Adam twists my hair tighter around his fist, thrusting deeper into my mouth before he releases into my mouth with a curse as I greedily swallow every drop of his hot cum. When he relaxes his grip on my hair, I lick him clean before pushing myself up to stand while he tucks himself away. His eyes are a deep sapphire blue, darkened with lust. The satisfied expression on his face makes my chest swell with pride. I lean up to kiss him and pull back as I feel his phone vibrate in his pocket between us. Checking it quickly, he nods to the door.
“Cab’s here…” His sinful smile has me biting my lip with the way it makes my belly swoop and my heart swell in my chest.
Adam guides us to the waiting car, and as he holds the door open, helping me in, he murmurs, “To be continued…”
Anticipation pounds hard at my ribs as he slips in beside me, his thigh pressing to mine while he rests his hand on it with his little finger stroking circles on my bare skin…
Maybe this year Santa won’t only come once. I smile at the sight of our closeness, pinching my lips between my teeth to stop my contented sigh.
The entire journey back to the cottage, I’m tied up in all these delicious knots that his promise created. It’s like the more he touches me and the more we discover about each other…the more I want. And I know it’s a silly thing to even think, but I can’t help it.
Everything about him is addictive. From the feel of his skin on mine, to his scent and the way it seeps into my pores whenever we’re close. Even now, with the taste of him still on my tongue, I can smell his scent on me as though it’s my own, and it’s beyond intoxicating.
When we reach the cottage, Adam pays the driver, and as I open the front door, he surprises me by pulling me over his shoulder, then races up the stairs to my uncontainable giggles.
“I need to brush my teeth first and take my makeup off.” If I don’t do it now, I’ll be too exhausted to do it after whatever he seems to already have in mind as he puts me down in front of the bathroom vanity and walks out with a pep in his step, closing the door behind him with a cunning bite of his lip.
It seems odd that he doesn’t argue my request considering the way he rushed upstairs, but I don’t dwell on it. Let’s face it, from the phone calls I’ve heard him on, I know Adam doesn’t suffer fools. He seems to tell it like it is, so if he brought me into his room, it’s because he wants me here…and I can’t help the way that little tidbit makes me feel. The way he makes me feel sexy and naughty…maybe even a little badass. I’ve never felt so confident in my life than when he looks at me and it’s as though it’s taking everything in him to hold back. To stop himself from devouring every last bit of me.
I like it. I more than like it. Without warning, a thought pops into my head: What happens when we leave? Would he still want me then?
No matter how hard I try to stop myself from thinking about the possibilities, I can’t. And my foolish heart decides to melt a little more at the sight of him in the now open doorway, in nothing but his black boxer briefs and a crooked grin.
He’s up to something. It’s obvious from the way he’s ogling me, like the cat that got the cream.
The minute Adam walks into the bathroom, my heart starts going crazy. It’s beating so fast that I can barely catch my breath, making me feel heady as he sits on the edge of the bath, watching me remove my makeup.
“It’s odd. I think you’re the first woman I prefer without any of that stuff on your face,” he tells me, looking around his en suite.
He’s so tall and his presence is so potent that he feels almost too big for the small room. Bigger than life, actually.
“You’re just saying that ’cause you wanna get lucky. No guy ever mentions how great a woman looks au natural unless they’re looking for the good stuff.” Splashing my face with some of the warm running water to remove the residue of the makeup remover, I knock a few of the bottles I have on the counter.
By the time I’ve rinsed off my face and patted it dry with the face cloth, he’s standing behind me. The bottles are all back where they were on the vanity with the exception of the pink one he has in his hand. Turning it as he inspects it closely, Adam uncaps it and takes a long inhale of the soft rose and lemony scent of my body oil with a throaty hum that sets me on fire. Flames lick at my insides, making me clench my thighs together as he throws the cap in the sink and takes me by the hand, guiding me into the bedroom.
It’s dimly lit with a few candles here and there and the lights all off. The small beam from the bathroom doesn’t do much to light up the space, but it’s enough that I can see the way Adam is staring at me. Hungry and ready to pounce at my slightest move.
“Do you trust me?” he asks.
He hasn’t given me any reason not to, even if the question makes me wonder what it is he wants me to trust him with.
“Sure.” My reply is muted with the way my heart is beating the air right out of my lungs.
“Good,” he says, head tilted to the side as he grabs something shiny from the foot of the bed.
It takes me a while to make out what it is, but as he winds one end around one of his hands and pulls it taught, I recognize it as the gold satin ribbon from one of my boxes. The erratic beat of my heart stumbles before it picks up frantically. Not that I’m scared, because I’m not. I’ve never felt safer than I do with him.
It’s the way every step is measured, and the closer he gets, the tighter he winds the ribbon around his hand and the tighter my insides coil with anticipation of what game he’s playing.
My eyes flit between my oil on the chaise at the end of the bed and his hand. When they finally meet his, he stops in front of me.
“Wanna play a game, spitfire?”
“Am I gonna like it?”
“You’re gonna love it.” He grins, eyeing me from head to toe.
“Then why are you asking?”
Smirking, he takes a step closer, winding the ribbon up completely in his hand before unzipping my dress. Watching it as it falls to a red tulle puddle at our feet, he replies, “A gentleman always asks.”
Something about the way he looks right now isn’t very gentlemanly at all. Still, I can’t find the breath to say anything as he takes one of my hands and nods for the other. I’ve barely given myself the okay and my hand is already acquiescing his request.
“Still want it any way…any how?”
It takes me a beat to recall the conversation I had with Kate when he came back with the tree, and instantly I feel myself flush with awareness that he heard me say all those things about him.
“Don’t get shy, Amelia. I like that you know what you like and what you want.”
“You heard everything?”
“Mostly.” Clasping one of my wrists in his hand, he flattens my palm to his torso, guiding it over every chiseled slab of muscle to the bulge in his boxers. “And I was just as hard hearing you say all the things you’d let me do, and trust me, you and me…we’d make a nun cry.”
My throat swells as he squeezes himself using my hand while at the same time walking me closer to the bed. When we’re beside it, he brings my hand back to the other while unraveling the gold ribbon. The silence around us sparks with static; every part of me is electrified, and every one of Adam’s touches feels hotter and more profound than the last.