Iron Seas 03 - Riveted

help.
    Whatever she was feeling, Lucia managed to step back, give him a pat on the chest as if to send him off. After a quick word to Dooley, he strode to the troll, holding Annika’s gaze. She backed up as he came inside, closed the hatch.
    He unbuckled his coat. “Are we ready, then?”
    “I am.” She watched him take in the changes she’d made, as his gaze lingered over the mattress. “You’re not upset that we overruled you?”
    “You had a better option. A real choice.”
    “Yes, but I’d have been angry anyway.”
    He grinned. “On principle?”
    “Yes.” She climbed into the seat, opened the eye louvers, and sighed at the sight of everyone gathered in the street—their expressions hopeful, worried. Some afraid. “I wanted more time with you. I didn’t mean to get it this way.”
    “No. But I won’t waste the opportunity,” David said. He waited until she hauled the troll around before adding, “Go as far as you can. When you stop, I’ll lick you.”
    Her feet almost missed the step. Heat flared through her belly, her heart speeding up. “Be careful,” she warned. “With incentive like that, I might quit early.”
    “No, you won’t.”
    “You know me that well?”
    “Yes.”
    So he did. Too many people were depending on her to push as hard as she could. Rest would become a physical necessity at some point, and she could be with him then. But if she stopped early, the guilt wouldn’t let her enjoy it.
    She didn’t think David would enjoy anything that came at the expense of their friends, either.
    The troll ambled past the last farmhouse, started up into the hills. Pushing the stompers took more effort, but she wasn’t yet out of breath. “Is it cruel to make you wait for me?”
    If he ached even half as much, Annika thought she must be.
    “In bed?”
    “Yes.”
    “No. I would be cruel to pressure you before you’re ready.”
    She was ready. And hoped for so much. But did she love?
    How could she know?
    She knew this: “I want to scream from wanting you.”
    “God.” Warm lips opened against the side of her neck. “I do, too. I would love to be inside you, tasting your mouth, listening to every moan.”
    “David—”
    His teeth closed over her earlobe, a tiny erotic pinch. Gooseflesh erupted over her skin. Annika’s hips rocked in the seat. She slowed the troll before she tipped it, her breath coming in desperate pants.
    “I can’t, David. I can’t drive when you do that.”
    “Then I’ll wait.” His voice was husky, low, sending another delicious shiver through her. “I’ll always wait, Annika. I’d rather take the time to learn what you like, what you don’t—so that by the time you love me, if you come to love me, I can make certain it’s good for you.”
    A little bite had pushed her near to climax. She didn’t see how the rest wouldn’t be good, too. “Do you truly think it might not be?”
    “I don’t know. You asked me about others once. I had to pay both of them. They didn’t enjoy it, I didn’t enjoy it…but each time was nothing like it has been with you.” He was quiet for a long moment. “I wish that I’d waited to fall in love, too.”
    Her throat ached. “You can wait for it now.”
    She felt his laugh against her hair, the shake of his head. This time, the kiss he pressed to her neck wasn’t openmouthed and hot, but soft and sweet.
    “I’ll just wait for you,” he said.
    It couldn’t be long. But if she began to dream of loving him, they’d probably find themselves tumbling over a cliff. She pushed harder, concentrating on the ground ahead.
    When they reached the river and turned north, David asked, “Are we heading in the same direction?”
    “Yes.” Though her lungs ached, her breath had evened out enough to speak. “That waterfall marks the route to the pass between the glaciers. We won’t stop there tonight, though.”
    And it was slower going past the falls. The ground became rougher, a near-constant incline. Abrupt ridges threatened a wrongstep, boulders lurked under the snow to trip and roll. Twice, she backtracked to find gentler slopes to climb.
    Hours passed. The ground evened out when they reached the valley that served as the pass, but Annika couldn’t go on any longer. She found a sheltered spot and sat the troll down. David pushed the engine to stop. Annika remembered his promise to lick her now, but lovemaking seemed to be the last thing on his mind.
    It was the last on hers, too. While he opened the