole torso quivered in response.

  Nick’s hand slipped down to her bare stomach and lightly skimmed the surface of her skin.

  Her trembling increased, the tiny muscular spasms extending all the way down into her thighs.

  Nick chewed lightly on the thick tip of her breast as Thea stretched the rest of her body out beside him. Her arms reached out over her head and her toes pointed toward the far wall. Her stomach flattened further. Nick took advantage of the opportunity this presented to slide his fingers beneath her jeans and under the stretchy top of her silk panties.

  He touched the hair of her bush.

  Sparklers ignited in Thea’s groin and her legs began to shake. “Keep going,” she whispered.

  Nick did as he was told, deftly exploring her bush, plowing through the curly little hairs to straddle her swelling labia. Above he had not forgotten her breasts, but instead pulled more of one into his mouth where he nursed on her large tit with rhythmic sucking motions.

  With a finger on either side of her labia, Nick began to squeeze her sensitive folds of flesh together. Then he stroked the outer skin of her labia by running his fingers up and down their length.

  Thea closed her eyes and focused on Nick’s hand. The lips on her breast were pleasant, but the hand between her legs was the focus of her attention as he stroked the length of her pussy right up to her clit. She didn’t know if he realized it, but each stroke of his fingers brought the heel of his palm into firm contact with her clitoris. Then the pressure would ease as he slipped his hand back up her groin

  That little rhythmic brushing against her clitoris upped the stakes considerably in Nick’s quest to get her body humming. Every one of Thea’s nerve endings felt awake and on fire, eager for his next caress. She hoped that he would realize this and pay just a tiny bit more attention to her swollen clitoris. All she needed was a little extra umph with the calloused heel of his palm or a tiny bit of torque or twist as his finger skimmed against her swollen little joy button.

  To think that less than two months ago, a man had never touched her here. Now she could enjoy this anytime she wanted. Well, anytime she wasn’t working, Nick wasn’t at his bar, and her mother wasn’t hanging around making things difficult.

  She shifted her weight and turned slightly toward him.

  He tangled his fingers in her hair and pulled her head back slightly to keep her from curling forward. She loved that tiny bit of bondage—that tiny expression of her man taking control and forcing her to do what he liked. She didn’t want whips and chains, but she liked the feel of her man’s strength guiding her and showing her what he wanted.

  He’d stopped sucking on her breast now and raised his head to enjoy the view. Nick never seemed to get tired of looking at her tits—the dark brown flesh with the ebony nipples crowning their surfaces. The flesh of her aureole glistened with his saliva and puckered with the excitement he generated.

  Nick suddenly plunged his middle finger inside her body.

  Thea groaned in response. Her knees lifted and once again her head tried to tuck down as her body curled in response to the pleasure he generated.

  Nick used his grip on Thea’s hair to keep her head high and stuck his right knee in between her legs and wedged them apart. She gasped with pleasure. “That’s it, Nick…That’s right!”

  His mouth dropped to her throat, sucking hard with his own growing sense of urgency. His finger thrust faster, while his hand gripped her pussy, squeezing her labia as that long middle digit wiggled about in her body.

  She was close now. It was easy with a man who knew her like Nick did. Easy with this man she’d grown to love even though they weren’t talking about it yet. She wrapped her arms around his head, pulled him closer, and wondered if his mouth would mark her neck. Then she stopped caring as his fingers down below pushed even deeper.

  “Oh! Oh, Nick! Oh!”

  Her ring tone went off in her purse—Shaggy’s It Wasn’t Me—which she still liked and thought really cool a few years ago but now ought to get around to changing.

  Despite the exceedingly near proximity of her climax, she twisted around in quest of her purse.

  “Ignore it!” Nick demanded.

  His mouth lifted to hers and she tried to kiss him back, but the damn ring tone kept playing. Nick’s hand worked furiously inside her panties, but already the peak of her desire was fading.

  She turned her mouth away from his.

  “Ignore it!” Nick said again. His voice sounded more urgent this time—more desperate.

  The tone cut off leaving Thea on pins and needles with concern for a moment, but then the feel of Nick’s hand below and his urgent lips above reminded her what was important.

  “I’m sorry about that!” she said as she rolled back to face him.

  “Don’t be sorry!” he said. “Touch me!”

  His lips caught hers again as Thea’s heart ignited in song. Something about being told to touch her man excited her tremendously. Her hand immediately went to the large bulge in his jeans but their bodies were too close together to let her grab him the way she wanted.r />
  Suddenly the pressure of Nick’s hand and wrist pushing up against Thea’s tight jeans from inside her panties caused the button to pop open and the zipper to come half undone. The reduced pressure let him steepen his angle of penetration. His fingers hit a spot inside her vagina just below her swollen clitoris that had her spirit singing again.

  It was hard to think with that sort of pleasure rocketing up to her brain, but she got his pants open and he popped commando style into her hand fully erect and eager for her attention.

  Her cell phone rang again!

  She cursed. “God damn it! What is wrong with that woman?”

  “Ignore her!” Nick gasped.

  His finger dug back into the spot that had made her soul sing.

  The ring tone continued to chime. She wanted to do as he told her, but she couldn’t concentrate with that sound in her ears. “What if something’s wrong?”

  Nick’s face was beat red with need. His hips moved with her hand as she squeezed his cock and dry-pumped him. “Don’t…listen!”

  She wanted to stay with her man. She really did. But thirty-eight years of jumping to her mother’s command won out over him. With a groan of anguish, she rolled off the couch and grabbed for her phone.

  “Thea!” Nick shouted. He sounded both hurt and angry. “Thea!”

  She pulled out the phone, jeans open, panties partially down so that half her bush showed. Her top was still above her breasts and her lungs heaved for air. “What is it?” she snapped.

  “Is this a bad time?” her sister Becka asked. “I want to talk to you about Mom.”

  Chapter Three

  Becka

  “I’m sorry, Becka, but this really is a bad time!” Thea told her sister, still out of breath.

  Nick was staring at her with an incredibly unhappy look on his face, his hard dick jutting out in front of him.

  “Well, Mom is really upset!” Becka snapped. “Are you really telling me you can’t spare ten minutes to talk about this problem?”