Frostbite & bruises

“Not too short Reah, I still need to be able to do my own hair... Yeah, yeah..., I know I can’t see it, but I want my hair so that I can style it myself and not look ridiculous afterwards!”

Grinning at their bickering, Morgan looked from her daughter to Shane. Reah had been busy cutting both her brother’s and Steve’s hair all morning, so now it was Shane’s turn. Reah had already done a good job on the man’s long white beard. His once long beard had been trimmed to a graceful short beard that made him look years younger. Morgan couldn’t wait until her daughter had done his long, unkempt hair and she could finally see what he had looked like before the new ice age.

A thumping sound on the stairs caught her attention. She hadn’t seen Nox all morning, which made her feel uneasy. Did he regret what had happened between them yesterday? But she quickly pushed the thought aside. No, if that had been the case, they wouldn’t have had sex twice. Besides, he hadn’t given her the impression that he thought their sex had been bad. At the thought of their sexual encounter the night before, she felt a warm sensation in her crotch. She had not had sex that good in a long time; if she was honest, the last time she had come that well was when she was about twenty-two, with a stranger she had met at the wedding of Judy and Mike, her best friend from kindergarten. Boy, did he know how to please a woman! In fact, his skilled hands had taken her by surprise. The man in question may have been an army dick, but his behaviour had been anything but normal. He had been hanging around the bar all evening, lost in his glass of beer. She had asked her friend who he was, as he was decorated with medals, but hadn’t had the decency to mingle with the other guests. She had paid no attention to Mike’s Commander, who turned out to be the man in question, at the party itself.

It was only after the party had ended and she had caught Rico, her boyfriend at the time, with another girl having sex in the toilet that she had really noticed the man.

She had been furious with Rico! White hot with rage, she had stood there cursing and swearing at him. Then she had stormed off, leaving Rico to stumble after her as he tried to fix his trousers while apologising for his stupidity.

On her way out, her eyes had caught the man standing there, waiting for something. She knew that while his eyes had been darting from her to Rico and back again, he was well aware of the way things were going. Dazed with alcohol and anger, she had walked up to him, put her arm through his and asked if she could go with him.

Shame rose to her cheeks again as she thought back to that night. How bold she had been!

The man hadn’t said anything, but his crooked grin and brief nod had been enough, and even though Rico had walked up behind her, shouting his apologies over and over again, she hadn’t turned around, but had joined the man in the car.

The funny thing was, when she’d got into the taxi he’d ordered, she hadn’t been afraid at all. Even though he was an eccentric man, there was something about him that made her trust him. He had eventually taken her to his hotel room, where they had literally ripped each other’s clothes off and had incredible sex.

The next morning, while the man was still sound asleep, she had sneaked out of his room in shame. It was so out of character with her everyday life. She had never dared to ask Judy the man’s name. All she knew about him was that he had been a high-ranking officer in the army, with beautiful grey-blue eyes and a large Marine Corps tattoo on his arm.

Not long after that, she had met Roger and less than nine months later, Reah was born. Morgan had never known for sure whether her daughter was Roger’s or the unknown man’s, she’d told him honestly, but it hadn’t mattered to her first husband, he’d loved them both and raised Reah as his own blood. After five years he had died in a car accident and she had been left alone with two small children, Viggo having also been born by then. A few years later she had met Danny, a widower with a daughter of his own, and together they had started a new family.

But every now and then the stranger reappeared in her mind. Always young, handsome, eccentric and incredibly sexy...

The door opened with a bang and Nox burst in, and as Morgan let her eyes slide to his, she felt the ground sink beneath her at the sight of his face.

Nox had risen early to tend to the animals, and as he had brushed his teeth with cold water in the small bathroom, he had noticed his unkempt appearance. Normally he did not care about his appearance, he had liked the long hair, it was nice and warm and kept most people at bay. Especially when Morgan had come into his life, his long hair and beard had been handy to hide behind. But after yesterday...