RFW: Snowed in!

Another great theme from the Romantic Friday Writers group. Click here to check out other participants stories :)

It was cold. So not what it should be at Christmas.

What the bloody hell are we doing in this frozen land at this time of year. Stupid business trip making us leave the heat of the Southern Hemisphere summer.

"Gerry? Honey, here's a nice hot chocolate."

I couldn't help the scowl, but i did offer thanks as Mike handed the steaming mug to me with his usual smirk. Kills me every time.

He wrapped an arm around me as he snuggled under the soft blanket. "Don't sulk love." He simultaneously squeezed my thigh and kissed my cheek, a move that caused waves of heat to bloom inside me, warming me before i'd taken a sip.

"Just think of it as the perfect opportunity to warm each other up."

His devilish grin, slightly lopsided caused an answering tug to my own lips.

I love this man to distraction. And he knew how to push all the right buttons. Even the ones his snaking hand was already making a start on under the blanket.

Spluttering in shock as his frigid fingers touched the skin just below my bra i did my best to save us from being scalded by the contents of my mug. "You are incorrigible!"

His lips, warm and oh so soft trailed a path from my ear to my collarbone in excruciating slowness. "You love it."

I did. I loved the way he could get me out of a grump. How he bought me steaming hot liquids. How he put up with my moods. How he knew just how to touch me.

"Can you please wait a minute." I didn't even try to mask the giggle that escaped as his lips followed a path of their own design and his evening stubble tickled the tops of my breasts.

"Why wait when you're all warm and ready to melt just as the marshmellows did." The blanket was now tangled between our bodies, wedged under his thigh pressed solidly between mine. I was no longer cold and no longer needed the hot cocoa to warm me. Just him.

My man.

"You're sweeter than marshmellows." His mouth closed over my breast, soaking the thin satin and thrilling me. Taunting me, leaving me humming for more.

I moaned in protest when he lifted his head and looked at me, his blue eyes nearly eclipsed by the passion in his irises. "Sorry we ended up stuck here. In a week we'll be back home."

"It doesn't matter." I pulled him to my lips and feasted on all the goodness, the love that was on offer. It didn't matter. Not when he was here with me. 

RFW: Whispers

From my Princess story (still in early draft form!)

“Why are those people staring at us?”

Max felt a jolt of awareness shoot up his arm as her fingers threaded through his. He glanced at the various townspeople who were indeed staring at them.

What to tell her?

He shrugged, trailing a glance over her figure before turning his best grin on her. “Probably just admiring what a great pair we make.”

Tori smiled and small spots of colour flamed her neck and cheeks, but she looked at the starers. “As nice as that is, I don’t think you’re right.” 

Max watched her line of sight and noted she squeezed his hand a tad tighter when one lady pointed and leaned close to her elderly companion.

Perhaps it hadn’t been the best idea to bring her here yet. Someone could say something and completely blow their plans.

“The lady at the shop stared at me like she’d seen a ghost. I had to ask her twice.” He’d seen that too.

He tried to brush it off, shrugging. “Maybe you look like someone she knows.”

“Maybe she knew my parents.” His step faltered and he spun Tori in a circle to cover it.

“I doubt it. They are just astonished to see me with such an enchanting woman.”

She laughed throatily. “You make it sound like such a rare occurance.” Tori paused then smiled crookedly at him. “Just enchanting? Not beautiful?”

Relief mixed with the heady shot of desire through his veins at her barefaced question. “So enchanting just looking at you makes me wish we’d stayed at the castle.” Grinning when she shyly tucked a stray curl behind her ear he bent close and felt her shiver as he brought her body into contact with his. “How can I think of anything else when you look at me like that?”

He obliged her upturned mouth and allowed himself to indulge briefly, running his hands possessively up her sides and moulding her to his body. As much as it had been so wrong to accept her proposition, he wasn’t going to regret it. He’d never felt this happy since the tragedy that had uprooted this wonderful country. She was his anchor, his purpose even as she was the puppet.

Breaking away before he forgot himself and where they were, he placed a kiss on her pert nose and lead the way, pleased he’d diverted her from any possible complication.

400 words exactly: MCA (Minor critique only)

Check out the other entries here!

Romantic Friday Writers - Rock Candy

After reading through the description given as a prompt for this weeks theme, and doing some research, i've decided to go with my own interpretation of Rock Candy!

"Geez, look at the size of that rock!"

"Tor, that is amazing."

As her friends exclaimed over the shiny bit of rock candy on her ring finger Tori couldn't help the fearful gulp that rose in her throat.

Whenever she'd dreamed of an engagement ring, it has been a small thing. Small, elegant and inconspicuous. Not at all like the heavy, huge rock Max had slipped on her finger that morning.

Monique seemed to catch on to her mood and twined an arm around Tori's and covered the hand with her own. Tori gripped her friend's hand and plastered a smile on her face.

"It's nice. It is. It's just-"

"Not you." 

Tori's sigh wavered and she caught herself before letting the barrier drop. It was wonderful at times to have friends who knew you so well.

