You Had Me At Christmas: A Holiday Anthology(24)

When she returned to the living room, he’d poured two glasses of wine and set up his laptop with a flickering fire screensaver.

“Is this where I tell you the deposit is non-refundable?”

He handed her a glass. “We can’t seem to get a break on our dates, can we?”

Kayla shook off her despondency and pulled Maddie’s blanket over her knees. “Hey, let’s look on the bright side. Our child’s cold is not serious, the tree is finally decorated, and the fire is cozy.” She pretended to warm her hands on it, but Jared’s smile was distracted.

“Fuck this,” he said suddenly. “We can still have a date.” He went to the doorway and knocked politely on the jamb. “Hey, Betty, I hear you couldn’t get out of babysitting tonight. How about inviting me in?”

Kayla smothered a laugh. He was trying to channel earnest geek but the grin was all big bad wolf. “Well, I’d like to, Bob, but the parents are very strict about boys dropping in.”

He took a couple of steps forward. “Not even if he’s here to help you study for your big school test tomorrow?”

“And what’s that, Bob? Biology?”

His eyes laughed at her. “English lit. ‘Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?’”

“Well, you can try, but considering I’m in leggings and a sweater…”

“You’re right, I can do better.” Bob took a seat beside her, his leg touching hers. “‘See how she leans her cheek upon her hand. Oh, that I were a glove upon that hand, that I might touch that cheek.’”

“Wow, Bob, how do you know so much Shakespeare?” It was very, very hard not to laugh when he narrowed his eyes. This was an old grievance.

“Someone talked me into playing in the school orchestra for Romeo and Juliet our senior year.”

“Good to see you’re not bitter.”

“Betty, pay attention while I’m trying to impress you.” He picked up her hand. “‘My bounty is as boundless as the sea—’”

“I can feel your bounty pressed against me,” she teased. “Are you sure you’re here to study, Bob?”

“I’m here to study you.” He kissed each knuckle. “Are you going to let me?”

She opened the blanket in invitation. “And Betty thinks to herself, ‘Well, okay, it’s not like we can get too carried away. It’s not as if we’re in a car or anything.’”

She finished tucking the blanket around them and looked up. Her breath caught. A guy with a goofball grin was looking back at her.

I remember you.

“Sure, Betty,” he said. “A couple of kisses won’t hurt. At any time, the parents can arrive home, or the kids can wake up. That means Bob’s hands are tied.”

“They sure don’t feel tied, Bob. Did you just undo my bra through my shirt?”

“Did I? Let me check.”

His palms slid over the soft cotton to push the loosened bra up and over her breasts, thumbs teasing her nipples. “Hell, maybe I did.”

“No clothes off,” she said. “Maddie—”

“No more clothes off,” he promised, and burrowed under her sweater to tongue her breasts.

She arched to give him better access. “So you’re happy to get blue balls twice in a week, Bob?”

“Totally worth it.” He returned to his work.

“Bob,” she gasped. “Kisses, remember?”

“Whatever you want, Betty.” He pulled down her sweatshirt and they kissed.

Each kiss was unhurried and perfect, an end in itself. Sweet kisses that acted as a narcotic, dulling common sense, which drifted away, unmourned. Kisses that melted every bone in her body until she was sliding down the couch.

She forgot she wasn’t taking any more clothes off, and kicked off her leggings. “No clothes other than those,” she amended.

They got lost under the blanket—hands moving, bodies pressing, breath coming faster. She undid his fly and reached for the satiny hardness of his cock, knowing just what Bob liked, rough sure strokes. He groaned in her mouth.

She wrapped her bare legs around his jean-clad hips so he could push against her damp panties. “Just move your bounty…oh yeah, there, Bob.”

His hand moved to push her panties aside. “See,” he breathed, “I’m not removing clothes.” He eased into her, all heat and fullness, and it felt like forever since they’d joined like this.

Her head banged against the arm of the couch and he pulled her farther down. She reached between them to cup him where they joined.

Friction built, slick heat. Both mindless now, the repressed hunger of the past few days violent, insatiable. She could feel her climax building, rolling toward her.

“Mommy!”

Kayla’s eyes snapped open, the first tremor of her orgasm receding. As Jared shuddered into her, her scrambled brain identified the location of the shout—the bedroom. No small face beside the couch, thank God.

“I wanna drinka water!”

“Coming, baby,” she called in a voice that quivered with an awful need to laugh.

“Liar,” Jared breathed her ear. “Shit. I really was like a teenage boy, blowing his load before he satisfied his girlfriend.”