Wild Men of Alaska 03 - Dreamweaver

pressure on.”
    He took her hand, a sweet understanding smile curving his lips. “Come here.” He sifted his fingers in her hair. “Close your eyes.”
    “If it’s all the same to you, I’d like to leave my eyes open.”
    “By all means, leave them open then.”
    His head lowered, but before his lips would have taken hers, his mouth grazed her cheek, his fingers tracing the angles of her face as though learning her. His hands framed her face, and he slowly took her mouth with his.
    The kiss was soft, questioning, almost innocent. Like she was back in high school being kissed for the first time, though not awkward. Awkward had been last time they’d tried this.
    Cub applied more pressure, pulling her closer to him, and deepened the kiss. This was nice. Sweet.
    “Your hot chocolate tastes way better than mine,” Cub murmured.
    “I, uh, added a little something.”
    “Let me take another—” Cub’s mouth took hers more aggressively this time. His arms wrapping around her, lifting her off her feet and closer to his body. Her stomach did a surprising little flip.
    Wow, he had such big ... hands. His arms were long enough to envelop completely around her, his hands splayed around her back, with his fingers brushing the undersides of her breasts.
    A groan vibrated from him, and he broke contact, seeming startled by the sound. “That was much better than the other day.”
    “Much,” she whispered. Maybe sleeping with Cub wasn’t such a bad idea after all.
    A chill blew into the room.
    Cub looked around the kitchen. “Do you have a window or door open?”
    “No.”
    He set her back onto her feet and turned. “Did you feel that?”
    “Feel what?” Oh, no. She was awake right? She pinched herself. Yep. Cub’s kiss had been real. She hadn’t dreamt that. Neither had she dreamt the sudden drop in temperature that sent more than just a shiver through her body this time.
    She followed Cub into the living room where he double-checked her front door. It was still closed and locked from when they had entered the house.
    “Where’s your thermostat?”
    “Down the hall.” She led the way, realizing for the first time how close the thermostat was to her bedroom. She had a short hallway. Her bedroom was at the back, a guest bathroom on the left, and second bedroom on the right across from the bathroom. They were now just a few feet from her open bedroom door. Her queen size bed was a temptation she didn’t want to resist.
    But for sleep or some other reason?
    “Your thermostat seems fine.” Cub adjusted the settings and the heat kicked on. “Must have been a freak thing.” He glanced at her unmade bed and then back to her. “Nice sheets.”
    “They were a gift.” It was hard to admit to this big man, who was currently biting the inside of his cheek to keep from laughing that she’d trekked down the Star Trek sheets for herself. And they’d been hard to find.
    “A fan?”
    She shrugged. “Somewhat.” She didn’t want to scare him off with the truth.
    He pointed to the autographed picture of Leonard Nimoy framed and hanging on her wall. “I think more than somewhat.” He cocked a brow. Not as impressive as Spock’s famous questioning brow what with Cub being all blond and blue-eyed... and hot. “Don’t tell me your bedroom is ‘where no man has gone before’?”
    “Oh, you’re funny.” She reached around him and shut the door.
    “Guess that was the wrong joke to make?”
    She folded her arms across her chest.
    “What if I admitted that I’m a huge Doctor Who fan?”
    “Nope. Gotta do better than that. Everyone is a Doctor Who fan.”
    He choked out a laugh. “Okay, if you really want to get personal—”
    “You laughed at my sheets.”
    “Personal, it is then.” He cleared his throat. “My favorite movie of all time is... Titanic.”
    Her arms dropped to her sides. “‘I’m the king of the world’ Titanic?”
    He gave her a sheepish look. “Too soon?”
    “Yeah, I think so.” It was her turn to bite back a smile, which she lost. “It’s hard to see the big man in front of me, who it’s been rumored to have stared down a bear, so in touch with his feminine side.”
    “Once. I stared down a bear once. Don’t ever want to do it again, and it was more of a case of being too scared shitless to move than actual bravery. Besides, I thought women liked men who were in touch with their feminine sides.”
    “To a point. Men still must be able to defend hearth and home, kill