Monique rubbed Tori's back and she leant her head on her friend's shoulder, unable to take her gaze from their joined hands, which covered the symbol of something that should have been the best thing in her life. She was engaged.

Monique released her grip and turned the giant diamond until it glinted in the sun. "At least, you'd never lose it." She laughed, "You'd know right away if it was gone. The glare from the sun would be the first warning."

Tori shook her head, "No, it would be the loss of the weight." This time she couldn't stop her laugh from turning into the choking sob.

"It's okay, Tor." Lizzie put her arm around Tori and her friends hugged her from two sides.

"How can it be okay?" She stared at the symbol of love and forever and felt instead the weight of duty and entrapment.

Tori felt, rather than saw her friends look at each other behind her head. 

"I'm sure if you told him-"

"No." Interrupting her friend before she could continue, she shut off her own wishes. Again. "It's part of who i am. Who i will be." If only it wasn't all about duty, and about the love and passion they'd shared instead. "It's tradition."

348 words. MCA

RFW Heart Stopper!

Great opportunity with this theme for Romance. 

So come on all you RFWers, let's dance to the rhythm of romantic music. Let's see that setting sun and feel those heroic arms about us. Maybe you've got a holiday romance going down, or perhaps it's a beach party and there's a heart stopper of a guy there and, you're drooling! 

Whomever sets your heart pulsing let's hear about him.  ;)

So, from my Princess story, meet Maxwell Rosenthall:

Instinctively she inched closer to her mother and glanced at the fourth man.

Compared to the other three he stood relaxed, his weight balanced slightly on his left leg. His suit was a darker grey that somehow exuded unrestrained power. Tori wondered why he would need bodyguards. The fabric of his pants, though not fitted, showed clearly the strength in his long muscled legs. His jacket, wide at very broad shoulders tapered to a narrow waist that just showed the strength in his torso more clearly. It was clear to her he would be able to handle himself.

Her perusal and musings were stopped in their tracks when he spoke. A rich rumbling British accent, tinged slightly with the lilt of Ireland. It flowed through her so quickly, warming her suddenly cold body, settled the spinning in her tummy to that of a calm lap against a sandy beach. She felt safe and absent of fear.

Why would a man’s voice affect her so much, especially one she’d never heard?

“Ma’am. It’s a pleasure to see you again.”

Her mother stepped forward and accepted his greeting with a little smile, a slight flush tinting her pale cheeks as she curtsied. Curtsied!

Kissing her cheek, the man held her close and said something in her ear that made her mother break out in a proper smile. He released her and when Tori tore her fascinated gaze from her suddenly happy mother being enfolded in her husband’s bracing arm, she was arrested by the deepest pair of blue eyes. The gentle lapping in her tummy, stilled and lay quiet as she drowned in their depths. The dark blue with hints of gold, as his strength had done had her at peace, safe and protected, like she was home.

Why then was her heart hammering so hard she was sure everyone could hear it, or at least see it trying it’s darndest to explode from her chest. Drowned as she was in his bottomless eyes, she vaguely saw a curtain of soft dark waves framing a strong face, a long straight nose and thin lips. 

Romantic Friday Writers: Confused

The latest RFW topic. (Sorry i've been absent - have had many readings and an assignment for my diploma!)
From my Princess story, in chapter 1. Enjoy!

“Mum? What’s wrong?” Quickly she sat on the bed beside her, pulling her into a hug as her mother had always done for her. Tori was so worried when she saw her mother’s face sad and twinkling in the afternoon sunshine from shed tears. She’d never seen her mum cry, she was so private with emotions like that.

            Elizabeth laughed self-consciously, wiping her elegant hands across her daughter’s cheeks. “Oh, nothing. Just being sentimental.”

            Tori followed her mum’s gesture to the small box beside them on the bed. She hadn’t seen it as she’d rushed to give comfort.

            Vaguely she recognised it. Tracing her fingers over the rose pictures torn from magazines and pasted onto the box, she realised it was the box she’d once found while playing hide and seek when about seven or eight. Looking at it caused a faint buzzing in her mind, as well as the flash of photos.

            “This has old photos in it, right?” Mum wasn’t paying attention.

            “Your feet were so tiny, we’d had to have these made several times before they fit.”

            Her mum picked up the yellow booties and cradled them gently in her hands, but Tori was pulled towards the box, the buzzing growing louder, the lid half covering the contents. She wanted to see the inside. Needed to.

            The photo she’d remembered was near the top, the people in it sitting stiffly on a large couch with thin legs and covered in a flower patterned upholstery. Tori automatically straightened her hunched shoulders to copy the pose of the woman, central on the seat. There was a hint of a smile on the woman’s lips, despite the stiffness of her pose, and Tori knew this lady was kind, softly spoken. It wasn’t mum though. Mum’s hair was mahogany. The lady’s hair was clearly blonde. Tori had a flash of sudden clarity that threw the picture into complete colour rather than the antique orange tinge. The lady’s hair was so pale it was nearly silver, and her vision knew it glinted brilliantly in the morning sun.

            “Who is this?”

Word count: 348!
Code for critique: MPA (Minor Points acceptable)