I wasn’t entirely sure I believed that my job wouldn’t be affected. I think he would try not to let it affect my career, but the truth was StoryBook Christmas was a family business. And Chris’s job would always be more secure than my job with the company. End of story. So the question remained… was I willing to risk it?
I didn’t have the answer to that yet. All I knew was that I didn’t want to pull away from this. From us. I tended to overthink everything in my life, but for once, I wasn’t. For once, I wanted him, wanted this, and I could see it slipping through my fingers if I spent too much time worrying about my job… my job that I always worried about. My job that always came first, above friends and relationships. “Unabashed pleasure,” I whispered.
His eyes widened as I leaned toward him, gliding my hands over the woven knit of his sweater. The muscles beneath bunched with my touch, and it was like holding knitted cotton draped over a slab of granite. I leaned forward, stopping just shy of his lips.
There was something so sexy in that moment—our lips hovering over each other’s. Connection and electricity buzzed between us, causing my body to awaken. Shimmers of anticipation pulsed through me, and I clenched between my legs, desire pooling there like liquid heat.
My tongue did a slow sweep across his bottom lip and he growled, his hands clenching at my hips harder, needier, grasping me closer to his body until he firmly pressed me against him. His erection pushed against my hip. As I gasped, he utilized the moment to slide his tongue into my mouth, kissing me deeper in a tangle of silk.
He paused, pulling away from the kiss and looking down between our bodies. In my kiss-drunk haze, I blinked. What was wrong? Why was he stopping? Was I that out of practice that he had to pause in the middle?
He poked the front pouch pocket of my sweater. “What the hell is in there?”
I glanced down at the front pouch and pulled free the mistletoe that Kandi had slipped me. Lucky mistletoe.
His brow arched in a long sweeping stretch over his eye. “Is that a mistletoe in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?”
“I had plans for tonight,” I replied with a grin. Which wasn’t true… it was a big, fat lie. I had no idea I was going to stumble upon Chris’s rental home. And I really had no idea he would kiss me tonight.
“I can see that.”
“Yep, between the mistletoe in my pocket and the expired condom in my purse, I’m ready to party.”
He bent, kissing my neck and I could feel his smile pressed against my skin. “Don’t you worry. I have plenty of non-expired condoms.”
With that, he scooped me into his arms and headed for the stairs.
Chapter 12
Chris
Moments later, we were in my bedroom. Her lips hadn’t left mine during the entire journey from the kitchen, up the stairs. I kicked open the door into the dimly lit room with Avery still cradled in my arms and gently lowered her to the bed.
The anticipation of being with Avery was unlike any intimacy I’d ever had in my whole life. Even still… I was nervous. Avery and I should talk about what this means… what it looks like for our jobs and working together in the future. Unlike any of the women I’d been with before, she had gotten under my skin and I would not let her go. Not if I had anything to say about it. The thought of this being a one-time thing with her? It made my heart twist painfully inside my chest.
She was already half undressed, with her jeans undone and one arm out of her sweater, impatiently wriggling out of the material. She paused, catching me staring at her, and quickly jerked, throwing the sweater aside and sitting up on her elbows, looking at me with uncertainty. “What? What is it?”
“Slow down.” I chuckled, slowly dragging her jeans down her legs and dropping them on the floor beside the bed. Then, reaching behind my head, I swiftly tugged my shirt off. She watched me closely, eyes bright and alert as I slid out of my pants, leaving me only in my boxer briefs—and her in her matching bra and panties.
I stood back and exhaled a low, long breath at the sight of her in front of me. Even in the low light, I could see her flushed skin, a delicious rosy pink color. Her body stretched, revealing long, smooth legs and a flat stomach that flared into curved hips. Those gorgeous breasts of hers, two lush mounds clad in a lacy red bra that matched her panties. Fuck me if that wasn’t the sexiest and most unexpected discovery tonight.
“You are gorgeous.” My words were an exhale and I wasn’t sure she’d heard me except for the small gasp that escaped her parted lips. I didn’t give her a chance to respond before I crawled over her on the bed, easing my body over hers and propping myself up on my elbows. My chest molded against her soft breasts and I felt the pucker of her nipples from underneath the textured material of her bra.
Her heart was racing, and I could feel her pounding pulse against my breastbone as well as each labored breath pushing her breasts harder against me. She was nervous… and if I was being honest, so was I. I’d never had so much at stake, nor had I ever wanted one woman so damn badly.
I leaned down, licking her nipple through the material of her bra as my palms lightly skimmed the sides of her waist. She moaned and arched into my mouth, and with that single whimper of pleasure, something inside of me snapped. I unclipped her bra with a single movement of my hand, allowing her breasts to spring free.
Her skin was soft and supple, and her nipples were a deep mauve color—two tight nubs, awaiting my attention. My cock impossibly grew harder, jumping from within the confines of my boxer briefs as I fastened my lips around her nipple, palming her other breast and rolling the nipple between my fingers with gentle tugs. I dragged my mouth to her other breast, lavishing it with the same attention before kissing my way up her throat to her jaw. I brushed my thumb gently below her chin and her eyes fluttered open, two sapphires in the moonlight staring back at me, before I tilted her head and kissed her.
She was deliciously soft, yielding to my lips, and she gasped when I licked into her mouth. I moved my lips faster, kissing her harder, devouring her, not wanting this feeling to end.
Our stomachs pressed together, flesh to flesh, my chest brushing against her pebbled nipples, and my hips dug into her spread thighs.
I broke our kiss as she reached down between us. Her fingers skimmed between our bodies, and I felt the cotton of my boxer briefs scraping down over my hips. My cock fell heavily into her hand, and I grunted as she squeezed me from root to tip, the pressure both sweet and painful all at once. She stroked me slowly, and I moaned, my head falling between my shoulders as her grip tightened, and a drop of fluid beaded at the tip.
My entire body clenched, and with her free hand, she slid her fingers up the straining muscles of my abs around my lower back until she found my ass, her nails scratching me as she squeezed and dragged them downward.
She was so wet I could feel the dampness between her legs penetrating through the lace against my shaft. Those red, lacy panties were sexy as hell, but I needed them off of her. Now. Her bare skin was soft beneath my fingers as I curved them under the edge of her panties and tugged them down her silky thighs, pressing kisses down her stomach until my face was between her spread legs.
She was smooth and pink and trembling as I inhaled her arousal and let my hot breath blow against her pussy. Beneath me, she squirmed, wriggling her legs and moaning, begging me, “Please. Please, Chris.”