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He stood in the middle of the room, a goofy grin playing on his lips. His family went back and forth between him and each other, their conversations punctuated by loud laughter, until he appeared at my side with a teasing grin.
“Excuse me, ladies. There’s a crisis in the kitchen. We’ve run out of cinnamon for the eggnog, and I could use an extra pair of hands. Laura, care to join me?”
He took my hand before I replied, forcing me to my feet. I waved back at Teresa with a guilty look, my cheeks burning and insides melting.
“You need help with cinnamon?” I asked.
We zigzagged through the crowd; me following him like a sheep. He was making it so obvious that he was on a mission, and the further away we walked, the more nervous I became.
“That was an excuse.” He said as we turned the corner. He pulled me into the pantry and closed the door behind us.
“That was a lousy excuse, but now that we’re here, I’d better find cinnamon.”
My fingers flew from shelf to shelf, as if I didn’t hear him, but then his arms grasped my waist and he spun me around. His touch was electric, magnified by his meaningful hold as I pressed against the wall of his chest. He held me in his arms with my breasts squished between us. His thumb grazed over my chin, tilting me upward so that our eyes could meet.
“You tasted like honey and salted caramel yesterday, Ms. Young,” he whispered, his breath hot on my lips and his dick hard against my belly. I squeezed my thighs together as if that would stop the sudden discomfort in my panties. His eyes flicked down to my mouth before returning to meet mine. “What do you taste like today?”
He licked gently over my mouth and my lower parts suddenly remembered how good the pull of his tongue had felt down below. Not that I’d forgotten. How could I?
“Chocolate and rum,” he murmured. “Did my mother give you a bonbon?”
“She did.”
“Good choice, but I need to finish what we started in that spa,” he said.
My heart started racing as I held his gaze, caught in the spell of his bright blue eyes that twinkled with tiny silver stars.
“But we’re in the pantry.” I whispered, like that would stop him. He seized my mouth, and all I could get out was a gasp that twisted into a desperate moan. I wrapped my arms around his neck and sank into the kiss, melting my body into his. I craved someone like him. Someone who could help me forget about the past, someone who could fill the aching void in my heart and someone I could share my deepest secrets with. Someone who’d lift the burden of guilt and show me how to live once more.
I was so close to having what he had—a family, with a daughter of my own. But one ghastly night, they took it all away. Every nerve-endings in my body came alive as I realized that, maybe, I wanted more than a fling. Maybe I wanted everything I’d lost. I chuckled through the kiss and he pulled away. “What’s so funny?”
“Nothing,” I lied and pressed my mouth back to his, because how could I tell him about all the feelings bubbling up inside me, and me wanting so much more with him than I’d thought, before we even slept together. All right. So, he’d gotten me off with his strumming fingers and vicious mouth. He’d devoured me, and he’d made the entire day about me and his daughter. But was that enough?
We broke apart for air, and James rested his forehead against mine, panting. “Penny for your thoughts,” he said.
I chuckled again. “I don’t think you can afford this one, Mr. Bond.”
“Try me,” he said. “I’ve seen a lot in my brief life.”
I couldn’t. “I don’t know. It’s just... This is one of the best Christmases I’ve had in my life.”
“That makes me very happy, Laura.”
I liked how he switched between my last and first names. It was like a game. And now, we were on a first name basis again.
“I can’t stop thinking about kissing you.” His voice was rough with desire. “All the time.”
His hand ran up my skirt, and my thighs parted. I smiled against his mouth, gently biting his lip. “Well, you’re definitely a good kisser.”
He went in for my lips, but this time I playfully pushed him away. “I’d love to stay in here with you all night, and have you ruin me some more, but someone can come in at any moment, and we have a party to attend.” I reminded him.
He thought for a moment, then gave me that sly and predatory look.
“Meet me in the attic in fifteen minutes.”
“What?”
“I know you can find the attic, since you studied the blueprints.”
