“I’m not a girl.”

“Have you ever had a man in your bed?” he asks in a ragged voice.

My heart skips a beat.

Slowly, I shake my head.

He leans down close to my ear. “Have you ever been kissed?”

I nod.

“On places other than your mouth?”

Heat pools between my legs. “No, Uncle Jake.”

His body rises and falls behind me as he breathes into my hair, and I don’t turn around, because I’m afraid of breaking the spell.

Reaching out, he rests his hand on top of mine on the counter, fitting our fingers together as a finger from his other hand softly glides down my spine. A light layer of sweat cools my skin.

Doors slam upstairs as footfalls run from a bedroom to probably the bathroom, and I hear the shower start running as a girl’s laughter breaks out.

“I’m sorry you have to see all this,” Jake says in a pained voice. “When the snow is coming, we soak it up, because we know we won’t see anything pretty all winter.”

His finger traces slowly down my spine.

All winter…

I look down at his possessive hand on mine, remembering his eyes on me from the table a moment ago, and think of how it feels like something is barely being contained, and it hasn’t even snowed yet.

They won’t be locked up here without a woman this year. They’ll have one.

His hot breath filters through the strands of my hair to the back of my neck, and the flesh of my nipples pebble as his hands tease me so painfully gently.

All winter…

“I think you should leave, Tiernan.”

I narrow my eyes, but I turn my hand over, craving his touch on my palms now. It feels so good, my eyelids flutter.

“Leave the peak?” I ask.

Or does he mean leave the kitchen?

He doesn’t answer, and my stomach sinks a little, finally realizing what he’s telling me.

Needles prick the back of my throat. “You said I was home.” I catch his hand mid-caress, thread our fingers, and curl mine to hold his hand tightly. “You said I was yours.”

“This is no place for you.”

Tear well again, but I push them away. He talked me out of leaving yesterday morning, and now he wants me to go. He wants me to be alone. I’m always alone, and you made me know what it was like not to be, and you lied.

“Why did my father give me to you?” I whisper, staring out the window and seeing my uncle’s reflection loom behind me. “They knew what they were going to do. They could’ve waited a few weeks until I was eighteen. They could’ve given me to Mirai.”

I lean back into him more, savoring his warmth and his eyes on my body.

“Maybe they didn’t think about it,” I murmur. “Or maybe they knew it was the only good thing they could do for me.”

At least I was mentioned in the will. I wouldn’t be surprised if I weren’t.

I yank out of his hand, pushing away from the counter, and charge away, but I don’t make it two steps. He grabs my arm, pulls my back into his chest, and I gasp as he wraps his arms around my body and forces my face around to look up at him.

“Do you feel this?” he growls over my lips as he pushes me into the sink. The thick, hard ridge of his cock nudges my ass, and I groan. “This is what you’re doing to me, Tiernan. It’s not right. Instead of pile-driving the hot tits and ass I came home with, I’m sitting down here, trying to talk myself out of going into your room and giving the teenage piece of ass living in my house a really long kiss goodnight.”

My clit throbs, and I shift on my feet, feeling the slickness between my legs.

“And do I take off my panties for that?” I breathe out.

He squeezes his eyes shut, groaning as if in pain, and I only have a moment to suck in a quick breath before his mouth covers mine, a whimper at the sweet pain escaping me.

Fuck.

Fuck…

My heart damn near jumps out of my chest as he moves, taking my lips, and the heat of his tongue swirling down into my belly to between my legs. I cry out, but it’s lost in his mouth.

Oh, my God.

His taste fills my body, and I slide my hand up, taking the back of his neck and holding him to me. I’m so hungry. So hungry, and I can’t breathe. My blood races under my skin, and it feels so good, but God, I need more.

I need more.

I start to move my mouth and kiss him back, slipping my tongue past his lips little by little, moaning and tasting him until I don’t think I’ll ever get enough.

His mouth eats me up, moving over me, kissing the corners of my mouth and nibbling the flesh of my bottom lip, and I put my hand on his at my stomach and guide him down, pushing him to the V between my legs.

His kissing falters as he gasps, and I use the reprieve to try to catch my breath. He bites my bottom lip again, our hands massaging my pussy as his other leaves my face and grabs my breast, squeezing it.

I moan. “Jake.”

Leaving my mouth, he trails down my neck, and all I can do is let my head fall back and take it as he pulls the strap of my tank top down, the faint sound of a tear hitting my ears, but I don’t care. He nibbles, bites, and sucks on my neck, shoulders, and over my shoulder blades as he continues kneading my breast and making my panties so wet as he rubs me through them.

“Jesus, fuck.” He pushes me over the sink, gripping my waist with both hands as he trails his mouth down my back, my thighs, and back up to my ass, taking a mouthful between his teeth.

I cry out, the torn straps of my tank top hanging down as I grip the ledge of the counter.

Rising back up, he turns my face toward him again and kisses me as I reach behind me, finding his erection through his jeans and rubbing him.

He grips my hand. “No, Tier—”

“I’ve never touched a man before,” I breathe out. “I wanna touch you.”

He lets out a sigh, but he releases me, kissing me deep and hard, his tongue lighting every nerve in my body as he grips and feels and runs his hands over every part of me that he can reach.

He thrusts into me from behind, and I’m a mess—a puddle—in his arms, ready for him.

“Take me to bed,” I beg.

He thrusts again as I reach behind and hold onto his neck.

“Take me to bed and give me that kiss goodnight.”

“Yeah,” he grunts, dry-fucking me against the sink.

My head swims behind my closed eyes, and I’m too high to think or care about anything except making this last forever.

He covers my mouth again, and I take his hand and guide it down inside my panties.

But he suddenly tears his mouth away and pulls his hands off me. “Fuck, stop.” He backs away, breathing hard as the chill suddenly hits my skin. “No. No, we can’t.”

I shudder, the ache of need nearly making my knees give out. Tears spring to my eyes.

“This isn’t happening,” he growls. “I’m your uncle. I’m your fucking uncle.”

“You were never my uncle,” I grit out, spinning around. “You’re a no-relation stranger my parents sent me to live with.”

His face is flushed, like mine I’m sure, and sweat glistens on his tanned temples.

“You’re my responsibility,” he tells me.

“But it felt good.”