Saving Mr. Bell

Chapter Fourteen

Arlo

Waking up next to Rudolf made me smile. Sleeping, he looked like butter wouldn’t melt in his mouth, a far cry from when he was awake, with his teasing and smart quips. I studied him for a few minutes before easing myself out of bed without waking him. Which proved quite the trial when, just as I’d expected, every single muscle screamed about its overuse the previous day. I needed to go to the gym more if one day of sledging affected me this badly. I vowed to stick to a better exercise routine, even as I admitted to myself that it would probably only last a few weeks.

Rudolf didn’t stir as I dressed. I hadn’t been joking when I said we needed to do laundry. If we didn’t, we’d be walking around naked within a couple of days. I shushed my subconscious when it insisted on asking whether that would be so terrible. Now we’d fucked, I was supposed to want Rudolf less, not more. I left the bedroom before I could give in to the temptation to wake him with my lips and tongue. I’d brought him here to rest and I wouldn’t be the cause of him not getting enough.

Only once I was sitting on the sofa with a coffee did I allow myself to replay the events of the previous night. What are you scared of? Rudolf’s question had hit home, because I hadn’t needed to think about the answer. I was scared of falling for him and then having Rudolf walk away without so much as a second glance. He had men and women falling over themselves to get to him, so I wasn’t fooling myself I was anything more than Mr. Right Now to him.

I’d escaped a failed marriage with my heart intact, but I wasn’t sure I could do that with him. I’d brought him here because no matter how irrational it was after six years of no contact and the brevity of our previous acquaintance, I cared about him. The quandary was what I did now. There were only two options. Back off at a million miles an hour—emotionally not physically unless I was going to wander off into the wilderness and live with the wolves—and face Rudolf’s understandable wrath, or push any thoughts of having my heart broken to the back of my mind and live in the moment.

The bedroom door opened, my head jerking up as a sleepy Rudolf walked in. He only wore sweatpants, his pause for an elaborate stretch threatening to transform an already dangerously low-slung waistband into a glimpse of cock as every muscle stood out in stark definition.

He prowled my way, knowing exactly what he was doing and what effect it would have on me. He’d been brought up on image, had had it drummed into him from an early age, and was used to his body language and gestures being picked apart by the media. Yeah, this was a man in full control of his body.

He straddled me, plucking the mug of coffee from my hands and pushing me back against the sofa. The word “morning” was close enough to my lips that I felt it as well as heard it. And then he kissed me. Not a shy exploratory kiss, but a demanding, possessive one that picked up exactly where we’d left off the previous night. I was putty in his hands as I kissed him back, Rudolf making the decision for me. Living in the moment it was then, and I’d just have to hope I came out of it with my heart no more than bruised.

I traced his spine while we kissed, ran my fingertips over warm velvety skin, before toying with his waistband in a threat to slide my hands beneath the fabric and cup the perfect globes of his arse.

“Did you sleep well?” I asked when the kiss finally ended. Such a provincial question with his weight resting on my rapidly hardening cock.

Rudolf brushed back a lock of hair as it fell over his eye. Given his hair existed in a permanent state of overlong messiness that looked like he’d just gotten out of bed even when he hadn’t, it fell right back. He ignored it this time as he smiled. “I did. Like a baby. How about you?”

“Yeah. Good.”

“Any regrets?”

“No.”

“Liar! Your lips say one thing and your eyes say another.” Rudolf squeezed his hand between my body and his, tracing the outline of my fabric covered cock. I had no defense as his fingers slid beneath the fabric in search of bare skin. With my hands still resting on his lower back, there was no question of not following his lead and giving in to my earlier urge to cup his arse cheeks. He kissed me again as he wrapped his fist around my cock and stroked me to full hardness.

The next few minutes were a blur of heat, friction, and gasps, that ended with a condom on my cock—Rudolf doing the honors again. I gripped onto him for dear life, my gaze fixed on his face, as he impaled himself on me, gravity playing its part as he sank slowly down. The smile of success when he managed it was everything.

I kissed him until he lifted up, balance too difficult with our lips fused together. Denied the pleasure of kissing him, I explored his chest, running my fingers over hard abdominal ridges and toying with his nipples until desire had me gripping his hips instead, encouraging him to lift higher and slam down harder, my orgasm approaching like a freight train.

He came first with his hand wrapped around his cock, hot cum splattering my chest to leave me feeling marked, something I had zero issues with. Digging my fingers into his skin, I surged up, driving myself deep until I cried out, my muscle stiffness completely forgotten. “You’re going to kill me,” I gasped out when I came back to earth, Rudolf’s head resting on my shoulder.

