You Had Me At Christmas: A Holiday Anthology(9)

She turned in his arms. “Will there be fallout?”

“I think I smoothed things over.” He kissed her as though she was bruised and he had to be very careful, and his tenderness brought so many conflicting emotions to the surface.

Feelings she wasn’t willing to expose.

“You were brilliant in there,” he said.

“You can’t mean that.”

“I do. Feisty, honest, and real. I’ve missed that, Kayla. I’ve missed you. Ever since I’ve returned from tour, we’ve been so careful with each other. Aren’t you tired of it?”

“Yes, but…” Scared, too. Scared of how fragile they were. Since they were sixteen years old, the one surety in their lives had been each other. She didn’t have that certainty anymore.

“No buts.” He kissed her again, passionately, and she wound her arms around his neck, wanting to believe him. And then, as their old magic kicked in, just wanting.

“We’re in public,” she murmured, but it was the protest of a good girl asking to be persuaded, and Jared responded with…persuasion. Oh, the man could kiss angels into sin.

She gave herself up to sensation—deep, slow kisses that spiraled down her spine igniting desire. Still kissing her, Jared started walking her into a nearby service alley, and Kayla stirred from her sensual daze. “Someone might see.”

“Yeah.” His voice was a shiver in the dark.

Excitement threaded through her nervousness, and she craned her neck to see past him. The public parking lot was a pocket of dark, illuminated by the occasional street light and screened by leafy trees. The evening was too late for many new arrivals and too early for going home. After they’d given their virginity to each other at eighteen, they’d had sex in a lot of public spaces. Neither had owned a car so they’d had to take chances.

“We used to do this all the time.” Reading her mind, he unbuttoned her coat. “And you were fearless. I saw that in there tonight.”

She tried to laugh. “Now who’s ruining the mood?”

“You don’t want to be Kayla? Then be Betty, the sexy woman who’s been driving Bob crazy with lust all night. This is his last chance to—”

“Cop a feel?”

“Make her happy.”

“Bob has a pretty high opinion of himself.”

“Well, he’s got a lot to offer. For a start, he’s not the ‘hardest work you’ll ever have to do’ husband.”

“He’s not?”

“Nuh-uh. He’s an escape from Christmas stress. Use him—”

She kissed him, cold lips, warm mouths, hot tongues, letting her coat fall open so he could skim his hands over her butt, up her hips to her breasts in the slut’s dress. The cold burned, her body melted, her shiver was an erotic reawakening.

Tugging her bag from her shoulder, Jared dropped it at their feet, then opened his coat and stepped in to wrap it around them both. The leather was soft and cold on her fingertips, the silk lining warm from his body heat. And his body had so much heat.

With a small moan, she pressed closer and buried her cold nose in his sweater, the fine mohair soft as a kitten over hard muscle. The workouts he’d adopted to increase stamina for touring had built his frame to heroic proportions.

In the dark, she didn’t have to care that hers didn’t match. In the dark, she was Betty, who knew what men wanted. And knew how to give it to them. She flattened her tits against his chest and moved her hips, relishing the hardness of his erection, relishing his hunger. She had forgotten the power of opportunistic sex, forgotten its thrill for her.

Their kisses deepened. Lust wrapped their bodies with an invisible cord, drawing them tighter together. She wiggled her hands under his sweater, warming her fingers on his skin and tracing the musculature of his back before sliding them around, up and over his torso to his flat smooth nipples. Scraped them lightly.

He found her nipples through her dress and massaged the hard nubs. She arched. Yes, that’s what she wanted. A quick learner, was Bob. Squeezing his tight ass, she encouraged his hands with an inciting chuckle.

Jared freed her breasts from the cups of the dress, warm fingers tantalizing her cool flesh, and he rolled her head back and closed her eyes. The night chill accentuated the scorching heat of his mouth on her nipple. It pricked with cold when he released it and moved his attention to her other breast, the sensation deliciously painful.

She fumbled to undo his belt, needing his cock bare, parting her legs as much has the dress would allow to give him access to—

“What the hell are these?”

She groaned. “Shapewear.”

He grappled with the smooth fabric. “How do I get them off?”

“The same way I got them on. Brute force.”

Jared tried pulling from the bottom, then hooking his thumbs in the waist-band and pushing down. “Fuck, they’re like a chastity belt.”

His frustrated grappling triggered a fit of giggles. What else could she do in such a ridiculous situation? Her husband didn’t find it funny.

“I’m ripping them off.”

“Babe, the Incredible Hulk couldn’t tear this fabric. Here, let me help.” She tried to roll them down while he pulled at the legs and the pants started to move.

The door to the service entrance banged open, spilling light into the alley. Before she could move, he had shoved her against the wall and opened his leather coat to cover her. Frozen, they watched the bartender drop a crate of empty beer bottles three feet from where they stood. He didn’t look up. The door slammed shut, cloaking them in darkness.