Lickety Split Read online

  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.

  Chapter Two

  “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 en
joy 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.