He lifted his head to reveal a smile a mile wide. “Can you imagine? The papers would have a field day with that. Pianist and documentary maker fuck each other to death in remote location. Was it a suicide pact? Was it a sex game gone wrong? Who knows? But we’ll waste thousands of column inches between now and eternity speculating about it and coming up with every permutation. By the time they’ve finished, you probably will be someone who likes their lovers to wear a pig mask and God only knows what hatchet job they’ll do on me. Probably something involving drugs.”

Concentrating on what he was saying was difficult when he was also easing off me and getting rid of the condom. By the time he’d finished his rant, if that’s what it was, he’d pulled his sweatpants back up, tossed me a towel so I could wipe the cum off my chest, and was already over by the coffeemaker to pour himself one. He sipped it while he rooted through the cupboards in search of breakfast.

I lifted my hips and pulled my sweatpants back up, still somewhat shaken by typhoon Rudolf being so eager to instigate morning sex, and the energetic way he went about it. I’d been fooling myself to think I had any say in what happened until the weather released us from its grip.

“What’s the plan for today?”

I looked up to find Rudolf staring at me expectantly as he cracked eggs in a bowl and added milk. “Omelet,” he said, “with cheese and bacon. Is that okay for you? Assuming you haven’t had breakfast already?”

I shook my head. “I’ve had nothing except coffee.”

“Oh, you’re that sort of guy.”

I heaved myself to my feet and went to stand on the opposite side of the breakfast bar, narrowing my eyes at him. “What sort of guy?”

Rudolf smirked. “The kind who prioritizes caffeine above everything else.”

“ You’re having a go at me about vices.”

He paused from whisking the eggs to offer me a wink. “I haven’t had a drink in three days. Do you notice any withdrawal symptoms?” I shook my head. “Can you tell Jade that?”

“If our paths ever cross, I will. I’ll take great satisfaction in telling her how wrong she was about you.” I picked a crumb off the countertop and crushed it between my fingers. “What about when you leave here?” Even saying the words was painful. It would happen, though, and probably sooner rather than later, unless we had another blizzard. “Do you think you’ll slip back into old habits?”

Rudolf shrugged. “If I want to.”

“And do you?”

He lifted his gaze to mine and stared at me for a few seconds. “Being here doesn’t feel quite real. It’s like we exist in a separate bubble. Does that make sense?” I nodded because it made perfect sense. “So… I don’t know how I’ll feel when I leave. Much as your intentions were pure, you can’t just wave a magic wand and fix the things that aren’t right in my life. It doesn’t work like that.” Rudolf upended the eggs into the pan and set about grating cheese. “And I don’t want to make you promises I don’t know if I’ll be able to keep.”

“I don’t want you doing that either. I’d rather you were honest and didn’t tell me what I want to hear.”

He flashed me a grateful smile. “Good. We agree then.” He paused. “So… plans?”

“Laundry.”

Rudolf rolled his eyes. “Exciting. Are you going to sit and watch it going round? Or can I persuade you away from it?”

After contemplating decorating the tree and, yet again, not mustering up the enthusiasm, we went for a walk in the afternoon. Rudolf linked our arms to press us together—no complaints from me—and we headed in the same direction he’d gone during his doomed escape attempt.

“We should ask each other questions,” he announced about ten minutes into the trek.

“What sort of questions?”

“General knowledge.” He gave me a little shove. “Questions about each other, Dumbo. So we can get to know each other better.”

Why? If you’re just going to leave, what’s the point? I didn’t verbalize my instinctive reaction to his suggestion. Besides, there were things about Rudolf I was curious about. Although, it was probably best not to launch right into the type of questions I wanted to ask. “Favorite color?”

Rudolf’s slight eyebrow raise questioned whether that was the best I could come up with. “Black.”

I gave him a scathing look. “You can’t have black as your favorite color.”

“I can. And I have. So there.”

“Black’s not even a color. It’s an absence of light.”

Rudolf let out a frustrated breath. “Alright, Mr. Physics. Chill out. No point in getting your knickers in a twist. Not when I have to share them. You asked, and I answered. I can’t help it if you don’t like what I have to say. Lord, help me if you’re going to be like this about every answer I give.”

“I was just pointing out…” I stopped as Rudolf did a side-to-side head bob worthy of any recalcitrant teenager. “You’re such a child.” The severity of my tone was ruined by the laugh I couldn’t hold back.

He flashed a grin at me. “Must be that six years you have on me.”

“Must be.” I dragged him in a different direction, something catching my eye through the trees. “Fine. So… black. Mine is—”

“I’m not wasting my question on something as mundane as your favorite color.”

“So, what do you want to know?”

“Favorite sexual position?”

“Why?”

“So we can do it when we get back to the cabin.”

“Maybe we’ve already done it.”

“We’ve only done two. Missionary and me straddling you on the sofa this morning.” He pursed his lips. “Why don’t you want to tell me?” He let go of my arm to round on me, his eyes wide. “Are you a kinky fuck, Arlo? Is that it? You can tell me, you know. I’ll only let three news outlets know and mention it next time I’m on Michael Carter’s chat show. Apart from that…” He drew a gloved finger and thumb across his lips in a parody of pulling a zipper across.

