“You’ve been raising them yourself for three years?”
Longer, actually. Once Jana was diagnosed with cancer, there was chemo and radiation. “They’re great girls, and I’m lucky enough to afford help. I can’t complain.”
“Of course you could. You just choose not to, which is admirable in itself.”
She totally gets it. Probably went through the same with her father. It feels good to talk to someone who understands.
KT taps her phone, and the time appears on the screen. “I better go before they wake up. I’d be hard to pass off as Santa.”
That makes unexpected laughter bubble up. I cover her hand on the floor and roll my head against the wall to look at her. “Will you let me take you to dinner after the holidays?”
“No, but thank you for the offer.” She turns her hand over and threads our fingers. I can’t tell if the look in her eyes is desire or fatigue. “Though I’m more than open to a hookup sometime.”
I stare at her, my mind bending to try to understand that statement. “I’m sorry, I’ve been out of the dating pool for so long, I don’t know the current terminology. When you say ‘hookup,’ you mean…what?”
She’s grinning like she finds me adorable, which isn’t what I was hoping for. “Sex. No befores, no afters. Just hot, sweaty, raw sex for the sake of sex.”
My mind flashes with sultry images of getting her naked, touching her, tasting her, rolling in the sheets with her. My body reacts faster than it has in years. But I’m still confused. “You’re open to sex, but not dinner?”
“Now you’ve got it.”
I’m still trying to get my head around it, but my mouth opens and “When?” pops out.
A grin brightens her face. She drops her knees toward me, then straddles my lap, and my hands automatically land on her thighs. Heat surges through me, desire so white-hot, it singes my nerves.
She nudges hair off my forehead, then trails her fingers down my temple, across my jaw, over my lower lip. And her eyes, so vividly, icy blue against her dark hair and long eyelashes, cloud with desire.
“I’d say right now if I thought your kids would sleep.” Her voice is almost inaudible. “But I remember Christmas morning all too well. So, until we find a time…”
She lifts my chin with one hand, tilts her head, and kisses me. I’m in completely uncharted territory. She’s so forward and up-front, she’s blowing away all my traditional ideas, and I’m not sure where I stand or what comes next.
Her lips are soft and warm, and the feel of them haze my brain. My hands find their way to her face, and I kiss her deeper. She welcomes it. Our tongues meet, and lust explodes deep in my body. Lust that burns like a blue flame. Shoving aside all the rituals surrounding sex opens a new door inside me, one that exposes just how hungry I am for passion. The kiss goes from sweet to sultry, sultry to sexy, sexy to erotic almost instantly.
When we break for air, my arms are wrapped tight around her body, her hands are in my hair, she’s rocking against my erection…and she’s smiling.
“I had a feeling that passion was in there somewhere. Just had to get past all the preconceived expectations.” Her thumbs slide back and forth across the stubble on my jaw. “I’m going to go before your girls wake up. But you’ve got my number. When it works for you, shoot me a text.”
She climbs off my lap, throws a couple of tools into her bag, and pauses on her way out the door to give me one last kiss. Then she disappears, and I sit there, shell-shocked.
“Did that really just fucking happen?” My body is still screaming Hell yeah, but my mind is saturated with confusion. I feel like someone just showed me a dessert case and said, You can eat all you want. Forget dinner.
I drop my head against the wall and close my eyes, reliving the last few minutes. I haven’t felt passion like that in so long, it’s completely foreign and leaves me so hungry, I ache.
Then I hear the girls stir, and I force myself to shift gears. Time to forget thinking like a man and become Dad again.
3
KT
I have no idea how long I’ve been asleep when Chloe and Laiyla come in and wake me up, but it doesn’t feel like long.
They climb onto my bed, and Chloe shakes me. “KT, loooooook.”
“What?” I pry my eyes open, and Chloe is holding Laiyla’s hand out. It takes me a second to focus, but when I do, I see a very sparkly ring on her finger. I sit straight up, grab her hand, and focus harder on the ring. Then at Laiyla, whose grin is so bright, it hurts my eyes. “Oh. My. God.”
Chloe and Laiyla laugh, and I envelop Laiyla in a bear hug. “This is amazing.”
When I pull away, she has tears in her eyes. “Thanks. I’m still getting used to it.”
“You and Levi are perfect together.”
She sighs. “I’m so happy. I haven’t been this happy since our last summer together at seventeen.”
I give her another hug, and Chloe joins in.
“When?” I ask. “Where?”
“I think it should be here,” Chloe says. “She could be the first bride I plan a wedding for. It could be a celebration for everything all wrapped into one—their love, the renovation, and the opening of the marina.”
“Not a bad idea.” I sit up a little more and lean back against the wall, and damn, I’ve got some strange shit happening inside me. Emotions I can’t identify, some good, some weird. “Wow. Just wow.”
“I got us reservations in Santa Barbara tonight,” Chloe says. “We can celebrate and still get to look at the lights together—all three of us.”
“Sounds like a perfect Christmas,” I agree.
“How is your arm?” Laiyla asks, looking at the bandage.
“Ten stitches, and it’s hurting now, but I’ll be fine with some Advil.”
“Where were you last night?” Chloe asks, settling in on the bed. “We came over to show you the ring, and you weren’t here, but your truck was.”
“Long story.” I smile at the memory of kissing Ben. I don’t know if it’s because I haven’t kissed anyone for six months or if it’s because we’ve got killer chemistry, but the man’s kiss lit me up from the inside out. “Short version is that Dr. Delicious and I hit it off, and I was helping him put together a gift for one of his kids.”
“Kids?” Chloe and Laiyla say at the same time.
“Have you ever dated someone with kids before?” Laiyla asks.
“I’ve never dated before. Period. And I’m not dating now. I’m just hoping for a hookup with him.”
“Out of the three of us, only you could go from meeting a stranger,” Chloe says, “to going home with that stranger on the same day. Christmas day.”
“Technically, it was two different days,” I say, just because I know it will pull exasperated sighs from both of them. And it does.
“Did he take you and pick you up?” Laiyla asks.
“No.” My grin grows. “He owns one of Levi’s houses.”
“He’s hot and loaded?” Chloe asks.