“It’s a treehouse,” I said, staring up at the dark shape above our heads now we’d reached it. “I wonder how long this has been here and who built it?”

“Yeah, it’s a treehouse. Stop changing the subject.”

“Doggie,” I said, glad we were outside and that my cheeks were probably already red from the cold.

“Really?” My answer seemed to both please and surprise Rudolf. “Want to do me doggie style, Arlo?”

I tested the first rung of the ladder propped up against the treehouse to see if it would take my weight. “Very much so.”

“Then your wish is my command.”

Keen to explore the treehouse and glad of something else to think about that wasn’t Rudolf on his hands and knees, back arched to take my cock, I started to climb the ladder. I got to the fourth rung before one snapped, Rudolf grabbing hold of my ankle to steady me. “Be careful.”

“Yes, Mother.”

“I’m serious. If you fall and break your leg, I’m gonna be the one stuck here with you. And it’s not like I can call for help or drive you to the nearest hospital. I probably wouldn’t even be able to get you back to the cabin.” Rudolf turned in the direction we’d come, his brow furrowed as he sized up the distance and terrain. “I suppose if I went and got the sledge, I could put you on that and drag you back.”

His contingency plans were sweet. Not needed, but sweet. And I proved that by shimmying up the rest of the ladder with no further mishaps. It was a fairly roomy treehouse and even had logs built into it for seats. No treasure or historical artefacts, unfortunately, but I’d take it, regardless. “Are you coming up?”

Rudolf muttered something that had me smiling despite not knowing what he’d said. I hadn’t needed to; the tone was enough. His head appeared at the top of the ladder a minute later. “Watch your hands, Rudolf. Climb a ladder, Rudolf. Plummet to your demise, Rudolf.”

I laughed. “Don’t you think you’re being a tad dramatic? We’re ten-feet up. Not doing a tightrope walk between two high-rise buildings.”

Rudolf plonked himself next to me, the seats providing a perfect vantage point to look out across the snow-covered forest. “I don’t like heights,” he admitted.

“Ah! I see. You didn’t have to come up.”

He shrugged. “I’m fine now that I’m up here. It was the climbing up I didn’t like. And I daresay going down won’t be the most fun I’ve ever had.” He rested his chin on his gloved hands. “It’s your turn to ask a question.”

“Last serious relationship?”

“That’s easy. I’ve never had one I’d class as serious.”

Do you want one? What about with me? “You’re only twenty-three. You’ve got plenty of time.”

Rudolf made a little huffing sound. “It’s like that guy in Monaco. How would I even make it work when I spend most of my time flying from place to place and staying in hotels?”

“When you fall in love, you’ll find a way.” And whoever it was, I already hated him with the passion of a thousand suns.

“Do you think?”

“Yeah. Your priorities will change.”

“What about you?”

“You know when my last serious relationship was. You can’t get much more serious than marriage.”

“Will you marry again?”

“I don’t know.” It was an honest answer to a question I’d already given a lot of thought. “I hope so. I’d hate to think that one failed marriage is it for me.”

“It won’t be.”

“No?”

Rudolf shook his head enthusiastically. “You, Arlo Thomas, are quite the catch. Someone’s going to realize that.”

Someone! No thought that it could be him. If that didn’t hammer home the short-term nature of our fling, then I didn’t know what did. “I hope you’re right.”

“Kids or a dog?” Rudolf asked.

“Both.”

“Huh!” He gave my answer a lot of thought. “I’m more of a cat man myself.”

“I like cats too, but you didn’t give me that as a choice.”

He turned his head to grin at me. “Always push for what you want and don’t settle for second best.”

“Good advice.” I snagged his gaze as I shuffled closer, intent on kissing him. Because if I didn’t kiss him in a secret treehouse in the middle of a frozen winter wonderland, then what was I even doing with my life? Our lips were about to touch when a scrabbling sound below the treehouse had us both freezing.

“What the fuck is that?” Rudolf mouthed.

I shrugged, and we both crept forward to peer over the side. Rudolf grabbed my shoulder, presumably because of his problem with heights. Whatever I’d expected to see, it wasn’t three wolf cubs in the snow. It made me think that rather than a treehouse, this was a hide, put here for spotting wildlife.

Rudolf and I both watched enraptured as they chased each other round, the depth of the snow compared to their small stature not seeming to bother them one bit.

Even when the mother turned up, our fascination didn’t turn to fear. Whether it was because we were safely off the ground and confident the adult wolf either couldn’t, or wouldn’t, climb the ladder, or whether it was because the wolf cubs were just so damn cute, was up for debate. Whichever one it was, we watched them for the best part of thirty minutes, with huge smiles on our faces, until the small group finally disappeared out of sight.